Final goodbye for early web icon

A web browser that gave many people their first experience of the web is set to disappear.

Netscape Navigator, now owned by AOL, will no longer be supported after 1 March 2008, the company has said.

In the mid-1990s, as the commercial web began to take off, the browser was used by more than 90% of people online.

Its market share has since slipped to just 0.6% as other browsers such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) and Firefox have eroded its user base.

The company recommends that users upgrade their browser to either Firefox or Flock, which are both built on the same underlying technologies as Navigator.

"I think we represent the hope that was of Netscape," Mitchell Baker, chair of the Mozilla Foundation which coordinates development of Firefox, told BBC News.

"We have picked up many of the things that Netscape launched but we've taken them further in terms of openness and public participation."

Ms Baker was one of the first employees at Netscape in 1994.

Web window

Netscape was created by Marc Andreessen who as a student had co-authored Mosaic, the first popular web browser.

Firefox uses the same technology as Navigator developers

His company Netscape Communications Corporation released the first version in 1994.

According to Shawn Hardin, President and CEO of Flock, Netscape played an important role in making the internet "a relevant mass market phenomenon".

"Netscape had a critical role in taking all of these zeros and ones - this very academic and technical environment - and giving it a graphical user interface where an average person could come online and consume information," he told BBC News.

"During its halcyon days it really felt like the internet and Netscape were really the same thing," he said.

Other companies capitalised on Netscape's success, notably Microsoft, which began to bundle IE with its Windows operating systems.

Netscape is a wonderful browser, and it will be so in the future

Although this led to legal wrangles over anti-competitive behaviour, IE now dominates the browser landscape with an 80% market share.

As a result, Netscape became unviable.

"While internal groups within AOL have invested a great deal of time and energy in attempting to revive Netscape Navigator, these efforts have not been successful in gaining market share from Microsoft's Internet Explorer," said Tom Drapeau on the Netscape blog last year, when the demise of the browser was first announced.

Future return?

For the past week Netscape users have been shown a message alerting them to the end of support for the browser.

"Given AOL's current business focus, support for Netscape browsers will be discontinued as of March 1st, 2008," the message reads.

Flock is designed to take advantage of web 2.0 sites

It then suggests users upgrade to either Flock or Firefox.

Firefox is the main competitor to IE, particularly in Europe where it has a 28% market share, according to some statistics.

The open source browser's development is coordinated by the Mozilla foundation, set up by Netscape staff made redundant in 2003.

It has had more than 500 million downloads worldwide and in countries such as Finland it is the most popular browser.

"Competition is what brings quality," said Ms Baker.

Flock describes itself as "the social web browser" and allows people to see feeds from community websites, such as Flickr and Facebook, and post to blogs without having to navigate to the page.

"There are lots of ways that people are engaging in having a conversation and Flock is very focused on making that as effortless and convenient as possible," said Mr Hardin.

However, not all Netscape users are happy about having to change browser.

"I'm sad. Flock still needs improvement and I am not happy with Firefox's interface. I'm [an] orphan!" read one post on the Netscape blog.

Others who posted comments on the blog predicted the browser will make a return.

"Netscape is a wonderful browser, and it will be so in the future," read one.

How to remove "Refresh" from desktop right click menu

Open "Shell32.dll" file in Resource Hacker and goto:

Code:

Menu -> 215 -> 1033

In right-side pane, delete the following line:

Code:

MENUITEM "R&efresh", 28931, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED

Click on "Compile Script" button and save the file.

Microsoft cutting price of Vista

Microsoft is hoping more users will switch to Vista

Microsoft has said it plans to cut the cost of its Windows Vista operating system sold at retail outlets.

Although no exact date has yet been given, Microsoft said price cuts would be introduced in 70 countries.

In the US, the cost of the most expensive version, Vista Ultimate, will be reduced to $319 (£161) from the current retail price of $399.

Analysts said Microsoft was aiming to boost the number of customers upgrading to Vista, which was introduced in 2007.

'Greater opportunities'

The price cuts apply to the packaged versions of Vista, which account for less than 10% of its sales.

By contract, 90% of Vista sales are to PC manufacturers, where the operating system is pre-installed on their computers.

"We anticipate these changes will provide greater opportunities... to sell more stand-alone copies of Windows," said Brad Brooks, a Microsoft corporate vice president.

Microsoft says it has now sold 100 million Vista licences since it was launched.

13 Reasons To Use Firefox over IE

Popup Blocking
In this day in age, an internet browser without a popup blocker is like having a broadband connection without a fireball. “Firefox stops annoying popup windows dead in their tracks”, according to Mozilla.org, and that’s exactly what it does. Visiting a popup blocker test page, Firefox’s built in popup blocker was able to close all popup windows while the page loaded and during the page's onload() event. At http://www.popup-blocker.info’s test page, several test can be ran to prove your popup blocker’s power. Mozilla Firefox’s built in popup blocker was able to handle the “Stress Test”, which according to pop-upblocker.info… “[Stress tests] attempts to overcome your pop-up killer by trying to spawn large numbers of windows as quickly as possible.” Firefox’s popup blocker was able to close all 200 popup windows without even breaking a sweat. Trying this with IE and no popup blocker would probably bring your pc to its knee’s. You can also easily access the list of websites that the popup blocker blocks and altering it’s state by a simple click.


Download Manager
A feature which I thought was going to be integrated in Internet Explorer 6 was a download manager. Download managers allow you to manipulate and take control of your downloaded files. Mozilla Firefox’s download manager contains just the essentials to allow you to control your downloads. You can pause your download and continue it a later time, something which is not possible with IE’s download manager. Apart from sporting a nice look, the download manager stores the information such as size and location of your downloaded file. When the download is complete, a small notification is displayed in the lower right side of the screen.


Tab Browsing
Because having too many windows open at a time can be a bit annoying, not to mention time consuming, Firefox features tab browsing. Here’s more on tab browsing from Mozilla’s homepage…”Tab-Browsing changes the way you use the internet by allowing you to open links on a page in background "Tabs" and then read them when you're ready. No confusing new windows, no need for context menus, just hold down Ctrl when clicking a link, or use your middle mouse button (if you have one).”


Integrated Search Engine
Now why didn’t the IE programmers think of this? Mozilla Firefox comes with a built in search engine. The default search engine is Google’s, of course, with the ability to add others. The search entry takes up a very small space, which is a plus when compared to those huge toolbars out there.


Options
Less confusing and cluttered than IE’s Internet Options is another factor in Mozilla’s Firefox. You can easily navigate through each setting. Deleting saved passwords is a snap and clearing any saved history. The “Downloads” section of the options allows the user to choose which program will automatically open a downloaded file.


Page Info
When right clicking on a page (PC users), selecting “page info” will pull up a window displaying vast amount of information for the webpage. General information as well as a Link tab showing all the links that the page contains.


Faster Response
A typical webpage will load faster on Mozilla Firefox than Internet Explorer.


Keeps HTML Formatting
Mozilla Firefox is able to keep the html format when copying from a webpage to a text file. For example, when copying html formatted text from a webpage and pasting it on a note pad, the text copied using Mozilla Firefox keeps the format yet the text copied from IE doesn’t.


Security
Because many of those malicious plug-in’s that cause your everyday web surfing into a trip to the DMV are mostly programmed for Internet Explorer, having Mozilla Firefox as your internet browser can save you tons of headaches.


Open Source Advantage
The Mozilla project is an Open Source project where thousands of independent programmers can work on finding security holes before they are exploited.


Cleaner Interface
Firefox isn’t filled with clutter such as a history button or other buttons that take up most of the area in Internet Explorer. Firefox offers 2% more space to web pages than Mozilla, 4% more than Internet Explorer, and a whopping 10% more than Opera.


Smaller Download
Ignoring the fact that Internet Explorer comes integrated with Windows, Firefox is almost half the size of Internet Explorer meaning half the time downloading.


Block Images
When right clicking on an image, the user is given the option to block all images from that webpage. This feature comes in handing when visiting a site that holds many pictures, many due to ads, which can be disabled for faster surfing.


Mozilla Firefox is an alternate browser to IE with features that, I believe, surpass the latter. Firefox has defiantly broken ground in the war of the browsers. I know there are many out there who would think otherwise and never settle for any browser other than IE. Think of it this way, if Mozilla Firefox was integrated by default into Windows besides IE, would you switch to another browser?


SOURCE
http://www.flexbeta.net/main/article...ion=show&id=32

Windows XP Service Pack 3 RC

Office XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) contains significant security enhancements, in addition to stability and performance improvements.
This update also includes a small number of new functionalities.

Download Source

Disabling Run or Find from the Start Menu

Step to follow to do this..

1. Start Regedit

2. Go to HKey_Current_User \ Software\ Microsoft \Windows \ Current Version \ Policies \ Explorer

3. Right click on the right panel and add a New / DWORD

4. Name it NoFile or NoRun

5. Give it a value of 1

6. Logoff or Reboot the computer

How to remove the text from the Desktop icon?

Desktop is the interface of Windows, which contain the icons, taskbar etc. that allow the user to interact with the computer to perform different operations. Usually the picture of icon represents its purpose so if you want your desktop looking very clean then you can remove the title under the desktop icons. May be you are thinking it is so easy, just go to rename option and set blank name or single spacebar entry but the problem is this, windows will not allow you to set blank name or name with single spacebar entry. Here interesting thing is this; window will allow you to use the ASCII code for a space, which is 0160.

First clear all the text from that icon

Now type the ASCII code, simply hold the Alt key, type the number 0160 from the number pad and release the Alt key then press Enter button to finish the process.

Before & After

But if you want to remove the text of multiple icons, then repeat the above process with adding one extra ASCII code for second icon, (for example for second icon you type the 0160 twice and for third icon type 0160 three times with Alt key and so on).

Trace people from their emails

---------------------------------------------------
log on to following link and register to locate anyone frome their email id

http://www.shivampatel.net/trace/

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

How to prevent users from writing to USB drives?

Today USB drive also known as keychain drive is becoming the most popular removable storage device to move data to different locations. USB drives are available in the market with different features, for example password protected, compatible with all windows versions and extra storage capacity (up to 65 GB).


A common security issue at organizations is how to prevent their workers to write data onto USB drives using their PCs, because a user can easily move confidential data for other location.





If you have windows XP with SP2, then you can disable the writing option to USB drives.

Follow the given steps to disable the USB writing option:-
1. To edit the computer registry, first you should log onto your computer with administrative rights.
First click on Start button and type "Regedit" in Run option.





2. Here locate the location to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l

Here in right side panel, click right to create a key with the name "StorageDevicePolicies".

3. Now in left side panel, select "StorageDevicePolicies" key, again right click to create new DWORD value then label it "WriteProtect".

4. Set its value to "1". But again enable this option set its values "0".





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

How to Deny other Windows XP Users to Access Your Folders and Files

Sometimes the computer admin, or even the user, would want to protect the content of their folders and the files in it by setting the folder permission to disallow access of other users of that computer. Here’s how;

1. Log-in as an administrator. Then open the windows explorer.
2. Open Tools->Folder Options->View. Then uncheck “Use Simple File Sharing”.
3. Click on the folder that you want to protect. Right click, and then click “Properties”, then click “Security”.
4. Add users that you want to have access or permission and/or remove users that you want to deny access or permissions, and then check “Full Control”.
5. Click “Advanced”.
6. On “Permission” tab, uncheck “Inherit from parent the permission entries that….”
7. Click “Edit”. Uncheck “Apply These Permissions to Objects and …”
8. In the “Owner” tab, change the ownership to the Administrator and to your account.
9. Click “Apply”, then “OK”.

How to Download Books from Books.Google.Com

This is, definitely, not a hack for Google to hate this post. This will just teach you how to copy and retrieve the files that Books.Google.Com temporarily saved in your computer before showing it to you through internet browser.

Actually, it’s the same stuff as this post, here..

Just follow the steps bellow;

1. Open your Internet Explorer (Not Firefox). Make sure that you are the admin of your computer. Then, go to the page in books.google.com that you want to download.

2. Now, go to “C:\Documents and Settings\%your admin name%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\” of your computer. Delete all of the content of that folder.

3. In your Internet Explorer, refresh the page and browse-thru the pages of the books that you want to download.

4. Refresh the “Temporary Internet Files” folder. Copy all PNG files to another folder. You can distinguish PNG Files through its icon.

These files that you have just copied are, actually, the pages of the books that you have just browsed.

Enjoy!!!

How to Download Slides in Slideshare.net

Slideshare. net is like youtube where anyone can upload and share (through flash player) their useful and informative power point presentation. Unfortunately, most of these slides are not downloadable.

Though the presentation is not downloadable, you can, actually, have a copy; though not at its original file format of Microsoft Power Point but Flash (swf) format. This is how:

1. Log-in to the administrator account (just to make sure that you have access to anything) of your computer.
2. Go to “C:\Documents and Settings\%your admin name%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\
3. Make sure that your Internet Explorer is closed. Delete all the content of your Temporary Internet Files.
4. Now open your “internet explorer” and go to that slide presentation that you want to download.
5. Click through to the entire slide presentation (until to the last slide). This is a hassle if the presentation is lengthy. Anyway, we also have a solution to this.
6. In the Temporary Internet Files folder, search for the file with a prefix of the title of the slide presentation that you want to download and an extension of “.swf” (Make sure that you disabled hiding of file extension in your folder option).
7. Copy all of that file and your through. That’s actually the individual slides in the presentation. Just install Flash Player to view these files that you have just “downloaded”.

Now, if you are having a hard time clicking through the entire slide, we have this solution;
1. Install Mozilla Firefox explorer, in case you don’t have one. Then install “downthemall” addon.
2. Do steps 1-4 in the above procedure.
3. In the Temporary Internet Files folder, search for the file with a prefix of the title of the slide presentation that you want to download and an extension of “.xml” (Make sure that you disabled hiding of extension in your folder option). Copy this xml file to your desktop folder and rename it to any filename that you want but with a file extension of “htm”.
4. Open this file using “notepad” or “wordpad”. Then do the following “replace all” activities;

• Replace “Slide Src” with “a href”.
• Replace “/>” with “/> alfie< /a>” (no spaces)

5. Save this file. Then open this file, now, using Firefox explorer. You should see lots of hyperlinked “alfie” word in the page.
6. Right click on the page (not on the link), then click “DownThemAll!”.
7. In the “DownThemAll!” program set the directory where you want to download these flash files. In the “additional filters” put “.swf”, then click “Start”. Just wait for a few minutes until all files were downloaded in your computer.
8. You can use “super” (just type super in Google) to convert this into Mpeg file so that you will have more comfort of viewing these.

Enjoy!

How to Trace/ know any IP address from Domain

From the window,

Go to start –> Run–> and in run Enter cmd

it open the command prompt

from the command prompt type ” ping” “Space” “your domain”

eg: “ping www.google.com” and press enter

it show the IP address of Domain

 

to trace a domin

Go to start –> Run–> and in run Enter cmd

it open the command prompt

from the command prompt type ” tracert” “Space” “your domain”

eg: “tracert www.google.com” and press enter

and then after entering it will show you the IP address of the Domain

Auto Shutdown your PC

example you wish to shutdown at 11:35am. Type this in
start=>Run
Type Code: at 11:35 shutdown -s
to abort
Code:
shutdown -a

Take Note: All time are in 24hr, example u would like to shutdown at 8:30pm, you should type “at 20:30 shutdown -s” without quote…

Set A Pic As Background In Explorer

If changing of background is not working using desktop.ini then

try this software..

hxxp://www.sodabush.com/products/windowpaperxp/downloads.php

with it u can change background of music folder with some musical theme.





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Airtek Hack for Free internet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
cheers~You need a PC or a Laptop and the required connectivity tools ,ie.,Serial/USB cable OR Infrared Device OR Bluetooth dongle

1) Activate Airtel Live! ( It’s FREE so no probs)

2) Create TWO Airtel gprs data accounts (yep TWO) and select theFIRST as the active profile.

3) Connect your mobile to the PC (or Laptop) and install the driver foryour mobile’s modem.

4) Create a new dial-up connection using the NEW CONNECTIONWIZARD as follows
Connecting Device : Your mobile’s modemISP Name : Airtel (or anything you like)Phone Number : *99***2#Username and Password : blank

5) Configure your browser and download manager to use the proxy100.1.200.99 and port 8080.( My advice is to use Opera since youcan browse both wap and regular websites)

6) Connect to the dial-up account. You will be connected at 115.2kbps (but remember, that is a bad joke).

7) Pick up your mobile and try to access any site. You will get “AccessDenied…”(except for Airtel Live!). IT DOES NOT MATTER.Keep the mobile down.

8 ) On the PC ( or Laptop) open your browser, enter any address ,press ENTER and…….WAIT

9) After a few seconds the page will start to load and you have theWHOLE internet at your disposal.

.

Trick to lock your private folder

-------------------------------------------------------
Suppose you want to lock the folder games in d: which has the path D:\Games.In the same drive create a text file and type

ren games games.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

Now save this text file as loc.bat

create another text file and type in it

ren games.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} games

Now save this text file as key.bat

Now you can see 2 batch files loc and key. Press loc and the folder games will change to control panel and you cannot view its contents.Press key and you will get back your original folder.try it out!!!!!!!

Important note:How to rename your text files as bat files?Just go to my computer->tools->folder options->go to the view tab. Now uncheck the 'Hide extensions for known file types'. Press apply.Now rename ur text files as bat files.
-------------------------------------------------------

Getting Full Images Without Ads In ImageShack

When u host a picture at http://www.imageshack.us/ And U Can't
Get The Full Image Instead u get codes like 340* 240 etc etc

and they post a link back see example here See The Above Ads and
the pop up.

And U Can't Post The Bitmap Here or other forum in full motion



Tutorials

Firefox

Host The Image Get The Direct Link Go there Like This

Go To The Image Center And Drag It To Adress Bar u will see the mouse
icon change leave the mouse (wait for the page to load )

Now U Will Get The Image Without Ads And U Can Put It Here Like




Internet Explorer

Host The Image Get The Direct Link Go there Like This

Go To The Image Center And Drag It To Status Bar below Now U Will
See Mouse Changed From Banned Icon To Mouse Icon +

Leave The Mouse (wait for the page to load )

Get The Image Without Ads And U Can Put It Here

Make Vista Start, Run and Shutdown Faster.

For a general user the first three are usually more than sufficient to make your Vista faster. The remaining are some more which a tweak enthusiast may wish to consider. Utilities like WinPatrol or Tune-Up Utilities can help you in most of the cases.


1. Restrict the no. of start-ups. Why have programs starting up when you dont really use them. Even those you use can always be started manually by clicking on the. I personally prefer not to have ANY starups. I click on my Internet Defense Suite manually, before connecting to the Internet. So decide for yourself which one's you really need as start-ups.

2. Disable services which one may not require. For example, if your pc is a stand-alone one, there may be sevral services which you can disable or switch over to manual mode. Auto-starting and closing down of services takes time & resources. These can be saved. BlackViper's Vista Service Configurations is an excellent guide to follow.

3. Reducing visual effects (eye candy).

Right-click on “My Computer” > Properties > Advanced > Performance-Settings > Visual Effects > Adjust for best performance > Apply > OK.

To allow the themes and the glass effects, you may have to check on the boxes : enable transperant glass and use visual styles; this way atleast the spirit of Vista will be preserved- else be prepared for a really bland Vista ! Use your discretion. I know disabling all can actually negate the purpose of 'eye-friendly' Vista.

4. Ensure that boot defragmentation is enabled, so that files used during start-up are clubbed together.

Start Regedit. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction . Select Enable from the list on the right.

Right Click on it and select Modify. Change the value to Y to enable and N to disable. Reboot.

5. Disable : "clear page file on shutdown" option. Cleaning the page-file on every shutdown means overwriting the data by zeros, and it takes time.

To clear/not clear page file you can apply this reg tweak. Back up registry before trying this.

Start->run->regedit [enter]

Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager\Memory Management

Modify (if not present, rt click in open space and create) the Value Data Type/s and Value Name/s :

Data Type: REG_DWORD [Dword Value]

Value Name: ClearPageFileAtShutdown

Setting for Value Data: [0 = Clear Page File Disabled / 1 = Clear Page File Enabled]

Exit Registry and Reboot.

6. Defragment your System Disk & Fine Tune your Registry. If you find the Vista's in-built defragger slow, you can try SysInternals Power Defragmenter which works on Vista too ! Use the freeware CCleaner to clear up your PC Junk and clean up the Registry. Compacting the Registry occasionally is a good idea too !

7. Generally people also recommend emptying the Prefetch directory once in a while. But Windows uses this directory to speed up launching

applications. It analyzes the files you use during startup and the applications you launch, and it creates an index to where those files and applications are located on your hard disk. Using this index, Windows can launch files and applications faster. Nevertheless clearing the Prefetcher say once a month is what I do !

8. Go to BIOS settings, by pressing del key during boot-up, and disable 'seek floppy drive' option. This saves time for those who do not use floppy drives. There are also some BIOS hacks like Enabling Quick Post, Disabling Boot Daly, etc but best to refrain from these.

9. Change Boot-Order Sequence : Normally, the bios is set to boot from floppy first, then CD and then Hard Disk. Changing the Boot-Order to be: Hard Disk first, then maybe CD/Floppy, could possibly "shave" a second, I guess !

10. Disable windows startup/shutdown/logon/logoff sounds. Go to control panel, sounds & audio devices, sound tab, in program events select 'no sound' for these events.

11. Disable the ScreenSaver if you dont need it. Rt-Click desktop>ScreenSaver>None>OK.

12. Fonts take time to load. Removing some can save on resources. But one must be careful in deciding which fonts to remove. If you delete some system fonts, you may b in for trouble. Tweak VI Pro is a good shareware to manage fonts. It uninstalls fonts without physically removing them. Open its help file. It lists down the system fonts which must not be deleted ! use the list; and then decide what to delete and what to keep.

13. To REALLY reduce your shutdown time.

Start Regedit. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control.

Click on the "Control" Folder. Select "WaitToKillServiceTimeout"

Right click on it and select Modify. the default value is ( i think) 12000.

Setting it to a lower 4 digit value,( say 1000) will make your PC shutdown faster, but you could end up losing data, so use this tweak judiciously.

14. Get rid of all the extra programs Windows Vista installs. You may not be using some like WLM, Calculator, Games, Meeting Space, Fax, etc. Go To Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features > Turn windows On or Off and do the needful.

15. Go To Control Panel\System and Maintenance\Performance Information and Tools. On the LHS you will see options to Adjust Indexing options, visual effexts, power Settings, etc. These all help directly and indirectly.

http://www.winvistaclub.com/tips.html

Do remember that your Vista-based machine will tend to run a little faster, after the first few weeks after it's installed, thanks to its new feature called "SuperFetch"; which basically studies the programs that the user frequently runs and loads them into memory automatically.

Add Your Favorite Program Shortcut in Desktop Context Menu!

The thing is, u can add a shortcut for ur favorite program, (like Windows Media Player, firefox, opera, winamp, etc) in Desktop context menu (which is also applied to explorer context menu)
So the method is as following:

1.) Copy ur favorite application's EXE file from its own folder (like winamp.exe, firefox.exe, etc) to following folder:

C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\ (Assuming C: is ur system drive, otherwise change it to ur system drive).

2.) Now delete helpctr.exe file in that folder and give the same name to ur copied EXE file. (i.e., first delete helpctr.exe file and then rename ur copied EXE file (like winamp.exe) to helpctr.exe ).

3.) Now the final part.:yes: Open Shell32.dll file in Resource Hacker and goto: Menu -> 215. here add the following line to anywhere, u want to add the shortcut (like u can add this line just below the "Refresh" menu, as I hv done in my screenshot):

MENUITEM "Title", 28785, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED

In "Title", give the Label which u want to be appeared in context menu (like Winamp, Media Player, Firefox, etc.)

4.) Now compile the file and save it, and finally replace Shell32.dll file with this hacked one.

And Voilla! Now after restarting the system, u can see a new shortcut in the context menu for ur desired application

Screenshot:

PS: The above method might cause Help Centre to not work properly, coz we hv replaced the helpctr.exe file with some other EXE file, so apply this method if u don't want to use help centre, though I hv not checked it coz I hv removed the HElp Centre from windows

Convert Your Old Optical Mouse CCD into a Scanner !

Are you using an optical mouse right now? Ever wanted to see your desktop through the eye on the bottom of it? Me neither, I already know I have to clean my desktop

People get bored sometimes, and when I get bored I sometimes open up stuff to find out what makes it tick. One time, I did this with an old optical mouse. Well, a mouse only has 2 chips inside: the optical sensor and a chip for the usb/ps2-interfacing. I looked up the datasheet of the optical sensor (which is an ADNS2610) and it told me the sensor has a tiny 18x18 CCD, which can be read out using the serial port (the one which normally interfaces to the PS2/USB-chip).

So I start Visual Basic (I usually do my stuff under Linux, but I'm no star at using anything graphical like QT or GTK, so for this quick'n'dirty project I fell back in my old habits) and hack something up using a few wires to the trusty ole parallel port. The result: crisp lo-res b&w imaging

IMAGE
http://sprite.student.utwente.nl/~jeroen/projects/mouseeye/e.png

As you can see, the mouse was over some text with an 'e' in it.

One of the more obvious features of a mouse, however, is that it can detect movement. Combine this with the just-aquired imaging features, and we have a ghetto b&w handscanner. This is a 'scanned' piece of a receipt:

IMAGE
http://sprite.student.utwente.nl/~jeroen/projects/mouseeye/boodschappen.jpg

I can understand you can't wait to have such a handy scanner yourself. And now, you can! The software is downloadable here.

http://sprite.student.utwente.nl/~jeroen/projects/mouseeye/readmouse.zip

The software works on mice which use an ADNS-2610 optical sensor, recognisable by the eight pins, the sun-like mark and the text 'A2610'. I've seen this sensor in most cheap optical mice that aren't too old. To hook it up, check out the pinout in the datasheet, then on the PCB cut the traces running from the sensors SCK- and SDIO-pins to the rest of the mouse. Then connect the sensor, using a diode, to a parallel port, like this:

pp: adns-2610:
25-----------------GND

12----------+------SDIO
5 -----<--+

9 -----------------SCK

Plug in the USB/PS2-plug (or apply 5V to the Vcc-pin of the sensor), run the software and you should be OK

_________________

Source: http://sprite.student.utwente.nl/~jeroen/projects/mouseeye/

Danger of "Ctrl + C" while browsing Internet

We do copy various data by ctrl+c for pasting elsewhere. This copied data is stored in clipboard and is accessible from the net by a combination of Javascripts and ASP.Just try this:1) Copy any text by 'ctrl+c'2) Click the Link:

http://www.sourcecodesworld.com/special/clipboard.asp

You will see the text you copied on the Screen which was accessed by this web page. (Check it out !!)Do not keep sensitive data (like passwords, reditcard numbers, PIN etc.) in the clipboard while surfing the web. It is extremely easy to extract the text stored in the clipboard to steal your sensitive information.

Be cautious ...

To avoid Clipboard Hack Problem, do the following:
1) In Internet Explorer, Go to Tools -> Internet options -> Security
2) Press Custom level.
3) In the security settings, select disable under Allow paste operations via script and click on 'OK. (Now the contents of your clipboard are safe.)

Please use this to save urself from online frauds & hacking!

http://www.chip-india.com/townsquare/viewtopic.php?t=13898





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Registry Hacking III

Registry Hacking


Create a Shortcut to Lock Your Computer
Leaving your computer in a hurry but you don’t want to log off? You can double-click a shortcut on your desktop to quickly lock the keyboard and display without using CTRL+ALT+DEL or a screen saver. To create a shortcut on your desktop to lock your computer: Right-click the desktop. Point to New, and then click Shortcut. The Create Shortcut Wizard opens. In the text box, type the following: rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation Click Next. Enter a name for the shortcut. You can call it "Lock Workstation" or choose any name you like. Click Finish. You can also change the shortcut's icon (my personal favorite is the padlock icon in shell32.dll). To change the icon: Right click the shortcut and then select Properties. Click the Shortcut tab, and then click the Change Icon button. In the Look for icons in this file text box, type: Shell32.dll. Click OK. Select one of the icons from the list and then click OK You could also give it a shortcut keystroke such CTRL+ALT+L. This would save you only one keystroke from the normal command, but it could be more convenient.


Speed up Internet Explorer 6 Favorites For some reason, the Favorites menu in IE 6 seems to slow down dramatically sometimes--I've noticed this happens when you install Tweak UI 1.33, for example, and when you use the preview tip to speed up the Start menu. But here's a fix for the problem that does work, though it's unclear why: Just open a command line window (Start button -> Run -> cmd) and type sfc, then hit ENTER. This command line runs the System File Checker, which performs a number of services, all of which are completely unrelated to IE 6. But there you go: It works.


Aspi
WinXP does not come with an Aspi layer. So far almost 90% of the problems with WinXP and CD burning software are Aspi layer problems. After installing WinXP, before installing any CD burning software do a few things first: 1. Open up "My computer" and right click on the CD Recorder. If your CD recorder was detected as a CD recorder there will be a tab called "Recording". On this tab uncheck ALL of the boxes. apply or OK out of it and close my computer. 2. Next install the standard Aspi layer for NT. Reboot when asked. That's is. after the reboot you can install any of the currently working CD recording applications with no problems. If using CD Creator do not install direct CD or Take two as they are currently incompatible but Roxio has promised a fix as soon as XP is released.

Hiding Your Secret File in a picture

Hiding Your Secret File in a picture

$ You will need winrar$

1. Gather your image and the files you wish to hide into it. Here I have a deepak.txt which I will hide inside my ashish.jpg.

2.Add the files( deepak.txt) you want to hide into a new RAR archive. In
the archieve name box type deepak.txt and hit enter. Now your file is
in format deepak.txt.rar

3. Open Command Prompt and go to the folder where your files are located, for example, ‘C:\new folder’.

4. At command prompt type ‘copy /b ashish.jpg + deepak.txt.rar anurag.jpg’ (without quotes).
(ashish.jpg
is the picture I want to show, deepak.txt.rar is the file to be hidden,
and anurag.jpg is the file which contains both).

5. Now double on anurag.jpg . it still opens.

6. Now opening that same anurag.jpg file . openwith->WinRar archiever. It will show the original hidden file deepak.txt.

anurag.jpg is a simple JPEG file, but it contains a secret file deepak.txt

Registry Hacking

Registry Hacking


Display legal notice on startup:
Wanna tell your friends about the do's and dont's in your computer when they login in your absence. Well you can do it pretty easily by displaying a legal notice at system start up.
REGEDIT
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system]
"legalnoticecaption"="enter your notice caption"
"legalnoticetext"="enter your legal notice text"


Automatic Administrator Login:
Well here's the trick which you can use to prove that Windows XP is not at all secure as multi-user operating system. Hacking the system registry from any account having access to system registry puts you in to the administrator account.
REGEDIT 4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"AutoAdminLogon"="1"


No Shutdown:
Wanna play with your friends by removing the shutdown option from start menu in their computer.
Just hack it down !!!
Regedit
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
"NoClose"="DWORD:1"

Registry Hacking

Menu Delays:
Another minor and easy tweak to remove any delay from menus sliding out. For this you will need to use regedit (open regedit by going to Start -> Run..., then typing 'regedit' and pressing enter). The key you need to change is located in HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop. The actual key is called MenuShowDelay - all you have to do is change the value to 0. Remember, you will have to re-boot your computer for this tweak to take effect.


GPEDIT.MSC And Autoplay
A great tweaking file that comes with XP is gpedit.msc. Go to Start -> Run... and then type in 'gpedit.msc' and press enter. This is effectively the Policies Editor, and it comes in handy often. For example, if you hate CD autoplay like I do and want to permanently disable it, you can use this tool to do so. Just run gpedit.msc, then go to Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System. In here you can see the value 'Turn Off Autoplay'. Right-click on it and then click 'Properties'.


Increasing options in add/remove programs:
Not a fan of MSN Messenger? don't want Windows Media Player on your system? Fair enough, but if you go to Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel, by default none of Windows XP's 'built in' programs are visible. it's fairly easy to change, though... just open the file X:\Windows\inf\sysoc.inf (where X: is the drive letter where Windows XP is installed) in Notepad. You should see a section of the file something like this:
[Components]
NtComponents=ntoc.dll,NtOcSetupProc,,4
WBEM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wbemoc.inf,hide,7
Display=desk.cpl,DisplayOcSetupProc,,7
Fax=fxsocm.dll,FaxOcmSetupProc,fxsocm.inf,,7
NetOC=netoc.dll,NetOcSetupProc,netoc.inf,,7
iis=iis.dll,OcEntry,iis.inf,,7
com=comsetup.dll,OcEntry,comnt5.inf,hide,7
dtc=msdtcstp.dll,OcEntry,dtcnt5.inf,hide,7
IndexSrv_System = setupqry.dll,IndexSrv,setupqry.inf,,7
TerminalServer=TsOc.dll, HydraOc, TsOc.inf,hide,2
msmq=msmqocm.dll,MsmqOcm,msmqocm.inf,,6
ims=imsinsnt.dll,OcEntry,ims.inf,,7
fp_extensions=fp40ext.dll,FrontPage4Extensions,fp40ext.inf,,7
AutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,au.inf,hide,7
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
RootAutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,rootau.inf,,7
IEAccess=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,ieaccess.inf,,7
This is a list of all components installed at the moment. I've taken the example of MSN Messenger - the program entry called 'msmsgs', third-last line. You can see the word 'hide' highlighted - this is the string which tells Windows not to display the component in the Add/Remove Programs list. Fix this up by simply deleting the word 'hide' like so:
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
To this:
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,,7
Now, after restarting, you should be able to see MSN Messenger in the Add/Remove Programs list. If you want to be able to quickly view and remove all components, simply open the sysoc.inf file and do a global find and replace for the word ",hide" and replace it with a single comma ",".


Automatically Kill Programs At Shutdown:
don't you hate it when, while trying to shut down, you get message boxes telling you that a program is still running? Making it so that Windows automatically kills applications running is a snap. Simply navigate to the HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop directory in the Registry, then alter the key AutoEndTasks to the value 1.


Speeding Up Share Viewing:
This is a great tweak. Before I found it, I was always smashing my head against the table waiting to view shares on other computers. Basically, when you connect to another computer with Windows XP, it checks for any Scheduled tasks on that computer - a fairly useless task, but one that can add up to 30 seconds of waiting on the other end - not good! Fortunately, it's fairly easy to disable this process. First, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace in the Registry. Below that, there should be a key called {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}. Just delete this, and after a restart, Windows will no longer check for scheduled tasks - mucho performance improvement!

Convert FAT disks to NTFS

This article describes how to convert FAT disks to NTFS.

See the Terms sidebar for definitions of FAT, FAT32 and NTFS. Before you decide which file system to use, you should understand the benefits and limitations of each of them.

Changing a volume's existing file system can be time–consuming, so choose the file system that best suits your long–term needs. If you decide to use a different file system, you must back up your data and then reformat the volume using the new file system. However, you can convert a FAT or FAT32 volume to an NTFS volume without formatting the volume, though it is still a good idea to back up your data before you convert.

Note Some older programs may not run on an NTFS volume, so you should research the current requirements for your software before converting.

Choosing Between NTFS, FAT, and FAT32

You can choose between three file systems for disk partitions on a computer running Windows XP: NTFS, FAT, and FAT32. NTFS is the recommended file system because it’s is more powerful than FAT or FAT32, and includes features required for hosting Active Directory as well as other important security features. You can use features such as Active Directory and domain–based security only by choosing NTFS as your file system.

Converting to NTFS Using the Setup Program

The Setup program makes it easy to convert your partition to the new version of NTFS, even if it used FAT or FAT32 before. This kind of conversion keeps your files intact (unlike formatting a partition).

Setup begins by checking the existing file system. If it is NTFS, conversion is not necessary. If it is FAT or FAT32, Setup gives you the choice of converting to NTFS. If you don't need to keep your files intact and you have a FAT or FAT32 partition, it is recommended that you format the partition with NTFS rather than converting from FAT or FAT32. (Formatting a partition erases all data on the partition and allows you to start fresh with a clean drive.) However, it is still advantageous to use NTFS, regardless of whether the partition was formatted with NTFS or converted.

Converting to NTFS Using Convert.exe

A partition can also be converted after Setup by using Convert.exe. For more information about Convert.exe, after completing Setup, click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then press ENTER. In the command window, type help convert, and then press ENTER.

It is easy to convert partitions to NTFS. The Setup program makes conversion easy, whether your partitions used FAT, FAT32, or the older version of NTFS. This kind of conversion keeps your files intact (unlike formatting a partition.

To find out more information about Convert.exe

1. After completing Setup, click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then press ENTER.

2. In the command window, type help convert and then press ENTER. Information about converting FAT volumes to NTFS is made available as shown below.

   

   Converting FAT volumes to NTFS

To convert a volume to NTFS from the command prompt

1. Open Command Prompt. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.

2. In the command prompt window, type: convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs

For example, typing convert D: /fs:ntfs would format drive D: with the ntfs format. You can convert FAT or FAT32 volumes to NTFS with this command.

Important Once you convert a drive or partition to NTFS, you cannot simply convert it back to FAT or FAT32. You will need to reformat the drive or partition which will erase all data, including programs and personal files, on the partition.

Terms

File Allocation Table (FAT)
A file system used by MS-DOS and other Windows-based operating systems to organize and manage files. The file allocation table (FAT) is a data structure that Windows creates when you format a volume by using the FAT or FAT32 file systems. Windows stores information about each file in the FAT so that it can retrieve the file later.

FAT32
A derivative of the file allocation table (FAT) file system. FAT32 supports smaller cluster sizes and larger volumes than FAT, which results in more efficient space allocation on FAT32 volumes.

NTFS File System
An advanced file system that provides performance, security, reliability, and advanced features that are not found in any version of FAT. For example, NTFS guarantees volume consistency by using standard transaction logging and recovery techniques. If a system fails, NTFS uses its log file and checkpoint information to restore the consistency of the file system. In Windows 2000 and Windows XP, NTFS also provides advanced features such as file and folder permissions, encryption, disk quotas, and compression.