Change the logon background colour

1.Use a registry editing tool to navigate to the following tool:
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors\Background

2. Change the following value:
Data Type:
REG_SZ
Value Name:
Background
Value:
Decimal RGB value for the colour you wish to set, for example:
Red: 255 0 0
Green: 0 255 0
Blue: 0 0 255
Black: 0 0 0
White: 255 255 255

Manual steps to re-create the Show Desktop icon on the Quick Launch toolbar

Sometimes by mistake we delete the Show Desktop icon from the Quick Launch Toolbar. The Show Desktop icon is not an ordinary program shortcut. If the icon is deleted, the procedure for re-creating the icon is not obvious. To manually re-create the Show Desktop icon, follow these steps:

1. In Notepad, type the following text on individual lines:
[Shell]

Command=2

IconFile=explorer.exe,3

[Taskbar]

Command=ToggleDesktop
2. Save the file giving filename as Show Desktop.scf.

Note: Notepad automatically takes .txt as extension to the file name. write as "Show Desktop.scf" with the quotes to prevent notepad taking .txt as extension.
Now move the shortcut to the correct folder in the user profile to appear in the Quick Launch toolbar. To manually do this, use one of the following methods.

Method 1
1. Use the mouse to drag the Show Desktop.scf icon to the Quick Launch toolbar or another location where you want the shortcut to appear.
2. Click Move Here.

Method 2
1. Use Windows Explorer to locate the following folders:
Microsoft Windows 95/98 Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch
Microsoft Windows NT/2000/XPC:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch
Note Username refers to the account name where you want to put the icon.
2. Use the mouse to drag the Show Desktop.scf file to the Quick Launch folder.
3. Click Move Here.

Alternately you can also press Windows Logo +D key to toggle between desktop.

How To Make A Shutdown Timer !

Do you know that you can make your PC shutdown at a time u wish to? We all may have used software to shutdown / restart our PC at times. But we can do this without using any software. Three methods are explained below with which we can automate shutdown our PC.

METHOD 1
Step 1:
Right click on your desktop and choose "New=>shortcuts".
Step 2:
In the box that says "Type the location of the shortcut",type in "shutdown -s -t 3600" without the quotation marks and click next.
Note: 3600 are the amount of seconds before your computer shuts down. So , 60secs*60mins=3600secs.
Step 3:
Make up a name for the shortcut and you're done.You can change the icon by right clicking=>properities=>change icon=>browse.
To abort:
To make an abort key to stop the shutdown timer just create another shortcut and makethe "location of the shortcut" to " shutdown -a" without the quotes.

METHOD 2
Here is another trick to shutdown at a specific time, for example you wish to shutdown at 11:35am. Type this instart=>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

METHOD 3
you can use a batch for that as well it makes it easier to usejust run the batch and enter the time you want it to shutdown
shutdown.bat

Type Code:

@echo off

title Scheduled Shutdown Batch Example by Cafe Digital

Color A

echo Enter Time To Shutdown (example 19:30)

set /p stime=

cls

at %stime% ""shutdown -s -t 00"" >nul

echo Your PC Will Auto Shutdown At %stime%

echo Press Any Key To Exit

pause >nul

exit

also you can add -c "desired message" at the end of the shutdown commandfor exampleshutdown -s -t 60 -c "Shutdown Pc"
using this command u can also schedule ur pc to restartfor exampleshutdown -r -t 60 -c "Restarting Pc"

Taking proper care of a Pen Drive / USB Drive

well guys now a days pen drives are really cheap and have become most sought after ways of data transfer. below are some points to just have a look at

1. life
only thing(apart from normal wear and tear) the affects life of a usb drive is write cycles.
u can read data from a drive any no of times u want but writing a data to it will decrease its life by a bit.writing includes deleting/defragmenting etc.thus unless sufficient space is not left in ur drive for ur new file , DONOT delete old data from it , just insert more new data.

2 defragment
unlike normal hard disks wid moving spidles , pen drives do not have slow and fast zones.data kept anywhere will be read at same speed in a pen drive.thus NEVER defrag ur pen drive as it introduces one more write cycle and reduce life of ur pen drive (by just a little bit).
also usb drives don't have any head that needs to move its position (thus wasting time to read a fragmented file on an a hard drive drive)
so no need whatsoever to defrag ur usb(or any other solid state drives)

Guide To Copy DVD Movies

Copying Movies from DVD has always been a lick but we keep facing different kinds of problem. There are various software's like DVD Shrink, DVD Decrypter etc with which we can actually copy our DVD's to our HDD even if there is a copy protection lock. There are software's like AnyDVD which are specifically developed just to break the copy protection in DVD's.
But even then we do face problems some times in copying DVD as we get errors like "Un-recovered Read Error" or "Data cannot be read" etc. This is because companies making DVD movies insert many Dummy Sectors in their DVD's which do not cause any problem while watching the movie but creates a hell lot of problem while copying them. As these areas are blank, you don't miss any part of the movie when you just want to watch the them.
After giving a lot of time to this and trying a huge lot of software's, I finally found a combination of 4 software's with which one can copy EACH & EVERY DVD-MOVIE to their HDD, WITHOUT FAIL... Now, don't panic seeing that you will have to use four software's... They all work as a team and you don't have to worry to launch each one individually.
I know it pains when you have to pay for even one software from your pocket and here we are talking about 4 software's. Don't worry, the best part of this is that all these four software's are FREEWARE, so you wont have to shed a single paise from your pocket.
Before starting, its my duty to tell you that backing up your DVD Movies for storage is legal but distribution of a copied DVD is illegal and I am not responsible for any such thing.
Software's Needed :
1. DVD Decrypter2. DVD Shrink3. FixVTS4. RipIt4Me
Procedure :
1. Install DVD Shrink and DVD Decrypter. The rest two software's do not need an installation as you can work with them directly. Mind you that you will need all the four software's to successfully copy DVD's.
2. Insert the DVD that you want to copy to you HDD (needless to mention that you should have optimum space in your HDD to accommodate your movies). Start DVD Shrink and let it analyze your DVD to check if there are any blank cells on the DVD which it cant read. If it finds any, it will give you an error saying that "Data error (cyclic redundancycheck)" and if it doesn't find any, find yourself to be very lucky as you wont have to use any other software. Simply copy the movie with DVD Shrink. Incase if you are not aware how to work with DVD- Shrink, please visit http://www.mrbass.org/dvdshrink/ for a detailed guide on the same.
3. Incase if you are unlucky and face a data error, Start RipIt4Me and click on Wizard Mode...
4. Select your DVD Drive in which you have placed the Movie disk and then select the target where you want to copy the movie. Lastly, press "Next"
5. Click on "Create PSL"
6. Check the "Rip Just The Movie" and then click on "Rip DVD"
7. As soon as you press "Rip DVD", DVD Decrypter automatically starts. Select all the files shown in the list if you want to copy the whole disk. Incase if you have a multi movie DVD and you don't want to copy the whole disk but a particular movie, select "VIDEO_TS.IFO", "VIDEO_TS.VOB", "VIDEO_TS.BUP" followed by selecting all "IFO" files. Now select the "vob" and "bup" files of the movie that you want to copy (To select multiple files, keep "Ctrl" pressed while selecting those files). Lastly press the "Decrypt" button to start the copying/decrypting process...
Note: Although we are using DVD Decrypter to copy the movie, it cannot detect the dummy sectors of its own. Here comes the role of RipIt4Me. So incase if you are thinking of using DVD Decrypter directly without RipIt4Me, be sure that you will get a Data Read Error.
8. As you can see in the log below, DVD Decryptor along with RipIt4Me has found many Dummy Sectors where other software's used to fail.
9. After the extraction process is complete, press "Do It" to remove the protected cells...
10. Pressing "Do It" will remove the protected cells and open the next dialog for you. Here all you have to do is open try to open the extracted movie through DVD Shrink by pressing the button "Open With DVD Shrink". As soon as you press this button, the analysis process in DVD Shrink starts automatically. If the analysis process is successful, you are through. Follow the DVD Shrink guide to copy or shrink the movie to some other location. Incase if the analysis fails again, press the "Process With FixVTS" button which will process your movie again and remove all the unwanted dummy sectors that the movie contains. After this, press "Open With DVD Shrink" again and be sure that the analysis process will be successful this time.
Note: Do not press "Done" till the time you have copied the movie with DVD Shrink to some other location. Doing so will again make the movie unreadable as the dummy sectors those were marked by this software will be unmarked again.
THAT'S IT... WE ARE THROUGH...

Warning :: Please Remember its illegal to Backup Movies on DVD... unless you Legally Own Them!!!

A Guide To Cleaning Ur PC Inside-Out

Cleaning ur PC is essential today. Got ur new hardware and Windows? Happy with the power and features? LLet a month past and ull start seeing all the dust it got on it.So how do u get rid of it? This thread is aimed at healthily cleaning ur PC while getting it back in one piece.
When and when u shud clean? Well it maybe once in a month or two. It could be boring and IT WILL TAKE TIME but its essential.
Why Do It? Well dust tends o kill the ellegence of ur PC and more if it stays stationary, it may cause malfunctioning in fans and other components.
What things to use for the job? The things i tend to use is a cloth(dry and smooth) and a blower(hot or cold air dont matter.) And u need to have a brush (tooth or painting one) handy for small places. And as usuall all the stuff to open ur cabinet.
How to do it? Well the main part. Gentally start by unplugging ur wires(remeber them i u still havent to as to where to plug them!)Open the cabinet and be sure to place on it on sturdy table-top or something. Use ur wares or directly open if u have thumb screws. Gently clean the panels inside and out with the cloth and blow air afterwards. Use the brush for small places. keep the panels in a clean place so all ur work dosent go in vain. Well now moving inside, first clean the base of the inside with the cloth and use brushes again for small places between connectors and stuuf. Clean each fin of each fan with the brush in one hand while using the other to hold the fan steady. did it? Now moving to components. Take the HDD first. Its minimal effort to clean it as its a considerably large component. Use the cloth and brush as for now.Than take the optical drives. Now it needs care as u MAY damage it. Only use gentle brush strokes and be sure to get each crevass(hehe). Moving to ur GPU(if u have a dedicated. Its farely easy, dont use the cloth as to ensure safety. use long vertical strokes on the PCB and be sure to clean between each heatsink stick. Use the fan method on the GPU's fan. CPU is not as easy to clean as they have a big fan. Dont get frustated. Call another person if u like. Dont use the blower as that will just move the fan(actually,try it as its fun to see) use the cloth on the non-occupied parts of the mobo. Be careful while cleaning the RAM. its delicate. U need to plug it out. refer the manual of ur mobo to learn how to unplug it. Just use brush strokes and cloth on the heat-sink. Than blow it with the blower and plug it again. Give each compnent some blowing using the blower. Fit the case as it was and keep it there. We'll clean the wires. Its common sense. Use the brush(Its the best tool aint it?) to do it. U may use cloth for big connectors. No need to use the blower. Keep them aside and YES BE SURE TO CLEAN THAT PART OF THE DESK. Moving on to the monitor. If u have a LCD than its hassale free. Just use the cloth and give it a finishing touch with the blower. If its a CRT than duh! Work again Use the cloth to wipe the screen. Go gentelly all over the body with strokes from the cloth. Use the brush for areas near the stand as they tend to have samll places which are a hot-spot for dust(This point applies to LCDs too). Speakers are fairly easy. Woofers are mainly flat and the sattelites dont have much small places. The cloth will take care of it. Ah! the good old keyboard is a pain. U will have to use the brush to clean the space around each key. YES ALL 4 SIDES OF EACH KEY. but that is if u want a clean keyboard, otherwise just use the cloth and blower. Mouse is easy.
So now? Now? Now enjoy healthy computing. Not only it will give ur system more life, but will also save u from disease.
Caution - Dont do if u have a dust allergy. Just ask for help than. AND take care of ur components. They are expensive and delicate.
This shud be done at a regular time interval although it could be boring and very tiresome. BUT IT does not mean u make it a hobby and keep on doing it everyday but i know no one will do it
Hope u got sumthing from this thread and it will help
Happy Computing friends