I just got a message in Facebook from a friend whose Google Account was hijacked and the password was changed by the hacker. That person is now looking for some kind of a Google helpline to help him revive the account.
It can be a nightmare if someone else takes control of your Google Account because all your Google services like Gmail, Orkut, Google Calendar, Blogger, AdSense, Google Docs and even Google Checkout are tied to the same account.
Here are some options suggested by Google Support when your forget the Gmail password or if someone else takes ownership of your Google Account and changes the password:
1. Reset Your Google Account Password:
Type the email address associated with your Google Account or Gmail user name at google.com/accounts/ForgotPasswd - you will receive an email at your secondary email address with a link to reset your Google Account Password.
This will not work if the other person has changed your secondary email address or if you no longer have access to that address.
2. For Google Accounts Associated with Gmail
If you have problems while logging into your Gmail account, you can consider contacting Google by filling this form. It however requires you to remember the exact date when you created that Gmail account. 3. For Hijacked Google Accounts Not Linked to Gmail
If your Google Account doesn’t use a Gmail address, contact Google by filling this form. This approach may help bring back your Google Account if you religiously preserve all your old emails. You will be required to know the exact creation date of your Google Account plus a copy of that original “Google Email Verification” message.
It may be slightly tough to get your Google Account back but definitely not impossible if you have the relevant information in your secondary email mailbox.
Computers tend to bog down over time. Some simple maintenance every 2-4 weeks (depending on computer use and programs installed) will only take 10-30 minutes, can be performed at any knowledge level and will keep your computer running smoothly. With this guide, and two downloads, you will see a noticeable improvement. This is fairly basic and something all computer users should do.
Remove programs you no longer use or knew about: Over time, you may have installed games or utilities that you forgot about or no longer use. Why waste the space? Go to your control panel, Add\Remove programs and uninstall anything you no longer use. Occasionally you will find a toolbar or other item you were unaware was there!
Cleaning your hard drive of unneeded files: One of the biggest problems is hard drive useage. Your hard drive has more moving parts then any other in your computer and is constantly adding, deleting and reorganizing files. Because of this, you want to clean your computers hard drive. A great tool for this is CCleaner: http://www.filehipp o.com/download_ ccleaner/
Simply open CCleaner, and the cleaner section should be open. Click run cleaner and wait. Thats it, your done. It is a very safe tool and has never damaged any of the hundreds of computers I have run it on. Remove invalid registry entries: Next up is the registry. Frankly, the registry is overrated as a speed tweak, in general, but it does get large and can contain many invalid references. The registry is not an area for even the average computer user to be playing around in. The good news is CCleaner has a safe registry cleaner built in, so why not clean out old, invalid entries? Click the issues button. Click scan for issues. Click fix selected issues.
Thats it, your done, a safe, fast registry clean.
Startup items: Here is a HUGE culprit on the average PC. See all those icons in the lower right corner of your screen? Those are all being loaded on startup, and those are not all of them either! If your wondering why you have to wait a minute to use your computer after startup, it is because all of those items are loading after Windows has started. They also use up memory just sitting there. Removal takes a bit more knowledge, or research, then the previous two, but you can do it!
First off, if you know what these items in the tray are and do not need them running, you can either right click an icon and look for options or a "run with Windows" option. Otherwise, you can double click any icon to open the program and look for options from there. Some are easy and common. Quicktime, AOL and RealPlayer are good examples of items that do not need to be there.
CCleaner also has a startup manager. Click tools, then startup. You can delete any unneeded items from there. Be careful, there is no backup, so either look up the program on Google or ask on our forums if you want to know what an item is for. Because the startup loads drivers and some programs you may need, be careful removing items you are unsure of. Defragment your hard drive Now that you have removed all of this garbage, you have defragmented files all over your hard drive. Reading and writing data on a heavily fragmented hard drive is slowed down because the time for the heads to move between fragments on the disk surface can be substantial. The files on your hard drive now probably look like a box of tacks after I open them and toss them on the ground. Defragmenting your hard drive would be like the box of tacks still sealed. All neat and tidy and easy to get at.
Microsoft includes a disk defragmentor, but it is widely known that it is not very good. A few free alternatives are available:
‘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 Microsoft 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:
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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 http://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 Microsoft, 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 programms.
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.
Microsoft 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
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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 optimization. This can be adjusted by going to
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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
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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
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Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Display -> Settings
Here you should slide the screen area bar to the left. Take a look at the color settings on the left of that window. For most desktops, high color 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
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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.
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
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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 ( http://www.nai.com). Another is Norton AntiVirus, made by Symantec ( http://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 recognized, 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 programm 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 to clean up the System Registry and remove obsolete entries. They are lots of good Reg Cleaners available on the net. You might want to Google one up!
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.
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.
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.
* Improves the performances of your PC * Easy to use * Memory auto-recovery * System information display
Why PC Booster 6?
If you are like most PC users, you may feel that your PC is slow or unstable. You can't run many applications or your PC will slowdown. Or you have to reboot frequently due to crashes or application freezes.
With PC Booster you can turn your PC into a stable, productive and speedy machine, by simply clicking a few buttons. If you can can surf to this website, you can easily tune up your PC in Minutes - and without being a PC expert!
PC Booster is designed for quick acceleration of your PC with just a few clicks. If you follow a few clear simple steps you can soon say 'Goodbye' to frequent windows freezes and restarts and 'Hello' to faster boot ups and more productivity with a faster system.
Don't you hate those hours of lost productivity when your PC was down, and you can't get a technical person to fix it ... and those blue screens and anxiety panics when you lost your Word document before you could press "SAVE"?
PC Booster gives you peace of mind, a cleaner PC system, kills nasty cookies, open those huge files quickly ... and more.
Features
* Eliminate and Prevent most PC crashes by optimizing resource usage. * Auto recovery of Memory that Windows steals from your computer. * Boost and optimize your Internet speed for faster surfing. * Clean hundreds of unwanted garbage files from your hard disk. * Protect your privacy by deleting 'cookies' which are IDs left over from your Internet surfing. * Make your CD-ROM run at a faster speed. Enhance your enjoyment of multimedia, VCDs, DVDs and game play. * Add/remove Windows Start Menu Options. Customize your default 'My Documents' folder, remove 'Favorites', 'Windows Update' options and more customizations. * Enable Fast Shutdown and auto close of non-responding applications. * Real time memory usage monitoring graph. * CPU Stability Test to make sure that your system is stable. * XP Tweaks section for hard disk and system Tweaks. * Before and After Results view. PC booster measures the performance of your PC before and after the tune up, and presents the improvements in an easy-to-understand chart, so you can see at a single glance how much faster your PC is compared to before. * Fully configurable for power users. * Extensive documentation and instant context help.
"I DNT HATE MOZILLA BUT USE IE OR ELSE...", "USE INTERNET EXPLORER U DOPE", The administrators didn't write this program guess , "Orkut is banned you fool "
w32.USB Worm It is spreading through Pen,USB,Thump disk thats why the name
It shows messages like
"I DNT HATE MOZILLA BUT USE IE OR ELSE..."
"USE INTERNET EXPLORER U DOPE"
"Orkut is banned you fool, The administrators didnt write this program guess who did?? MUHAHAHA!!" with title ORKUT IS BANNED
To Remove
1. PressCTRL+ALT+DEL and go to the processes tab
2. Look for svchost.exe under the image name. There will be many but look for the ones which have your username under the username
3. PressDELto kill these files. It will give you a warning, Press Yes
4. Repeat for more svchost.exe files with your username and repeat. Do not kill svchost.exe with system, local service or network service!
5. Now open My Computer
6. In the address bar, type C:\heap41a and press enter. It is a hidden folder, and is not visible by default.
7. Delete all the files here
9. Now go to Start --> Run and type Regedit
10. Go to the menu Edit --> Find
11. Type "heap41a" here and press enter. You will get something like this "[winlogon] C:\heap41a\svchost. exe C:\heap(some number)\std. txt"
12. Select that and Press DEL. It will ask "Are you sure you wanna delete this value", click Yes
13. Now close the registry editor.
Now the virus is gone. But be sure to delete the autorun.inf file and any folder whose name ends with .exe in the pen drive.
Some reported that after this fix they were not able to see their Hidden folders and files if you have that issue try the following
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.
Command window
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.
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
We suggest workarounds to bypass internet filters and corporate firewalls to help you unblock access to restricted websites at universities or office
Blocking access to undesirable Web sites has been a common government tactic but China, Iran, Saudi Arabia are believed to extend greater censorship over the net than any other country in the world.
Most of the blocked or blacklisted sites in Saudi Arabia are about sex, religion, women, health, politics and pop culture. They even block access to websites that sell bathing suits. In China, webites containing sexually explicit content are blocked plus sites on sensitive topics such as Tibet, Taiwan, and dissident activity.
Other popular sites that are often blocked in offices, school and workplaces are Google News, Typepad, Orkut, ebay, Blogger blogs, YouTube, Blogger, Facebook, MySpace, Pandora, Bebo, Photobucket, Yahoo! Messenger, AOL AIM, Flickr, last.fm, etc.
There are however always legitimate reasons to bypass the internet filters and visit the blocked websites. The following methods will help you access blocked websites in school, college, office or at home.
Approach 1: There are websites Anonymizer who fetch the blocked site/ page from their servers and display it to you. As far as the service provider is concerned you are viewing a page from Anonymizer and not the blocked site.
Approach 2: To access the blocked Web site. type the IP number instead of the URL in the address bar. But if the ISP software maps the IP address to the web server (reverse DNS lookup), the website will remain blocked.
Approach 3: Use a URL redirection service like tinyurl.com or snipurl.com. These domain forward services sometimes work as the address in the the url box remain the redirect url and do not change to the banned site.
Access Google Talk Chat or GMail in Office
Approach 4: Use Google Mobile Search. Google display the normal HTML pages as if you are viewing them on a mobile phone. During the translation, Google removes the javascript content and CSS scripts and breaks a longer page into several smaller pages. Google Mobile
Use Mobile browsers as proxy to open restricted websites
Approach 5: Enter the URL in Google or Yahoo search and then visit the cached copy of the page. To retrieve the page more quickly from Google's cache, click "Cached Text Only" while the browser is loading the page from cache.
Approach 6: You can access blocked or restricted websites by using Google language tools service as a proxy server. Basically, you have Google translate your page from English to English (or whatever language you like). Assuming that Google isn’t blacklisted in your country or school, you should be able to access any site with this method. Google Proxy
Approach 7: Anonymous Surfing - Browse the internet via a proxy server. A proxy server (or proxies) is a normal computer that hides the identity of computers on its network from the Internet. Which means that only the address of the proxy server is visible to the world and not of those computers that are using it to browse the Internet. Just visit the proxy server website with your Web browser and enter a URL (website address) in the form provided
* Shift + F10 right-clicks. * Win + L (XP Only): Locks keyboard. Similar to Lock Workstation. * Win + F or F3: Open Find dialog. (All Files) F3 may not work in some applications which use F3 for their own find dialogs. * Win + Control + F: Open Find dialog. (Computers) * Win + U: Open Utility Manager. * Win + F1: Open Windows help. * Win + Pause: Open System Properties dialog. * Win + Tab: Cycle through taskbar buttons. Enter clicks, AppsKey or Shift + F10 right-clicks. * Win + Shift + Tab: Cycle through taskbar buttons in reverse. * Alt + Tab: Display CoolSwitch. More commonly known as the AltTab dialog. * Alt + Shift + Tab: Display CoolSwitch; go in reverse. * Alt + Escape: Send active window to the bottom of the z-order. * Alt + Shift + Escape: Activate the window at the bottom of the z-order. * Alt + F4: Close active window; or, if all windows are closed, open shutdown dialog. * Shift while a CD is loading: Bypass AutoPlay. * Shift while login: Bypass startup folder. Only those applications will be ignored which are in the startup folder, not those started from the registry (Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\) * Ctrl + Alt + Delete or Ctrl + Alt + NumpadDel (Both NumLock states): Invoke the Task Manager or NT Security dialog. * Ctrl + Shift + Escape (2000/XP ) or (Ctrl + Alt + NumpadDot) : Invoke the task manager. On earlier OSes, acts like Ctrl + Escape. * Printscreen: Copy screenshot of current screen to clipboard. * Alt + Printscreen: Copy screenshot of current active window to clipboard. * Ctrl + Alt + Down Arrow: Invert screen. Untested on OSes other than XP. * Ctrl + Alt + Up Arrow: Undo inversion. * Win + B : Move focus to systray icons.
2.) Generic
* Ctrl + C or Ctrl + Insert: Copy. * Ctrl + X or Shift + Delete: Cut. * Ctrl + V or Shift + Insert: Paste/Move. * Ctrl + N: New... File, Tab, Entry, etc. * Ctrl + S: Save. * Ctrl + O: Open... * Ctrl + P: Print. * Ctrl + Z: Undo. * Ctrl + A: Select all. * Ctrl + F: Find... * Ctrl+W : to close the current window * Ctrl + F4: Close tab or child window. * F1: Open help. * F11: Toggle full screen mode. * Alt or F10: Activate menu bar. * Alt + Space: Display system menu. Same as clicking the icon on the titlebar. * Escape: Remove focus from current control/menu, or close dialog box.
3.) Generic Navigation
* Tab: Forward one item. * Shift + Tab: Backward one item. * Ctrl + Tab: Cycle through tabs/child windows. * Ctrl + Shift + Tab: Cycle backwards through tabs/child windows. * Enter: If a button's selected, click it, otherwise, click default button. * Space: Toggle items such as radio buttons or checkboxes. * Alt + (Letter): Activate item corresponding to (Letter). (Letter) is the underlined letter on the item's name. * Ctrl + Left: Move cursor to the beginning of previous word. * Ctrl + Right: Move cursor to the beginning of next word. * Ctrl + Up: Move cursor to beginning of previous paragraph. This and all subsequent Up/Down hotkeys in this section have only been known to work in RichEdit controls. * Ctrl + Down: Move cursor to beginning of next paragraph. * Shift + Left: Highlight one character to the left. * Shift + Right: Highlight one character to the right. * Shift + Up: Highlight from current cursor position, to one line up. * Shift + Down: Highlight from current cursor position, to one line down. * Ctrl + Shift + Left: Highlight to beginning of previous word. * Ctrl + Shift + Right: Highlight to beginning of next word. * Ctrl + Shift + Up: Highlight to beginning of previous paragraph. * Ctrl + Shift + Down: Highlight to beginning of next paragraph. * Home: Move cursor to top of a scrollable control. * End: Move cursor to bottom of a scrollable control.
4.) Generic File Browser
* Arrow Keys: Navigate. * Shift + Arrow Keys: Select multiple items. * Ctrl + Arrow Keys: Change focus without changing selection. "Focus" is the object that will run on Enter. Space toggles selection of the focused item. * (Letter): Select first found item that begins with (Letter). * BackSpace: Go up one level to the parent directory. * Alt + Left: Go back one folder. * Alt + Right: Go forward one folder. * Enter: Activate (Double-click) selected item(s). * Alt + Enter: View properties for selected item. * F2: Rename selected item(s). * Ctrl + NumpadPlus: In a Details view, resizes all columns to fit the longest item in each one. * Delete: Delete selected item(s). * Shift + Delete: Delete selected item(s); bypass Recycle Bin. * Ctrl while dragging item(s): Copy. * Ctrl + Shift while dragging item(s): Create shortcut(s). * In tree pane, if any: * Left: Collapse the current selection if expanded, or select the parent folder. * Right: Expand the current selection if collapsed, or select the first subfolder. * NumpadAsterisk: Expand currently selected directory and all subdirectories. No undo. * NumpadPlus: Expand currently selected directory. * NumpadMinus: Collapse currently selected directory.
5.) Accessibility
* Right Shift for eight seconds: Toggle FilterKeys on and off. FilterKeys must be enabled. * Left Alt + Left Shift + PrintScreen: Toggle High Contrast on and off. High Contrast must be enabled. * Left Alt + Left Shift + NumLock: Toggle MouseKeys on and off. MouseKeys must be enabled. * NumLock for five seconds: Toggle ToggleKeys on and off. ToggleKeys must be enabled. * Shift five times: Toggle StickyKeys on and off. StickyKeys must be enabled. 6.) Microsoft Natural Keyboard with IntelliType Software Installed * Win + L: Log off Windows. * Win + P: Open Print Manager. * Win + C: Open control panel. * Win + V: Open clipboard. * Win + K: Open keyboard properties. * Win + I: Open mouse properties. * Win + A: Open Accessibility properties. * Win + Space: Displays the list of Microsoft IntelliType shortcut keys. * Win + S: Toggle CapsLock on and off.
7.) Remote Desktop Connection Navigation
* Ctrl + Alt + End: Open the NT Security dialog. * Alt + PageUp: Switch between programs. * Alt + PageDown: Switch between programs in reverse. * Alt + Insert: Cycle through the programs in most recently used order. * Alt + Home: Display start menu. * Ctrl + Alt + Break: Switch the client computer between a window and a full screen. * Alt + Delete: Display the Windows menu. * Ctrl + Alt + NumpadMinus: Place a snapshot of the entire client window area on the Terminal server clipboard and provide the same functionality as pressing Alt + PrintScreen on a local computer. * Ctrl + Alt + NumpadPlus: Place a snapshot of the active window in the client on the Terminal server clipboard and provide the same functionality as pressing PrintScreen on a local computer.
8.) Mozilla Firefox Shortcuts
* Ctrl + Tab or Ctrl + PageDown: Cycle through tabs. * Ctrl + Shift + Tab or Ctrl + PageUp: Cycle through tabs in reverse. * Ctrl + (1-9): Switch to tab corresponding to number. * Ctrl + N: New window. * Ctrl + T: New tab. * Ctrl + L or Alt + D or F6: Switch focus to location bar. * Ctrl + Enter: Open location in new tab. * Shift + Enter: Open location in new window. * Ctrl + K or Ctrl + E: Switch focus to search bar. * Ctrl + O: Open a local file. * Ctrl + W: Close tab, or window if there's only one tab open. * Ctrl + Shift + W: Close window. * Ctrl + S: Save page as a local file. * Ctrl + P: Print page. * Ctrl + F or F3: Open find toolbar. * Ctrl + G or F3: Find next... * Ctrl + Shift + G or Shift + F3: Find previous... * Ctrl + B or Ctrl + I: Open Bookmarks sidebar. * Ctrl + H: Open History sidebar. * Escape: Stop loading page. * Ctrl + R or F5: Reload current page. * Ctrl + Shift + R or Ctrl + F5: Reload current page; bypass cache. * Ctrl + U: View page source. * Ctrl + D: Bookmark current page. * Ctrl + NumpadPlus or Ctrl + Equals (+/=): Increase text size. * Ctrl + NumpadMinus or Ctrl + Minus: Decrease text size. * Ctrl + Numpad0 or Ctrl + 0: Set text size to default. * Alt + Left or Backspace: Back. * Alt + Right or Shift + Backspace: Forward. * Alt + Home: Open home page. * Ctrl + M: Open new message in integrated mail client. * Ctrl + J: Open Downloads dialog. * F6: Switch to next frame. You must have selected something on the page already, e.g. by use of Tab. * Shift + F6: Switch to previous frame. * Apostrophe ('): Find link as you type. * Slash (/): Find text as you type.
9.) GMail
* Note: Must have "keyboard shortcuts" on in settings. * C: Compose new message. * Shift + C: Open new window to compose new message. * Slash (/): Switch focus to search box. * K: Switch focus to the next most recent email. Enter or "O" opens focused email. * J: Switch focus to the next oldest email. * N: Switch focus to the next message in the "conversation." Enter or "O" expands/collapses messages. * P: Switch focus to the previous message. * U: Takes you back to the inbox and checks for new mail. * Y: Various actions depending on current view: * Has no effect in "Sent" and "All Mail" views. * Inbox: Archive email or message. * Starred: Unstar email or message. * Spam: Unmark as spam and move back to "Inbox." * Trash: Move back to "Inbox." * Any label: Remove the label. * X: "Check" an email. Various actions can be performed against all checked emails. * S: "Star" an email. Identical to the more familiar term, "flagging." * R: Reply to the email. * A: Reply to all recipients of the email. * F: Forward an email. * Shift + R: Reply to the email in a new window. * Shift + A: Reply to all recipients of the email in a new window. * Shift + F: Forward an email in a new window. * Shift + 1 (!): Mark an email as spam and remove it from the inbox. * G then I: Switch to "Inbox" view. * G then S: Switch to "Starred" view. * G then A: Switch to "All Mail" view. * G then C: Switch to "Contacts" view. * G then S: Switch to "Drafts" view.
10.) List of F1-F9 Key Commands for the Command Prompt
* F1 / right arrow: Repeats the letters of the last command line, one by one. * F2: Displays a dialog asking user to "enter the char to copy up to" of the last command line * F3: Repeats the last command line * F4: Displays a dialog asking user to "enter the char to delete up to" of the last command line * F5: Goes back one command line * F6: Enters the traditional CTRL+Z (^z) * F7: Displays a menu with the command line history * F8: Cycles back through previous command lines (beginning with most recent) * F9: Displays a dialog asking user to enter a command number, where 0 is for first command line entered. * Alt+Enter: toggle fullScreen mode. * up/down: scroll thru/repeat previous entries * Esc: delete line * Note: The buffer allows a maximum of 50 command lines. After this number is reached, the first line will be replaced in sequence.
CUT ACROSS WITH THE KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS USING THE MOUSE IS EASY, BUT IF YOU REALLY WANT TO WORK ON YOUR PC LIKE A PRO, THESE KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS GET YOU THERE...... SR.NO. SHORT CUT KEYS USE FOR WINDOWS AND ITS PROGRAMS
1. Help 2. F2 Rename an item 3. F3 Open files 4. ALT+F4 Close window or quit program 5. F10 Activate the menu bar in a program 6. CTRL+ ESC open start menu, use the arrow keys to select an item, or TAB to select the taskbar 7. ALT+ TAB Return to previous program, or hold down the ALT key while repeatedly pressing tab to cycle through open programs 8. SHIFT+ DEL delete items permanently without sending to recycle bin 9. CTRL+ A Highlight all the items in window 10. CTRL+ C Copy 11. CTRL+ X Cut 12. CTRL+ V Paste 13. CTRL+ Z Undo 14. CTRL+ Y Redo FOR INTERNET EXPLORER AND NETSCAPE 15. Home Jumps to the beginning of the page 16. END Jumps to the end of the page 17. ESC Stops the current page from loading 18. F11 Toggles full screen view 19. ALT+ LEFT ARROW Goes back to the previous page 20. ALT+ RIGHT ARROW Goes forward to the next page 21. ALT+ Home Goes to your Home page 22. CTRL+ N Opens a new browser window 23. CTRL+ W Closes the active window 24. CTRL+ O Opens the address book 25. CTRL+ R Reloads the current page 26. CTRL+ B Opens the Organized Favorites or Bookmarks windows 27. CTRL+ D Add the current page to your Favorites or Bookmarks 28. CTRL+ H Opens the history folder 29. CTRL+ F Finds text on the current page
CONTROL OVER A TO Z One of the keys whose importance may have gone unnoticed by most of us is the Control key (Ctrl). The Control key in combination with the 26 alphabet keys can make a lot of our work easier than we think. The following pair of keys can come in handy when we want tasks faster than while using the mouse. Operations that can be performed on the text selected:- 30. CTRL+ A Select all 31. CTRL+ B Bold 32. CTRL+ C Copy 33. CTRL+ E Justify center 34. CTRL+ I Italics 35. CTRL+ J Justify full 36. CTRL+ L Justify Left 37. CTRL+ M Indent 38. CTRL+ Q Remove paragraph Formatting 39. CTRL+ R Justify right 40. CTRL+ T Margin release 41. CTRL+ U Underline These keys combos can be used to do other operations:- 42. CTRL+ D Opens Font Dialog Box 43. CTRL+ F Find 44. CTRL+ G Go to page, section, line, heading etc 45. CTRL+ H Find and replace 46. CTRL+ K Insert Hyperlink 47. CTRL+ N Open a new document 48. CTRL+ O Open an existing document 49. CTRL+ S Save 50 CTRL+ W Close an existing document 51. CTRL+ Y Redo 52. CTRL+ Z Undo Besides the alphabet keys, a combination of other keys also helps:- 53. CTRL+ LEFT ARROW Jumps one word left 54. CTRL+ RIGHT ARROW Jumps one word right 55. CTRL+ DOWN ARROW Jumps one para down 56. CTRL+ UP ARROW Jumps one para up 57. CTRL+ BACKSPACE Delete one word left 58. CTRL+ DELETE Delete one word right 59. CTRL+ PAGE UP To the beginning of the previous page 60. CTRL+ PAGE DOWN to the beginning of the next page
To speed up your windows performance tremendously & if you have more than 1 GB RAM, you can force your windows xp to load the kernel in your RAM. This is because computer instruction process in RAM is much faster than that in hard disk.
If your system has sufficient physical memory, performance will increase if the operating system does not page itself to disk. The best way to find out if your memory is enough or not is to *load all of your applications and *open the task manager (press Control-Alt-Delete) and click the performance tab. *Your physical RAM should be greater than the Peak Commit Charge by at least 16MB.
Kindly don't try this if you have a low memory.
To disable Paging : - Click on Start > Run > type regedit (hit enter) - Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ Control\ Session Manager\ Memory Management\ DisablePagingExecutive - Set the value to be 1 - Reboot the computer
This is a guide for persons who have an OEM version of Windows XP Professional that came with their PC, and don't have a copy of the CD, lost the CD or their serial Number has been compromised, and Microsoft Genuine Advantage website reports it as not genuine.
This happens in many cases where generic PC manufacturers use volume licenses for the Windows XP version they install on the PC or use the same Installation on multiple PCs they sell to you. I am in no way sanctioning piracy of software. Also as the old disclaimer goes, this is strictly for educational purposes only and I am in no way responsible for how any individual or group uses this information.
The process takes only about 5 minutes excluding download time for the software.
1. Download MGADiag.exe from Microsoft's website for the main purpose of testing after all the steps that your copy of Windows XP is genuine.
3. Make sure that after installation you delete or rename the data.dat file in the Windows Genuine Advantage folder. You can find the file in the location C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Windows Genuine Advantage\data where C: is drive of the Windows XP installation.
4. Next go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\ directory, and you will find the 'hosts' file, open it using Notepad or any other text editor and add the line below to the end of the file.
127.0.0.1 mpa.one.microsoft.com
5. Run MGAdiag.exe to see if your copy of Windows XP is now genuine. If your XP is genuine , MGAdiag.exe shows a window as shown below : *Please Note I have only tested this on Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 installed.
One common question I’ve run across a lot these days in the office is how to convert a PDF file to Microsoft Word format (doc), Excel format (xls), or JPG picture format. Usually, people want to know how to convert a file to PDF, but it’s also nice to be able to convert back the other way. Converting to Word is actually pretty simple and can be done directly using an online file conversion service called Zamzar. Going to Excel or JPG is a two step process, but nothing very difficult to follow.
To convert your PDF to a Word document, go to Zamzar.com and click the Browse button next to Step 1 and choose your file. By default, Step 2 will be set to DOC format, but you can choose to convert your PDF to other file types such as TXT, HMTL, RTF, etc. Type in your email address for Step 3 and click Convert.
You should receive an email within a few minutes with a download link to your converted file. I have tried out this service on some pretty complex PDF documents with text in multiple columns, multiple images, etc and have been very impressed with it’s conversion accuracy.
To convert a PDF file to Excel format, we will again follow the steps above using Zamzar, but this time choose TXT as the format you want to convert to. Unfortunately, you can’t convert straight to Excel format, so we’ll have to go through the intermediary TXT format. Once you have downloaded the TXT file and saved it on your computer, open Microsoft Excel and go to File - Open and change the Files of Type combo box to All Files.
Now you should see the converted text file in the list of files. Choose it and click Open. You’ll now be brought to the Text Import Wizard. You have to open the file in this manner because if you simply right-click and say Open With Excel, all of the text for each row will appear in the first column and not be separated.
For Step 1, choose Delimited from the two options listed.
Click Next and check off the Space checkbox as one of the delimiters. Each value should now be separated by a vertical line, indicating it’s going to be in a separate column.
Click Next and then click Finish. You can now save the file as an Excel file by going to File - Save As. There are a few drawbacks, however, as this conversion does not always work perfectly! For example, if the original Excel sheet had a column where there was text with spaces included, each word will be separated into it’s own column! Also, you won’t see any formulas or functions that may have been in the original Excel sheet, only the text.
To convert a PDF file to JPG, again follow the same procedure, but choose PNG format this time. PNG is another newer picture format that is slowly replacing the JPG format. Most programs that can open JPG files can open PNG. Zamzar automatically converts each page in the PDF document into it’s own PNG picture file. Now you can simply open Microsoft Paint (yes, all you need it Paint!) and choose File - Save As from the menu and choose JPEG from the drop down list of formats.
It’s as easy as that! You can use many other image editing programs also such as Photoshop, Corel, etc, etc, but I chose Paint because that is universally available on just about every Windows computer.
Almost four months ago, I proposed 2 weeks after 7.0 launch will have an update released. However, my laptop containing nearly finished 7.0.1 update works got stolen and my latest backup is 2 weeks before 7.0’s launch… And again when I was about to push out an update again, the website has critical problems with new server and needs to clear all user’s database and fix server’s issues so I have to delay the release again. According to these problems, I decided to drop out an update of version 7.0 and plan to release version 8.0 instead to make the delay time worth it.
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