Useful Run Commands in Windows

Accessibility Controls access.cpl

Add Hardware Wizard
hdwwiz.cpl

Add/Remove Programs
appwiz.cpl

Administrative Tools
Control  admintools

Automatic Updates
wuaucpl.cpl

Bluetooth Transfer Wizard
fsquirt

Calculator
calc

Certificate Manager
certmgr.msc

Character Map
charmap

How to make My Computer' open in Explore mode with folder list

In My Computer click Tools menu, and then click Options.

Click the File Types tab.In the list of file types, highlight "(NONE) Folders"

Click Advanced button, In the Actions box, highlight "Explore"

Click "Set Default"

Bingo you are done. Now every time you open My Computer by double clicking it will open with the folder tree on the left side.

Hidden Programs in windows Xp

Hidden Programs in windows Xp. Type the following commands in RUN.




Programs :

1. Private Character Editor :
Used for editing fonts,etc.
** start>>Run
** Now, type eudcedit

2. Dr. Watson :
This an inbuilt windows repairing software !
** start>>Run
** Now, type drwtsn32

How to Add Command Prompt To Folder Context Menu in Windows XP

Some times we need to work with some files which is located in a particular folder from command prompt. But it’s too complicated to go into that particular folder with long names including spaces. It adds to the woes if the folder is located within 2-3 sub folders. So it will be very much convenient if we can launch command prompt from the folder which we want to work with. 

Vista has this feature. If you hold down the shift key while right clicking on a folder vista gives a option to Open Command Window Here.

But Windows xp does not comes with such option. In this tutorial we will  learn how to add vista like command prompt option to folder context menu. So when you right click on a folder you can directly open command prompt without changing the path from dos manually.

Reset / Recover Your Forgotten Windows Administrator Password

What will you do if you or any friend of you forgot the windows administrator password. How would you recover or reset it? There are a few tricks you can try ...

First Method:

Windows always created an "Administrator" account by default and assigns no password to it. So if you have forget your user account password then try this:

Start system and when you see Windows Welcome screen / Login screen, press 'ctrl'+'alt'+'del' keys twice and it’ll show Classic Login box. Now type “Administrator” (without quotes) in Username and leave Password field blank. Now press Enter and you should be able to log in Windows.

Now you can reset your account password from “Control Panel -> User Accounts“.

Same thing can be done using Safe Mode. In Safe Mode Windows will show this in-built Administrator account in Login screen.

Delete IE7 Browsing History From the Command Line

At times we need to delete IE history, cookies, saved passwords etc. Its a lengthy process if we do it from desktop internet explorer icon or IE tools menu. What if we can clear everything or a selected one or two from command prompt or using batch file.

Here are the commands that relates to the different buttons. You can use these command directly from command prompt, run box or can use in combination in a batch file.

Temporary Internet Files
RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 8
Cookies
RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 2
History
RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 1
Form Data
RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 16
Passwords
RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 32
Delete All
RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 255
Delete All - "Also delete files and settings stored by add-ons"
RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 4351
These commands should work in Internet Explorer 7 on XP or on Windows Vista.

Add Copy To / Move To to the Windows Explorer Right Click Menu

We often need to copy / move files between various locations. It would be helpful for us if we can just right click on the file and select Copy to or Move to. We can do that work with a little Ragistry Hacking. Before making any changes to the Windows Registry you must take a backup.

Make Copy To

Navigate to the following key
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
Once you are at that key, right click and choose the New Key option:
Now you will double-click on the (Default) value and enter the following:
{C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}
Click OK and continue.

Make Move To

Navigate to the following key
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
Once you are at that key, right click and choose the New Key option:
Now you will double-click on the (Default) value and enter the following:
{C2FBB631-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}
Close Registry Editor. Restart the PC and you are done.
Now when you right click on a file or folder, you should see the Copy To / Move To options on the right click shortcut menu.
This works both in Windows Xp and Vista

Add "My Computer" to Your Vista / XP Taskbar

At times we want to have the quickest access to the folders located in different drives or directly to a drive. We can do that by putting it onto the taskbar. We can even put My Computer onto the taskbar

To add a Folder or My Computer to the taskbar, just right-click on the taskbar and choose the Toolbars menu, and then click on New Toolbar.

Now find the folder that you want, in this case we will select the My Computer icon and then click on OK./Select.


Now you can see the My Computer folder right there on the taskbar. If you click the little arrows it will pop up and let you browse through all your drives.


You can add the Desktop to the toolbar as well.

Recover / Reset Windows XP Administrator Password

Somtimes we forget our windows password. We don't have any way other than to install everything fresh, or do we have a few methods to recover or reset. Yes we do, follow the three process explained below ...

Process 1:
Whenever we install Windows, it automatically creates an account “Administrator” by default and sets its password to blank. So Start your system and press ctrl+alt+del keys together twice when you see Windows Welcome screen or Login screen, and it’ll show Classic Login box. Once the Logon box is displayed type Administrator in Username and leaving the Password field blank press Enter. You should be able to log in to Windows.
Now reset your account password from Start -> Control Panel -> User Accounts.

Process 2 :
Windows XP and next versions also allow another process to recover/reset forgotten password by using “Reset Disk“. always create a Password Reset Disk while installing windows or later in a convenient time. You can use that disk to reset the password. Please visit following links to know more ...

How to create and use a password reset disk for a computer in a domain in Windows XP

How to Log On to Windows XP If You Forget Your Password or Your Password Expires

If the two process mentioned above doesnot work the try the next process. It is a bit lengthy process but wothwhile if you can recover/reset your password without a complete fresh install.

Process 3:
If the above mentioned tricks doesnt work, then try following trick which is actually a loophole in Windows XP Setup and a big security hole:
1. Boot using Windows XP Setup CD and continue.
2. Accept and press “R” to run the repair when it asks to repair your existing Windows installation,
3. Setup will start repairing your Windows and will start copying files, etc. After a few minutes setup will restart your system.
4. Now it will start doing other tasks and will show a small progressbar with a few details in left side.
5. When it shows “Installing devices“, press Shift+F10 keys together in your keyboard.
6. It will open a Command Prompt window. Now type nusrmgr.cpl and press Enter.
7. It will open the same “User Accounts” window which you see in Control Panel. You can reset your password now.

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

Microsoft releases Windows XP SP3

The much awaited Windows XP SP3 is finally released for the Windows users. It can be downloaded using Windows Update, and the direct link to the standalone version of SP3 for x86 XP systems (32 bit).

All previously released updates for the operating system Windows XP is included in Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3).

Link: Service Pack 3 for Windows XP via Windows Update (Size varies)

Download: Stand-alone installer for Windows XP SP3 English, 32 Bit (316 MB)

How to load applications faster by editing Windows Registry

The windows has a pre-fetch cache. It helps windows to load application faster by Pre-Fetching the application which is stored in the pre-fetch cache. we can speed up application loading by changing the default value of the followinf key.
Navigate to the following key :-

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters

The default value of the EnablePrefetcher setting is 3. We can increase this value upto 9 to improve the performance. We need to restart the machine for the changes to take effect.

Making Your Folders Private !!

• Open My Computer
• Double-click the drive where Windows is installed (usually drive (C, unless you have more than one drive on your computer).
• If the contents of the drive are hidden, under System Tasks, click Show the contents of this drive.
• Double-click the Documents and Settings folder.
• Double-click your user folder.
• Right-click any folder in your user profile, and then click Properties.
• On the Sharing tab, select the Make this folder private so that only I have access to it check box.

Note

• To open My Computer, click Start, and then click My Computer.
• This option is only available for folders included in your user profile. Folders in your user profile include My Documents and its subfolders, Desktop, Start Menu, Cookies, and Favorites. If you do not make these folders private, they are available to everyone who uses your computer.
• When you make a folder private, all of its subfolders are private as well. For example, when you make My Documents private, you also make My Music and My Pictures private. When you share a folder, you also share all of its subfolders unless you make them private.
• You cannot make your folders private if your drive is not formatted as NTFS

Indexing Service removal !!

Indexing services is a small little program that uses large amounts of RAM and can often make a computer endlessly loud and noisy. This system process indexes and updates lists of all the files that are on your computer. It does this so that when you do a search for something on your computer, it will search faster by scanning the index lists. If you don't search your computer often, or even if you do search often, this system service is completley unnessesary.

• Go to Start
• Click Settings
• Click Control Panel
• Double-click Add/Remove Programs
• Click the Add/Remove Window Components
• Uncheck the Indexing services
• Click Next

That's it, you have now uninstalled the Indexing service, you system will now have more RAM and be more responsive

Changing the name of Recycle Bin !!

If you are bored with the name Recycle Bin you can change it to some other name of your choice. To change the name of the Recycle Bin, open Regedit and go to the following location

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/CLSID/{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

now change the name "Recycle Bin" to a name of your choice (just don't type any quotes)

Invisible Folder !!

We often need an invisible folder to hide our inportant files. We can use Windows built-in hide files / folders but anyone can find those hidden files / folders. We can create an invisible folder that we can put on our desktop or within another folder. You can't see it but if you know where it is you can double-click it and view its contents. Follows the steps here and u got an invisible folder only u know exists.

1. Create a folder anywhere you want it to be.
2. Turn num lock on, select the name, and hold Alt and press 0160, then release Alt. This will make a character that looks like a space, but it isn't.
3. Now right click the folder you just made and go to properties. Then go to the Customize tab. Then press the Change Icon button. Scroll through the icons until you find one that has no image.
4. Click OK and Voila !! You have an invisible folder!

Now you can use it like a hidden treasure box. Only you know that there is a hidden folder. Select all files and you see a little blue rectangle showing presence of your hidden folder.

A Faster NTFS File System - Registry Tweak !!

We can change a lot of windows settings by tweaking the WINDOWS REGISTRY according to our choice. These tweaks can make your windows run faster with improved efficiency & performance. We can user some third party utility (like TWEAKUI) or WINDOWS REGISTRY EDITOR for the tweaking. Here I am giving some simple Registry Tweaks which you can do yourself by using the windows registry editor.

IMPORTANT : Tweaking windows registry can be dangerous if not done properly. In worst case scenario windows may not boot at all or some of your software / applicantion may not work. I do not take any responsibility if any data loss occurs. Proceed at your own risk.

PRECAUTION : Backup your registry or it will be better if you make an Image of your System before proceeding with registry editing.

A Faster NTFS File System

If you use the NTFS file system, you can improve performance by making some changes in the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Filesystem

Change the following registry values, as you wish:

DisableNTFSLastAccessUpdate = 1 (last file access is no longer registered).
NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation = 1 (no more double filenames: long names and the old 8.3 variant (the 8.3 file notation is used for the older Windows versions).
NtfsMftZoneReservation = 2 (if there are many files on a partition, the master file table (MFT) can get fragmented, with this tweak there will be no more fragmenting of the file master file table (default value = 1, range 1-4).

A Faster Windows Shutdown - Registry Tweaks !!

We can change a lot of windows settings by tweaking the WINDOWS REGISTRY according to our choice. These tweaks can make your windows run faster with improved efficiency & performance. We can user some third party utility (like TWEAKUI) or WINDOWS REGISTRY EDITOR for the tweaking. Here I am giving some simple Registry Tweaks which you can do yourself by using the windows registry editor.

IMPORTANT : Tweaking windows registry can be dangerous if not done properly. In worst case scenario windows may not boot at all or some of your software / applicantion may not work. I do not take any responsibility if any data loss occurs. Proceed at your own risk.

PRECAUTION : Backup your registry or it will be better if you make an Image of your System before proceeding with registry editing.

A Faster Windows Shutdown

Shutting down Windows can take a long time. You can speed this up with the following tweaks in the registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

Change the following String values:
AutoEndTasks=1
HungAppTimeout=4000
WaitToKillAppTimeout=4000
WaitToKillServiceTimeout=4000

Automatically Defrag System Files - Registry Tweaks !!

We can change a lot of windows settings by tweaking the WINDOWS REGISTRY according to our choice. These tweaks can make your windows run faster with improved efficiency & performance. We can user some third party utility (like TWEAKUI) or WINDOWS REGISTRY EDITOR for the tweaking. Here I am giving some simple Registry Tweaks which you can do yourself by using the windows registry editor.

IMPORTANT : Tweaking windows registry can be dangerous if not done properly. In worst case scenario windows may not boot at all or some of your software / applicantion may not work. I do not take any responsibility if any data loss occurs. Proceed at your own risk.

PRECAUTION : Backup your registry or it will be better if you make an Image of your System before proceeding with registry editing.

Automatically Defrag System Files

To defrag the system files automatically at every boot (to optimize you system), change the value Enable to Y in the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOpt imizeFunction

Activated NUM-LOCK - Registry Tweak !!

We can change a lot of windows settings by tweaking the WINDOWS REGISTRY according to our choice. These tweaks can make your windows run faster with improved efficiency & performance. We can user some third party utility (like TWEAKUI) or WINDOWS REGISTRY EDITOR for the tweaking. Here I am giving some simple Registry Tweaks which you can do yourself by using the windows registry editor.

IMPORTANT : Tweaking windows registry can be dangerous if not done properly. In worst case scenario windows may not boot at all or some of your software / applicantion may not work. I do not take any responsibility if any data loss occurs. Proceed at your own risk.

PRECAUTION : Backup your registry or it will be better if you make an Image of your System before proceeding with registry editing.

Activated NUM-LOCK

To automatically switch on the NUM-LOCK, change the value InitialKeyboardIndicators to 2 in the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Keyboard