Showing posts with label Tips and Tricks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tips and Tricks. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

VirtualHost (SubDomain) Di Ubuntu Server





Langkah-Langkahnya : Pertama buat sebuah folder dan file index untuk isi konten sub domain seperti portal yaitu saya membuat di dalam folder /var/www/html saya membuar folder dengan nama subdomain dengan perintah ”#mkdir portal” lalu membuat file index.html denga perintah “#nano /var/www/portal/index.html” Simpan dan keluar dengan menekan ctrl+x tekan y tekan enter , kemudian anda berpindah directori untuk memulai konfigurasi virtualhost dengan perintah seperti dibawah :


#cd /etc/apache2/sites-available/
Anda berpindah directory ke sites-availeble, untuk mempermudah konfigurasi silahkan anda salin file default ke nama sub-domain seperti portal

#cp 000-default.conf portal.conf
Setelah anda salin silahkan anda edit dengan perintah :
#nano portal.conf
Akan muncul tampilan seperti di bawah ini,edit dan tambahkan :
ServerName muhima.net
ServerAlias portal.muhima.net
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/portal
Keterangan :
ServerName = Nama domain
ServerAlias = Nama subdomain yang ingin dialihkan/dijadikan virtual alias.
DocumentRoot = Tempat pengalihan direktori dari Virtual Alias yang dibuat.

Setelah itu anda simpan dengan menekan ctrl+x tekan y tekan enter,
Kemudian anda masukan perintah :

#a2ensite portal.conf
Enabling site portal.
To activate the new configuration, you need to run: service apache2 reload


Kemudian sesusai dengan perintah yang diminta silahkan anda masukan perintah :
#service apache2 force-reload
Setelah itu anda coba buka melalui browser client dengan memasukan DNS yang telah di buat tadi, jika tidak bisa terbuka atau masih sama coba masukan perintah “service apache2 restart” atau tekan f5 dibrowser anda atau mungkin lagi periksa konfigurasi anda jika berhasil akan terbuka di client.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

How to Remove Fake Windows Restore Virus? Fake Windows Restore Threat Manual Removal Step By Step

What is Fake Windows Restore?

Fake Windows Restore pretends to be a powerful system optimizer but itself is actually a rogue software from the same family with Windows Recovery and Windows Repair. Fake Windows Restore are targeting at compromised computer and sneak in without any announce in advance, it will take effect on a next boot up, that’s why many victims have no idea how they got such a virus just start the computer.

ake Windows Restore gives fake reports about critical system errors after its startup scan to mislead its victims to activate it to get rid of those fabricate detected errors. To serve its evil purpose, fake Windows Restore shoots a serial of fake pop-warnings claiming pirating the name of Microsoft security center to make itself more convincing.

Those are some of the fake warnings displayed by fake Windows Restore:

Hard drive critical error.

Run a system diagnostic utility to check your hard disk drive for errors. Windows can't find hard disk space. Hard drive error.

Activation Reminder

Windows Restore Activation

Advanced module activation required to fix detected errors and performance issues.
Please purchase Advanced Module license to activate this software and enable all features."

How Do I Get Infected with Fake Windows Restore Virus?

Fake Windows Restore Virus promote mostly through the use of Trojans, fake online anti-malware scanners, malicious websites and ads etc. Fake Windows Restore Virus may also sneak into a compromised computer by taking advantage of web browser security loopholes or downloading neglects.
How to Remove Fake Windows Restore Virus Completely?

Fake Windows Restore Virus can escape from any antivirus due to the complex nature of virus representing random and ever-changing names, it is also capable to block any executable application that may assist to remove it, even though you try a sea of antivirus software recommended online, you may still end up with frustration. Reboot your computer in safe mode and follow this manual guide to remove Fake Windows Restore, this will make a hit.
Fake Windows Restore Virus Manual Removal Step By Step

1. Delete Fake Windows Restore Virus related registry entries listed below:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “[random].exe”

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “[random]“

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Associations “LowRiskFileTypes” = ‘/{hq:/s`s:/ogn:/uyu:/dyd:/c`u:/bnl:/ble:/sdf:/lrh:/iul:/iulm:/fhg:/clq:/kqf:/`wh:/lqf:/lqdf:/lnw:/lq2:/l2t:/v`w:/rbs:’

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Attachments “SaveZoneInformation” = ’1′

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Download “CheckExeSignatures” = ‘no’

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main “Use FormSuggest” = ‘yes’

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings “WarnonBadCertRecving” = ’0′

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System “DisableTaskMgr” = ’1′


2. Remove Fake Windows Restore Virus associated files as follow:
%AppData%\Microsoft\[random].exe

%UserProfile%\Desktop\Windows Restore.lnk

%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Restore\

%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Restore\Windows Restore.lnk


3. The last but not least, you need to be very prudent to remove Fake Windows Restore Virus related files and entries, because any mis-operation may lead to system failure, you just need to click here and ask computer experts for help to remove Fake Windows Restore Virus completely for you.

Article Source: http://technology.ezinemark.com/how-to-remove-fake-windows-restore-virus-fake-windows-restore-threat-manual-removal-step-by-step-3222cf91956.html

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Unable to delete from Avi files from HD

XP holds files in it's memory even after you have closed the application using them making it impossible to delete them from your harddrive.

To fix this:

Start -> Run -> Regedit
Find the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.avi\shellex\PropertyHandler\ directory and delete the "DEFAULT" key.

SpeedUp Your Connection By 20% (Cable Users Only)

1. Log on as "Administrator".
2. Run - gpedit.msc
3. Expand the "Local Computer Policy" branch.
4. Then expand the "Administrative Templates" branch.
5. Expand the "Network" branch.

6. Highlight the "QoS Packet Scheduler" in left pane.
7. In the right window pane double-click the "Limit Reservable Bandwidth" setting.
8. On the settings tab check the "Enabled" item.
9. Change "Bandwidth limit %" to read 0.
10. Then go to your Network connections Start=>Control Panel>Network & Internet connections>Network Connections and right-click on your connection. Then under the General or the Networking tab, (where it lists your protocols) make sure QoS packet scheduler is enabled.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Proxy Sites to unblock MySpace, Facebook, Bebo at school!

http://www.rapidbrowse.com
http://www.proxyfacebook.info
http://www.surfbebo.info
http://www.browsem.info


You can also sign up through one of those sites to get daily proxies sites delivered to your email everyday which aren't blocked by your school.

Friday, August 28, 2009

CMD Prompt here, add to folder context menu windows xp

add the open cmd prompt to folder context menus
also drives and My Computer

copy what's in the code area to notepad and save as cmd here.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\cmd]
@="Command Prompt"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\cmd\command]
@="cmd.exe /k \"cd %L\""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmd]
@="Command Prompt"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmd\command]
@="cmd.exe /k \"cd %L\""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\shell\cmd]
@="Command Prompt"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\shell\cmd\command]
@="cmd.exe /k \"cd %L\""

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Formatting An Hdd, when fdisk won't

This was originally posted by andro11meda in Hardware and Networking Support. It worked so well for me on a problem-computer that I was working on that I had to post it in tutorials. Thanks andro11meda!!

This is my favorite way to wipe it clean:

CAUTION: This debug script is for advanced users only. Its Purpose is to remove all formatting and partitioning information from your hard disk when FDISK is unable to do so. THIS WILL REMOVE ALL DATA AND PROGRAMS FORM THE DRIVE.

1. Create a MSDOS bood disk with Debug

2. At DOS command prompt type the following: Debug[Enter] (Where enter is to press the enter key once)

NOTE: Type the following bolded text only. You will recieve an error if you type anything other than the bold text. The non-bolded text represents what will appear on you screen once you press [Enter] after each command.
-F 200 L1000 0 [Enter]
-A CS:100 [Enter]
xxxx:0100 MOV AX,301 [Enter]
xxxx:0103 MOV BX,200 [Enter]
xxxx:0106 MOV CX,1 [Enter]
xxxx:0109 MOV DX,80 [Enter]

NOTE: ( --- "80" for hd0, "81" for hd1)

xxxx:010c INT 13 [Enter]
xxxx: 010e INT 20 [Enter]
xxxx: 0110 [Enter]

-G [Enter]
"Program terminated normally"


3. Turn off the computer. On the next startup the hard drive will need to be partitioned and formatted.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Create An Ftp Server On Your Pc With Serv-u

Step 1. Getting a static IP address.
Get a static address for your FTP server. You will want to do this as opposed to using your IP address for several reasons. First, it’s easier keeping up-to-date. Imagine having to change all of your setting every time your IP changed. With No-IP, the No-IP service runs in background on your computer and updates your current IP address with your FTP server’s URL (for example, you get ftp://rkchoolie.serveftp.com). Second reason, you don’t want your IP address posted out there for everyone to see.

1. Go to www.No-IP.com to create a new user account.
2. Fill in the information that is required and the click Register button.
3. Your account has now been created and your account password has been emailed to you.
4. Check your email mailbox and wait for the mail that contains your password
5. Go back to www.No-IP.com and type your email address and password to login to your account.
6. Once in your account, click on Add a host in the left menu
7. Type in the Hostname you want (example: rkchoolie) and pick a Domain from the list (example: ftpserve.com)
8. Check Allow Wildcards and click the Submit button
9. You now have your static address (example: rkchoolie.serveftp.com)
10. Click on your OS link in the Dyn-Update Client in the bottom right menu and follow links to download the client
11. Once downloaded, install the software and type in your email address and password when asked.
12. Finally tick the checkbox near your static address.


You now have a static web address .

Step 2. Installing and setting the FTP server
1. Install Serv-U 4.0.
2. Start Serv-U and use the wizard to setup your ftp.
3. Click next until you're asked for an IP address, leave it blank and then click next.
4. Type the domain name you've just registered above (example: preacher.serveftp.com) in the domain name field and then click Next.
5. You are asked if you want to allow anonymous access, select No and then click next.
6. You are then asked to create a named account, check yes and then click next.
7. Type in the user name you wish for this account (example: Harrie) and click next.
8. Type a password for this account (example: $p3c1aL). For security reasons, try to create a password with some letters, numbers and special characters. Then click next.
9. You will then be asked for the Home directory of the account you just created. Select the directory and then click next.
10. Select yes to lock this account to the Home directory. You want to do this so that the user can not go any further up that his home directory. Click next.
11. The account is now set so click finish.


Step 3. Configuring user accounts
1. In the left tree-menu, select the account you've just created and then click on the General tab.
2. Check Hide ‘Hidden’ Files.
3. Check Allow only and enter the number one in the box.
4. Set the Max. download speed to what ever you want. If this is an account that many will be using, set it low to save on your bandwidth. I usually have mine set between 10 – 20. If you leave it blank, users will be able to download from you at full bandwidth.
5. Set the Max no. of users to how many you want to be able to log on at one time. This depends on your connection speed but try these (56 - 1, ISDN - 3, ADSL or cable - 5-6 users.)
6. Now, click on the Dir Access tab.
7. You should see the home folder in there. Highlight it and make your permissions.
8. If you only want users to be able to download check only Read, List, & Inherit.
9. If you want users to be able to upload, but to only one particular folder but not download, click the add button and then select that folder. Now highlight the folder and set these permissions on that folder. Check Write, Append, List, Create, & Inherit. Once you have made the permissions click on the up arrow that is located at the bottom right-hand corner. You want this special upload folder to be list first, before the home folder.
10. If there is a folder that you don’t want anyone to have access to, but it is inside the home folder, then click the add button and then select that folder. Now highlight the folder and make sure that all checkboxes are left. Once you have made the permissions click on the up arrow that is located at the bottom right-hand corner. You want this no access folder to be listed at the very top.
11. There are many other different sets of permissions you can play with. I just covered your basics.
12. Your server is now set!
13. Try logging on with the username and password and see if it works.

Best Keyboard Shortcuts

Getting used to using your keyboard exclusively and leaving your mouse behind will make you much more efficient at performing any task on any Windows system. I use the following keyboard shortcuts every day:

Windows key + R = Run menu

This is usually followed by:
cmd = Command Prompt
iexplore + "web address" = Internet Explorer
compmgmt.msc = Computer Management
dhcpmgmt.msc = DHCP Management
dnsmgmt.msc = DNS Management
services.msc = Services
eventvwr = Event Viewer
dsa.msc = Active Directory Users and Computers
dssite.msc = Active Directory Sites and Services
Windows key + E = Explorer

ALT + Tab = Switch between windows

ALT, Space, X = Maximize window

CTRL + Shift + Esc = Task Manager

Windows key + Break = System properties

Windows key + F = Search

Windows key + D = Hide/Display all windows

CTRL + C = copy

CTRL + X = cut

CTRL + V = paste


Also don't forget about the "Right-click" key next to the right Windows key on your keyboard. Using the arrows and that key can get just about anything done once you've opened up any program.

Keyboard Shortcuts

[Alt] and [Esc] Switch between running applications

[Alt] and letter Select menu item by underlined letter

[Ctrl] and [Esc] Open Program Menu

[Ctrl] and [F4] Close active document or group windows (does not work with some applications)

[Alt] and [F4] Quit active application or close current window

[Alt] and [-] Open Control menu for active document

Ctrl] Lft., Rt. arrow Move cursor forward or back one word

Ctrl] Up, Down arrow Move cursor forward or back one paragraph

[F1] Open Help for active application

Windows+M Minimize all open windows

Shift+Windows+M Undo minimize all open windows

Windows+F1 Open Windows Help

Windows+Tab Cycle through the Taskbar buttons

Windows+Break Open the System Properties dialog box

acessability shortcuts

Right SHIFT for eight seconds........ Switch FilterKeys on and off.

Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN....... Switch High Contrast on and off.

Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK....... Switch MouseKeys on and off.

SHIFT....... five times Switch StickyKeys on and off.

NUM LOCK...... for five seconds Switch ToggleKeys on and off.

explorer shortcuts

END....... Display the bottom of the active window.

HOME....... Display the top of the active window.

NUM LOCK+ASTERISK....... on numeric keypad (*) Display all subfolders under the selected folder.

NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN....... on numeric keypad (+) Display the contents of the selected folder.

NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN....... on numeric keypad (-) Collapse the selected folder.

LEFT ARROW...... Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder.

RIGHT ARROW....... Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder.

Type the following commands in your Run Box (Windows Key + R) or Start Run

devmgmt.msc = Device Manager
msinfo32 = System Information
cleanmgr = Disk Cleanup
ntbackup = Backup or Restore Wizard (Windows Backup Utility)
mmc = Microsoft Management Console
excel = Microsoft Excel (If Installed)
msaccess = Microsoft Access (If Installed)
powerpnt = Microsoft PowerPoint (If Installed)
winword = Microsoft Word (If Installed)
frontpg = Microsoft FrontPage (If Installed)
notepad = Notepad
wordpad = WordPad
calc = Calculator
msmsgs = Windows Messenger
mspaint = Microsoft Paint
wmplayer = Windows Media Player
rstrui = System Restore
netscp6 = Netscape 6.x
netscp = Netscape 7.x
netscape = Netscape 4.x
waol = America Online
control = Opens the Control Panel
control printers = Opens the Printers Dialog

internetbrowser

type in u're adress "google", then press [Right CTRL] and [Enter]
add www. and .com to word and go to it

For Windows XP:

Copy. CTRL+C
Cut. CTRL+X
Paste. CTRL+V
Undo. CTRL+Z
Delete. DELETE
Delete selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin. SHIFT+DELETE
Copy selected item. CTRL while dragging an item
Create shortcut to selected item. CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an item
Rename selected item. F2
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word. CTRL+RIGHT ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word. CTRL+LEFT ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph. CTRL+DOWN ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph. CTRL+UP ARROW
Highlight a block of text. CTRL+SHIFT with any of the arrow keys
Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text within a document. SHIFT with any of the arrow keys
Select all. CTRL+A
Search for a file or folder. F3
View properties for the selected item. ALT+ENTER
Close the active item, or quit the active program. ALT+F4
Opens the shortcut menu for the active window. ALT+SPACEBAR
Close the active document in programs that allow you to have multiple documents open simultaneously. CTRL+F4
Switch between open items. ALT+TAB
Cycle through items in the order they were opened. ALT+ESC
Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop. F6
Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer. F4
Display the shortcut menu for the selected item. SHIFT+F10
Display the System menu for the active window. ALT+SPACEBAR
Display the Start menu. CTRL+ESC
Display the corresponding menu. ALT+Underlined letter in a menu name
Carry out the corresponding command. Underlined letter in a command name on an open menu
Activate the menu bar in the active program. F10
Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu. RIGHT ARROW
Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu. LEFT ARROW
Refresh the active window. F5
View the folder one level up in My Computer or Windows Explorer. BACKSPACE
Cancel the current task. ESC
SHIFT when you insert a CD into the CD-ROM drive Prevent the CD from automatically playing.

Use these keyboard shortcuts for dialog boxes:

To Press
Move forward through tabs. CTRL+TAB
Move backward through tabs. CTRL+SHIFT+TAB
Move forward through options. TAB
Move backward through options. SHIFT+TAB
Carry out the corresponding command or select the corresponding option. ALT+Underlined letter
Carry out the command for the active option or button. ENTER
Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box. SPACEBAR
Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons. Arrow keys
Display Help. F1
Display the items in the active list. F4
Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box. BACKSPACE

If you have a Microsoft Natural Keyboard, or any other compatible keyboard that includes the Windows logo key and the Application key , you can use these keyboard shortcuts:

Display or hide the Start menu. WIN Key
Display the System Properties dialog box. WIN Key+BREAK
Show the desktop. WIN Key+D
Minimize all windows. WIN Key+M
Restores minimized windows. WIN Key+Shift+M
Open My Computer. WIN Key+E
Search for a file or folder. WIN Key+F
Search for computers. CTRL+WIN Key+F
Display Windows Help. WIN Key+F1
Lock your computer if you are connected to a network domain, or switch users if you are not connected to a network domain. WIN Key+ L
Open the Run dialog box. WIN Key+R
Open Utility Manager. WIN Key+U

accessibility keyboard shortcuts:

Switch FilterKeys on and off. Right SHIFT for eight seconds
Switch High Contrast on and off. Left ALT+left SHIFT+PRINT SCREEN
Switch MouseKeys on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK
Switch StickyKeys on and off. SHIFT five times
Switch ToggleKeys on and off. NUM LOCK for five seconds
Open Utility Manager. WIN Key+U

shortcuts you can use with Windows Explorer:

Display the bottom of the active window. END
Display the top of the active window. HOME
Display all subfolders under the selected folder. NUM LOCK+ASTERISK on numeric keypad (*)
Display the contents of the selected folder. NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN on numeric keypad (+)
Collapse the selected folder. NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN on numeric keypad (-)
Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder. LEFT ARROW
Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder. RIGHT ARROW

Thursday, July 16, 2009

1000 Photoshop Tricks

1000 Photoshop Tricks1000 Photoshop Tricks

Download :
http://hotfile.com/dl/6113180/9f95708/1000_Photoshop_tricks.rar.html

Monday, July 13, 2009

Speed up Mozilla FireFox

Mozilla Firefox, Speed it up!

Speed up Mozilla FireFox

1. Type "about :config" in the adress field.
2. Set the value of network.http.pipelining to "true".
3. Set the value of network.http.pipelining.maxrequests to "100".
4. Set the value of network.http.proxy.pipelining to "true"
5. Set the value of nglayout.initialpaint.delay to "0" (not availible in newer versions)

Trojan Ports

TCP 1 Breach.2001, SocketsDeTroie.230, SocketsDeTroie.250
TCP 28 Amanda.200
TCP 31 MastersParadise.920
TCP 68 Subseven.100
TCP 142 NetTaxi.180
TCP 146 Infector.141, Intruder.100, Intruder.100
TCP 171 ATrojan.200
TCP 285 WCTrojan.100
TCP 286 WCTrojan.100
TCP 334 Backage.310
TCP 370 NeuroticKat.120, NeuroticKat.130
TCP 413 Coma.109
TCP 420 Breach.450
TCP 555 Id2001.100, PhaseZero.100, StealthSpy.100
TCP 623 Rtb666.160
TCP 660 Zaratustra.100
TCP 661 Noknok.800, Noknok.820

TCP 666 BackConstruction.210, BackConstruction.250, Bla.100, Bla.200, Bla.400, Bla.503, Cain.150, Dimbus.100, Noknok.820, Ripper.100, SatansBackdoor.100, SatansBackdoor.101, SatansBackdoor.102, Unicorn.100, Unicorn.101, Unicorn.110
TCP 667 SniperNet.210, Snipernet.220
TCP 668 Unicorn.101, Unicorn.110
TCP 680 Rtb666.160
TCP 777 Tiny.100, Undetected.230, Undetected.300, Undetected.310, Undetected.320, Undetected.330, Undetected.331, Undetected.332
TCP 785 NetworkTerrorist.100
TCP 800 NeuroticKitten.010
TCP 831 NeuroticKat.100, NeuroticKat.120, NeuroticKat.130
TCP 901 NetDevil.130, NetDevil.140
TCP 1000 DerSpaeher.200
TCP 1001 Silencer.100
TCP 1008 AutoSpy.100
TCP 1010 DerSpaeher.200
TCP 1015 Doly.150
TCP 1111 TPort.100
TCP 1130 Noknok.800, Noknok.820
TCP 1207 SoftWAR.100
TCP 1243 Subseven.100, SubSeven.110, SubSeven.180, SubSeven.190, Subseven.200
TCP 1245 VoodooDoll.006
TCP 1269 Matrix.130
TCP 1480 RemoteHack.130
TCP 1568 RemoteHack.100, RemoteHack.110
TCP 1600 DirectConnection.100
TCP 1601 DirectConnection.100
TCP 1602 DirectConnection.100
TCP 1634 NetCrack.100
TCP 1784 Snid.120, Snid.212
TCP 1999 TransmissionScout.100, TransmissionScout.110
TCP 2000 ATrojan.200, InsaneNetwork.400
TCP 2001 DIRT.220, TrojanCow.100
TCP 2003 TransmissionScout.100, TransmissionScout.110
TCP 2023 RipperPro.100
TCP 2040 InfernoUploader.100
TCP 2115 Bugs.100
TCP 2140 DeepThroat.100, DeepThroat.200, DeepThroat.310
TCP 2332 SilentSpy.202
TCP 2589 Dagger.140
TCP 2600 DigitalRootbeer.100
TCP 2989 Rat.200
TCP 3128 MastersParadise.970
TCP 3129 MastersParadise.920, MastersParadise.970
TCP 3150 DeepThroat.100, DeepThroat.200, DeepThroat.310, MiniBacklash.110
TCP 3215 BlackStar.100, Ghost.230
TCP 3333 Daodan.123
TCP 3410 OptixPro.100, OptixPro.110
TCP 3456 Force.155, TerrorTrojan.100
TCP 3505 AutoSpy.130, AutoSpy.140
TCP 3586 Snid.120, Snid.212
TCP 3700 PortalOfDoom.100
TCP 3723 Mantis.100
TCP 3800 Eclypse.100
TCP 3996 RemoteAnything.364
TCP 4000 SkyDance.220, SkyDance.229
TCP 4201 Wartrojan.160, Wartrojan.200
TCP 4225 SilentSpy.202
TCP 4321 Bobo.100
TCP 4444 AlexTrojan.200, Crackdown.100
TCP 4488 EventHorizon.100
TCP 4523 Celine.100
TCP 4545 InternalRevise.100, RemoteRevise.150
TCP 4567 FileNail.100
TCP 4666 Mneah.100
TCP 4950 ICQTrojan.100
TCP 5005 Aladino.060
TCP 5025 Keylogger.WMRemote.100
TCP 5031 NetMetro.104
TCP 5032 NetMetro.104
TCP 5033 NetMetro.104
TCP 5050 RoxRat.100
TCP 5151 OptixLite.020, OptixLite.030, OptixLite.040
TCP 5190 MBomber.100
TCP 5277 WinShell.400
TCP 5343 WCRat.100
TCP 5400 BackConstruction.120, BackConstruction.150, BladeRunner.080, DeepThroat.300
TCP 5401 BackConstruction.120, BackConstruction.150, BackConstruction.210, BackConstruction.250, BladeRunner.080, DeepThroat.300, Mneah.100
TCP 5402 BackConstruction.210, BackConstruction.250, BladeRunner.080, DeepThroat.300, Mneah.100
TCP 5534 TheFlu.100
TCP 5550 XTCP.200, XTCP.201
TCP 5555 Noxcape.100, Noxcape.200
TCP 5695 Assassin.100
TCP 5714 WinCrash.100
TCP 5741 WinCrash.100
TCP 5742 WinCrash.103
TCP 5802 Y3KRat.160
TCP 5810 Y3KRat.160
TCP 5838 Y3KRat.170
TCP 5858 Y3KRat.110, Y3KRat.120, Y3KRat.140
TCP 5880 Y3KRat.140
TCP 5881 Y3KRat.110, Y3KRat.120, Y3KRat.140
TCP 5882 Y3KRat.100, Y3KRat.110, Y3KRat.120, Y3KRat.140, Y3KRat.150
TCP 5883 Y3KRat.110, Y3KRat.140
TCP 5884 Y3KRat.140, Y3KRat.150
TCP 5885 Y3KRat.110, Y3KRat.120, Y3KRat.140
TCP 5886 Y3KRat.120, Y3KRat.140
TCP 5887 Y3KRat.110, Y3KRat.120, Y3KRat.140
TCP 5888 Y3KRat.100, Y3KRat.110, Y3KRat.120, Y3KRat.140, Y3KRat.150
TCP 5889 Y3KRat.100, Y3KRat.110, Y3KRat.120, Y3KRat.140, Y3KRat.150
TCP 5890 Y3KRat.140
TCP 6400 Thething.100, Thething.150
TCP 6556 AutoSpy.120, AutoSpy.122
TCP 6655 Aqua.020
TCP 6660 LameSpy.095
TCP 6666 LameRemote.100, ProjectMayhem.100
TCP 6669 Vampire.100
TCP 6670 DeepThroat.200, DeepThroat.210
TCP 6671 DeepThroat.310
TCP 6699 HostControl.101
TCP 6711 DeepThroat.300, Noknok.820, SubSeven.180, SubSeven.190
TCP 6712 Subseven.100
TCP 6713 Subseven.100
TCP 6767 NTRC.120
TCP 6776 SubSeven.180, SubSeven.190, Subseven.200
TCP 6789 Doly.200
TCP 6796 SubSeven.214
TCP 6912 ShitHeep.100
TCP 6939 Indoctrination.100
TCP 6953 Lithium.100
TCP 6969 2000Cracks.100, Bigorna.100, Danton.110, Danton.210, Danton.220, Danton.310, Danton.320, Danton.330, GateCrasher.110, NetController.108, Sparta.110, VagrNocker.120
TCP 6970 Danton.330
TCP 7001 Freak88.100
TCP 7119 Massaker.100
TCP 7200 Massaker.110
TCP 7300 Coced.221
TCP 7301 Coced.221
TCP 7306 NetSpy.200, NetSpy.200
TCP 7410 Phoenix.190, Phoenix.200
TCP 7511 Genue.100
TCP 7609 Snid.120, Snid.212
TCP 7614 Wollf.130
TCP 7648 BlackStar.100, Ghost.230
TCP 7788 Last.2000, Matrix.200
TCP 7826 MiniOblivion.010, Oblivion.010
TCP 7887 SmallFun.110
TCP 7891 Revenger.100
TCP 7979 VagrNocker.200
TCP 7997 VagrNocker.200
TCP 8000 XConsole.100
TCP 8011 Way.240
TCP 8012 Ptakks.215, Ptakks.217
TCP 8110 LoseLove.100
TCP 8111 LoseLove.100
TCP 8301 LoseLove.100
TCP 8302 LoseLove.100
TCP 8372 NetBoy.100
TCP 8720 Connection.130
TCP 8734 AutoSpy.110
TCP 8811 Force.155
TCP 8899 Last.2000
TCP 9000 Aristotles.100
TCP 9301 LoseLove.100
TCP 9400 InCommand.100, InCommand.110, InCommand.120, InCommand.130, InCommand.140, InCommand.150, InCommand.153, InCommand.160, InCommand.167, InCommand.170
TCP 9401 InCommand.100, InCommand.110, InCommand.170
TCP 9402 InCommand.100, InCommand.110
TCP 9561 CRatPro.110
TCP 9563 CRatPro.110
TCP 9580 TheefLE.100
TCP 9696 Danton.210, Ghost.230
TCP 9697 Danton.320, Danton.330, Ghost.230
TCP 9870 R3C.100
TCP 9872 PortalOfDoom.100
TCP 9873 PortalOfDoom.100
TCP 9874 PortalOfDoom.100
TCP 9875 PortalOfDoom.100
TCP 9876 Rux.100, SheepGoat.100
TCP 9877 SmallBigBrother.020
TCP 9878 SmallBigBrother.020, TransmissionScout.100, TransmissionScout.110, TransmissionScout.120
TCP 9879 SmallBigBrother.020
TCP 9999 ForcedEntry.100, Infra.100, Prayer.120, Prayer.130, TakeOver.200, TakeOver.300
TCP 10001 DTr.130, DTr.140
TCP 10013 Amanda.200
TCP 10067 PortalOfDoom.100
TCP 10100 Gift.240
TCP 10101 NewSilencer.100
TCP 10167 PortalOfDoom.100
TCP 10528 HostControl.100, HostControl.260
TCP 10607 Coma.109
TCP 10666 Ambush.100
TCP 11011 Amanda.200
TCP 11050 HostControl.101
TCP 11051 HostControl.100, HostControl.260
TCP 11223 AntiNuke.100, Progenic.100, Progenic.110
TCP 11225 Cyn.100, Cyn.103, Cyn.120
TCP 11306 Noknok.800, Noknok.820
TCP 11831 Katux.200, Latinus.140, Latinus.150, Pest.100, Pest.400
TCP 11991 PitfallSurprise.100
TCP 12043 Frenzy.2000
TCP 12345 Fade.100, Netbus.160, Netbus.170, VagrNocker.400
TCP 12346 Netbus.160, Netbus.170
TCP 12348 Bionet.210, Bionet.261, Bionet.280, Bionet.302, Bionet.305, Bionet.311, Bionet.313, Bionet.316, Bionet.317
TCP 12349 Bionet.084, Bionet.261, Bionet.280, Bionet.302, Bionet.305, Bionet.311, Bionet.313, Bionet.314, Bionet.316, Bionet.317, Bionet.401, Bionet.402
TCP 12389 KheSanh.210
TCP 12478 Bionet.210
TCP 12623 Buttman.090, Buttman.100
TCP 12624 Buttman.090, Buttman.100
TCP 12625 Buttman.100
TCP 12904 Akropolis.100, Rocks.100
TCP 13473 Chupacabra.100
TCP 13753 AFTP.010
TCP 14100 Eurosol.100
TCP 14194 CyberSpy.840
TCP 14286 HellDriver.100
TCP 14500 PCInvader.050, PCInvader.060, PCInvader.070
TCP 14501 PCInvader.060, PCInvader.070
TCP 14502 PCInvader.050, PCInvader.060, PCInvader.070
TCP 14503 PCInvader.050, PCInvader.060, PCInvader.070
TCP 14504 PCInvader.050, PCInvader.060
TCP 15092 HostControl.100, HostControl.260
TCP 15382 SubZero.100
TCP 15432 Cyn.210
TCP 15555 ICMIBC.100
TCP 16322 LastDoor.100
TCP 16484 MoSucker.110
TCP 16661 Dfch.010
TCP 16969 Progenic.100
TCP 16982 AcidShiver.100
TCP 17300 Kuang.200
TCP 17499 CrazzyNet.370, CrazzyNet.375, CrazzyNet.521
TCP 17500 CrazzyNet.370, CrazzyNet.375, CrazzyNet.521
TCP 17569 Infector.141, Infector.160, Infector.170, Infector.180, Infector.190, Infector.200, Intruder.100, Intruder.100
TCP 17593 AudioDoor.120
TCP 19191 BlueFire.035, BlueFire.041
TCP 19604 Metal.270
TCP 19605 Metal.270
TCP 19991 Dfch.010
TCP 20000 Millenium.100
TCP 20001 Millenium.100, PshychoFiles.180
TCP 20002 AcidKor.100, PshychoFiles.180
TCP 20005 MoSucker.200, MoSucker.210, MoSucker.220
TCP 21212 Schwindler.182
TCP 21554 Exploiter.100, Exploiter.110, Girlfriend.130, GirlFriend.135
TCP 21579 Breach.2001
TCP 21584 Breach.2001
TCP 21684 Intruse.134
TCP 22068 AcidShiver.110
TCP 22115 Cyn.120
TCP 22222 Prosiak.047, Ruler.141, Rux.300, Rux.400, Rux.500, Rux.600
TCP 22223 Rux.400, Rux.500, Rux.600
TCP 22456 Bla.200, Bla.503
TCP 22457 AcidShiver.120, Bla.200, Bla.503
TCP 22784 Intruzzo.110
TCP 22845 Breach.450
TCP 22847 Breach.450
TCP 23005 Infinaeon.110, NetTrash.100, Oxon.110, WinRat.100
TCP 23006 Infinaeon.110, NetTrash.100, Oxon.110, WinRat.100
TCP 23032 Amanda.200
TCP 23432 Asylum.010, Asylum.012, Asylum.013, Asylum.014, MiniAsylum.110
TCP 23456 EvilFTP.100, VagrNocker.400
TCP 23476 DonaldDick.153, DonaldDick.154, DonaldDick.155
TCP 23477 DonaldDick.153
TCP 24000 Infector.170
TCP 24307 Wildek.020
TCP 25386 MoonPie.220
TCP 25486 MoonPie.220
TCP 25555 FreddyK.100, FreddyK.200
TCP 25556 FreddyK.100
TCP 25685 MoonPie.010, MoonPie.012, MoonPie.130, MoonPie.220, MoonPie.240, MoonPie.400
TCP 25686 MoonPie.135, MoonPie.200, MoonPie.400
TCP 25982 MoonPie.135, MoonPie.200
TCP 26274 Delta.050
TCP 27160 MoonPie.135, MoonPie.200
TCP 27184 Alvgus.100, Alvgus.800
TCP 27374 Muerte.110, Subseven.210, SubSeven.213
TCP 28429 Hack'a'Tack.2000
TCP 28430 Hack'a'Tack.2000
TCP 28431 Hack'a'Tack.2000
TCP 28432 Hack'a'Tack.2000
TCP 28433 Hack'a'Tack.2000
TCP 28434 Hack'a'Tack.2000
TCP 28435 Hack'a'Tack.2000
TCP 28436 Hack'a'Tack.2000
TCP 29559 DuckToy.100, DuckToy.101, Katux.200, Latinus.140, Latinus.150, Pest.100, Pest.400
TCP 29891 Unexplained.100
TCP 30000 Infector.170
TCP 30001 Error32.100
TCP 30003 LamersDeath.100
TCP 30029 AOLTrojan.110
TCP 30100 NetSphere.127, NetSphere.130, NetSphere.131
TCP 30101 NetSphere.127, NetSphere.130, NetSphere.131
TCP 30102 NetSphere.127, NetSphere.130, NetSphere.131
TCP 30103 NetSphere.131
TCP 30947 Intruse.134
TCP 31320 LittleWitch.400, LittleWitch.420
TCP 31337 BackOrifice.120, Khaled.100, OPC.200
TCP 31415 Lithium.101
TCP 31416 Lithium.100, Lithium.101
TCP 31557 Xanadu.110
TCP 31631 CleptoManicos.100
TCP 31745 Buschtrommel.100, Buschtrommel.122
TCP 31785 Hack'a'Tack.100, Hack'a'Tack.112
TCP 31787 Hack'a'Tack.100, Hack'a'Tack.112
TCP 31789 Hack'a'Tack.100, Hack'a'Tack.112
TCP 31791 Hack'a'Tack.100, Hack'a'Tack.112
TCP 31887 BDDT.100
TCP 31889 BDDT.100
TCP 32100 ProjectNext.053
TCP 32418 AcidBattery.100
TCP 32791 Akropolis.100, Rocks.100
TCP 33291 RemoteHak.001
TCP 33333 Blackharaz.100, Prosiak.047, SubSeven.214
TCP 33577 SonOfPsychward.020
TCP 34324 TelnetServer.100
TCP 34763 Infector.180, Infector.190, Infector.200
TCP 35000 Infector.190, Infector.200
TCP 35600 Subsari.140
TCP 36794 BugBear.100
TCP 37237 Mantis.020
TCP 37651 YAT.210
TCP 37653 YAT.310
TCP 40308 Subsari.140
TCP 40412 TheSpy.100
TCP 40421 MastersParadise.970
TCP 40422 MastersParadise.970
TCP 40999 DiemsMutter.110, DiemsMutter.140
TCP 41626 Shah.100
TCP 44444 Prosiak.070
TCP 45673 Akropolis.100, Rocks.100
TCP 47262 Delta.050
TCP 48006 Fragglerock.200
TCP 49683 HolzPferd.210
TCP 50000 Infector.180
TCP 50130 Enterprise.100
TCP 50766 Fore.100
TCP 51234 Cyn.210
TCP 51966 Cafeini.080, Cafeini.110
TCP 54321 PCInvader.010
TCP 57341 NetRaider.100
TCP 57922 Bionet.084
TCP 58008 Tron.100
TCP 58009 Tron.100
TCP 59090 AcidReign.200
TCP 59211 DuckToy.100, DuckToy.101
TCP 59345 NewFuture.100
TCP 60000 DeepThroat.300, MiniBacklash.100, MiniBacklash.101, MiniBacklash.101
TCP 60411 Connection.100, Connection.130
TCP 60412 Connection.130
TCP 60552 RoxRat.100
TCP 63536 InsaneNetwork.500
TCP 63878 AphexFTP.100
TCP 63879 AphexFTP.100
TCP 64969 Lithium.100
TCP 65000 Socket.100
UDP 1 SocketsDeTroie.250
UDP 666 Bla.200, Bla.400, Bla.503, Noknok.820
UDP 1130 Noknok.800, Noknok.820
UDP 2140 DeepThroat.100, DeepThroat.200, DeepThroat.310
UDP 2989 Rat.200
UDP 3128 MastersParadise.970
UDP 3129 MastersParadise.920, MastersParadise.970
UDP 3150 DeepThroat.100, DeepThroat.200, DeepThroat.310, MiniBacklash.110
UDP 3333 Daodan.123
UDP 3800 Eclypse.100
UDP 3996 RemoteAnything.364
UDP 4000 RemoteAnything.364
UDP 5555 Daodan.123
UDP 5881 Y3KRat.110, Y3KRat.140
UDP 5882 Y3KRat.100, Y3KRat.110, Y3KRat.120, Y3KRat.140, Y3KRat.150
UDP 5883 Y3KRat.110, Y3KRat.140
UDP 5884 Y3KRat.140, Y3KRat.150
UDP 5885 Y3KRat.110, Y3KRat.120, Y3KRat.140
UDP 5886 Y3KRat.120, Y3KRat.140
UDP 5887 Y3KRat.110, Y3KRat.120, Y3KRat.140
UDP 5888 Y3KRat.100, Y3KRat.110, Y3KRat.120, Y3KRat.150
UDP 6953 Lithium.100
UDP 8012 Ptakks.217
UDP 10067 PortalOfDoom.100
UDP 10167 PortalOfDoom.100
UDP 10666 Ambush.100
UDP 11225 Cyn.100, Cyn.103, Cyn.120
UDP 11306 Noknok.800, Noknok.820
UDP 12389 KheSanh.210
UDP 12623 Buttman.090, Buttman.100
UDP 12625 Buttman.100
UDP 14100 Eurosol.100
UDP 23476 DonaldDick.155
UDP 26274 Delta.050
UDP 27184 Alvgus.100
UDP 28431 Hack'a'Tack.2000
UDP 28432 Hack'a'Tack.2000
UDP 28433 Hack'a'Tack.2000
UDP 28434 Hack'a'Tack.2000
UDP 28435 Hack'a'Tack.2000
UDP 28436 Hack'a'Tack.2000
UDP 29891 Unexplained.100
UDP 30103 NetSphere.131
UDP 31320 LittleWitch.400, LittleWitch.420
UDP 31337 BackOrifice.120, OPC.200
UDP 31416 Lithium.100, Lithium.101
UDP 31789 Hack'a'Tack.100, Hack'a'Tack.112
UDP 31791 Hack'a'Tack.100, Hack'a'Tack.112
UDP 33333 Blackharaz.100
UDP 47262 Delta.050
UDP 49683 HolzPferd.210
UDP 60000 MiniBacklash.100

Tricks of the Windows Vista Masters

Tricks of the Microsoft Windows Vista Masters | 384 pages | PDF | 8.91 MB
Publisher: Que | ISBN: 978-0789736895 | J. Peter Bruzzese (Author)

Description for Dummies:
Tricks of the Microsoft® Windows VistaTM Masters! Bruzzese has interviewed top Windows professionals, instructors, and power users; scoured the Web (so you won't have to); and rigorously tested every single tip.

Only the most valuable tips tecnhiques and tips made the cut to improve your efficiency, take total control of your digital media and data; use Internet Explorer 7, Windows Mail, and Calendar; configure Windows Defender and Firewall; avoid, troubleshoot, and fix problems; make Windows Vista work better, faster, smarter, safer, and more fun too!

Download :
http://rapidshare.com/files/179065509/tricks.rar

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Google Tips & Tricks, (utilizing search engine)

Utilizing search engines

So much information is on the web, its mind boggling. Thankfully we have search
engines to sift through them and catagorize them for us. Unfortunatly, there is still so
much info that even with these search engines, its often a painstakingly slow process
(something comparable to death for a hacker) to find exactly what you're looking for.

Lets get right into it.

I use google.com as my primary search engine because it presently tops the charts as far as
the sites that it indexes which means more pertinent info per search.

1. Page translation.
Just because someone speaks another language doesn't mean they dont have anything useful to say. I use translation tools like the ones found at

http://babelfish.altavista.com
and

http://world.altavista.com
to translate a few key words I am searching for. Be specific and creative because these tools arent the most accurate things on the planet.

2. Directories.
These days everything is about $$$. We have to deal/w SEO (search engine optimization) which seems like a good idea on paper until you do a search for toys and get 5 pornsites in the first 10 results. Using a sites directory will eliminate that. You can narrow your search down easily by looking for the info in specific catagories. (PS google DOES have directories, they're at: directory.google.com)

3. Here are some tips that google refers to as "advanced"

A. "xxxx" / will look for the exact phrase. (google isnt case sensitive)
B. -x / will search for something excluding a certain term
C. filetype:xxx / searches for a particular file extention (exe, mp3, etc)
D. -filetype:xxx / excludes a particular file extention
E. allinurl:x / term in the url
F. allintext:x / terms in the text of the page
G. allintitle:x / terms in the html title of that page
H. allinanchor:x / terms in the links

4. OR
Self explanatory, one or the other... (ie: binder OR joiner)

5. ~X
Synonyms/similar terms (in case you can't think of any yourself)

6. Numbers in a range.
Lets say you're looking for an mp3 player but only want to spend up to $90. Why swim through all the others? MP3 player $0..$90 The 2 periods will set a numeric range to search between. This also works with dates, weights, etc

7. +
Ever type in a search and see something like this:
"The following words are very common and were not included in your search:"
Well, what if those common words are important in your search? You can force google to search through even the common terms by putting a + in front of the denied word.

8. Preferences
It amazes me when I use other peoples PCs that they dont have their google search preferences saved. When you use google as much as I do, who can afford to not have preferences? They're located on the right of the search box, and have several options, though I only find 2 applicable for myself...
A. Open results in new browser
B. Display 10-100 results per page. (I currently use 50 per page, but thats a resolution preference, and 5X's the default)

9. *
Wildcard searches. Great when applied to a previously mentioned method. If you only know the name of a prog, or are looking for ALL of a particular file (ie. you're DLing tunes) something like *.mp3 would list every mp3.

10. Ever see this?
"In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the X already displayed. If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included." The answer is YES. yes yes yes. Did I mention yes? I meant to.

11. Search EVERYWHERE
Use the engine to its fullest. If you dont find your answer in the web section, try the group section. Hell, try a whole different search engine. Dont limit yourself, because sometimes engines seem to intentionally leave results out.
ex. use google, yahoo, and altavista. search the same terms... pretty close, right? Now search for disney death. Funny, altavista has plenty of disney, but no death...hmmm.

If you've read this far into this tutorial without saying, "Great, a guy that copied a few google help pages and thinks its useful info" then I will show you WHY (besides accuracy, speed, and consistancy finding info on ANYTHING) its nice to know how a search engine works. You combine it/w your knowledge of other protocol.

Example:
Want free music? Free games? Free software? Free movies? God bless FTP! Try this search:
intitle:"Index of music" "rolling stones" mp3
Substitute rolling stones/w your favorite band. No? Try the song name, or another file format. Play with it. Assuming SOMEONE made an FTP and uploaded it, you'll find it.

For example....I wanted to find some Sepultura. If you never heard them before, they're a Brazilian heavy metal band that kicks ass. I started with this:
intitle:"Index of music" "Sepultura" mp3 <-- nothing intitle:"Index of música" "Sepultura" mp3 <-- nothing intitle:"Index of musica" "Sepultura" mp3 <-- not good enough intitle:"Index of music" "Sepultura" * <-- found great stuff, but not enough Sepultura At this point it occurs to me that I may be missing something, so I try: intitle:"index of *" "sepultura" mp3 <-- BANG! (and thats without searching for spelling errors) Also try inurl:ftp I find that * works better for me than trying to guess other peoples mis-spellings. The same method applies for ebooks, games, movies, SW, anything that may be on an FTP site. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and I saw that recently a book and an article was written on the very same topic. I havn't read them as of yet, but check em out, and get back to me if you feel I missed something important and should include anything else. intitle:"index of" "google hacks" ebook Ps. I've said it before, I'll say it again... BE CREATIVE. You'll be surprised what you can find.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Microsoft's Really Hidden Files, Reveled Hidden files

Microsoft's Really Hidden Files: A New Look At Forensics. (v2.5b)
By The Riddler
October 14, 2001 (v2.0 finished May 16, 2001; v1.0 finished June 11, 2000)

Written with Windows 9x in mind, but not limited to.

DISCLAIMER:

I will not be liable for any damage or lost information, whether due to reader's error, or any other reason.

SUMMARY:

There are folders on your computer that Microsoft has tried hard to keep secret. Within these folders you will find two major things: Microsoft Internet Explorer has been logging all of the sites you have ever visited -- even after you've cleared your history, and Microsoft's Outlook Express has been logging all of your e-mail correspondence -- even after you've erased them from your Deleted Items bin. (This also includes all incoming and outgoing file attachments.) And believe me, that's not even the half of it.

When I say these files are hidden well, I really mean it. If you don't have any knowledge of DOS then don't plan on finding these files on your own. I say this because these files/folders won't be displayed in Windows Explorer at all -- only DOS. (Even after you have enabled Windows Explorer to "view all files.") And to top it off, the only way to find them in DOS is if you knew the exact location of them. Basically, what I'm saying is if you didn't know the files existed then the chances of you running across them is slim to slimmer.

It's interesting to note that Microsoft does not explain this behavior adequately at all. Just try searching on microsoft.com.

FORWARD:

I know there are some people out there that are already aware of some of the things I mention. I also know that most people are not. The purpose of this tutorial is teach people what is really going on with Microsoft's products and how to take control of their privacy again. This tutorial was written by me, so if you see a mistake somewhere then it is my mistake, and I apologize.

Thanks for reading.

INDEX:

1) DEFINITIONS AND ACRONYMS
2) WHY YOU SHOULD ERASE THESE FILES
3) HOW TO ERASE THE FILES ASAP
3.1) If You Own Microsoft Internet Explorer
3.2) Clearing Your Registry
3.3) If You Own Outlook Express
3.4) Slack files
3.5) Keeping Microsoft's Products
4) STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE THROUGH YOUR HIDDEN FILES (For the savvy.)
5) A LOOK AT OUTLOOK
6) HOW MICROSOFT DOES IT
7) +S MEANS [S]ECRET NOT [S]YSTEM.
8) THE TRUTH ABOUT FIND FAST
8.1) Removing Find Fast
9) CONTACT INFORMATION AND PGP BLOCKS
9.1) Recommended reading
10) SPECIAL THANKS
11) REFERENCES

Coming Soon:

- pstores.exe
- Related Windows Tricks.
- The NSA-Key.
- Researching the [Microsoft Update] button.
- Why the temp folders aren't intended to be temporary at all.
- What's with Outlook Express's .dbx database files?
- Win2k support.


1. DEFINITIONS AND ACRONYMS

Well, the best definition I have been able to come up with is the following:

I) A "really hidden" file/folder is one that cannot be seen in Windows
Explorer after enabling it to "view all files," and cannot be seen in MS-DOS
after receiving a proper directory listing from root.

a) There is at least one loophole to enabling Windows Explorer to see them.
B) There is at least one loophole to enabling MS-DOS to see them.

(Interesting to note that the "Find: Files or Folders" utility cannot even
search through one of these folders. It doesn't even exist on the [Browse]
menu.)

II) Distinguishes "really hidden" file/folders from just plain +h[idden] ones, such as your "MSDOS.SYS" or "Sysbckup" folder.

III) Distinguishes from certain "other" intended hidden files, such as a file with a name with high ascii characters (eg, "?ëï¨?").

DOS = Disk Operating System
MSIE = Microsoft Internet Explorer
TIF = Temporary Internet Files (folder)
HD = Hard Drive
OS = Operating System


2. WHY SHOULD I ERASE THESE FILES?

Just from one of these files I would be able to tell you which web sites you previously visited, what types of things you search for in search engines, and probably gather your ethnicity, religion, and sexual preference. Needless to say, one can build quite a profile on you from these files. It has the potential to expose and humiliate -- putting your marriage, friendship, and
corporation at risk. Here's one good example of the forensic capabilities...


"I've been reading your article as I have a problem with an employee of mine. He has been using the works pc for the internet and using it to chat and look at porn sites. He was then deleting the cookies and history in order to cover his tracks. A friend of mine pointed me in the direction of this site and your article. I have found it to be incredibly useful,..."

--Concerned Boss, 8/24/01

3. HOW TO ERASE THE FILES ASAP

Step by step information on how to erase these files as soon as possible. This section is recommended for the non-savvy. Further explanation can be found in Section 4.0. Please note that following these next steps will erase all your cache files and cookies files. If you use the offline content feature with MSIE, it will remove this as well. It will not erase your bookmarks.


3.1. IF YOU OWN A COPY OF MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER

1) Shut your computer down, and turn it back on.
2) While your computer is booting keep pressing the [F8] key until you are
given an option screen.
3) Choose "Command Prompt Only" This will take you to real DOS mode. ME
users must use a bootdisk to get into real DOS mode.
4) When your computer is done booting, you will have a C:\> followed by a
blinking cursor. Type in this hitting enter after each line (sans
parenthesis):

C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV (Loads smartdrive to speed things up.)
CD\
DELTREE/Y TEMP (this line removes temporary files.)
CD WINDOWS
DELTREE/Y COOKIES (This line removes cookies.)
DELTREE/Y TEMP (This removes temporary files.)
DELTREE/Y HISTORY (This line removes your browsing history.)
DELTREE/Y TEMPOR~1

(If this last line doesn't work then type this:)

CD\WINDOWS\APPLIC~1
DELTREE/Y TEMPOR~1

(If this doesn't work then type this:)

CD\WINDOWS\LOCALS~1
DELTREE/Y TEMPOR~1

(If this still does not work, and you are sure you are using MSIE5.x, then please e-mail me. Finding the location of these may be difficult and I'd certainly like to know where else MSIE likes to hide its cache. I believe older versions of MSIE keep them under "\windows\content\".)

This last one will take a ridiculous amount of time to process. The reason it takes so incredibly long is because there is a ton of semi-useless cache stored on your HD.

3.2. CLEARING YOUR REGISTRY

It was once believed that the registry is the central database of Windows that stores and maintains the OS configuration information. Well, this is wrong. Apparently it also maintains a bunch of other doo-dah that has absolutely nothing to do with the configuration. I won't get into the other stuff, but for one, your Typed URLs are stored in the registry.

HKEY_USERS/Default/Software/Microsoft/Internet Explorer/TypedURLs/
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Internet Explorer/TypedURLs/

These "Typed URLs" come from MSIE's autocomplete feature. It records all URLs that you've typed in manually in order to save you some time filling out the address field. By typing "ama" the autocomplete feature might bring up "amazon.com" for you. Although, I find it annoying, some people prefer this feature. One thing is for sure, however -- it's an obvious privacy risk. You wouldn't want a guest to type "ama" and have it autocomplete "amaturemudwrestlers.com" now would you?

You can clear your Typed URLs out of your registry by doing going to Tools > Internet Options > Content > [AutoComplete] > and finally [Clear Forms] under MSIE. If you do not like the AutoComplete feature then uncheck the appropriate boxes here.


3.3. IF YOU HAVE OUTLOOK OR OUTLOOK EXPRESS INSTALLED

Microsoft's e-mail clients DO NOT delete your messages until a) you really know how, and B) you go through the redundant process. And besides this, there's the glaring e-mail virus problems (in which virtually all other e-mail client's are immune to.) This, alone, should be enough to want to strangle Slick Willy -- as I like to call him.

My suggestion?

1) Install another e-mail program like Eudora or Pegasus Mail. Make sure
everything is setup correctly. (www.eudora.com / www.pmail.com)
2) Backup any e-mail and address books that you wish to save by making use of
the export/import features.
3) Uninstall Outlook.

Warning: Simply uninstalling Outlook does not erase any of your e-mail correspondence. The database files are still there on your hard drive. To find them open up a DOS window and type this:

dir *.mbx /s/p
The files you are looking for are:

INBOX.MBX
OUTBOX.MBX
SENTIT~1.MBX
DELETE~1.MBX
DRAFTS.MBX

If these files come up they should be listed in either of these folders:

C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook Express\Mail\
C:\Program Files\internet mail and news\%USER%\mail\

Now type either of the following (depending on the location of your .mbx
files...)

*Remember, this will erase all your e-mail correspondence so backup what you want to keep. By now you should have already imported your mail into Eudora, or Pegasus Mail.

CD\WINDOWS\APPLIC~1\MICROS~1\OUTLOO~1
DELTREE/Y MAIL

or

CD\PROGRA~1\INTERN~1\%USER%

(replace "%user%" with the proper name.)

DELTREE/Y MAIL

If you have newer versions of Outlook or Outlook Express the databases are *.dbx, or *.pst files. Five times as creepy as the *.mbx files. I recommend that you take a look at them yourself.)

3.4. SLACK FILES

As you may already know, deleting files only deletes the references to them. They are in fact still sitting there on your HD and can still be recovered by a very motivated person.

- BCWipe is a nice program that will clear these files. (www.bcwipe.com).
- For you DOS buffs, there's a freeware file wiper on simtel.net that I use.
(www.simtel.net/pub/dl/45631.shtml).
- If you are using PGP then there is a "Freespace Wipe" option under PGPtools.
- The latest version of Norton Utilities has a nice filewiping utility.
- You might want to check out Evidence Eliminator's 30 day trial. This is
probably the best program as far as your privacy goes.
(www.evidence-eliminator.com)


3.5. KEEPING MICROSOFT'S PRODUCTS

If you insist on using Microsoft Internet Explorer then I strongly recommend that you check out at least one of these programs:

- PurgeIE (www.aandrc.com/purgeie)
- Cache and Cookie Cleaner for IE (www.webroot.com/washie.htm)
- Anonymizer Window Washer (www.anonymizer.com/anonwash)

Other programs that claim to clear your history don't seem to work, although I haven't run any tests in a while.

And if you insist on using Outlook or Outlook Express then you should get in the habit of compacting your mailboxes.

You can do this by going to File > Folder > Compact All if you have Outlook Express.

or

Tools > Options > Other tab > [Auto Archive] if you have Outlook. Make sure to set things up here.

4. STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE THROUGH YOUR HIDDEN FILES

This next section is for those of you who are more interested in learning the ins and outs of your computer. This section is intended for the savvy user.

The most important files to be paying attention to are your "index.dat" files. These are database files that reference your history, cache and cookies. The first thing you should know is that the index.dat files is that they don't exist in less you know they do. They second thing you should know about them is that some will *not* get cleared after deleting your history and cache.

The result:

A log of your browsing history hidden away on your computer after you thought you cleared it.

To view these files, follow these steps:

In MSIE 5.x, you can skip this first step by opening MSIE and going to Tools > Internet Options > [Settings] > [View Files]. Now write down the names of your alphanumeric folders on a peice of paper. If you can't see any alphanumeric folder names then start with step 1 here:

1) First, drop to a DOS box and type this at prompt (in all lower-case) to bring up Windows Explorer under the correct directory...

c:\windows\explorer /e,c:\windows\tempor~1\content.ie5\

You see all those alphanumeric names listed under "content.ie5?" (left-hand side.) That's Microsoft's idea of making this project as hard as possible. Actually, these are your alphanumeric folders that was created to keep your cache. Write these names down on a peice of paper. (They should look something like this: 6YQ2GSWF, QRM7KL3F, U7YHQKI4, 7YMZ516U, etc...) If you
click on any of the alphanumeric folders then nothing will be displayed. Not because there aren't any files here, but because Windows Explorer has lied to you. If you want to view the contents of these alphanumeric folders you will have to do so in DOS. (Actually, this is not always true. *Sometimes* Windows Explorer will display the contents of the alphanumeric folders -- but
mostly it won't. I can't explain this.)

2) Then you must restart in MS-DOS mode. (Start > Shutdown > Restart in MS-DOS mode. ME users use a bootdisk.)

Note that you must restart to DOS because windows has locked down some of the files and they can only be accessed in real DOS mode.

3) Type this in at prompt:

CD\WINDOWS\TEMPOR~1\CONTENT.IE5
CD %alphanumeric%
(replace the "%alphanumeric%" with the first name that you just wrote down.)

DIR/P

The cache files you are now looking at are directly responsible for the mysterious erosion of HD space you may have been noticing. One thing particularly interesting is the ability to view some your old e-mail if you happen to have a hotmail account. (Oddly, I've only been able to retreive
hotmail e-mail, and not e-mail from my other web-based e-mail accounts. Send me your experiences with this.) To see them for yourself you must first copy them into another directory and then open them with your browser. Don't ask me why this works.

A note about these files: These are your cache files that help speed up your internet browsing. It is quite normal to use this cache system, as every major browser does. On the other hand. It isn't normal for some cache files to be left behined after you have instructed your browser to erase it.

5) Type this in:

CD\WINDOWS\TEMPOR~1\CONTENT.IE5
EDIT /75 INDEX.DAT

You will be brought to a blue screen with a bunch of binary.

6) Press and hold the [Page Down] button until you start seeing lists of URLs. These are all the sites that you've ever visited as well as a brief description of each. You'll notice it records everything you've searched for in a search engine in plain text, in addition to the URL.

7) When you get done searching around you can go to File > Exit.

8) Next you'll probably want to erase these files by typing this:

C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV
CD\WINDOWS
DELTREE/Y TEMPOR~1

(replace "cd\windows" with the location of your TIF folder if different.)

This will take a seriously long time to process. Even with smartdrive loaded.

9) Then check out the contents of your History folder by typing this:

CD\WINDOWS\HISTORY\HISTORY.IE5
EDIT /75 INDEX.DAT

You will be brought to a blue screen with more binary.

10) Press and hold the [Page Down] button until you start seeing lists of URLS
again.

This is another database of the sites you've visited.

11) And if you're still with me type this:

CD\WINDOWS\HISTORY

12) If you see any mmXXXX.dat files here, then check them out (and delete
them.) Then...

CD\WINDOWS\HISTORY\HISTORY.IE5
CD MSHIST~1
EDIT /75 INDEX.DAT

More URLs from your internet history. Note, there are probably other mshist~x
folders here.

3) You can repeat these steps for every occurrence of a mshist~x folder.

4) By now you'll probably want to type in this:

CD\WINDOWS
DELTREE/Y HISTORY

This is about it as far as I know. You may also want to take a look at your *.mbx files if you own Outlook. (dir *.mbx/s) All your e-mail correspondence and file attachments are located within these database files. More detailed information is covered in the next section.


5. A LOOK AT OUTLOOK EXPRESS

Would you think twice about what you said if you knew it was being recorded? E-mail correspondence leaves a permanent record of everything you've said -- even after you've told Outlook Express to erase it. You are given a false sense of security sense you've erased it twice, so surely it must be gone. The first time Outlook simply moves it to your "Deleted Items" folder. The second time you erase it Outlook simply "pretends" it is gone. The truth is your messages are still being retained in the database files on your hard drive. (Same with your e-mail attachments.)

For earlier versions of Outlook Express, they will be located in either of the following folder:

c:\program files\internet mail and news\%user%\mail\*.mbx

(replace %user% with the name you use.)

or if your lucky, it will be located here:

c:\windows\application data\microsoft\outlook\mail\*.mbx

At this point you have two choices.

a) Get in the habit of compacting your folders all the time. B) Import the data into another e-mail client such as Pegasus Mail or Eudora and then delete the mbx files (and thus all your e-mail correspondence) by typing this:

cd\windows\intern~1\%user%\mail
deltree/y mail

or

cd\windows\applic~1\micros~1\outloo~1\
deltree/y mail

*Typing in the above commands will kill all your e-mail correspondence. Do not follow those steps in less you have already exported your e-mail and
address book!

6. HOW MICROSOFT DOES IT

TIP: Study this section if you would like to learn how to obscure your files using Windows' own built-in mechanisms.

How does Microsoft make these folders/files invisible to DOS?

The only thing Microsoft had to do to make the folders/files invisible to a directory listing is to set them +s[ystem]. That's it. As soon as the dir/s command hits a system folder, it renders the command useless (unlike normal folders.) A more detailed explanation is given in Section 7.

So how does Microsoft make these folders/files invisible to Windows Explorer?

The "desktop.ini" is a standard text file that can be added to any folder to customize certain aspects of the folder's behavior. In these cases, Microsoft utilized the desktop.ini file to make these files invisible. Invisible to Windows Explorer and even to the "Find: Files or Folders" utility (so you wouldn't be able to perform searches in these folders!) All that Microsoft had to do was create a desktop.ini file with certain CLSID tags and the folders would disappear like magic.

To show you exactly what's going on:

Found in the c:\windows\temporary internet files\desktop.ini and the c:\windows\temporary internet files\content.ie5\desktop.ini contains this text:

[.ShellClassInfo]
UICLSID={7BD29E00-76C1-11CF-9DD0-00A0C9034933}

Found in the c:\windows\history\desktop.ini and the
c:\windows\history\history.ie5\desktop.ini contains this text:

[.ShellClassInfo]
UICLSID={7BD29E00-76C1-11CF-9DD0-00A0C9034933}
CLSID={FF393560-C2A7-11CF-BFF4-444553540000}

The UICLSID line cloaks the folder in Windows Explorer. The CLSID line disables the "Find" utility from searching through the folder. (Additionally, it gives a folder the appearance of the "History" folder.)

To see for yourself, you can simply erase the desktop.ini files. You'll see that it will instantly give Windows Explorer proper viewing functionality again, and the "Find" utility proper searching capabilities again. Problem solved right? Actually, no. As it turns out, the desktop.ini files get
reconstructed every single time you restart your computer. Nice one, Slick.

Luckily there is a workaround which will keep Windows from hiding these folders. You can manually edit the desktop.ini's and remove everything except for the "[.ShellClassInfo]" line. This will trick windows into thinking they have still covered their tracks, and wininet won't think to reconstruct them.

I can't stress how rediculous it is that Windows actually makes sure the files are hidden and in place on every single boot. No other files or folders get this kind of special treatment. What's the agenda, here?


7. +S MEANS [S]ECRET NOT [S]YSTEM

Executing the "dir/a/s" command from root *should* be the correct command to display all files in all subdirectories in DOS. However, doing so will not display the index.dat files. This is because when DOS tries to get a list of the subdirectories of any +s[ystem] folder it hits a brick wall. No files or folders will be listed within any system folder. Not only does this defeat the whole purpose of the "/s" switch in the first place, but I'd say it looks like Microsoft took extra precautions to keep people from finding the files. Remember. The only thing you need to do to obscure a file in DOS is to mark the parent directory +s[ystem].

I was told by a few people that this was due to a very old DOS bug that dates back many years. Fine. I can accept that. A bug it is.

But, would you consider your Temporary Internet Files to be "system files?" It would seem that your TIF folder appears to be marked +s[ystem] for no good reason at all. Just because. Same with your history folder. Just because. You may not agree, but I tend to think that Microsoft marked the folders as +s[ystem] solely to hide any directory recursal from DOS.

In case you didn't understand, here's a small experiment that will show you what I mean...

Since the content.ie5 and history.ie5 subfolders are both located within a +s[ystem] folder, we will run the experiment with them. The proper command to locate them *should* be this:

CD\
DIR *.IE5 /as/s

The problem is that you will receive a "No files found" error message.

Since we already know there is a content.ie5 subfolder located here, why is it giving me the "no files found" message?

But there is a way to get around this brick wall. That is, once you are inside the system directory, then it no longer has an effect on the dir listings. For example, if you enter the system folder first, and THEN try to find any +s[ystem] directories you can see them just fine:

CD\WINDOWS\TEMPOR~1
DIR *.IE5 /as/s

1 folder(s) found.

Now you will get a "1 folder(s) found." message. (But only after you knew the exact location.)

In other words, if you didn't know the files existed then finding them would be almost impossible.

And, by the way. To see the "bug" in progress...

CD\
DIR *.IE5 /as/s

It will echo "no files found."

Now, just take away the system attributes from the parent directory...

CD\WINDOWS
ATTRIB -S TEMPOR~1

And retry the test...

CD\
DIR *.IE5 /as/s

It will echo "1 folder(s) found."

8. THE TRUTH ABOUT FIND FAST

Have you ever wondered what that "Find Fast" program was under your control panel? Here's a hint: It has NOTHING to do with the "Find: Files or Folders" utility located under the [Start] menu. Up until last month I honestly thought it was completely useless, but it was finally adequately explained to me...

"In any version of Word after 95, choose File Open and you'll get the Office App Open dialog. Instead of just a space for the file name, there are text boxes for file name, files of type, text or property & last modified. These are search criteria you can use to find one or more files. There is also an "Advanced" button that opens a dedicated search dialog with more options. When you use either of these dialogs to perform a search, that search process uses the indexes built by Find Fast."

--Oblivion

That sure answered a lot. Now instead of a "completely useless resource hog," I realize Find Fast actually does serve some purpose.

But what would you say if I told you that Find Fast was scanning every single file on your hard drive? Did you know that in Office 95, the Find Fast Indexer had an "exclusion list" comprised of .exe, .swp, .dll and other extensions, but the feature was eliminated? If you were a programmer would you program Find Fast to index every single file, or just the ones with Office extensions?

FYI: If you have ever had problems with scandisk or defrag restarting due to disk writes, it is because Find Fast was indexing your hard drive in the background. It loads every time you start your computer up.

Now here is a good example of the lengths Microsoft has gone through to keep people from finding out Find Fast is constantly scanning and indexing their hard drives. (Always good to have an alibi.) Here's a snippet taken from microsoft.com:

"When you specify the type of documents to index in the Create Index dialog box, Find Fast includes the document types that are listed in the following
table.

Document type File name extension
------------- -------------------

MS Office and Web Documents All the Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft
Project, and Microsoft Word document types listed in this table. Microsoft Binder
(.odb, .obt) and Microsoft Access (.mdb) files. Note that in .mdb files, only document properties are indexed.

Word documents .doc (document), .dot (template), .ht* (Hypertext Markup Language document), .txt (text file), .rtf (Rich Text Format) files, Excel workbooks .xl* files

PowerPoint .ppt (presentation), .pot (template), .pps (auto-running presentation) files

Microsoft Project files .mpp, .mpw, .mpt, .mpx, .mpd files

All files *.* files"


Did you get that last part? "All files?" Find Fast indexes Office Documents, Web documents, Word Documents, Power Point files, Project files, and (oh I forgot) EVERY SINGLE other file on your computer.

Actually, the good news is that this isn't neccessarily true. In another statement, Microsoft claims that if Find Fast deems the file "unreadable" then the file will not be included in the index. For example, your command.com probably wouldn't get indexed because it doesn't have a lot of plain text -- mostly binary.

But, back to the bad news. Every single file that has legible text is going to be included in the Find Fast database. Do you understand the implication here? Well, if you don't, then maybe you should check out those Find Fast database files -- because acording to Microsoft, ALL TEXT SAVED TO YOUR HARD DRIVE IS INDEXED. Do you see the forensic capabilities now? And don't forget "all text" also means previously visited webpages from your cache. See for
yourself...

1) Open up a DOS window and type...
2) CD\
3) DIR FF*.* /AH (This will bring up a list of the find fast databases.)
4) EDIT /75 %ff% (insert %ff% with any of the names that were listed.)

Notice the incredible amount of disk accesses to your cache and history
folders? Why do we need two indexes?


8.1. REMOVING THE FIND FAST PROGRAM

You can remove Find Fast using your Office CD, but I recommend you do it
manually...

1) Reboot your computer in MS-DOS Mode.
2) Delete the findfast.cpl file from c:\windows\system\
3) Delete the shortcut (.lnk) under c:\windows\start menu\programs\startup\
4) Delete the findfast.exe file from c:\progra~1\micros~1\office\
5) Delete the find fast databases in your root, by typing this:

cd\
deltree ff*.*

6) You can also safely delete FFNT.exe, FFSetup.dll, FFService.dll, and
FFast_bb.dll if you have them.

Feel free to check out the ffastlog.txt (which is the Find Fast error log).
It's a +h[idden] file under c:\windows\system\.

9. CONTACT INFO AND PGP BLOCKS

This tutorial is being updated all the time. If you have any useful input, or if you see a mistake somewhere, then please e-mail me so I can compile it into future versions. You will be able to find the most recent version of thistutorial at fuckmicrosoft.com

My e-mail address is located at the end of this note. Please let me know where you heard about this tutorial in your message. If you have something important to say to me, then please use encryption. My public key blocks are located below.

Thanks for reading,

-- The Riddler
Contact: theriddler@fuckmicrosoft.com

My PGP 2.6.2 Block:

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: 2.6.2

mQCNAzu4wRAAAAEEAJnvaDDA9PydmZnnAmo80XZL57OycoCndppYyMv6CBMh+U35
NYtOxFfQiH8JhUN8uF3FgGBxckG0vBJ+RsYBIBXaP/JdxLX4qQnTsByyPEkoIomW
QCDfWXBMbFXxEKc1mrVTRmXpANpIjsj557qzW7dXxuvd5/E/bhviYkNfEe49AAUR
tAt0aGUgcmlkZGxlcg==
=B7ib
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

My GPG 1.0.6 Block:

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: GnuPG v1.0.6 (MingW32)
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=pFTK
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----


9.1. RECOMMENDED READING

And if you aren't already paranoid enough here's some sites/articles that I
definitely recommend:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/18002.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/18002.html
http://www.findarticles.com/m0CGN/3741/55695355/p1/article.jhtml
http://www.findarticles.com/m0CGN/3741/556...1/article.jhtml
http://www.mobtown.org/news/archive/msg00492.html
http://www.mobtown.org/news/archive/msg00492.html
http://194.159.40.109/05069801.htm
http://194.159.40.109/05069801.htm
http://www.yarbles.demon.co.uk/mssniff.html
http://www.yarbles.demon.co.uk/mssniff.html
http://www.macintouch.com/o98security.html
http://www.macintouch.com/o98security.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/3079.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/3079.html
http://www.fsm.nl/ward/
http://www.fsm.nl/ward/
http://slashdot.org
http://slashdot.org
http://www.peacefire.org
http://www.peacefire.org
http://stopcarnivore.org
http://stopcarnivore.org
http://nomorefakenews.com
http://nomorefakenews.com
http://grc.com/steve.htm#project-x
http://grc.com/steve.htm#project-x

10. SPECIAL THANKS (and no thanks)

This version I want to give special thanks to Concerned Boss, Oblivion, and
the F-Prot virus scanner.

I also want to take this time to show my dissatisfaction to the New Zealand
Herald. Although partly flattering, it was more disgusting to see a
well-known newspaper try to take credit for my work.

11. REFERENCES

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q137/1/13.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/ar...s/Q137/1/13.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q136/3/86.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/ar...s/Q136/3/86.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q169/5/31.ASP
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/ar...s/Q169/5/31.ASP
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q141/0/12.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/ar...s/Q141/0/12.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q205/2/89.ASP
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/ar...s/Q205/2/89.ASP
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q166/3/02.ASP
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/ar...s/Q166/3/02.ASP
http://www.insecure.org/sploits/Internet.explorer.web.usage.logs.html
http://www.insecure.org/sploits/Internet.e...usage.logs.html
http://www.parascope.com/cgi-bin/psforum.pl/topic=matrix&disc=514&mmark=all
http://www.parascope.com/cgi-bin/psforum.p...c=514&mmark=all
http://www.hackers.com/bulletin/
http://www.hackers.com/bulletin/
http://slashdot.org/articles/00/05/11/173257.shtml
http://slashdot.org/articles/00/05/11/173257.shtml
http://peacefire.org
http://peacefire.org

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

This article has been under the protection of copyright laws the moment it was fixed in a tangible form. In less otherwise agreed, this article may ony be distributed as a whole and without modification. Thank you.

Cant See Secure Sites

Fix the problem with seeing them secrue sites (banks or online stores) i found this very usefull to me at my work (isp backbone support lol, at the time i was regular support )

Any way... what u need to do is make a new notepad file and write in it the followng DLL's.. just copy-paste these
regsvr32 SOFTPUB.DLL
regsvr32 WINTRUST.DLL
regsvr32 INITPKI.DLL
regsvr32 dssenh.dll
regsvr32 Rsaenh.dll
regsvr32 gpkcsp.dll
regsvr32 sccbase.dll
regsvr32 slbcsp.dll
regsvr32 Cryptdlg.dll

and save it as > all file types, and make it something like securefix.bat.

then just run the file and ur problem shuld be gone.

Broken Ie, How to fix it

So one of your friends, “not you of course”, has managed to nuke Internet Explorer and they are unsure how they did it. You’ve eliminated the possibility of viruses and adware, so this just leaves you and a broken IE. Before you begin to even consider running a repair install of the OS, let’s try to do a repair on IE instead.

THE REPAIR PROCESS

Start the Registry Editor by typing regedit from the Run box. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Active Setup \ Installed Components \ {89820200-ECBD-11cf-8B85-00AA005B4383} and then right-click the “IsInstalled value.” Click Modify. From there, you will change the value from 1 to 0. All right, go ahead and close the editor and reinstall IE from this location. /http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx


IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG

If messing with the registry and something goes horribly wrong, you can use “Last Known Good Configuration (F8 Safe Mode)” or a Restore Point to get back to where you were before, with your settings. Then you can try again, this time taking care to watch the portion of the registry you are changing. Most people who have troubles with this end up changing the wrong registry key.

Hope this tut helps some members.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Choosing A Good Domain Name, ya..good name is important!

Another good tip for successful web experience..

Choosing A Good Domain Name

Choosing a domain name for your site is one of the most important steps towards creating the perfect internet presence. If you run an on-line business, picking a name that will be marketable and achieve success in search engine placement is paramount. Many factors must be considered when choosing a good domain name. This article summarizes all the different things to consider before making that final registration step!

Short and Sweet

Domain names can be really long or really short (1 - 67 characters). In general, it is far better to choose a domain name that is short in length. The shorter your domain name, the easier it will be for people remember. Remembering a domain name is very important from a marketability perspective. As visitors reach your site and enjoy using it, they will likely tell people about it.

And those people may tell others, etc. As with any business, word of mouth is the most powerful marketing tool to drive traffic to your site (and it's free too!). If your site is long and difficult to pronounce, people will not remember the name of the site and unless they bookmark the link, they may never return.

Consider Alternatives

Unless a visitor reaches your site through a bookmark or a link from another site, they have typed in your domain name. Most people on the internet are terrible typists and misspell words constantly. If your domain name is easy to misspell, you should think about alternate domain names to purchase. For example, if your site will be called "MikesTools.com", you should also consider buying "MikeTools.com" and "MikeTool.com".

You should also secure the different top level domain names besides the one you will use for marketing purposes ("MikesTools.net", "MikesTools.org", etc.) You should also check to see if there are existing sites based on the misspelled version of the domain name you are considering. "MikesTools.com" may be available, but "MikesTool.com" may be home to a graphic pornography site. You would hate for a visitor to walk away thinking you were hosting something they did not expect.

Also consider domain names that may not include the name of your company, but rather what your company provides. For example, if the name of your company is Mike's Tools, you may want to consider domain names that target what you sell. For example: "buyhammers.com" or "hammer-and-nail.com". Even though these example alternative domain names do not include the name of your company, it provides an avenue for visitors from your target markets. Remember that you can own multiple domain names, all of which can point to a single domain. For example, you could register "buyhammers.com", "hammer-and-nail.com", and "mikestools.com" and have "buyhammers.com" and "hammer-and-nail.com" point to "mikestools.com".

Hyphens: Your Friend and Enemy

Domain name availability has become more and more scant over the years. Many single word domain names have been scooped up which it makes it more and more difficult to find a domain name that you like and is available. When selecting a domain name, you have the option of including hyphens as part of the name. Hyphens help because it allows you to clearly separate multiple words in a domain name, making it less likely that a person will accidentally misspell the name. For example, people are more likely to misspell "domainnamecenter.com" than they are "domain-name-center.com".

Having words crunched together makes it hard on the eyes, increasing the likelihood of a misspelling. On the other hand, hyphens make your domain name longer. The longer the domain name, the easier it is for people to forget it altogether. Also, if someone recommends a site to someone else, they may forget to mention that each word in the domain name is separated by a hyphen. If do you choose to leverage hyphens, limit the number of words between the hyphens to three. Another advantage to using hyphens is that search engines are able to pick up each unique word in the domain name as key words, thus helping to make your site more visible in search engine results.

Dot What?

There are many top level domain names available today including .com, .net, .org, and .biz. In most cases, the more unusual the top level domain, the more available domain names are available. However, the .com top level domain is far and away the most commonly used domain on the internet, driven by the fact that it was the first domain extension put to use commercially and has received incredible media attention. If you cannot lay your hands on a .com domain name, look for a .net domain name, which is the second most commercially popular domain name extension.

Long Arm of the Law

Be very careful not to register domain names that include trademarked names. Although internet domain name law disputes are tricky and have few cases in existence, the risk of a legal battle is not a risk worth taking. Even if you believe your domain name is untouchable by a business that has trademarked a name, do not take the chance: the cost of litigation is extremely high and unless you have deep pockets you will not likely have the resources to defend yourself in a court of law. Even stay away from domain names in which part of the name is trademarked: the risks are the same.

Search Engines and Directories

All search engines and directories are different. Each has a unique process for being part of the results or directory listing and each has a different way of sorting and listing domain names. Search engines and directories are the most important on-line marketing channel, so consider how your domain name choice affects site placement before you register the domain. Most directories simply list links to home pages in alphabetical order.

If possible, choose a domain name with a letter of the alphabet near the beginning ("a" or "b"). For example, "aardvark-pest-control.com" will come way above "joes-pest-control.com". However, check the directories before you choose a domain name. You may find that the directories you would like be in are already cluttered with domain names beginning with the letter "a". Search engines scan websites and sort results based on key words. Key words are words that a person visiting a search engine actually search on. Having key words as part of your domain name can help you get better results.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Tips And Tricks, Windows XP

Some Tips And Tricks For Your Windows XP

STOP NOISE IN COPYING AUDIO CD
When using 3rd party burning software (eg, Nero Burning Rom) to copy audio CD,some noise may be heard at the end of each track. To prevent this,try the following method:

1. Enter System Properties\device manager
2. Select IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers
3. Double click on thee CD writer IDE channel
4. Select advance setting
5. Change the transfer mode to 'PIO Only'
6. Restart Computer

DISABLING THE 'UNSIGNED DRIVER' DIALOGS
This option wll disable the screen wich keeps popping up when you try to install 'digitally unsigned drivers'. Normally you can choose to continue the install anyways, but I have had situations where you cannot continue the install.. very annoying.. This is how to fix it:
Click Start - Run
then type: gpedit.msc
then hit enter.
Browse the folder tree to the following location:
User Configuration - Administrative Templates - System
now right-click Code signing for Device drivers and select Properties.
On the Settings tab, either select
- enable, and then select ignore from the appearing listbox..
- or click the disable option. Click apply and Ok and your set!
Alternatively especially for XP Home users:
Open "System" properties (Windows key + pause or Right click 'My Computer' - properties or Control Panel - System).On the Hardware tab click the "Driver Signing" button. In the dialogue that comes up choose "Ignore" to install the new driver anyway.

DMA MODE ON IDE DEVICES VIEWS
Just like Windows 2000, Windows XP still fails to set the DMA mode correctly for the IDE device designated as the slaves on the primary IDE and secondary IDE channels. Most CD-ROMS are capable of supporting DMA mode, but the default in XP is still PIO. Setting it to DMA won't make your CD-ROM faster, but it will consume less CPU cycles. Here's how:
1. Open the Device Manager. One way to do that is to right click on "My Computer", select the Hardware tab, and Select Device Manager.
2. Expand "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" and double-click on "Primary IDE Channel"
3. Under the "Advanced Settings" tab, check the "Device 1" setting. More than likely, your current transfer mode is set to PIO.
4. Set it to "DMA if available".
Repeat the step for the "Secondary IDE Channel" if you have devices attached to it. Reboot.

RESTORING MEDIA PLAYER
To restore Windows Media Player insert the the XP CD into the CD drive (if it autostarts click exit). Open a command window and type the following :
rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection InstallWMP7 132 c:\windows\inf\wmp.inf

RESTORING ACCESS TO CD ROM'S
If you removed CD Burning software, or for some other mystical reason, can not longer access your CD ROM's, in most cases following registry keys needs to be deleted: Locate and delete the UpperFilters and LowerFilters values under the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}


DELETING THE INDEX.DAT
Del "C:\Documents and Settings\aeon\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat"


CONTROL PANEL ON THE DESKTOP.
On The Desktop, Right Click Your Mouse Then Choose "New | Folder". Name The Folder As "ControlPanel. {21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" Without The "Quote Things. And Now You Can Access The Control Panel More Faster Then Before.

CHANGING INTERNET EXPLORER ICON NAME.
Open Registry Editor Then Go To : "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID". You Can See A Few Key Below It.


Now Go To This Key {871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}, Double Click At The Default Value On The Right, Enter Whatever Name You Like.

REMOVING USERNAME IN THE STARTMENU
Open Registry Editor Then Go To : "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer".

On The Right, Make A New Entry With Right Click On Your Mouse Then Choose "New | DWORD Value" Change The Entry's Name Into "NoUserNameInStartMenu", Double Click In The New Entry And Fill The "Value Data" With "1". Press OK, Exit From The Registry Editor. Restart Your Computer.

INTERNET EXPLORER LIGHTING-FAST STARTUP.
Isn't it annoying when you want to go to a new website, or any other site but your homepage, and you have to wait for your 'home' to load? This tweak tells Internet Explorer to simply 'run', without loading any webpages. (If you use a 'blank' page, that is still a page, and slows access. Notice the 'about:blank' in the address bar. The blank html page must still be loaded..). To load IE with 'nothing' [nothing is different than blank]:
1. Right-click on any shortcut you have to IE
[You should create a shortcut out of your desktop IE icon, and delete the original icon]
2. Click Properties
3. Add ' -nohome' [with a space before the dash] after the endquotes in the Target field.
4. Click OK
Fire up IE from your modified shortcut, and be amazed by how fast you are able to use IE!

INTERNET EXPLORER SPEED UP.
Edit your link to start Internet Explorer to have -nohome after it. For Example: "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" -nohome
This will load internet explorer very fast because it does not load a webpage while it is loading. If you want to go to your homepage after it is loaded, just click on the home button.

SPEED UP BROWSING WITH DNS CATCH.
when you connect to a web site your computer sends information back and forth, this is obvious. Some of this information deals with resolving the site name to an IP address, the stuff that tcp/ip really deals with, not words. This is DNS information and is used so that you will not need to ask for the site location each and every time you visit the site. Although WinXP and win2000 has a pretty efficient DNS cache, you can increase its overall performance by increasing its size. You can do this with the registry entries below:
************begin copy and paste***********
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters]
"CacheHashTableBucketSize"=dword:00000001
"CacheHashTableSize"=dword:00000180
"MaxCacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000fa00
"MaxSOACacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000012d

************end copy and paste***********
make a new text file and rename it to dnscache.reg. Then copy and paste the above into it and save it. Then merge it into the registry.

START IEXPLORER WITH EMPTY BLUE SCREEN.
Set your default page to about:mozilla and IE will show a nice blue screen upon startup.

SPEED UP DETAILED VIEW IN WINDOWS EXPLORER.
If you like to view your files in Windows Explorer using the "Details" view here is a tweak to speed up the listing of file attributes: Viewing files in Windows Explorer using the "Details" mode shows various attributes associated with each file shown. Some of these must be retrieved from the individual files when you click on the directory for viewing. For a directory with numerous and relatively large files (such as a folder in which one stores media, eg: *.mp3's, *.avi's etc.)

Windows Explorer lags as it reads through each one. Here's how to disable viewing of unwanted attributes and speed up file browsing:
1. Open Windows Explorer
2. Navigate to the folder which you wish to optimize.
3. In "Details" mode right click the bar at the top which displays the names of the attribute columns.
4. Uncheck any that are unwanted/unneeded.
Explorer will apply your preferences immediately, and longs lists of unnecessary attributes will not be displayed. Likewise, one may choose to display any information which is regarded as needed, getting more out of Explorer.


WEB PAGES SLOWS DOWN, FIX.
The tweak is simple. Beside the QoS and others around the Internet for the new XP OS, I found out that native drivers sometimes slow you down (cable and xDSL users). So if you have applied all tweaks and you are still having slow downs try reinstalling your NICs drivers. The difference is noticeable. My web pages now load almost instantly where they used to take even a minute!

FIX IE 6 SLOWDOWNS AND HANGS.
1. Open a command prompt window on the desktop (Start/Run/command).
2. Exit IE and Windows Explorer (iexplore.exe and explorer.exe, respectively, in Task Manager, i.e - Ctrl-Alt-Del/Task Manager/Processes/End Process for each).
3. Use the following command exactly from your command prompt window to delete the corrupt file:
C:\>del "%systemdrive%\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local
Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat"
4. Restart Windows Explorer with Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Del/Task Manager/Applications/New Task/Browse/C:\Windows\explorer.exe[or your path]) or Shutdown/Restart the computer from Task Manager.


SPEED UP WEB BROWSING.
Iv'e personally found a dramatic increase in web browsing after clearing the Windows XP DNS cache. To clear it type the following in a command prompt: ipconfig /flushdns.

ALLOW MORE THAN 2 SIMULTANEOUS DOWNLOADS ON IEXPLORER 6.
This is to increase the the number of max downloads to 10.
1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
2. Locate the following key in the registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings
3. On the Edit menu, click Add Value , and then add the following registry values:
"MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server"=Dword:0000000a
"MaxConnectionsPerServer"=Dword:0000000a
4. Quit Registry Editor.


IPV6 INSTALLATION FOR WINDOWS XP.
This protocol is distined to replace the Internet Protocal Version 4 used by Internet Explorer it uses hexadecimal ip addresses instead of decimal example (decimal ip 62.98.231.67) (hexadecimal IP 2001:6b8:0:400::70c)
To install To install the IPv6 Protocol for Windows XP:
Log on to the computer running Windows XP with a user account that has local administrator privileges. Open a command prompt. From the Windows XP desktop, click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt. At the command prompt, type: ipv6 install
For more information on IPv6, visit the site below:
CODE
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/techinfo/administration/ipv6/default.asp


ANOTHER WAY TO FIX IEXPLORER 6 SLOW PAGES LOADED.
Here's an easier way to get to index.dat file as addresse in another tweak submitted here.
1. click on Internet Explorer
2. go to to your root dir (usually C:)
3. open Documents and Settings folder
4. open "your username folder"
5. open UserData
6. **close IE if you have it open**

rename index.dat to index.old
logoff and log back on (don't need to restart) open up IE and go to a web page or site that always seemed to load slowly. It should load a lot more quickly now. NOTE. Always rename or backup .dat or other system files before deleting.

EASY WAY TO ADD THE ADMINISTRATOR USER TO THE WELCOME SCREEN.
Start the Registry Editor Go to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon \ SpecialAccounts \ UserList \

Right-click an empty space in the right pane and select New > DWORD Value Name the new value Administrator. Double-click this new value, and enter 1 as it's Value data. Close the registry editor and restart.

DRIVE ICONS.
To set the icon of any drive (hard disk, cd rom or anything else) with a letter (C:\ etc.), run REGEDIT (Start -> Run -> regedit)
Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
If one doesn't already exist, create a new KEY called "DriveIcons". Under this key, create a new key with the letter of your drive. I.e. C for your C:\ drive.
To change the icon for that drive, create a key inside that one called DefaultIcon and set the path of (Default) to the location of your icon
eg C\DefaultIcon\ then (Default) = D:\Documents\C Drive Icon.ico
To change the name of that drive, create a key in the drive letter one (eg C\) called DefaultLabel and set the (Default) to what you want the drive to be called. This is useful if you want to assign a long name to the floppy drive.

CHANGING OEM REGISTRATIONS.
Have you used someone's new Hewlet Packard with their OEM version of Windows XP? You've seen that HP has their own icon in the Start Menu, underneath Run, that goes to their Help Site. Now, you can have your icon that does anything you want (website, program, etc) and says anything you want. Basically, you are "branding" Windows XP (Home or Pro), great for if you are a computer builder and sell them, or you just want to make Windows XP your own. It involves Regedit.
1. Start up Notepad and creat a new registry file (*.reg) and copy and paste the following into it:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}]
@="YOUR COMPANY NAME"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\DefaultIcon]
@="YOUR ICON HERE"
00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,68,00,70,00,6c,00,69,00,\
6e,00,6b,00,2e,00,69,00,63,00,6f,00,00,00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\InProcServer32]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,\
64,00,6f,00,63,00,76,00,77,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,00,00
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\Instance]
"CLSID"="{3f454f0e-42ae-4d7c-8ea3-328250d6e272}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\Instance\InitPropertyBag]
"CLSID"="{13709620-C279-11CE-A49E-444553540000}"
"method"="ShellExecute"
"Command"="YOUR TITLE HERE"
"Param1"="YOUR FUNCTION HERE"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\shellex]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}]
@=""
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\shellex\MayChangeDefaultMenu]
@=""
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\ShellFolder]
"Attributes"=dword:00000000

2. Edit where it says YOUR ICON HERE to a path to an icon (ex. c:\\icon.ico), it must be 24x24 pixels and in *.ico format. Use double back slash for path names.
3. Edit both places where it says YOUR TITLE HERE to what you want it to say in the Start Menu (ex. Elranzer Homepage).
4. Edit where it says YOUR FUNCTION here to what you want it to do when you click it, it can be anything... your website, a local HTML document, a program, a Windows funtion, whatever your imagination can provide (ex. http://www.shareordie.com).
5. Save this file as brand.reg, double-click it to enterin your information, and refresh Explorer (log off/on) to see it in the Start Menu!! This works in both Home and Professional (and probably 64-Bit Professional) Editions!

ORIGINAL WALLPAPERS.
This is more of a fun tweak than it is useful. Go to run, type regedit press ok. when that comes up go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER>Control Panel>Desktop
Now find the orginalwallpaper, right click and select modify.In the text box type the path to the file you want to be your orginal desktop wallpaper.

DELETING My eBooks AND SPECIALS FOLDER IN MY DOCUMENTS.
Click Start, then Run and type: regsvr32 /u mydocs.dll
then delete them.

DISABLE WINDOWS PICTURE AND FAX VIEWER.
By default, Windows XP opens all picture files (gif,jpg,...) with the included Windows Picture and Fax Viewer no matter what other picture viewers you have installed. To disable the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, unregister shimgvw.dll. This can be done from command prompt: regsvr32 /u shimgvw.dll

REMOVE PAST ITEMS ICONS IN TASKBAR.
Some times When you check your TasKbar properties or when you hide or unhide icons you can see old icons from Uninstalled or old programs you dont have anymore. This Tweak will help you how to get rid of this problem Thanks to leobull of Xperience.or How To clear the Past Items or Icons list in the TaskBar, perform the following steps:
1.Open Regedit Navigate to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TrayNotify
2.Delete the IconStreams and PastIconsStream values
3.Open Task Manager, click the Processes tab, click Explorer.exe , and then click End Process .
4.In Task Manager, click File , click New Task , type explorer , and then click OK .

LOCKING COMPUTERS.
To lock a computer in XP, as you probably know, you press "L" while holding down "Windows Logo" key on your keyboard. However, if you would like to lock a computer remotely, for example via "Remote Administrator", you don't have this ability. What you can do instead, is to create a shortcut on remote computer's desktop where Target %windir%\System32\rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation Start In %windir%

ADMINISTRATOR IN WELCOME SCREEN.
When you install Windows XP an Administrator Account is created (you are asked to supply an administrator password), but the "Welcome Screen" does not give you the option to log on as Administrator unless you boot up in Safe Mode.
First you must ensure that the Administrator Account is enabled:
1 open Control Panel
2 open Administrative Tools
3 open Local Security Policy
4 expand Local Policies
5 click on Security Options
6 ensure that Accounts: Administrator account status is enabled Then follow the instructions from the "Win2000 Logon Screen Tweak" ie.
1 open Control Panel
2 open User Accounts
3 click Change the way users log on or log off
4 untick Use the Welcome Screen
5 click Apply Options
You will now be able to log on to Windows XP as Administrator in Normal Mode.

BUGFIXES.
This is a strange bug in Windows XP Pro but it can and does happen to everyone. When you open the My Computer screen and your Documents folder is missing but all the other users folders are there try this tweak.
STEP 1:
START > RUN > REGEDIT > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / Software / Microsoft / Windows / Current Version / Explorer / DocFolderPaths
Once you click the DocFolderPaths folder you should see all the user's folders.
STEP 2:
Add a new string value
Value Name: your user name
Value Data: the path to your docs folder ( ex. C:\Documents and Settings\your docs folder )
Exit Registry editor and open my computer, your docs folder should now be visable.

MOUSE POINTERS.
It seems that even without pointer precision disabled, the mouse under XP is still influenced by an acceleration curve. This is especially noticeable in games. To

completely remove mouse acceleration from XP, you will need to go into the registry and adjust the SmoothmouseXYCurve values. Here is how its done.
1. Click Start button
2. Select Run
3. Type 'regedit' in the open textbox
4. Open the tree 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER', select control panel, then select mouse
5. Right clicking, modify the SmoothMouseXCurve and SmoothMouseYCurve hexidecimal values to the following:
SmoothMouseXCurve:
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
00,a0,00,00,00,00,00,00
00,40,01,00,00,00,00,00
00,80,02,00,00,00,00,00
00,00,05,00,00,00,00,00
SmoothMouseYCurve:
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
66,a6,02,00,00,00,00,00
cd,4c,05,00,00,00,00,00
a0,99,0a,00,00,00,00,00
38,33,15,00,00,00,00,00

If done correctly, you will notice you are holding a markedly more responsive mouse.

HIDDEN WINDOWS XP ICONS.
Windows XP Pro and Home contains icons for folders and files that cannot normally be seen, you can select to view hidden files from the folder options menu, but there are still some that remain hidden.
You can set windows to view these files as normal hidden files, so that when you use the view hidden files and folders toggle from the folder options menu that these will be turned on/off along with the normal hidden files.
These files are usually system files and should not be altered/deleted unless you really know what you are doing, if you don't yet still wish to change them I might suggest that you create back-ups of your system first.
I will personally accept no responsibility for any damage caused by using this tweak. To view the hidden files you need to open up regedit, if you are not sure how to do this, select run from the start menu and type in 'regedit' without the apostrophe's. In the regedit window, expand out the groups by clicking on the '+' next to the name in the left hand column of regedit, and navigate to the below address.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \SOFTWARE \MICROSOFT \WINDOWS \CURRENTVERSION \EXPLORER \ADVANCED
when you have clicked the advanced folder on the left pane, look down the list at the titles in the right hand pane, one of those titles is 'ShowSuperHidden'
double click the title and in the window that appears set the value to equal 1 to show the super hidden files and 0 to hide them.

XP HOME ADVANCED FILE PERMISSIONS.
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).

FLASHGET :BYPASSING 8 MAX SIMULTANEOUS JOBS.
Users of Flash get will notice that the maximum number of file splits is 8. This number can be increased by the tweak below:
1. Run regedit.
2. Navigate to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\JetCar\JetCar\General\]
3. Right Click -> Add String Value.
4. Name as MaxSimJobs -> Set the value as what ever number you want.
After a restart you should be able to download with more file splits.

OUTLOOK EXPRESS WINDOWS TITLE TWEAKS.
Change the window title of Outlook Express to anything you want!
In regedt32 and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{EE383506-901D-43C6-8E40-9A61901DF7CC}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0. Add a new string key called WindowTitle and make its value the desired window title. Then close the registry editor, and restart Outlook Express (if it's running.) Your new title now shows up in the title bar!

WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER 9.
When installing WMP 9 it leaves a watersign on your desktop. You can easily remove this with: regedit:
HKey_Local_Machine\SOFTWARE\microsoft\system certificates\CA\certificates\FEE449EE0E3965A5246F00E87FDE2A065FD89D4
HKey_Local_Machine\software\microsoft\system certificates\ROOT\certificates\2BD63D28D7BCD0E251195AEB519243C13142EBC3

Remove both lines and restart computer.

CHANGING THE WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER TITLEBAR.
This is a per-user tweak. Open RegEdit.
Browse to the following key:
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-xxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxx-xxxx\Software\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsMediaPlayer
(the x's will vary from computer to computer , it's the key without the "_Classes" at the end) Create the following String, "TitleBar" , the value of this will now become the TitleBar of Windows Media Player.

AUTO DELETE TEMPORARY FOLDER.
First go into gpedit.msc
Next select -> Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Terminal Services/Temporary Folder
Then right click "Do Not Delete Temp Folder Upon Exit"
Go to properties and hit disable. Now next time Windows puts a temp file in that folder it will automatically delete it when its done! Note from Forum Admin: Remember, GPEDIT (Group Policy Editor) is only available in XP Pro.

CLEANUP STARTUP ITEMS IN MSCONFIG.
Do you ever uninstall programs and they are still listed under startup items in msconfig? Personally, I found myself with 30 such items from old installs. Microsoft leaves you no way to clean up this list, but have no fear, I have figured it out for you.
1. Open MSconfig and click on the startup items tab
2. Open Regedit and naviate to HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Sharedtools/MSconfig/startupreg
3. Compare the list of registry keys under startup reg with their counterparts in msconfig.
4. Delete the keys which are no longer valid.
5. Voila! You've cleaned up msconfig.

REMOVING SERVICES DEPENDENCIES.
This will allow you to disable a service or uninstall it from your system without effecting another service that depends on it. Here's how you do it
1. After you have set your services the way you want them and you have disabled/uninstalled something that another services depends on, run "regedit"
2. Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\find the service that will not function, do to another service being disabled/uninstall (found in ControlSet001\Services, ControlSet002\Services, and CurrentControlSet\Services)
3. Once you have found the service right-click on the string value, "DependOnService,"and modify
4. You should now see a list of services that it is dependent on. Simply delete the service that you have disabled/uninstalled
5. Restart your computer and your ready to go Disclaimer REMEMBER TO BACKUP YOU REGISTRY FIRST I'm not totaly sure if this will have any negative effects on your system. I used this method after uninstalling "Netbios over Tcpip" from my system completely, so that my Dhcp service would function and I have had NO negative effects on my system.

ANOTHER WAY TO DELETE HIDDEN DEVICES.
You can view and delete or modify hidden devices by:
1. Openning Device Manager. (I usually right-click on My Computer, select Properties, select the Hardware tab, then select Device Manager.)
2. Select View and check "Show hidden devices"
3. Hidden devices will appear below with the others and can be modified.

HOW TO GET "My Briefcase" IN WINDOWS XP.
go to C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache. look for a file named "syncapp".
double click it. an icon should appear on your desktop that says "My Briefcase". double click it. it will come up with this window that tells you how to use it.

TURN NUMLOCK ON AT LOGON.
NumLock does not toggle on by default (system-wide), even if you have it set in your PC's BIOS, because of XP's multi-user functionality. Guess Microsoft doesn't know everyone actually turns it on, which should be reason enough for what acts as "default"...
Anyway, you can hack the Windows Registry to change this behavior, or run a script at logon to turn NumLock on.
1. To enable NumLock through the Registry:
* Open Windows' Registry Editor (START > RUN, type "REGEDIT").
*. Navigate to HKEY_USERS\.Default\Control Panel\Keyboard.
*. Change the value for InitialKeyboardIndicators from 0 to 2.
2. To enable NumLock using a script, see this MS Knowledgebase article for complete instructions:
CODE
http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=KB;EN-US;Q262625

Option 1 is the quicker method, but if you have more than one user on your system and one or more don't want NumLock on (stranger things have been known of), then option 2 is the way to go since it allows you to only attach the script to specific users.

FREE DISK SPACE BY DELETING RESTORE POINTS.
Start button-all programs-accessories-system tools-cleanup-more options. You will have the option of deleting your restore points.When your done creat one
restore point as a back up.

HOW TO REAL GET RID OF UNNECESSARY SOFTWARE
to uninstall things like msn messenger and other hidden installs thru add remove programs, do this: find sysoc.inf (you might have to enable "show hidden files" and "show hidden/protected system folders" in explorer) and open it in notepad replace all ",hide" with "," (both with out quotes) which is easiest to do with the replace all command under edit then in add/remove programs under add/remove windows compnents and whole new list of things to uninstall and add are now listed (such as internet explorer)

HAVING PROGRAMS RUN WHEN WINDOWS LOADS SLOWS DOWN YOUR STARTUP.
There are two ways do disable programs that may be in your startup (like icq, messanger,) The easiest is to do the following:
1. start --> run --> msconfig
2. Click on the "startup" tab (furthest right)\
3. Unclick any items you don't want to load when windows starts.
The second is by deleting registry entrys, this can be done the following way:
1. Start --> run --> regedit
2. Navigate to : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
3. Delete any entry's that you don't want to load up

TURN OFF INDEXING TO SPEED UP XP.
Windows XP keeps a record of all files on the hard disk so when you do a search on the hard drive it is faster. There is a downside to this and because the computer has to index all files, it will slow down normal file commands like open, close, etc. If you do not do a whole lot of searches on your hard drive then I suggest turnning this feature off:
1. Control Panel
2. Administrative Tools
3. Services
4. Disable Indexing Services

HALF LIFE AND WINDOWS XP.
1. How to recover from incompatible drivers
Before you install new drivers set a system restore point. Start>All programs>Accessories>system tools>system restore
After your new drivers don't work reset your computer. Press F8 repeatedly as soon as the BIOS screen disappears, and before the Windows XP screen appears. Select safe mode. Use system restore again to undo your mess.
2. Video Drivers
The NVidia drivers that come with XP do not allow you to run Half Life in OpenGL. Update to the newest drivers.
Despite the fact that they are not official drivers, 22.50 was the only set which worked
3. Sound Drivers
Use windows update to update Creative drivers.
4. Fixing screen flicker
Windows XP defaults to 60Hz for games. A fix is available here:
http://www.fileplanet.com/dl/dl.asp?/planetquake/ztn/nvreffix-setup.exe

Select "set: ev ery resolution to monitor's maximum supported rate"
5. Fixing lag
If you are having trouble with lag, try disabling the windows XP firewall. Go to control panel>network connections. Select connection, right click, properties, advanced, untick the firewall.
6. Mouse
You can improve your mouse smoothness for games.
Control panel>mouse>hardware>properties>advanced
Change the sample rate to a higher one, eg. 200

REGISTRY METHOD FOR REMOVING STARTUP ITEMS.
I prefer to use MSCONFIG selective startup to troubleshoot. To remove entries for good, open the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RUN and HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RUN

Delete entries of unwanted startup daemons and tray procedures.

DISPLAY MESSAGE ON STARTUP.
Start regedit, if you are unfamiliar with regedit please see our FAQ.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Modify the key legalnoticecaption with what you want to name the window.
Modify the key legalnoticetext with what you want the window to say. Restart.

REMOVE THE DEFAULT IMAGE VIEWER IN WINDOWS ME/XP.
This tweak works in Windows Me/XP, I have not try it in Windows NT/2000 yet, because i don't have that OS, you can try it if you have.
*This tweak does not work in Windows 95/98
To remove the Windows default Image Viewer, first:
Click Start Menu
Select Run menu
Type "cmd", (for Windows Me, type "command")
Then type "regsvr32 /u shimgvw.dll" to unregister this dll. This will stop it from previewing any picture that it support, e.g. JPEG, Bitmap, GIF....
* Before perform this tweak, make sure that you have the alternative Image Viewer installed in you windows e.g. ACDsee, FireGraphics... because once you do this tweak without that application, you can't open and view your image anymore! So, to undo it, type "regsvr32 shimgvw.dll" in command prompt.

SPEED UP BOOT BY DISABLING UNUSED PORTS.
You may have tried many tweaks like modifying windowsXP start-up applications, prefetches, unload DLLs method,etc. And yes those methods do work for me.
I have just accidentally found out another way to give you an extra boost in windowsXP's boot performance. This is done by disabling your unused devices in
Device Manager. for example, if you don't have input devices that are connected to one of your USBs or COM ports, disabling them will give you an extra perfromance boost in booting. Go to Control Panel -> System -> Hardware tab -> device manager Disable devices that you don't use for your PC and then restart.

CLEAR UNWANTED ENTRIES FROM ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS.
Run the Registry Editor (REGEDIT).
Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Uninstall Remove any unwanted keys under "Uninstall."

CLICKING * .AVI FILES ON EXPLORER CAUSING 100% CPU USAGE.
Well windows seem to have a REALLY big problem when it comes to reading AVI files. It seems that when you click on an AVI file in explorer, it'll try to read the entire AVI file to determine the width,height, etc. of the AVI file (this is displayed in the Properties window). Now the problem with Windows is that if you have a broken/not fully downloaded AVI file that doesnt contain this info, Windows will scan the entire AVI file trying to figure out all these properties which in the process will probably cause 100% CPU usage and heavy memory usage. To solve this problem all you have to do is the following:
1. Open up regedit
2. Goto HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.avi\shellex\PropertyHandler
3. Delete the "Default" value which should be "{87D62D94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}"
Voila! Please not that this will no longer provide you with the windows properties displaying the AVI file information such as width, height, bitrate etc. But its a small price to pay for saving you resources.
NOTE: Please use caution when using regedit. Improper usage may cause windows to behave imcorrectly. Also, I cannot be held resposible. Backup your registry first.

CD ROM STOPS AUTOPLAYING/AUTORUN.
And the AutoPlay Tab has disappeared in My Computer, Devices With Removable Storage, Right Click on CDROM, Properties.
Solution: The service: "Shell Hardware Detection" has been set to Manual or Disabled. Go to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services. Return this service to "Automatic".

SHUTDOWN XP FASTER 1.
Like previous versions of windows, it takes long time to restart or shutdown windows xp when the "Exit Windows" sound is enabled. to solve this problem you
must disable this useless sound. click start button then go to settings -> control panel -> Sound,Speech and Audio devices -> Sounds and Audio Devices -> Sounds, then under program events and windows menu click on "Exit Windows" sub-menu and highlight it.now from sounds you can select,choose "none" and then click apply and ok. now you can see some improvements when shutting down your system.

SHUTDOWN XP FASTER 2.
Start Regedit.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control.
Click on the "Control" Folder.
Select "WaitToKillServiceTimeout"
Right click on it and select Modify.
Set it a value lower than 2000 (Mine is set to 200).

EASIEST WAY TO DELETE PREFETCH.
1. Open notepad.exe, type del c:\windows\prefetch\*.* /q (without the quotes) & save as "delprefetch.bat" in c:\
2. From the Start menu, select "Run..." & type "gpedit.msc".
3. Double click "Windows Settings" under "Computer Configuration" and double click again on "Startup" in the right window.
4. In the new window, click "add", "Browse", locate your "delprefetch.bat" file & click "Open".
5. Click "OK", "Apply" & "OK" once again to exit.
6. Reboot your computer.

SPEED UP MENU DISPLAY.
When using the start menu the you will notice a delay between different tiers of the menu hierarchy. For the fastest computer experience possible I recommend changing this value to zero. This will allow the different tiers to appear instantly. 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 MenuShowDelay from the list on the right.
Right on it and select Modify.
Change the value to 0.
Reboot your computer.

16 COLOUR ICONS.
If you select 16bit mode for graphics your icons will revert to using 8bit (16 color) icons. Yuck! Change the following registry setting to:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics] "Shell Icon BPP"="16" "Shell Icon Size"="32" Setting the BPP to 16bit will yield 65565 colors for icons.

DE-CRYPT ENCRYPTED FILES ON WINDOWS XP.
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.

DUMP FILES TWEAK & DISABLE DR.WATSON.
"Dump file. A dump file stores data from memory during a system crash and can be helpful when diagnosing problems, but like a swap file, it can also expose a lot of sensitive, unencrypted data. To prevent Windows from creating the file, go to Control Panel | System. Click on the Advanced tab and then the Settings button on the Startup and Recovery pane. Set the drop-down menu under Write debugging information to (none). "Similarly, the debugging program Dr. Watson saves information when applications crash. To disable it, go to:
HKEY_local_machine\software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\ AeDebug and set the Auto string to 0. Then use Windows Explorer to go to Documents and Settings\All Users\Shared Documents\DrWatson. Delete User.dmp and Drwtsn32.log, the insecure logs the program creates." Heed related advice from 'microsoft' regarding 'Disable Dr.Watson' first before the preceding Dr. Watson advice (go Google search.) Back up with System Restore, and go ahead. As cautious as I am, I have gladly applied these tweaks, and followed related microsot advice on Dr. Watson.

Precaution: Backups All Of Your Data Before Tweaking, Not All Of The Tips I've Mentioned Above Were Tested. I Don't Responsible For Any Damages. Happy Experiments