Computer's Backyard

How to make Greeting Cards with Word 2007?

2010-08-21T19:27:00.002+08:00

You can make homemade cards for your friends and family on any occasion if you don't get time to buy cards from the shop. You can make greeting cards with Word 2007. You can make greeting cards with Word 2007 for many occasions and events as well as the Get Well, Friendship cards etc. As you decide to make greeting cards with Word 2007, you can make one card for everyone or a customized one for every individual. You can later print them on a greeting card paper or just the regular one. Follow these steps in order to make greeting cards with Word 2007:

Click on the Office Button from the top left corner.

Click on New. The New Document window will open.

From the list under Templates, click on Greeting Cards.

You can choose the option you want from under the Greeting Cards section.

You will be connected to the Microsoft Office Online site. You can select from hundreds of templates or you can go to this website in the browser and download the templates from there.

have a nice day!

Taskbar Repair Tool

2010-01-27T08:18:00.001+08:00

The Taskbar Repair Tool Plus! Utility allows you to Repair and Customize the Quick Launch, Taskbar and Notification Area among other things in Windows XP. This tool comes in very handy if you are having problems with your taskbar that traditional methods can’t fix.

The tool is broken down into three categories; Taskbar Problems, Notification Area and Quick Launch Bar. Each category has a variety of tools to fix certain problems. Some of the things you can do with this tool include:

-Restore your taskbar if its missing

-Restore missing or greyed out toolbars

-Hide or show the Start button

-Show missing icons

-Disable balloon tips

-Disable low disk space warning

-Restore Show Desktop icon

You can download Taskbar Repair Tool Plus! For free HERE

Remove Webpage Formatting or View the HTML Code When Copying in Firefox

2010-01-18T15:10:00.006+08:00

Are you looking for the ability to do more than jst copy formatted text (and images) in a webpage? Now you can easily copy the same areas as plain text or see the underlying html code with the Extended Copy Menu extension for Firefox.

Note: There is an Internet Explorer version available at the extension homepage.
Before
Usually when you select text and images in a webpage you only have one choice for copying both…which means getting all that “wonderful” formatting along with them.

And when you paste it you either have to “run” it through Notepad first to remove the formatting, paste as special, or simply accept the formatting. There has to be a better way…

After

Once you have installed the extension you are ready to go…there are no options that you have to bother with. As you can see here you get two additional “Context Menu Listings”. The first allows you to strip out all of the formatting immediately…

Leaving you with nice simple plain text ready for you to format and work with as you desire.

Or the second listing which does more than you may think…when you select “Copy as Html” you get…

The underlying html code along with all of the text. Not bad at all…especially if you were curious about the coding used to produce a certain look or style in a webpage. Now you can see just how it was done and incorporate it into your own website…

Conclusion

If you have wanted to enhance the “Copy Function” in Firefox then this just might be the extension that you have been waiting for.

Credit to : www.howtogeek.com

Google's 'Nexus One' Test Phone: Details Emerge

2009-12-15T07:23:00.002+08:00

Watch out Apple, here comes Nexus One, the Google phone the tech world has been salivating for. Over the weekend Google set off a fury of speculation when employees tweeted they were testing a new Android-based mobile device. Google later ratcheted up the Google phone buzz when in a blog post it confirmed it was testing a handset with "innovative hardware" from one of its partners. Said to be named Nexus One, many critics believe this device will give the iPhone a run for its money.
Following that revealing Google blog post about the Nexus One, it didn't take long for photos and details about the device to leak. Many of those who claim to be familiar with Google's plans say the Google phone would be an unlocked GSM device running the Android 2.1 mobile operating system. Google, they claim, would sell directly to customers with no wireless carrier subsidy. The device could go an sale as early as this January.

That's the basic information, most of which has been reported before. Google has officially confirmed little beyond the devices existence. We are still waiting for Google to officially share more about its phone. In the interim, here is the latest speculation about Google's purported device.

More info :
http://www.pcworld.com/article/184555/googles_nexus_one_test_phone_details_emerge.html

Changing Startup and Log-off screens

2009-10-31T00:35:00.001+08:00

Hi guys! this time i will coming up with this trick.

Startup Screen

1. Create a 320x400 bitmap in the root directory and name it LOGO.SYS
2. You can use LOGOW.SYS file in the Windows directory as a starter

Logoff Screens

1. There are many system file that constitutes Lofoff screen.
2. They are actually bitmaps 320x400 that just have a different extension
3. The hidden file in the root directory LOGO.SYS is the startup logo.
4. There are two files in the Windows directory.
5. LOGOW.SYS is the Wait while Shutting down ... screen.
6. LOGOS.SYS is the You may now shut-off or Reboot screen.

7. Make two new image files of your chice in Paint and name it as LOGOW.SYS and LOGOS.SYS and replce the actual windows file by this two.

8. But make sure they should be of the same size

Download Everything!

2009-09-24T15:42:00.003+08:00

Hi all! After a long journey, now i'm back to post some tips on how to search files via files tube.
What is filestube?

FilesTube.com is a search engine designed to search files in various file sharing and uploading sites.

As an file sharing search engine FilesTube.com finds files matching your search criteria among the files that has been seen recently in uploading sites by our search spider. This information is accumulated in a database. When you execute a FilesTube.com search it delivers results from the database.

With our unique approach to crawling you can find the files shared on uploading sites that the other crawlers miss. Also our search engine collects rich and relevant metadata for each page. As a result, when you search for files (video, music, software, documents etc) with FilesTube, you can always find high-quality, relevant search results.

This is a very cool stuff that i ever met !...hehehe...

Ok have fun !
Thanks to :

www.filestube.com

Tweak IE7 to run Faster

2009-08-09T21:52:00.001+08:00

There are 4 tweaks for IE7 so that the loading of site is faster. Doing these tricks will not hamper your security or setting changes. These tricks are done only on the unnecessary overheads on the IE7.

1) Turn off Phishing Filter : This feature is only protective to you to access the junk or malefic sites, it has been found that this feature slows down the loading of webpage. I think one can surf without this extra costly protection. It can be disabled here in IE7:
Tools > Phishing Filter > Turn off automatic website checking, there turn it off.

2) Disble automatically checking for RSS feeds. Most users are not availing this facility provided in IE7, so it's better to turn it off. How to do it:
Tools > Internet Options > Content > Feeds > Settings > uncheck all the boxes shown there.

3) Remove "ClearType" useage in IE7, it will slow IE7 performance. Disable the Cleartype in IE7:
Tools > Internet Options > Advanced > find the option "ClearType for HTML*" > uncheck that.

4) Disable the "SSVHelper Class plugin": This plugin causes browsing delays, do it here
Tools > Manage Add-ons > Enable or Disable Add-ons > Select "SSVHelper Class", click the Disable button, and then click OK.

How to Remove Windows XP's Messenger

2009-07-29T20:18:00.003+08:00

Hi there! Here i come with the new tips and tricks on how to Remove Windows XP's Messenger.

Theoretically, you can get rid of it (as well as a few other things). Windows 2000 power users should already be familiar with this tweak.

Fire up the Windows Explorer and navigate your way to the %SYSTEMROOT% \ INF folder. What the heck is that thingy with the percentage signs? It's a variable. For most people, %SYSTEMROOT% is C:\Windows.
For others, it may be E:\WinXP. Get it? Okay, on with the hack! In the INF folder, open sysoc.inf (but not before making a BACKUP copy first). Before your eyes glaze over, look for the line containing "msmsgs" in it. Near the end of that particular line, you'll notice that the word "hide" is not so hidden.
Go ahead and delete "hide" (so that the flanking commas are left sitting next to one another). Save the file and close it. Now, open the Add and Remove Programs applet in the Control Panel. Click the Add / Remove Windows Components icon. You should see "Windows Messenger" in that list. Remove the checkmark from its box, and you should be set. NOTE: there are other hidden system components in that sysoc.inf file, too. Remove "hide" and the subsequent programs at your own risk.

Preventing RSI !!!

2009-07-22T23:53:00.001+08:00

What Is RSI?

It is all too easy to neglect your health while you're busy browsing the Web, using your PC at work or playing games.

Using a computer for more than a few hours a day can put you at risk from RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury).

RSI is used to describe many different types of soft tissue injury including carpel tunnel syndrome and tendinitis. It is usually caused by repetitive motions, poor posture and stress, and has the potential to cause crippling disability and pain.

How To Avoid

For people whose jobs require frequent use of computers it may seem there is no way to avoid this problem, but fortunately there are a few things you can do to try and protect yourself:

Make sure to take regular breaks away from your PC if you can; get up and walk around for a few minutes each hour.

Also, try and alternate between using your keyboard and mouse rather than relying on the mouse for everything. And when you do use your mouse, move with your shoulder rather than putting all the strain on your wrist.

You can buy mouse mats that have gel wrist support. You may also want to look into buying one of the special keyboards available which have been designed to be more comfortable to use.

If you have a joypad you could use a program like JoyToKey to map mouse and keyboard controls to your controller to give your wrist and fingers a change from the same mouse and keyboard positions all the time.

There are many websites such as www.rsihandbook.info which have information on how to avoid or treat RSI.

There is also a useful free program called Workrave that can help prevent RSI. The program reminds you to take breaks at set times as well as letting you set micro-pauses and daily limits.

Workrave even has a series of short exercises for you to carry out, with pictures demonstrating certain actions such as stretching your arms, moving your shoulders and focussing your eyes.

Tips to recover scratched CD's

2009-07-08T14:43:00.002+08:00

Hi all !...i'm really sorry because i'm unable to update lately causing by my internet connection's problem. Here i come with the new tips or trick on how to recover scratched Cd's.

1. Spread a cloth on a flat surface and place the CD on it.
2. Then, hold the disc with one hand, use the other to wipe the polish into the affected area with a soft cloth.
3. Wait for it to dry and buff using short, brisk strokes along the scratch, not across it.
4. A cloth sold to wipe spectacles or camera lenses will work super m8's.
5. When you can no longer see the scratch,, wash the disc with water and let it dry before playing. Interesting isn't it? Try it right now.
I have used toothpaste with good effects before Ive also used car paint cutting compound on deeper scratches. It does leave lots of smaller scratches (as it is a cutting compound after all) but it will remove the worst scratches in most cases.

* Fingermarks/prints cause 43% of disc problems!
* General wear & tear causes 25% of disc problems!
* Player-related issues cause 15% of disc problems!
* Remaining Others

credit to http://tricks-for-computer.blogspot.com/

Re-open a Closed Tab

2009-06-25T22:33:00.000+08:00

Attention Firefox and IE 8 users! Have you ever closed a tab, only to realize too late that there was something important on there? What did you do? Re-browse to the site?

That's too much work.

Next time you're in this situation and you want to re-open the tab you just closed try the combination:

Ctrl+Shift+T

This will re-open the last tab you closed, saving you an extra couple of minutes of frustration!

Copy a url, paste it in a new tab, without using the mouse in Internet Explorer

2009-06-21T21:20:00.002+08:00

This is the idea which is I think we can use as an alternative if you are in situation where your machine do not have a mouse..

In Internet Explorer you can press ALT + D to select the URL in the address bar with out having to try and select it with your mouse. So to copy a url, and paste it into a new tab try this cool way...

-Open Internet Explorer and open a webpage up.

-Press on ALT + D (selects the url in the address bar)

-Then Press CTRL + C (copies the url)

-Press CTRL + T to Open a new tab.

-Press CTRL + V and then press enter.(pastes the url)

-You have just selcted, copied and pasted a url to a website into a new window, very easily.

*Also work in Firefox

How to display text message warning before windows Logon?

2009-06-15T23:02:00.005+08:00

You can insert legal warnings or any interesting messages for others just before logon to windows based computer. This is very useful if you want to give a message to new users about the uses of computer. You can create this banner message using the windows registry editor but make sure before modifying your system Registry about its backup because Registry contains all information how your system runs. This backup will help you to restore Registry in case any problem occurs after modifying.

To edit the computer registry, first you should log onto your computer with administrative rights.

Click Start button then type regedit in Run option then press Enter for next.

Here locate the location to:

HKeyLocalMachine\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\WinLogon

Here in right side panel, double click on the key LegalNoticeCaption and give it a value you want to see in the menu bar. For example “Welcome Screen for All Users”.

Now again in right side panel, double click on the key called LegalNoticeText and change the value you want to see in the dialog box. For example “You may not succeed later when trying to logon without a password.”

Now close the registry editor and restart your computer after any changes to go into effect.

bye !

How to Capture Screenshots from Windows Media Player

2009-06-10T22:18:00.003+08:00

Hi! This post is accidentally found by me and credit to http://www.quickonlinetips.com/

on posting this tips which is really important for me or may be could be use by the reader.

I just paste the post here...

Grabing a screenshot from Window Media Player is not so easy as it seems. Yesterday I tried to use the extremely useful screen capture by ‘Print Screen Key’ to try to capture a wmv running file on my Windows media player classic V10. But whenever I tried to use the print screen, a blank image was captured from the windows media player.

Then I thought maybe the running video was posing a problem with capturing a frame. So I paused the movie and tried the print screen technique. But still got a blank screen.

Then I tried to capture paused and running movies in full screen (Full screen shortcut - using Alt+Enter). But again no luck.

So I decided to tweak some advanced options of Window media player. After lot of different combinations of tweaks, still had no luck.

Looking to buy a professional multimedia software to do the job? There are several shareware and paid professional image capture software available which can do the job. But why should I pay when I should try to get a freeware or get a tweak to fix it myself. I tried to see how professional paid software’s for this worked, but I was disappointed the moment I captured the screenshot. It had a big logo on every image it captured. Of course it was shareware and you needed to pay to remove the text messages.

Free simple way to capture Images from Windows Media Player

* Open Window Media Player
* Then go to Tools | Options
* In Options, select the Performance Tab
* Way below you click on the Advanced Button
* Uncheck “Use Overlays’
* Click Ok
* And you are ready.

Now run your movie in any size or screen resolution. Use the standard ‘Print Screen Key’ Method as described and you have captured a snapshot from your favourite movie on windows media player without using any special multimedia software. Enjoy!

More Ways to Capture Screenshots from WMP

Update: Some users have given excellent suggestions in the Comments which provide an alternate method if this does not work.

* Instead of the Print Screen Method - try pressing “CTRL+I”. This pops up a save as window after capturing the screenshot

* After you open Window Media Player. Go to Tools | Options | Performance Tab. You will see a picture similar to the first image above. Reduce the “Video acceleration” from the default Full to None, click ok and then close down media player. Next open the file you want to take a still using the Print Screen method - from press ALT and the PrintScrn key to copy an image of media player to the clipboard.

How to create digital photo album presentation in PowerPoint?

2009-06-10T11:08:00.006+08:00

Hi there! Yes, this time is the post about creating digital photo album just using Power Point!

In Microsoft PowerPoint, you can create a digital photo album of your scanned photographs to represent as slide show presentation. Using this feature, you can display your business photo album on the web. Once you have converted it into HTML document, PowerPoint will allow you to publish this album to the internet. You can create unlimited albums and also add unlimited photos in each album.

Follow the given steps to create a digital photo album of your scanned photographs:

First create a folder of your scanned pictures or transfer from your digital camera or download from the web.

Now click on "Picture" option from the "Insert" menu then click on "New Photo Album" option.

Here a small dialog box will appear with "Photo Album" title. Now click on "File/Disk" button under "Insert picture from" area to add first picture in album.

Here you can add unlimited picture in one album. If you want to get pictures from scanner or camera then click on "Scanner/Camera" button.

Now you can add effects to your pictures, for example rotates picture to different directions, background colors, picture brightness and contrast levels.

Now under "Album Layout" area, you can choose the best picture layout, Frame shape and add design template also for your photos album.

Once you have selected the all required pictures and layouts for your photo album then click on "Create" button to start the process.

Now "Save" the file and then run this photo album in Slide Show.

Free Flash Game

2009-06-02T08:18:00.009+08:00

I try to upload this game in this blog because I got a new project which is related to flash game..

Try this out...

How to Delete Genuine Warning From Windows XP

2009-05-31T15:16:00.004+08:00

Hi! This time I will come out with this article which is can make me a big trouble if Bill Gates know it's came from me..haha..sorry MR. Millionaire.

I know that some of you might face this problem. Why ? It is because your Windows are not Genuine!

How to solve this? There are few steps that you have to follow:

1) Backup your computer's hard drive data and files. It is essential to save and make copies of all personal files before making modifications to your personal computer. You may either use blank CDs or DVDs, an external hard drive, a USB flash drive, or an online backup service such as Mozy.com.

2) Press CTRL-ALT-DELETE on your keyboard to open the Microsoft Windows Task Manager on your computer. Click the wgatray.exe program in the list of running programs. Click "End Task."

3) Click the Start menu button in the lower left hand corner of the PC screen and restart Windows XP in safe mode.

4) Click the Windows XP Start menu button and select My Computer. Open C:\\Windows\System32. Delete the wgatray.exe file. Double-click the folder that says "dllcache." Delete the wgatray.exe file in that folder, as well.

5) Click the Start menu and select "Run." Open the Windows XP Registry Editor by typing "regedit.exe" in the Run box. Delete the "WGALOGON" file in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WinlogonNotify. Search for "wgatray.exe" (without the quotation marks) and delete any references to that program in the computer Registry.

6) Restart your computer in standard Windows XP mode (not safe mode). You have successfully deleted the Windows XP Genuine Warning. Now that Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications are disabled, you can focus on productivity without being bothered by constant popups and warnings.

That's All ! Bye !

WARNING!
Deleting the Windows XP Genuine Warning merely stops the dialog boxes from appearing. You still need a genuine, licensed copy of Windows XP to access Microsoft Windows' online services.

How to preview the Word documents without opening?

2009-05-20T06:53:00.009+08:00

Hi all ! Let's rock with my new tip today! In Microsoft Word, you can preview the document list within Word without having to open the document. This tip is very useful, if you have many word files and are not sure which file contain the information that you need. Almost all versions of Word support this feature to view all word file as preview one by one.

Follow the given steps to preview the word document without having to open the document:

First click on Start button, go to Program then click on Microsoft Word to run the word application.

Click on picture to enlarge size

Now go to File menu and click on Open option to open any word file. Here a small dialog will appear with title "Open".

Click on picture to enlarge size

Now on the right hand side of the toolbar click the down arrow on Views and choose Preview.

Click on picture to enlarge size

Tadaa! This will open the preview pane. Click on any file on the left hand side and preview what inside the file. When you find the file you need just click Open button to open the file.

Click on picture to enlarge size

That's all for today ! bye !

The best Ranking of antivirus

2009-05-17T11:00:00.004+08:00

Windows user? Viruses is the main problem of Windows user. Use Linux instead of Windows! haha.. just kidding. Here is the top ranking of antivirus for Windows user.

Click here to find out..

bye!

How to connect your home computer from Remote location?

2009-05-17T09:40:00.010+08:00

Hi ! This is something interesting about connecting your own pc from your home to the remote location. This method is actually used for troubleshooting purpose, for example, help desk team in one organization use this method in order to troubleshoot the client computer in the same network.

You can run any computer application on the remote computer as you were running actually sitting in front of home computer.

Follow the given steps to configure your computer to connect remote computer:

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

To perform this task, first make sure your both computers are connected to the internet.

First you have to configure the host computer that allows the users to connect it remotely. On the host computer, right click on "My computer" and click on Properties option.

Under the Remote tab, select the option "Allow users to connect remotely to this computer" and click Ok button.

Click on picture to enlarge image

Now get the IP address of host computer (type the "ipconfig /all" on the command prompt of host computer to find IP address).

Now make a connection on remote or client computer, click on Start button, go to All Programs> Accessories, and Communications, then click on Remote Desktop Connection, option. A Remote Desktop Connection, dialog box will appear.

Click on picture to enlarge image

Click on Options button for detail configuration, under the General tab, type the IP address of host computer in the Computer box and also type username and password of host computer then click on Connect button to make a connection to remote computer.

Click on picture to enlarge image

If your username and password is correct then a remote desktop windows will appear.

How to: Download Youtube Video in .Mp4 Format

2009-05-15T06:20:00.007+08:00

Hi! i'm back ! this is may be a common trick that you may found even if you search in Google. But, this is the version of mine.

-Download Youtube video in mp4 format without using any software or any website using a simple javascript.

-This script let you download Youtube video directly from the website without any delay.

-Below is the code to download a video from the you tube,copy-paste this code into the address bar when your desired video starts buffering.Isn't it amazing script??? I have attached a screenshot of the video also.

*copy this script into address bar:

javascript:if(document.location.href.match(/http:\/\/[a-zA-Z\.]*youtube\.com\/watch/)){document.location.href='http://www.youtube.com/get_video?fmt='+(isHDAvailable?'22':'18')+'&video_id='+swfArgs['video_id']+'&t='+swfArgs['t']}

HAve Fun !

Under Construction again !

2009-05-10T23:43:00.006+08:00

Argh!! After struggling for the hard time, still no solution for the S**t IE browser.
My problem previously; i can view my blog perfectly in firefox but some of the setting cant be viewed in IE!

Someone? any idea?

Search Old Versions Software

2009-05-09T00:51:00.011+08:00

Hi ! Let's continue with this tips, sometimes, I was bored with the new version of software that requiring me to find serial @ crack, because most of them has been upgraded with more features inside,but the main features are still the same. Example, Adobe Acrobat Reader 8. So, this is one of the great place for those who still want to use the old version software with totally FREE!

go to www.oldversion.com

Click on picture to enlarge size

Try to click one of the links, Example: Adobe acrobat Reader, then you'll see this view:

Click on picture to enlarge size

Just follow the link, (*do not simply click on "download now")

There are several links for the old versions software and just choose what version you want.

Have A nice day ! :)

How to : Save Your Broadband Bandwidth !

2009-04-30T13:29:00.014+08:00

Hi all, after resting for awhile, i'm back with this trick which is so useful for me as a user of 3G's internet provider. For Malaysian (i'm in Malaysia right now since 2004), i believe that some of you who are using Celcom broadband, Maxis broadband or even Digi's gprs users may use this method. Yes, the advantage for 3G's internet user you can connect to the internet anyway and anytime that you want. BUT, do you know that we are actually sharing one IP ? Thats why some of us unable to download the files from RAPIDSHARE, or the other server that limiting same IP to download from the server in a period of time.

Here, are the solution that I use in order to solve this !

"toonel.net is an experiment in a technique for conserving network bandwidth. If you are paying a fee based on the amount of data you transfer (e.g. 3G/GPRS/DSL/CDMA) and have monthly download limit, or if you have narrowband connection (e.g. dialup modem) then you are most likely to appreciate the service toonel.net offers. There are number of toonel.net client application packages. All solutions are 100% Java based and therefore this service can be used on any platform with an installed Java Runtime Environment, including mobile phones."

source from : http://www.toonel.net/

You may download it here

How to use it?

Step 1: Setting your Browser's Proxy :Im using Mozilla Firefox

Click picture to enlarge

Step 2: Activate toonel.net (.jar file)

Click picture to enlarge

YOU HAVE DONE !

* you may also add proxy for the other third party program, Example: Internet download Manager

Have A nice Day !

"Fix your Own PC" (Download)

2009-04-29T20:47:00.008+08:00

Hi All ! This time i wanna share one of my E-book's Collection which is for me its good for newbies or even for the expert. Enjoy it!

You can download it here

Have a nice day ! :)

Evolution Of Computer Viruses: History Of Viruses.

2009-04-28T23:46:00.002+08:00

part 1

Like any other field in computer science, viruses have evolved -a great deal indeed- over the years. In the series of press releases which start today, we will look at the origins and evolution of malicious code since it first appeared up to the present.

Going back to the origin of viruses, it was in 1949 that Mathematician John Von Neumann described self-replicating programs which could resemble computer viruses as they are known today. However, it was not until the 60s that we find the predecessor of current viruses. In that decade, a group of programmers developed a game called Core Wars, which could reproduce every time it was run, and even saturate the memory of other players’ computers. The creators of this peculiar game also created the first antivirus, an application named Reeper, which could destroy copies created by Core Wars.

However, it was only in 1983 that one of these programmers announced the existence of Core Wars, which was described the following year in a prestigious scientific magazine: this was actually the starting point of what we call computer viruses today.

At that time, a still young MS-DOS was starting to become the preeminent operating system worldwide. This was a system with great prospects, but still many deficiencies as well, which arose from software developments and the lack of many hardware elements known today. Even like this, this new operating system became the target of a virus in 1986: Brain, a malicious code created in Pakistan which infected boot sectors of disks so that their contents could not be accessed. That year also saw the birth of the first Trojan: an application called PC-Write.

Shortly after, virus writers realized that infecting files could be even more harmful to systems. In 1987, a virus called Suriv-02 appeared, which infected COM files and opened the door to the infamous viruses Jerusalem or Viernes 13. However, the worst was still to come: 1988 set the date when the “Morris worm” appeared, infecting 6,000 computers.

From that date up to 1995 the types of malicious codes that are known today started being developed: the first macro viruses appeared, polymorphic viruses … Some of these even triggered epidemics, such as MichaelAngelo. However, there was an event that changed the virus scenario worldwide: the massive use of the Internet and e-mail. Little by little, viruses started adapting to this new situation until the appearance, in 1999, of Melissa, the first malicious code to cause a worldwide epidemic, opening a new era for computer viruses.

part 2

This second installment of ‘The evolution of viruses’ will look at how malicious code used to spread before use of the Internet and e-mail became as commonplace as it is today, and the main objectives of the creators of those earlier viruses.
Until the worldwide web and e-mail were adopted as a standard means of communication the world over, the main mediums through which viruses spread were floppy disks, removable drives, CDs, etc., containing files that were already infected or with the virus code in an executable boot sector.

When a virus entered a system it could go memory resident, infecting other files as they were opened, or it could start to reproduce immediately, also infecting other files on the system. The virus code could also be triggered by a certain event, for example when the system clock reached a certain date or time. In this case, the virus creator would calculate the time necessary for the virus to spread and then set a date –often with some particular significance- for the virus to activate. In this way, the virus would have an incubation period during which it didn’t visibly affect computers, but just spread from one system to another waiting for ‘D-day’ to launch its payload. This incubation period would be vital to the virus successfully infecting as many computers as possible.

One classic example of a destructive virus that lay low before releasing its payload was CIH, also known as Chernobyl. The most damaging version of this malicious code activated on April 26, when it would try to overwrite the flash-BIOS, the memory which includes the code needed to control PC devices. This virus, which first appeared in June 1998, had a serious impact for over two years and still continues to infect computers today.

Because of the way in which they propagate, these viruses spread very slowly, especially in comparison to the speed of today’s malicious code. Towards the end of the Eighties, for example, the Friday 13th (or Jerusalem) virus needed a long time to actually spread and continued to infect computers for some years. In contrast, experts reckon that in January 2003, SQLSlammer took just ten minutes to cause global communication problems across the Internet.

Notoriety versus stealth

For the most part, in the past, the activation of a malicious code triggered a series of on screen messages or images, or caused sounds to be emitted to catch the user’s attention. Such was the case with the Ping Pong virus, which displayed a ball bouncing from one side of the screen to another. This kind of elaborate display was used by the creator of the virus to gain as much notoriety as possible. Nowadays however, the opposite is the norm, with virus authors trying to make malicious code as discreet as possible, infecting users’ systems without them noticing that anything is amiss.

part 3

This third installment of ‘The evolution of viruses’ will look at how the Internet and e-mail changed the propagation techniques used by computer viruses.

Internet and e-mail revolutionized communications. However, as expected, virus creators didn’t take long to realize that along with this new means of communication, an excellent way of spreading their creations far and wide had also dawned. Therefore, they quickly changed their aim from infecting a few computers while drawing as much attention to themselves as possible, to damaging as many computers as possible, as quickly as possible. This change in strategy resulted in the first global virus epidemic, which was caused by the Melissa worm.

With the appearance of Melissa, the economic impact of a virus started to become an issue. As a result, users -above all companies- started to become seriously concerned about the consequences of viruses on the security of their computers. This is how users discovered antivirus programs, which started to be installed widely. However, this also brought about a new challenge for virus writers, how to slip past this protection and how to persuade users to run infected files.

The answer to which of these virus strategies was the most effective came in the form of a new worm: Love Letter, which used a simple but effective ruse that could be considered an early type of social engineering. This strategy involves inserting false messages that trick users into thinking that the message includes anything, except a virus. This worm’s bait was simple; it led users to believe that they had received a love letter.

This technique is still the most widely used. However, it is closely followed by another tactic that has been the center of attention lately: exploiting vulnerabilities in commonly used software. This strategy offers a range of possibilities depending on the security hole exploited. The first malicious code to use this method –and quite successfully- were the BubbleBoy and Kakworm worms. These worms exploited a vulnerability in Internet Explorer by inserting HTML code in the body of the e-mail message, which allowed them to run automatically, without needing the user to do a thing.

Vulnerabilities allow many different types of actions to be carried out. For example, they allow viruses to be dropped on computers directly from the Internet -such as the Blaster worm-. In fact, the effects of the virus depend on the vulnerability that the virus author tries to exploit.

part 4

In the early days of computers, there were relatively few PCs likely to contain “sensitive” information, such as credit card numbers or other financial data, and these were generally limited to large companies that had already incorporated computers into working processes.

In any event, information stored in computers was not likely to be compromised, unless the computer was connected to a network through which the information could be transmitted. Of course, there were exceptions to this and there were cases in which hackers perpetrated frauds using data stored in IT systems. However, this was achieved through typical hacking activities, with no viruses involved.

The advent of the Internet however caused virus creators to change their objectives, and, from that moment on, they tried to infect as many computers as possible in the shortest time. Also, the introduction of Internet services -like e-banking or online shopping- brought in another change. Some virus creators started writing malicious codes not to infect computers, but, to steal confidential data associated to those services. Evidently, to achieve this, they needed viruses that could infect many computers silently.

Their malicious labor was finally rewarded with the appearance, in 1986, of a new breed of malicious code generically called “Trojan Horse”, or simply “Trojan”. This first Trojan was called PC-Write and tried to pass itself off as the shareware version of a text processor. When run, the Trojan displayed a functional text processor on screen. The problem was that, while the user wrote, PC-Write deleted and corrupted files on the computers’ hard disk.

After PC-Write, this type of malicious code evolved very quickly to reach the stage of present-day Trojans. Today, many of the people who design Trojans to steal data cannot be considered virus writers but simply thieves who, instead of using blowtorches or dynamite have turned to viruses to commit their crimes. Ldpinch.W or the Bancos or Tolger families of Trojans are examples of this

part 5

Even though none of them can be left aside, some particular fields of computer science have played a more determinant role than others with regard to the evolution of viruses. One of the most influential fields has been the development of programming languages.

These languages are basically a means of communication with computers in order to tell them what to do. Even though each of them has its own specific development and formulation rules, computers in fact understand only one language called "machine code".

Programming languages act as an interpreter between the programmer and the computer. Obviously, the more directly you can communicate with the computer, the better it will understand you, and more complex actions you can ask it to perform.

According to this, programming languages can be divided into "low and high level" languages, depending on whether their syntax is more understandable for programmers or for computers. A "high level" language uses expressions that are easily understandable for most programmers, but not so much for computers. Visual Basic and C are good examples of this type of language.

On the contrary, expressions used by "low level" languages are closer to machine code, but are very difficult to understand for someone who has not been involved in the programming process. One of the most powerful, most widely used examples of this type of language is "assembler".

In order to explain the use of programming languages through virus history, it is necessary to refer to hardware evolution. It is not difficult to understand that an old 8-bit processor does not have the power of modern 64-bit processors, and this of course, has had an impact on the programming languages used.

In this and the next installments of this series, we will look at the different programming languages used by virus creators through computer history:

- Virus antecessors: Core Wars

As was already explained in the first chapter of this series, a group of programs called Core Wars, developed by engineers at an important telecommunications company, are considered the antecessors of current-day viruses. Computer science was still in the early stages and programming languages had hardly developed. For this reason, authors of these proto-viruses used a language that was almost equal to machine code to program them.

Curiously enough, it seems that one of the Core Wars programmers was Robert Thomas Morris, whose son programmed -years later- the "Morris worm". This malicious code became extraordinarily famous since it managed to infect 6,000 computers, an impressive figure for 1988.

- The new gurus of the 8-bits and the assembler language.

The names Altair, IMSAI and Apple in USA and Sinclair, Atari and Commodore in Europe, bring memories of times gone by, when a new generation of computer enthusiasts "fought" to establish their place in the programming world. To be the best, programmers needed to have profound knowledge of machine code and assembler, as interpreters of high-level languages used too much run time. BASIC, for example, was a relatively easy to learn language which allowed users to develop programs simply and quickly. It had however, many limitations.

This caused the appearance of two groups of programmers: those who used assembler and those who turned to high-level languages (BASIC and PASCAL, mainly).

Computer aficionados of the time enjoyed themselves more by programming useful software than malware. However, 1981 saw the birth of what can be considered the first 8-bit virus. Its name was "Elk Cloner", and was programmed in machine code. This virus could infect Apple II systems and displayed a message when it infected a computer.

part 6

Computer viruses evolve in much the same way as in other areas of IT. Two of the most important factors in understanding how viruses have reached their current level are the development of programming languages and the appearance of increasingly powerful hardware.

In 1981, almost at the same time as Elk Kloner (the first virus for 8-bit processors) made its appearance, a new operating system was growing in popularity. Its full name was Microsoft Disk Operating System, although computer buffs throughout the world would soon refer to it simply as DOS.

DOS viruses

The development of MS DOS systems occurred in parallel to the appearance of new, more powerful hardware. Personal computers were gradually establishing themselves as tools that people could use in their everyday lives, and the result was that the number of PCs users grew substantially. Perhaps inevitably, more users also started creating viruses. Gradually, we witnessed the appearance of the first viruses and Trojans for DOS, written in assembler language and demonstrating a degree of skill on the part of their authors.

Far less programmers know assembler language than are familiar with high-level languages that are far easier to learn. Malicious code written in Fortran, Basic, Cobol, C or Pascal soon began to appear. The last two languages, which are well established and very powerful, are the most widely used, particularly in their TurboC and Turbo Pascal versions. This ultimately led to the appearance of “virus families”: that is, viruses that are followed by a vast number of related viruses which are slightly modified forms of the original code.

Other users took the less ‘artistic’ approach of creating destructive viruses that did not require any great knowledge of programming. As a result, batch processing file viruses or BAT viruses began to appear.

Win16 viruses

The development of 16-bit processors led to a new era in computing. The first consequence was the birth of Windows, which, at the time, was just an application to make it easier to handle DOS using a graphic interface.

The structure of Windows 3.xx files is rather difficult to understand, and the assembler language code is very complicated, as a result of which few programmers initially attempted to develop viruses for this platform. But this problem was soon solved thanks to the development of programming tools for high-level languages, above all Visual Basic. This application is so effective that many virus creators adopted it as their ‘daily working tool’. This meant that writing a virus had become a very straightforward task, and viruses soon appeared in their hundreds. This development was accompanied by the appearance of the first Trojans able to steal passwords. As a result, more than 500 variants of the AOL Trojan family -designed to steal personal information from infected computers- were identified.

part 7

This seventh edition on the history of computer viruses will look at how the development of Windows and Visual Basic has influenced the evolution of viruses, as with the development of these, worldwide epidemics also evolved such as the first one caused by Melissa in 1999.

While Windows changed from being an application designed to make DOS easier to manage to a 32-bit platform and operating system in its own right, virus creators went back to using assembler as the main language for programming viruses.

Versions 5 and 6 of Visual Basic (VB) were developed, making it the preferred tool, along with Borland Delphi (the Pascal development for the Windows environment), for Trojan and worm writers. Then, Visual C, a powerful environment developed in C for Windows, was adopted for creating viruses, Trojans and worms. This last type of malware gained unusual strength, taking over almost all other types of viruses. Even though the characteristics of worms have changed over time, they all have the same objective: to spread to as many computers as possible, as quickly as possible.

With time, Visual Basic became extremely popular and Microsoft implemented part of the functionality of this language as an interpreter capable of running script files with a similar syntax.

At the same time as the Win32 platform was implemented, the first script viruses also appeared: malware inside a simple text file. These demonstrated that not only executable files (.EXE and .COM files) could carry viruses. As already seen with BAT viruses, there are also other means of propagation, proving the saying "anything that can be executed directly or through a interpreter can contain malware." To be specific, the first viruses that infected the macros included in Microsoft Office emerged. As a result, Word, Excel, Access and PowerPoint become ways of spreading ‘lethal weapons’, which destroyed information when the user simply opened a document.

Melissa and self-executing worms

The powerful script interpreters in Microsoft Office allowed virus authors to arm their creations with the characteristics of worms. A clear example is Melissa, a Word macro virus with the characteristics of a worm that infects Word 97 and 2000 documents. This worm automatically sends itself out as an attachment to an e-mail message to the first 50 contacts in the Outlook address book on the affected computer. This technique, which has unfortunately become very popular nowadays, was first used in this virus which, in 1999, caused one of the largest epidemics in computer history in just a few days. In fact, companies like Microsoft, Intel or Lucent Technologies had to block their connections to the Internet due to the actions of Melissa.

The technique started by Melissa was developed in 1999 by viruses like VBS/Freelink, which unlike its predecessor sent itself out to all the contacts in the address book on the infected PC. This started a new wave of worms capable of sending themselves out to all the contacts in the Outlook address book on the infected computer. Of these, the worm that most stands out from the rest is VBS/LoveLetter, more commonly known as ‘I love You’, which emerged in May 2000 and caused an epidemic that caused damage estimated at 10,000 million euros. In order to get the user’s attention and help it to spread, this worm sent itself out in an e-mail message with the subject ‘ILOVEYOU’ and an attached file called ‘LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.VBS’. When the user opened this attachment, the computer was infected.

As well as Melissa, in 1999 another type of virus emerged that also marked a milestone in virus history. In November of that year, VBS/BubbleBoy appeared, a new type of Internet worm written in VB Script. VBS/BubbleBoy was automatically run without the user needing to click on an attached file, as it exploited a vulnerability in Internet Explorer 5 to automatically run when the message was opened or viewed. This worm was followed in 2000 by JS/Kak.Worm, which spread by hiding behind Java Script in the auto-signature in Microsoft Outlook Express, allowing it to infect computers without the user needing to run an attached file. These were the first samples of a series of worms, which were joined later on by worms capable of attacking computers when the user is browsing the Internet.

Free Kaspersky Key!!

2009-04-28T23:33:00.004+08:00

KASPERSKY Antivirus is one of my favorite antivirus. Here are some keys that can be used for FREE!

you can check it out here : http://www.kavkiskey.com/

Hope you enjoy it ! But please support the original product !
I also hope that Kaspersky will not ban my blog, hahaha!!

Google Secrets!

2009-04-28T23:15:00.003+08:00

To be honest, Google is one of my favorite Search Engine which is for me looks simple but with powerful performance! Instead of another search engine which is very "heavy" for me and full of advertisement. Here are some secrets that you may find out in order to search something with Google Search engine.

Google secrets

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

method 1
?ww.google.com

put this string in google search:

"parent directory " /appz/ -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5 -md5sums

"parent directory " DVDRip -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5 -md5sums

"parent directory "Xvid -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5 -md5sums

"parent directory " Gamez -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5 -md5sums

"parent directory " MP3 -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5 -md5sums

"parent directory " Name of Singer or album -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5 -md5sums

Notice that i am only changing the word after the parent directory, change it to what you want and you will get a lot of stuff.

voila!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
method 2
?ww.google.com

put this string in google search:

?intitle:index.of? mp3

You only need add the name of the song/artist/singer.
Example: ?intitle:index.of? mp3 jackson

How to Know: How Long Has Your System Been Running?

2009-04-26T20:51:00.003+08:00

Here's how you verify system uptime:

Click Start | Run and type cmd to open a command prompt.
At the prompt, type systeminfo

Scroll down the list of information to the line that says System Up Time.

This will tell you in days, hours, minutes and seconds how long the system has been up.

Note that this command only works in XP Pro, not in XP Home. You can, however, type net statistics workstation at the prompt in Home. The first line will tell you the day and time that the system came online.

I found that this trick give a very good advantage for me :)

Firefox Speed Tweak

2009-04-26T20:39:00.002+08:00

Hi there! This time i would like to share some manual step to speed up your mozilla firefox browser.

Yes, firefox is already pretty damn fast but did you know that you can tweak it and improve the speed even more?

That's the beauty of this program being open source.
Here's what you do:
In the URL bar, type “about:config” and press enter. This will bring up the configuration “menu” where you can change the parameters of Firefox.

Note that these are what I’ve found to REALLY speed up my Firefox significantly - and these settings seem to be common among everybody else as well. But these settings are optimized for broadband connections - I mean with as much concurrent requests we’re going to open up with pipelining… lol… you’d better have a big connection.

Double Click on the following settins and put in the numbers below - for the true / false booleans - they’ll change when you double click.

Code:
browser.tabs.showSingleWindowModePrefs – true
network.http.max-connections – 48
network.http.max-connections-per-server – 16
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy – 8
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server – 4
network.http.pipelining – true
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests – 100
network.http.proxy.pipelining – true
network.http.request.timeout – 300

One more thing… Right-click somewhere on that screen and add a NEW -> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0”. This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives. Since you’re broadband - it shouldn’t have to wait.

Now you should notice you’re loading pages MUCH faster now!

OR...

you may install add on in firefox by installing "TWEAK NETWORK"

Have a good day !

How to speed up your windows XP boot

2009-04-26T00:12:00.002+08:00

You may try it by yourself and some differences will be shown on your boot performance.

Follow the following steps

1. Open notepad.exe, type "del c:\windows\prefetch\ntosboot-*.* /q" (without the quotes) & save as "ntosboot.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 "Shutdown" in the right window.
4. In the new window, click "add", "Browse", locate your "ntosboot.bat" file & click "Open".
5. Click "OK", "Apply" & "OK" once again to exit.
6. From the Start menu, select "Run..." & type "devmgmt.msc".
7. Double click on "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers"
8. Right click on "Primary IDE Channel" and select "Properties".
9. Select the "Advanced Settings" tab then on the device or 1 that doesn't have 'device type' greyed out select 'none' instead of 'autodetect' & click "OK".
10. Right click on "Secondary IDE channel", select "Properties" and repeat step 9.
11. Reboot your computer.

How To Change Text on XP Start Button

2009-04-26T00:02:00.002+08:00

Step 1 - Modify Explorer.exe File

In order to make the changes, the file explorer.exe located at C:\Windows needs to be edited. Since explorer.exe is a binary file it requires a special editor. For purposes of this article I have used Resource Hacker. Resource HackerTM is a freeware utility to view, modify, rename, add, delete and extract resources in 32bit Windows executables and resource files (*.res). It incorporates an internal resource script compiler and decompiler and works on Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems.

get this from http://delphi.icm.edu.pl/ftp/tools/ResHack.zip

The first step is to make a backup copy of the file explorer.exe located at C:\Windows\explorer. Place it in a folder somewhere on your hard drive where it will be safe. Start Resource Hacker and open explorer.exe located at C:\Windows\explorer.exe.

The category we are going to be using is "String Table". Expand it by clicking the plus sign then navigate down to and expand string 37 followed by highlighting 1033. If you are using the Classic Layout rather than the XP Layout, use number 38. The right hand pane will display the stringtable. We’re going to modify item 578, currently showing the word “start” just as it displays on the current Start button.

There is no magic here. Just double click on the word “start” so that it’s highlighted, making sure the quotation marks are not part of the highlight. They need to remain in place, surrounding the new text that you’ll type. Go ahead and type your new entry. In my case I used Click Me!

You’ll notice that after the new text string has been entered the Compile Script button that was grayed out is now active. I won’t get into what’s involved in compiling a script, but suffice it to say it’s going to make this exercise worthwhile. Click Compile Script and then save the altered file using the Save As command on the File Menu. Do not use the Save command – Make sure to use the Save As command and choose a name for the file. Save the newly named file to C:\Windows.

Step 2 – Modify the Registry

!!!make a backup of your registry before making changes!!!

Now that the modified explorer.exe has been created it’s necessary to modify the registry so the file will be recognized when the user logs on to the system. If you don’t know how to access the registry I’m not sure this article is for you, but just in case it’s a temporary memory lapse, go to Start (soon to be something else) Run and type regedit in the Open field. Navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows NT\ CurrentVersion\ Winlogon

In the right pane, double click the "Shell" entry to open the Edit String dialog box. In Value data: line, enter the name that was used to save the modified explorer.exe file. Click OK.

Close Registry Editor and either log off the system and log back in, or reboot the entire system if that’s your preference. If all went as planned you should see your new Start button with the revised text.

How To: Change Your Ip In Less Then 1 Minute!

2009-04-25T23:44:00.003+08:00

1. Click on "Start" in the bottom left hand corner of screen
2. Click on "Run"
3. Type in "command" and hit ok

You should now be at an MSDOS prompt screen.

4. Type "ipconfig /release" just like that, and hit "enter"
5. Type "exit" and leave the prompt
6. Right-click on "Network Places" or "My Network Places" on your desktop.
7. Click on "properties"

You should now be on a screen with something titled "Local Area Connection", or something close to that, and, if you have a network hooked up, all of your other networks.

8. Right click on "Local Area Connection" and click "properties"
9. Double-click on the "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" from the list under the "General" tab
10. Click on "Use the following IP address" under the "General" tab
11. Create an IP address (It doesn't matter what it is. I just type 1 and 2 until i fill the area up).
12. Press "Tab" and it should automatically fill in the "Subnet Mask" section with default numbers.
13. Hit the "Ok" button here
14. Hit the "Ok" button again

You should now be back to the "Local Area Connection" screen.

15. Right-click back on "Local Area Connection" and go to properties again.
16. Go back to the "TCP/IP" settings
17. This time, select "Obtain an IP address automatically"
tongue.gif 18. Hit "Ok"
19. Hit "Ok" again
20. You now have a new IP address

With a little practice, you can easily get this process down to 15 seconds.

P.S:
This only changes your dynamic IP address, not your ISP/IP address. If you plan on hacking a website with this trick be extremely careful, because if they try a little, they can trace it back

Useful Keyboard Shortcut

2009-04-25T17:08:00.002+08:00

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

10 reasons why PCs crash that you must Know(Part 2)

2009-04-25T16:57:00.001+08:00

6)Viruses

Often the first sign of a virus infection is instability. Some viruses erase the boot sector of a hard drive, making it impossible to start. This is why it is a good idea to create a Windows start-up disk. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs

Here, look for the Start Up Disk tab. Virus protection requires constant vigilance.

A virus scanner requires a list of virus signatures in order to be able to identify viruses. These signatures are stored in a DAT file. DAT files should be updated weekly from the website of your antivirus software manufacturer.

An excellent antivirus programme is McAfee VirusScan by Network Associates ( www.nai.com). Another is Norton AntiVirus 2000, made by Symantec ( www.symantec.com).

7) Printers

The action of sending a document to print creates a bigger file, often called a postscript file.

Printers have only a small amount of memory, called a buffer. This can be easily overloaded. Printing a document also uses a considerable amount of CPU power. This will also slow down the computer's performance.

If the printer is trying to print unusual characters, these might not be recognised, and can crash the computer. Sometimes printers will not recover from a crash because of confusion in the buffer. A good way to clear the buffer is to unplug the printer for ten seconds. Booting up from a powerless state, also called a cold boot, will restore the printer's default settings and you may be able to carry on.

8) Software

A common cause of computer crash is faulty or badly-installed software. Often the problem can be cured by uninstalling the software and then reinstalling it. Use Norton Uninstall or Uninstall Shield to remove an application from your system properly. This will also remove references to the programme in the System Registry and leaves the way clear for a completely fresh copy.

The System Registry can be corrupted by old references to obsolete software that you thought was uninstalled. Use Reg Cleaner by Jouni Vuorio to clean up the System Registry and remove obsolete entries. It works on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE (Second Edition), Windows Millennium Edition (ME), NT4 and Windows 2000.

Read the instructions and use it carefully so you don't do permanent damage to the Registry. If the Registry is damaged you will have to reinstall your operating system. Reg Cleaner can be obtained from www.jv16.org

Often a Windows problem can be resolved by entering Safe Mode. This can be done during start-up. When you see the message "Starting Windows" press F4. This should take you into Safe Mode.

Safe Mode loads a minimum of drivers. It allows you to find and fix problems that prevent Windows from loading properly.

Sometimes installing Windows is difficult because of unsuitable BIOS settings. If you keep getting SUWIN error messages (Windows setup) during the Windows installation, then try entering the BIOS and disabling the CPU internal cache. Try to disable the Level 2 (L2) cache if that doesn't work.

Remember to restore all the BIOS settings back to their former settings following installation.

9) Overheating

Central processing units (CPUs) are usually equipped with fans to keep them cool. If the fan fails or if the CPU gets old it may start to overheat and generate a particular kind of error called a kernel error. This is a common problem in chips that have been overclocked to operate at higher speeds than they are supposed to.

One remedy is to get a bigger better fan and install it on top of the CPU. Specialist cooling fans/heatsinks are available from www.computernerd.com or www.coolit.com

CPU problems can often be fixed by disabling the CPU internal cache in the BIOS. This will make the machine run more slowly, but it should also be more stable.

10 )Power supply problems

With all the new construction going on around the country the steady supply of electricity has become disrupted. A power surge or spike can crash a computer as easily as a power cut.

If this has become a nuisance for you then consider buying a uninterrupted power supply (UPS). This will give you a clean power supply when there is electricity, and it will give you a few minutes to perform a controlled shutdown in case of a power cut.

It is a good investment if your data are critical, because a power cut will cause any unsaved data to be lost.

10 reasons why PCs crash that you must Know(Part 1)

2009-04-25T16:46:00.002+08:00

Fatal error: the system has become unstable or is busy," it says. "Enter to return to Windows or press Control-Alt-Delete to restart your computer. If you do this you will lose any unsaved information in all open applications."

You have just been struck by the Blue Screen of Death. Anyone who uses Mcft Windows will be familiar with this. What can you do? More importantly, how can you prevent it happening?

1)Hardware conflict

The number one reason why Windows crashes is hardware conflict. Each hardware device communicates to other devices through an interrupt request channel (IRQ). These are supposed to be unique for each device.

For example, a printer usually connects internally on IRQ 7. The keyboard usually uses IRQ 1 and the floppy disk drive IRQ 6. Each device will try to hog a single IRQ for itself.

If there are a lot of devices, or if they are not installed properly, two of them may end up sharing the same IRQ number. When the user tries to use both devices at the same time, a crash can happen. The way to check if your computer has a hardware conflict is through the following route:

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager.

Often if a device has a problem a yellow '!' appears next to its description in the Device Manager. Highlight Computer (in the Device Manager) and press Properties to see the IRQ numbers used by your computer. If the IRQ number appears twice, two devices may be using it.

Sometimes a device might share an IRQ with something described as 'IRQ holder for PCI steering'. This can be ignored. The best way to fix this problem is to remove the problem device and reinstall it.

Sometimes you may have to find more recent drivers on the internet to make the device function properly. A good resource is www.driverguide.com. If the device is a soundcard, or a modem, it can often be fixed by moving it to a different slot on the motherboard (be careful about opening your computer, as you may void the warranty).

When working inside a computer you should switch it off, unplug the mains lead and touch an unpainted metal surface to discharge any static electricity.

To be fair to Mcft, the problem with IRQ numbers is not of its making. It is a legacy problem going back to the first PC designs using the IBM 8086 chip. Initially there were only eight IRQs. Today there are 16 IRQs in a PC. It is easy to run out of them. There are plans to increase the number of IRQs in future designs.

2)Bad Ram

Ram (random-access memory) problems might bring on the blue screen of death with a message saying Fatal Exception Error. A fatal error indicates a serious hardware problem. Sometimes it may mean a part is damaged and will need replacing.

But a fatal error caused by Ram might be caused by a mismatch of chips. For example, mixing 70-nanosecond (70ns) Ram with 60ns Ram will usually force the computer to run all the Ram at the slower speed. This will often crash the machine if the Ram is overworked.

One way around this problem is to enter the BIOS settings and increase the wait state of the Ram. This can make it more stable. Another way to troubleshoot a suspected Ram problem is to rearrange the Ram chips on the motherboard, or take some of them out. Then try to repeat the circumstances that caused the crash. When handling Ram try not to touch the gold connections, as they can be easily damaged.

Parity error messages also refer to Ram. Modern Ram chips are either parity (ECC) or non parity (non-ECC). It is best not to mix the two types, as this can be a cause of trouble.

EMM386 error messages refer to memory problems but may not be connected to bad Ram. This may be due to free memory problems often linked to old Dos-based programmes.

3)BIOS settings

Every motherboard is supplied with a range of chipset settings that are decided in the factory. A common way to access these settings is to press the F2 or delete button during the first few seconds of a boot-up.

Once inside the BIOS, great care should be taken. It is a good idea to write down on a piece of paper all the settings that appear on the screen. That way, if you change something and the computer becomes more unstable, you will know what settings to revert to.

A common BIOS error concerns the CAS latency. This refers to the Ram. Older EDO (extended data out) Ram has a CAS latency of 3. Newer SDRam has a CAS latency of 2. Setting the wrong figure can cause the Ram to lock up and freeze the computer's display.

Mcft Windows is better at allocating IRQ numbers than any BIOS. If possible set the IRQ numbers to Auto in the BIOS. This will allow Windows to allocate the IRQ numbers (make sure the BIOS setting for Plug and Play OS is switched to 'yes' to allow Windows to do this.).

4) Hard disk drives

After a few weeks, the information on a hard disk drive starts to become piecemeal or fragmented. It is a good idea to defragment the hard disk every week or so, to prevent the disk from causing a screen freeze. Go to

* Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-Disk Defragmenter

This will start the procedure. You will be unable to write data to the hard drive (to save it) while the disk is defragmenting, so it is a good idea to schedule the procedure for a period of inactivity using the Task Scheduler.

The Task Scheduler should be one of the small icons on the bottom right of the Windows opening page (the desktop).

Some lockups and screen freezes caused by hard disk problems can be solved by reducing the read-ahead optimisation. This can be adjusted by going to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System Icon-Performance-File System-Hard Disk.

Hard disks will slow down and crash if they are too full. Do some housekeeping on your hard drive every few months and free some space on it. Open the Windows folder on the C drive and find the Temporary Internet Files folder. Deleting the contents (not the folder) can free a lot of space.

Empty the Recycle Bin every week to free more space. Hard disk drives should be scanned every week for errors or bad sectors. Go to

* Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-ScanDisk

Otherwise assign the Task Scheduler to perform this operation at night when the computer is not in use.

5) Fatal OE exceptions and VXD errors

Fatal OE exception errors and VXD errors are often caused by video card problems.

These can often be resolved easily by reducing the resolution of the video display. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-Display-Settings

Here you should slide the screen area bar to the left. Take a look at the colour settings on the left of that window. For most desktops, high colour 16-bit depth is adequate.

If the screen freezes or you experience system lockups it might be due to the video card. Make sure it does not have a hardware conflict. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager

Here, select the + beside Display Adapter. A line of text describing your video card should appear. Select it (make it blue) and press properties. Then select Resources and select each line in the window. Look for a message that says No Conflicts.

If you have video card hardware conflict, you will see it here. Be careful at this point and make a note of everything you do in case you make things worse.

The way to resolve a hardware conflict is to uncheck the Use Automatic Settings box and hit the Change Settings button. You are searching for a setting that will display a No Conflicts message.

Another useful way to resolve video problems is to go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Performance-Graphics

Here you should move the Hardware Acceleration slider to the left. As ever, the most common cause of problems relating to graphics cards is old or faulty drivers (a driver is a small piece of software used by a computer to communicate with a device).

Look up your video card's manufacturer on the internet and search for the most recent drivers for it.

HELLO ALL

2009-04-25T14:41:00.000+08:00

Hi all, this is my first Blog talking about computer, please do have some fun here, the main purpose i'm doing this is to share with you for what i have know and search about computer and may be some tricks that i've found useful for us especially for those who like to play around and discover something new in your own PC.

I'll try to update this blog hopefully as often as i can and see you in the next post.

see ya !