23 Ways To Speed Up Windows XP

Since defragmenting the disk won't do much to improve Windows XP performance, here are 23 suggestions that will. Each can enhance the performance and reliability of your customers' PCs. Best of all, most of them will cost you nothing.

1.) To decrease a system's boot time and increase system performance, use the money you save by not buying defragmentation software -- the built-in Windows defragmenter works just fine -- and instead equip the computer with an Ultra-133 or Serial ATA hard drive with 8-MB cache buffer.

2.) If a PC has less than 512 MB of RAM, add more memory. This is a relatively inexpensive and easy upgrade that can dramatically improve system performance.

3.) Ensure that Windows XP is utilizing the NTFS file system. If you're not sure, here's how to check: First, double-click the My Computer icon, right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Next, examine the File System type; if it says FAT32, then back-up any important data. Next, click Start, click Run, type CMD, and then click OK. At the prompt, type CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS and press the Enter key. This process may take a while; it's important that the computer be uninterrupted and virus-free. The file system used by the bootable drive will be either FAT32 or NTFS. I highly recommend NTFS for its superior security, reliability, and efficiency with larger disk drives.

4.) Disable file indexing. The indexing service extracts information from documents and other files on the hard drive and creates a "searchable keyword index." As you can imagine, this process can be quite taxing on any system.

The idea is that the user can search for a word, phrase, or property inside a document, should they have hundreds or thousands of documents and not know the file name of the document they want. Windows XP's built-in search functionality can still perform these kinds of searches without the Indexing service. It just takes longer. The OS has to open each file at the time of the request to help find what the user is looking for.

Most people never need this feature of search. Those who do are typically in a large corporate environment where thousands of documents are located on at least one server. But if you're a typical system builder, most of your clients are small and medium businesses. And if your clients have no need for this search feature, I recommend disabling it.

Here's how: First, double-click the My Computer icon. Next, right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Uncheck "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching." Next, apply changes to "C: subfolders and files," and click OK. If a warning or error message appears (such as "Access is denied"), click the Ignore All button.

5.) Update the PC's video and motherboard chipset drivers. Also, update and configure the BIOS. For more information on how to configure your BIOS properly, see this article on my site.

6.) Empty the Windows Prefetch folder every three months or so. Windows XP can "prefetch" portions of data and applications that are used frequently. This makes processes appear to load faster when called upon by the user. That's fine. But over time, the prefetch folder may become overloaded with references to files and applications no longer in use. When that happens, Windows XP is wasting time, and slowing system performance, by pre-loading them. Nothing critical is in this folder, and the entire contents are safe to delete.

7.) Once a month, run a disk cleanup. Here's how: Double-click the My Computer icon. Then right-click on the C: drive and select Properties. Click the Disk Cleanup button -- it's just to the right of the Capacity pie graph -- and delete all temporary files.

8.) In your Device Manager, double-click on the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers device, and ensure that DMA is enabled for each drive you have connected to the Primary and Secondary controller. Do this by double-clicking on Primary IDE Channel. Then click the Advanced Settings tab. Ensure the Transfer Mode is set to "DMA if available" for both Device 0 and Device 1. Then repeat this process with the Secondary IDE Channel.
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9.) Upgrade the cabling. As hard-drive technology improves, the cabling requirements to achieve these performance boosts have become more stringent. Be sure to use 80-wire Ultra-133 cables on all of your IDE devices with the connectors properly assigned to the matching Master/Slave/Motherboard sockets. A single device must be at the end of the cable; connecting a single drive to the middle connector on a ribbon cable will cause signaling problems. With Ultra DMA hard drives, these signaling problems will prevent the drive from performing at its maximum potential. Also, because these cables inherently support "cable select," the location of each drive on the cable is important. For these reasons, the cable is designed so drive positioning is explicitly clear.

10.) Remove all spyware from the computer. Use free programs such as AdAware by Lavasoft or SpyBot Search & Destroy. Once these programs are installed, be sure to check for and download any updates before starting your search. Anything either program finds can be safely removed. Any free software that requires spyware to run will no longer function once the spyware portion has been removed; if your customer really wants the program even though it contains spyware, simply reinstall it. For more information on removing Spyware visit this Web Pro News page.

11.) Remove any unnecessary programs and/or items from Windows Startup routine using the MSCONFIG utility. Here's how: First, click Start, click Run, type MSCONFIG, and click OK. Click the StartUp tab, then uncheck any items you don't want to start when Windows starts. Unsure what some items are? Visit the WinTasks Process Library. It contains known system processes, applications, as well as spyware references and explanations. Or quickly identify them by searching for the filenames using Google or another Web search engine.

12.) Remove any unnecessary or unused programs from the Add/Remove Programs section of the Control Panel.

13.) Turn off any and all unnecessary animations, and disable active desktop. In fact, for optimal performance, turn off all animations. Windows XP offers many different settings in this area. Here's how to do it: First click on the System icon in the Control Panel. Next, click on the Advanced tab. Select the Settings button located under Performance. Feel free to play around with the options offered here, as nothing you can change will alter the reliability of the computer -- only its responsiveness.

14.) If your customer is an advanced user who is comfortable editing their registry, try some of the performance registry tweaks offered at Tweak XP.

15.) Visit Microsoft's Windows update site regularly, and download all updates labeled Critical. Download any optional updates at your discretion.

16.) Update the customer's anti-virus software on a weekly, even daily, basis. Make sure they have only one anti-virus software package installed. Mixing anti-virus software is a sure way to spell disaster for performance and reliability.

17.) Make sure the customer has fewer than 500 type fonts installed on their computer. The more fonts they have, the slower the system will become. While Windows XP handles fonts much more efficiently than did the previous versions of Windows, too many fonts -- that is, anything over 500 -- will noticeably tax the system.
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18.) Do not partition the hard drive. Windows XP's NTFS file system runs more efficiently on one large partition. The data is no safer on a separate partition, and a reformat is never necessary to reinstall an operating system. The same excuses people offer for using partitions apply to using a folder instead. For example, instead of putting all your data on the D: drive, put it in a folder called "D drive." You'll achieve the same organizational benefits that a separate partition offers, but without the degradation in system performance. Also, your free space won't be limited by the size of the partition; instead, it will be limited by the size of the entire hard drive. This means you won't need to resize any partitions, ever. That task can be time-consuming and also can result in lost data.

19.) Check the system's RAM to ensure it is operating properly. I recommend using a free program called MemTest86. The download will make a bootable CD or diskette (your choice), which will run 10 extensive tests on the PC's memory automatically after you boot to the disk you created. Allow all tests to run until at least three passes of the 10 tests are completed. If the program encounters any errors, turn off and unplug the computer, remove a stick of memory (assuming you have more than one), and run the test again. Remember, bad memory cannot be repaired, but only replaced.

20.) If the PC has a CD or DVD recorder, check the drive manufacturer's Web site for updated firmware. In some cases you'll be able to upgrade the recorder to a faster speed. Best of all, it's free.

21.) Disable unnecessary services. Windows XP loads a lot of services that your customer most likely does not need. To determine which services you can disable for your client, visit the Black Viper site for Windows XP configurations.

22.) If you're sick of a single Windows Explorer window crashing and then taking the rest of your OS down with it, then follow this tip: open My Computer, click on Tools, then Folder Options. Now click on the View tab. Scroll down to "Launch folder windows in a separate process," and enable this option. You'll have to reboot your machine for this option to take effect.

23.) At least once a year, open the computer's cases and blow out all the dust and debris. While you're in there, check that all the fans are turning properly. Also inspect the motherboard capacitors for bulging or leaks. For more information on this leaking-capacitor phenomena, you can read numerous articles on my site.


Following any of these suggestions should result in noticeable improvements to the performance and reliability of your customers' computers. If you still want to defrag a disk, remember that the main benefit will be to make your data more retrievable in the event of a crashed drive.

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Boot Windows XP Fast

Follow the following steps

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

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11 Fast and Free Security Enhancements

Before you spend a dime on security, there are many precautions you can take that will

protect you against the most common threats.

1. Check Windows Update and Office Update regularly

(_http://office.microsoft.com/productupdates); have your Office CD ready. Windows Me, 2000, and XP users can configure automatic updates. Click on the Automatic Updates tab in the System control panel and choose the appropriate options.

2. Install a personal firewall.

SyGate (_www.sygate.com) and ZoneAlarm(_www.zonelabs.com) offer free versions.

3. Install a free spyware blocker.

Our Editors' Choice ("Spyware," April 22) was SpyBot Search & Destroy(_http://security.kolla.de). SpyBot is also paranoid and ruthless in hunting out tracking cookies and Spyware Terminator(www.spywareterminator.com) is also good too.

4. Block pop-up spam messages in Windows NT, 2000, or XP

It can be achieved by disabling the Windows Messenger service (this is unrelated to the instant messaging program). Open Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services and you'll see Messenger. Right-click and go to Properties. Set Start-up Type to Disabled and press the Stop button. Bye-bye, spam pop-ups! Any good firewall will also stop them.

5. Use strong passwords and change them periodically.

Passwords should have at least seven characters; use letters and numbers and have at least one symbol. A decent example would be f8izKro@l( A combination of letters, alphabets and Special
Characters). This will make it much harder for anyone to gain access to your accounts.

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6. If you're using Outlook or Outlook Express, use the current version or one with the
Outlook Security Update installed. The update and current versions patch numerous
vulnerabilities.

7. Buy Anti virus software and keep it up to date.

If you're not willing to pay, try Grisoft AVG Free Edition (Grisoft Inc., www.grisoft.com). And doublecheck your AV with the free, online-only scanners available at www.pandasoftware.com/activescan and http://housecall.trendmicro.com.

8. If you have a wireless network, turn on the security features:

Use MAC filtering, turn off SSID broadcast, and even use WEP with the biggest key you can get. For more, check out our wireless section or see the expanded coverage in Your Unwired World in our next issue.

9. Join a respectable e-mail security list, such as the one found at our own Security

Supersite at _http://security.ziffdavis.com, so that you learn about emerging threats
quickly and can take proper precautions.

10. Be skeptical of things on the Internet.

Don't assume that e-mail "From:" a particular person is actually from that person until you have further reason to believe it's that person. Don't assume that an attachment is what it says it is. Don't give out your password to anyone, even if that person claims to be from "support."

11. Be regular viewers of the following blogs.

It will help you to know about the latest trends in Computer and Secrity fields.

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A to Z Useful Windows Run Commands

Do you use the Run feature in Windows XP?
For most, this feature remains unused (or rarely used). Why is that? Well, First off nearly all of the Run Commands Correspond to a particular Control Panel Item or a Utility, Tool or Task that can be accessed through Windows. There are, however, tools and utilities that I bet you never knew you had that can be accessed through the Run feature. The main reason most people don't use the Run feature is because they don't know the Commands. So, to solve that problem, I decided to put together the following listing, which lists A to Z Run Commands and what they correspond too...
Short Cut to Run- Windows Key + R
Accessibility Controls - access.cpl
Add Hardware Wizard - hdwwiz.cpl
Add/Remove Programs - appwiz.cpl
Adobe Photoshop (if installed) - photoshop
Administrative Tools - control admintools
Automatic Updates - wuaucpl.cpl
Bluetooth Transfer Wizard - fsquirt
Calculator – calc
Certificate Manager - certmgr.msc
Character Map - charmap
Check Disk Utility - chkdsk
Clipboard Viewer - clipbrd
Command Prompt - cmd
Component Services - dcomcnfg
Computer Management - compmgmt.msc
Date and Time Properties - timedate.cpl
DDE Shares - ddeshare
Device Manager - devmgmt.msc
Direct X Control Panel (If Installed)* - directx.cpl
Direct X Troubleshooter - dxdiag
Disk Cleanup Utility - cleanmgr
Disk Defragment - dfrg.msc
Disk Management - diskmgmt.msc
Disk Partition Manager - diskpart
Display Properties - control desktop
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Display Properties - desk.cpl
Display Properties (w/Appearance Tab Preselected) - control color
Dr. Watson System Troubleshooting Utility - drwtsn32
Driver Verifier Utility - verifier
Event Viewer - eventvwr.msc
File Signature Verification Tool - sigverif
Findfast - findfast.cpl
Folders Properties - control folders
Fonts - control fonts
Fonts Folder - fonts
Free Cell Card Game - freecell
Game Controllers - joy.cpl
Group Policy Editor (XP Prof) - gpedit.msc

Crack Office 2007 activation without a crack

For those who don't like confronting with Microsoft
For this procedure, you will need
* Office 2007 that requires activation
* A computer able to run Office 2007 (XP or higher required for Office 2007)
* At least 3 minutes of time
Instructions
* Uninstall Office 2007 from your computer if you have it on there right now
* Install Office 2007 IMPORTANT! When installing Office 2007, when it asks for a serial number, just click Continue and with the dialog that pops up, click No. Then continue with your installation.
* Once Office 2007 is installed, you should be able to open Office apps and be prompted for activation. This is normal.
* Close all open Office apps.
* In Windows Explorer, browse to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE12\Office Setup Controller\Proof.en
* In any plain text editor you want, open Proof.xml
* Find:

Code:

      </Feature> <Feature Id=”SetupXmlFiles” Cost=”1248″>
      <OptionRef Id=”AlwaysInstalled”/>
      </Feature>

* Replace "AlwaysInstalled" to "neverInstalled" (make sure to get the casing right) so that it will look like the this:

Code:

</Feature> <Feature Id=”SetupXmlFiles” Cost=”1248″>
      <OptionRef Id=”neverInstalled”/>
      </Feature>

* Save the XML file.

* That's it! You're done. Next time you open an Office app, it will not rudely ask for a serial number

The Trojan hidden in Monster.com

The Trojan stealing the data was hidden in a fraudulent advertisement on online job sites like Monster.com

Security researchers have unearthed the single largest cache of stolen identities, thanks in part to a Trojan stealing the data that has been hidden in a fraudulent advertisement on online job sites like Monster.com.

Don Jackson, a researcher with security company SecureWorks, told InformationWeek that he found 12 data caches connected to one group using the latest variance of the Prg Trojan, which also is known as Ntos, Tcp Trojan, Zeus, Infostealer.Monstres and Banker.aam. Several of the 12 found caches contain information on about 4,000 to 6,000 identity theft victims, but one contains about 10,000 and the largest one contains 46,000.

He estimates that between the 12 caches, there probably is information on about 100,000 stolen identities.

“That’s at least four times as large as the largest ones I’ve run across before,” said Jackson. “That tells me they’re using a lot of different methods to do what they do or they’ve found really reliable methods to do it.”

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Jackson calls the identity theft organization behind the caches the “car group” because they’ve named each of the servers storing the information for a different auto manufacturer, like Ford, Mercedes, Chrysler, and French carmaker Bugatti.

The data, which includes bank and credit card account information, Social Security numbers, online payment account usernames and passwords, comes from victims who were all individually infected with the Trojan beginning in early May.

He said the latest variant of the Prg Trojan has been running on fraudulent ads on at least two online job sites. One, he said, is Monster.com. Representatives from Monster did not return a request for an interview.

“The hackers behind this scam are running ads on job sites and are injecting those ads with the Trojan,” said Jackson. “When a user views or clicks on one of the malicious ads, their PC is getting infected and all the information they are entering into their browser, including financial information being entered before it reaches the SSL-protected sites, is being captured and sent off to the hacker’s server in Asia Pacific.”

Jackson said one server is still collecting stolen data and they are seeing 9,000 to 10,000 victims sending information to the server at any one time. When someone clicks on the advertisement, they’re taken to a malicious Web page where their computer is infected with the Prg Trojan.

He said they’ve given information about the caches and the phony ads to the FBI. Jackson also said they tried contacting Monster.com but they haven’t received a response yet.
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“When I first discovered this large cache of data, I couldn’t figure out how the hackers were compromising so many Web sites, and as a result, infecting so many victims,” added Jackson. “However, when I uncovered the Trojan-injected advertisements, it made total sense. These job sites get tons of traffic so it is no wonder that the hackers are having such success.”

The Trojan is designed to exploit several different software flaws, including vulnerabilities — all of which have been patched by the vendors — in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser, WinZip and Apple’s QuickTime.

Jackson said they found the caches by writing signatures that detect the Trojan communicating with the hackers’ command server, which sends out instructions to the malware and accepts data from it. Researchers followed the traffic back to several servers. He said some are located in the Russian business network, others are in Hong Kong, and they believe the major cache is on a server in Malaysia.

Different hacker groups are selling a kit that helps malware authors compile new versions of the Prg Trojan. The kit, which sells for about $300 on underground forums and marketplaces, even re-scrambles the code to evade anti-virus detection.

SecureWorks noted that computers infected with the Prg Trojan will have a backdoor proxy server listening for connections on Port 6081. “This port is in not assigned to legitimate services and is not hidden by the rootkit functionality. f port 6081 is open on your computer, you are likely infected with the Prg Trojan,” said Jackson. “If anti-virus is not detecting the infection, then you will need to boot the computer into Safe Mode and run another scan. If that fails, manual removal or reinstalling the operating system may be necessary.”

Assigning a Static IP Address

To assign a Static IP Address to your network connection follow these steps:

1. Open Network Connections

2. Right click the connection you wish to assign a Static Address to and choose Properties.

3. In the Properties box that comes up select “Internet Protocol TCP/IP” and click the Properties button beneath.

4. In Internet Protocol TCP/IP Properties place a dot in “Use the following IP Address“.

5. Enter the IP address you wish to use and OK the change. Click OK on Local Area Connection Properties.

6. Reboot

How To Detect what process is thrashing your hard drive

Every once in a while you notice that your hard drive is working extra hard for what seems like no reason. A background process has taken your hard drive hostage, forcing it to thrash loudly as it struggles to keep up with the high rate of reads and writes. Your computer responds slowly as the process overloads the physical limitations of your drive. What are you to do?The solution is simple, although a little tricky at times: identify and stop the process that is killing your drive. There are two methods and tools that you can use to identify the process.

Method 1
Click on the Start Button and key in Reliability. Click on the Reliability and Performance Monitor shortcut.
On the main screen click on the Disk section down arrow to see a list of all processes and the files they are writing or reading from your drives.
Click on the Read or Write headings to sort all disk operations to identify which process and file is currently using the disk the most.
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Method 2
Visit Microsoft’s Sysinternals web site and download Process Explorer.
After you have started Process Explorer, click on the View menubar item and then Select Columns.
Click on the Process Performance tab and check:
I/O Reads
I/O Read Bytes
I/O Writes
I/O Write Bytes
Hit OK.
You will now see the new columns listed for each process. To identify what process is killing your hard drive, just look for the process with the highest number of Reads or Bytes

Avoid Compulsory Registration in a Website

Many websites on internet need you to register to acess the information, like many forums force you to register to have acess to their discussion pages. Below are some techniques that i found to bypass compulsory registrations on websites.

BugMeNot

Bugmenot- Free login Details to bypass compulsory registration

Bugmenot is a groovy website to find and share logins for websites that force you to register. Just fill in the web adress in the search box and Login details will be provided if available for that particular site.
For more information on using Bugmenot, you can see Wikihow Article on using Bugmenot.

Also you can download Bugmenot Firefox Extension to bypass compulsory web registration via Firefox’s right-click context menu.

Google Bot

Most of the websites today get maximum number of visitors from google. So all the websites including ones that require registration, would like to see their content indexed by Google. Therefore as soon as they detect the google bot, they allow it to acess pages that are normally restricted to human users, so if a normal human being visits the website using a web browser, he is politely redirected to the “Please register first” webpage.

There is a cool Firefox Extension called Firefox User Agent Switcher that lets you switch the user agent so that the reg-only website is fooled to think that you are a web spider.

You can download the Firefox user agent switcher extension here . After downloading and installing the extension you have to do the following:-
Goto Tools>>Extensions>>Select User Agent Switcher

Click Options button and select User Agents from the Sidebar.

Then click Add to add new User Agent.

In the description box write “Google Bot” and in the User Agent Box write “Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; googlebot/2.1; +http://www.google.com/bot.html)” .

Done. Enjoy ! Bypass Registration on Websites with Google Cache

This trick even work on some websites that usually require paid registration in order to access their content.
Find the exact page that you want in a list of Google search results. For example, if you know there’s a page on RegisteredAccess.com that has some data about turtles that is only accessible to registered users, you can search on google for “site:RegisteredAccess.com turtles”. Once you find the link to this article, you can simple click on “Cached” to see what version Google has.

Working with Username and Password, using net user command

The following example shows the syntax of the net user command:
net user [username [password | *] [options]] [/domain]
username {password | *} /add [options] [/domain]
username [/delete] [/domain]

You can use the net user command to create and modify user accounts on computers. When you use this command without command-line switches, the user accounts for the computer are listed. The user account information is stored in the user accounts database. This command works only on servers.
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You can use the following parameters with the net user command:• username
Is the name of the user account you want to add, delete, modify, or view. The name of the user account can have as many as 20 characters.
• password
Assigns or changes a password for the user’s account. A password must satisfy the minimum length set with the /minpwlen option of the net accounts command. It can contain as many as 14 characters.
• *
Produces a prompt for the password. The password is not displayed when you type it at a password prompt.
• /domain
Performs the operation on the primary domain controller (PDC) of the current domain. This parameter applies only to computers running Windows NT Workstation that are members of a Windows NT Server domain. By default, Windows NT Server-based computers perform operations on the PDC.
• /add
Adds a user account to the user accounts database.
• /delete
Removes a user account from the user accounts database.

CONVERTING FAT32 to NTFS

Converting a partition from FAT32 to NTFS can be done by an inbuilt utility in the Windows XP operating system — but it is important to realise that it is a one-way process. You cannot convert back, except possibly by use of Partition Magic 7.01, and that is not always successful. Windows XP has no tool for converting from NTFS to FAT32.

There are a couple of things to do in advance if the conversion is to be efficient. If you do not take these preliminary steps, you are liable to end up with only 512 byte clusters, which is not a good idea.

What happens is that FAT32 partitions formatted by most Windows versions except Windows XP itself (and possibly Windows 2000) have an odd multiple of 2 kilobytes in the “system” sectors before the data area, where the File Allocation Tables themselves and clustering start. Therefore, clusters 4 KB in size are not aligned on 4 KB boundaries, as NTFS will want. CONVERT.EXE, finding it cannot use 4K clusters, gives up and makes the clusters only 512 bytes (one half KB) instead.

It is, therefore, important to realign the partition before conversion, by moving all the data area up to a 4K boundary. (This will absorb odd sectors at the far end which otherwise would not get used). For this, I suggest BootIT NG, from BootitNG.com. This is a shareware program, priced at US$30 but with a 30-day fully functional trial. You may well find it valuable also for its Disk Imaging and Partition Management capabilities.

Download the BOOTITNG.ZIP file to its own folder, extract the contents of the ZIP file, then run BOOTITNG.EXE, which will make a bootable floppy. Boot this floppy. For purposes of Partition Management, there is no need to install the program to hard disk, so click Cancel Install, thus entering Maintenance. Click Partition Work. Highlight the partition you intend to convert. Click Slide, which has an option check box to Align for NTFS only. Click OK. As it has to move almost every sector on the entire partition, this will take a very long time — schedule it for a meal break, or start it to run overnight. (If it finishes quickly, that probably means that the partition was properly aligned already.)

Then restart the computer, boot Windows XP, being sure to logon as an Administrator, and defragment the disk. This ensures that there is, as far as possible, a contiguous area for the NTFS Master File Table. It is best if there is a fairly substantial amount of free space while you do it.
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Now use the Windows XP convert tool: Go to Start | All Programs | Accessories | Command Prompt (or, from a Run box, type CMD) and, assuming you intend to convert C:, give the command:

VOL C:

Note the name of the disk in the first line, and the Volume Serial Number (for example, 3F4E-2D1B) in the second. Then type:

CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS

It will ask for that name in confirmation. Then it will ask two further questions. Reply Y each time to set up conversion to happen at the next boot, then restart the machine. (If you are converting a partition other than the operating system’s partition, you may find that it runs without rebooting.) After returning to Win XP, the hard disk will work for two or three minutes, tidying up. Leave things alone during this time.

Restore Task Manager, Regedit and Folder Options

Restore Task Manager, Regedit and Folder Options Disabled by Virus

Let’s face it. All of us have been infected by virus before. Even if you have anti-virus installed, you can still be infected by a new or custom virus that is not recognized by your anti-virus. Sometimes after removing the virus completely from our system, you’ll face new problems such as you can no longer bring up Windows Task Manager from CTRL+ALT+DEL. You get the error message saying “Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator”.

You think that it’s easy to fix this problem by going to Registry Editor but you can’t! You get the error message “Registry editing has been disabled by your administrator“.

Folder Options and even Show Hidden Files & Folder is disabled! How frustrating! Don’t worry, here’s how to restore your Windows Task Manager, Registry Editor, Folder Options and Show hidden files & folders.

This problem is most commonly caused by a virus called “Brontok“. Brontok virus will make some changes to the system restrictions in order to hide itself from easy detection and also from easy cleaning.

Here’s a free tool called Remove Restrictions Tool (RRT) which is able to re-enables all what the virus had previously disabled, and gives you back the control over your own computer.

Remove Restrictions Tool is able to re-enable:
- Registry Tools (regedit)
- Ctrl+Alt+Del
- Folder Options
- Show Hidden Files

Small and easy to use. Make sure you boot in to Safe Mode to use Remove Restrictions Tool (RRT). Just click on the buttons and it’ll do it’s job.

[ Download Remove Restrictions Tool (RRT) ]

How to Set up a Private Network

A private network is one which either does not connect to the internet, or is connected indirectly using NAT (Network Address Translation) so its addresses do not appear on the public network. However, a private network allows you to connect to other computers that are on the same physical network. This is desirable when you wish to communicate with a group of other computers or share data and internet connectivity is not necessary.

Steps

1. Plan your network. This is probably the hardest part of setting up a network.
   
   Draw any routers you may be using to separate major portions of your network first. Smaller private networks do not require routers, but may still use them for administrative reasons. Routers are only required if a.)Dividing your network into multiple smaller networks, b.) Allowing indirect internet access using NAT. Next, add any switches and hubs. For small networks, only one switch or hub may be necessary.
   Draw boxes to represent the computers and lines connecting the devices together. This drawing will serve as your network diagram.
   
   Although diagrams intended only for your own use may use any symbols you desire, use of industry standard symbols make this task simpler and eliminates confusion for others. Typical industry standard symbols are:
   
   
   • Routers: Circle with four arrows arranged in a cross. Or just a cross if drawing a quick draft.
   • Switches: Square or rectangle, with four staggered arrows, two in each direction. Represents the concept of signals being "switched" - relayed only out the port which leads to the intended user based on address.
   • Hubs: Same as switch, with a single double-headed arrow. Represents the concept of all signals being blindly repeated out all ports without concern for which port leads to the intended recipient.
   • Lines and squares can be used to represent connections leading to computers.
2. Create an address plan
   
   
   • IPv4 (IP ver. 4) addresses are written like this: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (four numbers separated by three dots), in all RFC-1166 compliant countries. Each number ranges from 0 to 255. This is known as "Dotted Decimal Notation" or "Dot Notation" for short. The address is divided into two portions: the network portion and the host portion.
     
     For "Classful" networks, the network and host portions are as follows:
     ("n" represents the network portion, "x" represents the host portion)
     
     When the first number is 0 to 127 - nnn.xxx.xxx.xxx (ex. 10.xxx.xxx.xxx)
     These are known as "Class A" networks.
     
     When the first number is 128 to 191 - nnn.nnn.xxx.xxx (ex. 172.16.xxx.xxx)
     These are known as "Class B" networks.
     
     When the first number is 192 to 223 - nnn.nnn.nnn.xxx (ex. 192.168.1.xxx)
     These are known as "Class C" networks.
     
     When the first number is 224 to 239 - The address is used for multi-casting.
     
     When the first number is 240 to 255 - The address is "experimental".
     
     Multicast & Experimental addresses are beyond the scope of this article. However, do note that because IPv4 does not treat them the same way as other addresses they should not be used.
     For simplicity "non-classful networks", sub-netting, and CIDR will not be discussed in this article.
     
     The network portion specifies a network; the host portion specifies an individual device on a network.
     
     For any given network:
     
     
     • The range of all possible host portion numbers gives the Address Range.
       (ex. 172.16.xxx.xxx the range is 172.16.0.0 to 172.16.255.255)
     • The lowest possible address is the Network Address.
       (ex. 172.16.xxx.xxx the network address is 172.16.0.0)
       This address is used by devices to specify the network itself, and cannot be assigned to any device.
     • The highest possible address is the Broadcast Address.
       (ex. 172.16.xxx.xxx the broadcast address is 172.16.255.255)
       This address is used when a packet is meant for all devices on a specific network, and cannot be assigned to any device.
     • The remaining numbers in the range are the Host Range.
       (ex. 172.16.xxx.xxx the host range is 172.16.0.1 to 172.16.255.254)
       These are the numbers you can assign to computers, printers, and other devices.
       Host Addresses are individual addresses within this range.
   • Assign network(s). A network, for this purpose, is any group of connections separated by a router.
     
     Your network may not have routers or, if accessing the Internet with NAT, have only one router between your private network and the public internet. If this is your only router, or if you have no routers, your entire private network is considered one network.
     
     Choose a network with a host range large enough to provide an address to each device. Class C networks (ex. 192.168.0.x) allow for 254 host addresses (192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.254), which is fine if you have no more than 254 devices. But if you have 255 or more devices, you will either need to use a Class B network (ex. 172.16.x.x) or divide your private network into smaller networks with routers.
     
     If additional routers are used, they become "internal routers", the private network becomes a "private intranet", and each group of connections is a separate network requiring its own network address and range. This includes connections between routers, and connections directly from a router to a single device.
     
     For simplicity, the remainder of these steps will assume you have only one network, of 254 or less devices, and uses 192.168.2.x as an example. We will also assume you are not using DHCP (Dynamic Host Control Protocol) to assign host addresses automatically.
3. Write "192.168.2.x" in the corner somewhere. If you have more than one network it's best to write each address near the network it belongs to.
4. Assign host addresses within the range of 1 to 254 to each computer. Write the host addresses next to the devices they belong to on the diagram. At first you may wish to write the entire address (ex. 192.168.2.5) next to each device. However, as you become more proficient simply writing the host portion (ex. .5) may help save time.
   
   Switches will not require addresses for the purpose discussed here. Routers will require addresses as described in the "Important Notes" section.
5. Write down the subnet mask near the network address. For 192.168.2.x, which is a Class C, the mask is: 255.255.255.0 The computer needs it to tell which part of the IP address is the network and which is the host.
   
   IPv4 originally used the first number (ex. 192) to determine this based on the address class, as described above. However, the advent of subnetting and nonclassful networking made it necessary to provide a mask because other ways of dividing the address into network and host portions are now possible. For Class A addresses the mask is 255.0.0.0, for Class B it's 255.255.0.0 (More information in the Important Notes section.)
6. Connect your network. Gather all needed materials including cables, computers, ethernet switches, and (if used) routers. Locate the Ethernet ports on the computers and other devices. Look for the 8-pin modular connector. (RJ-45 style) It looks like a standard telephone jack except it's a bit larger because it has more conductors.
   
   Connect the cables between each device, just as in your map. If an unforeseen circumstance causes you to vary from the diagram, make notes to show any changes.
7. Boot all the computers connected to the network. Power on all other connected devices. (Some devices have no "power switch" and will power up simply by plugging them in.)
8. Configure the computers for networking. Go to internet options (this varies depending on the Operating System), and go to the dialog box that lets you change the TCP/IP protocol. Change the radio buttons from "Obtain from DHCP server automatically" to "Use the following IP address:". Type in your IP address for that computer, and the appropriate subnet mask (255.255.255.0).
   
   If you have no routers, leave the "Default Gateway" and "DNS server" fields blank.
   
   If connecting to the internet using NAT, use the Host Address assigned to the router between your private network and the internet as both the DNS server and the Default Gateway. Do not use the Network Address (192.168.2.0)
   
   If using more than one router see the Important Notes section.
   
   If configuring a home network with a relatively new router, This section can be ignored as long as the network is connected correctly, The router will assign network addresses to everything on the network going into your network, until it hits another router.
9. Verify connectivity. The simplest way to do this is with Ping. Bring up MS-DOS or the equivalent on other OS's, (In Windows open the command prompt which is located in the Start Menu - Accessories - Command Prompt) and type in: ping 192.168.2.[insert host number here]. Do this on one host and ping to all other hosts. Remember, your router is considered a host. If you cannot reach one, read over the steps again or contact a professional.

Important Notes

• Adding NAT (Network Address Translation) to the network described above. NAT allows private networks to connect to public networks, by converting IP addresses on the private network to ones allowed on the public network. All devices will appear from the Internet's perspective to be connected to one of its public networks according to the public addressing plan (as defined by IANA - Internet Assignment Numbering Authority). "Dynamic NAT" allows multiple private IPs to "take turns" using a public IP.
  
  A related technology, PNAT (Port Network Address Translation) - also known as PAT (Port Address Translation) or NAT "Overloading", allows multiple private IPs to "share" one public IP at the same time. It manipulates both OSI Layer 3 and OSI Layer 4 information so connections from multiple private IPs appear to come from one computer with one public IP.
  
  Many computer, electronics, and even department store sell small routers designed to allow multiple users to share a single internet connection. Almost all of these use PAT, to eliminate the need for more than one public IP (extra public IPs may be expensive, or not allowed, depending on your provider).
  
  If you use one, you will need to assign one of your private network's Host Addresses to the router.
  
  If using a more complex commercial router, you will need to assign a private Host Addresses to the interface connecting to your private network, your public IP to the interface connecting to the Internet, and configure NAT/PAT manually.
  
  If using only one router, the interface used to connect the router to your private network will become both the "DNS Server Interface" and the "Default Gateway". You will need to add its address to these fields when configuring your other devices.
  
  
• If your network is divided using one or more internal routers, each router will require an address for each network connected to it. (IP Unnumbered is beyond the scope of this article) This address will need to be a host address (just like a computer's) from the host range of the network. Typically, the first available host address (that's the second address in the address range ex. 192.168.1.1) will be used; however any address in the host range is fine as long as you know what it is. Do not use the network address (ex. 192.168.1.0), or the broadcast address (ex 192.168.1.255).
  
  For networks containing one or more user devices (ex. printers, computers, storage devices) the address the router uses for that network will become "Default Gateway" for the other devices. The DNS server, if present, should remain the address used by the router between your networks and the internet. For networks interconnecting routers, no default gateway is needed. For networks containing both user devices and routers, any router on that network will do.
  
  A network is a network, no matter how big or small. When two routers are connected by one cable, even though a Class C (the smallest network) contains 256 addresses, all will belong to the cable. The network address will be .0, the broadcast will be .255, two of the hosts will be used (one for each interface the cable connects), and the other 252 will simply go to waste because they cannot be used anywhere else.
  
  Generally, the small home routers described above are not used for this purpose. When they are, understand the ethernet interfaces on the "private network" side usually belong to a "switch" which is built into the router. The router itself connects to this internally using only one interface. When this is the case, only one host IP will be used by all of them, and they will all be on the same network.
  
  When a router has multiple interfaces with multiple IP's, each interface and IP will create a different network.

• The concept of a subnet mask. The general concept will help in understanding why this number matters.
  
  Dotted decimal notation is a human way of writing IP Addresses to make them easier to work with. What the computer "sees" is 32 ones and zeros in a row like this: 11000000101010000000001000000000. IPv4 originally broke this into 4 groups of 8, hence the "dots" - 11000000.10101000.00000010.00000000, each group is an "octet" of 8 bits. Dotted decimal writes the value of the octet in decimal to make it easier for people to read - 192.168.2.0
  
  A complex set of rules concerning the order of the ones and zeros in the first octet was used to create the "Classful Addressing Scheme"; however, no subnet mask was needed. For all Class A's the first octet was network, for Class B's the first and second were network, for Class C's the first three.
  
  In 1987, intra-nets started becoming larger and the Internet was on its way. Wasting whole Class C ranges of 254 host addresses on small networks became a problem. Class A and B networks often wasted addresses because physical limitations forced networks to be divided by routers before they could get large enough to use so many addresses. (Class B's host range (256 X 256) - 2 = 65534 addresses; Class A's (256^3) - 2 = 16777214.)
  
  Subnetting divides a large Classful network into many smaller "sub-nets" by increasing the number of ones and zeros used to address networks(leaving fewer for the hosts in each network). A small subnet can then be assigned to a small network without using a large number of extra addresses. To say which bits are the network address we use a 1. The "mask" (ex. 255.255.255.192) when converted to binary (ex. 11111111.11111111.11111111.11000000) defines exactly how many more bits are added to the network portion (ex. two host bit). In this example, one Class C with 254 hosts becomes four sub-nets with 62 hosts each. Of these sub-nets only two may be assigned to networks; the first and last cannot be used according to RFC-950.
  
  Further discussion of the rules of subnetting is beyond the scope of this article. What matters here is that even though we are using Classful addresses, Windows (and other software) doesn't know this. And hence, will still need a mask to tell it how many bits we want to use for the network portion. By saying 255.255.255.0, we're saying that 11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000 is the subnet. By that, we say that the first three octets are the network, and the last is the host - we want to make it a Class C.

Tips

• Many devices can determine if you are using a crossover or strait through cable. If you are not so lucky to have auto-sensing on at least one of the devices connected by a cable, you must use the correct type between them. Computer/router-to-switch will require a strait through, computer/router-to-computer/router a crossover. (Note: The ports on the back of some home routers actually belong to a switch built into the router, and must be treated as a switch)
  
  Strait through is a CAT-5, CAT-5e, or CAT-6 Ethernet Cable with the wires connected as follows:
  
  On both ends: Orange Stripe; Orange; Green Stripe; Blue; Blue Stripe; Green; Brown Stripe; Brown
  
  Crossover is a CAT-5, CAT-5e, or CAT-6 Ethernet Cable with the wires connected:
  
  On one end: Orange Stripe; Orange; Green Stripe; Blue; Blue Stripe; Green; Brown Stripe; Brown
  On the other end: Green Stripe; Green; Orange Stripe; Blue; Blue Stripe; Orange; Brown Stripe; Brown
  
  The above conforms to TIA/EIA-568 standard, however, all that is important for a cross-over to work is for pins 1 & 2 (transmit) to switch places with pins 3 & 6 (receive) on the opposite end. For a strait through pins should be the same on both ends. Color sets (ex. Orange Strip & Orange) mark twisted pairs. Keeping pin sets on the same twisted pair (i.e. pins 1 & 2 on one color set, and pins 3 & 6 on another) allows best signal quality.
  
  
  • Note: TIA/EIA standard has not been established for CAT-7 or greater cabling.
    
    
  • For more information see: How to Make a Network Cable
• Hubs are cheaper when connecting only a few devices, but they don't know which interface leads where. They simply repeat everything out all ports, hope it gets to the right device, and let the receiver decide if it needs the information or not. This wastes allot of bandwidth, only allows one computer to talk at one time, and slow the network when more computers are connected.
• Switches cost more, but are smarter. They use addresses to decide where to send data, allow more than one device to talk at once, and don't waste the bandwidth of the other devices' connections.
  
  
• Never connect hubs in any way which forms loops or rings, it will cause packets to be repeated around the ring forever. Additional packets will be added, until the hub is saturated and cannot pass traffic.
  
  Best practice is not connect switches this way either. If connecting switches this way, ensure the switch supports "Spanning Tree Protocol" and that the feature is active. Otherwise the same thing will happen as with hubs.

Warnings

• IANA (The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) has reserved the following three blocks of the IP address space for private networks: 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255, 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255, and 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255
  
  Although devices which do not affect public systems, "in theory", do not have to conform to this policy, in practice DNS service, and other software may become confused by use of addresses outside these ranges if not specially configured.
  
  Problems may also arise should a software, hardware, or human error issue cause private IP's outside this range to be used on the public internet. This could be caused by anything from failure of a router to initialize properly to accidentally connecting one of your devices directly to the internet at a later time.
  
  Networking experts never deviate from this policy if private IP data may affect devices outside their own networks, and rarely do so on isolated intra-nets without specific reason. Service providers have the responsibility to protect the Internet from IP conflicts by denying service, should a private IP address outside these ranges affect a public system.
  
  As a matter of security as well, do not deviate from the allotted private address ranges. The addition of Network Address Translation to a private network handing out private addresses is a low level method of security and has been referred to as a "Poor Man's Firewall."

Change Start Button Text

As you can see from the screen capture above it would seem that the five character limit isn’t etched in stone. The button expanded to accept the text I entered with no problem. I’ve been using the system for a few weeks now with no adverse effects. That’s not to say I won’t discover something down the road a bit, but for now I feel comfortable with the changes. If you’d like to try the procedure I used, the instructions follow.

Step 1 – Modify Explorer.exe File

In order to make the changes, the file explorer.exe located at C:\Windows needs to be edited. Since explorer.exe is a binary file it requires a special editor. For purposes of this article I have used Resource Hacker. Resource Hacker^TM is a freeware utility to view, modify, rename, add, delete and extract resources in 32bit Windows executables and resource files (*.res). It incorporates an internal resource script compiler and decompiler and works on Win95, Win98, WinME, WinNT, Win2000 and WinXP operating systems. Navigate here to download Resource Hacker.

The first step is to make a backup copy of the file explorer.exe located at C:\Windows\explorer. Place it in a folder somewhere on your hard drive where it will be safe. Start Resource Hacker and open explorer.exe located at C:\Windows\explorer.exe as shown in Fig. 01.

Fig. 01

The category we are going to be using is String Table. Expand it by clicking the plus sign then navigate down to and expand string 37 followed by highlighting 1033. If you are using the Classic Layout rather than the XP Layout, use number 38. The right hand pane will display the stringtable as shown in Fig. 02. We’re going to modify item 578, currently showing the word “start” just as it displays on the current Start button.

Fig. 02

There is no magic here. Just double click on the word “start” so that it’s highlighted, making sure the quotation marks are not part of the highlight. They need to remain in place, surrounding the new text that you’ll type. Go ahead and type your new entry. In my case I used ElderGeek as shown in Fig. 03.

Fig. 03

Compare the screen captures in Fig. 02 and Fig. 03 and you’ll notice that after the new text string has been entered the Compile Script button that was grayed out in Fig. 02 is now active in Fig. 03. I won’t get into what’s involved in compiling a script, but suffice it to say it’s going to make this exercise worthwhile. Click Compile Script and then save the altered file using the Save As command on the File Menu. Do not use the Save command – Make sure to use the Save As command and choose a name for the file. See Fig. 04. Save the newly named file to C:\Windows.

Fig. 04

Step 2 – Modify the Registry

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

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

Fig. 05

In the right pane (Fig. 05), double click the Shell entry to open the Edit String dialog box as shown in Fig. 06. In Value data: line, enter the name that was used to save the modified explorer.exe file. Click OK.

Fig. 06

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

Useful Free Softwares I

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

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RapidTyping Typing Tutor

This free touch typing tutor help you learn quick and blind keyboard printing. Program benefits: Training statistics; Keyboard emulation; Uses the simple and colorful interface; Personal exercises creation; Free lessons choice; Multiple Users Support; Game plot; Main lessons is in all languages. Version 1.3.1.2 features: all letter of lesson illumination is added.

Size: 918KB | Date: Jan 2008 | Version: 1.3.1.2 | System Requirements: Windows 2000/XP/Vista | License: Free

Evonsoft Computer Repair

Spyware, registry problems, and junk files are a common cause of computer crashes and error messages. Evonsoft Computer Repair is a free PC system repair software that allows you to safely clean and repair computer system problems with just a simple mouse click. Evonsoft Computer Repair can safely remove spyware, clean registry, sweep privacy, and clean junk files. After scanning and fixing the invalid entries, computer system will be more stable and run faster.

Size: 1,548KB | Date: Jan 2008 | Version: 1 | System Requirements: Windows/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista | License: Free

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ZipItFree

ZipItFree was designed to be better than WinZip and WinRar combined. ZipItFree is absolutely free. Compress even more with our new Black Hole super compression. Save disk space and e-mail transmission time.

Size: 4,233KB | Date: Jan 2008 | Version: 1.0.7 | System Requirements: Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista | License: Free.

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ScrabBot

ScrabBot is a Scrabble aide that can find all possible words, using the letters on the rack and the letters already on the board.ScrabBot searches for words in SOWPODS or TWL dictionaries containing all 2 to 15-letters words. ScrabBot can also find the definition of words with an online dictionary.

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Supreme Shutdown Scheduler

A small, easy-to-use program that Schedules Shutdowns, Restarts or Log offs all with the option of force (meaning it perform the process with no interruptions, such as saving a document).

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Windows boot.ini

Windows boot.ini

Boot.ini is one of the very first files that come into play when a Windows XP system is started up. It is a plain text file that is kept in the system root, so it is usually C:\boot.ini. Because it is an essential system file, the attributes are set to hidden, system, read-only to protect it. That means that it will not appear in the file lists in My Computer or Windows Explorer unless the default Windows settings are changed to show hidden files.

Boot.ini contains the location of the Windows XP operating system on the computer. If there is a multi-boot system, the locations of of any other operating systems are also contained. During the startup process, functions from the Windows XP file named "Ntldr" are in charge of getting the proper operating system loaded and Ntldr looks at boot.ini to find out where the operating systems are located and whether a menu should be displayed. Boot.ini can also include entries giving boot options such as Safe Mode or the Recovery Console.

Some examples of boot.ini files

A typical simple example	[boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi( 0)disk(0) rdisk(0)partitio n(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk( 0)rdisk(0) partition( 1)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
Example with Recovery Console as an option	[boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi( 0)disk(0) rdisk(0)partitio n(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk( 0)rdisk(0) partition( 1)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT .DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons
Example of a dual-boot system with XP on partition 2. Note that the location of Windows Me is given as C:\	[boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi( 0)disk(0) rdisk(0)partitio n(2)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk( 0)rdisk(0) partition( 2)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect C:\ = "Microsoft Windows Me "
Example with Safe Mode as an option and "timeout" =10 seconds	[boot loader] timeout=10 default=multi( 0)disk(0) rdisk(0)partitio n(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk( 0)rdisk(0) partition( 1)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect multi(0)disk( 0)rdisk(0) partition( 1)\WINDOWS= "Safe Mode" /safeboot:minimal /sos /bootlog

Open Start-Run and enter "msconfig". The box shown below will open.

Click the tab "BOOT.INI" and the figure shown next will open. The contents of the boot.ini file are shown and a number of configuration settings are available. In the middle right is a box where the settings for Timeout can be changed.

The command line tool bootcfg.exe

Windows XP Professional also has a command line utility for manipulating boot.ini called bootcfg.exe. (It may or may not be in a Home Edition installation. ) It is described in this Microsoft reference. It can be used in the Recovery Console to repair a damaged boot.ini file or in a command window to edit entries to the file. There are a number of different switches and these are illustrated in the output to a command window shown below

Your Choices for Changing the Boot Menu

Boot up the Windows™ 2000, XP or 2003 OS and open "Control Panel" then click on "System" (or select "Properties" after right-clicking on My Computer). Under the "System Properties" window's "Advanced" tab, if you click on "Startup and Recovery" you'll see at least two basic items in the BOOT.INI file that you're allowed to change from this dialog box: 1) You can select the default OS to boot up, and 2) How many seconds to display the boot menu. And under Windows™ XP or 2003, you'll find another button that gives you direct access to editing the whole BOOT.INI file! Under Windows™ 2000, you'll need to find the BOOT.INI file on your own for further editing; such as arranging the order in which the OS selections appear in the menu. So, if you decide to delete the new OS, simply set your old OS as the default boot OS and uncheck the item for displaying the menu list (or manually set it to zero; same result). You could then safely delete the new OS partition, but not the files it added to your old partition.

Explanations for each part of BOOT.INI

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi( 0)disk(0) rdisk(0)partitio n(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk( 0)rdisk(0) partition( 2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP" /fastdetect
C:\ = "Microsoft Windows"

Option	Description
multi(x)	This option is used with IDE and ESDI drives and is also used with SCSI drives for computers using Windows NT. The number used in the above example is "0", this number is the adapter's number and should always be "0" for computers that rely on the BIOS to load system files. In a computer using only IDE this option will work with up to four hard disk drives. In a computer using only SCSI this option will work with the first two drives on the primary SCSI controller. Finally, if a computer is using IDE and SCSI this option will work with the IDE drives on the first controller.
scsi(x)	If the computer has a SCSI controller and is not using BIOS to load the system files, the boot.ini may have "scsi(x)" instead of "multi(x).
disk(x)	The disk on the controller. If "multi(x)" is used used, this value will always be "0". However, if "scsi(x)" is defined, this value will be SCSI address.
rdisk(x)	Which disk on the controller is being used. In the above example we are using an rdisk of "1", which indicates the second disk on the primary controller is being used. This value may be between "0" and "3" and is always set to "0" when "scsi(x)" is being used.
paritions(x)	Which partition the operating system is on. In the above example, the operating system is on the first partition of the drive.
\WINDOWS=".. ."	Finally, the last portion of this line defines the directory of where windows is located and what the boot menu should display as the operating system. In the above example, the boot menu would display "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" as a selection.

In the "[boot loader]" section above, the "timeout" entry is how many seconds (30 in this case) that the menu will remain onscreen before trying to boot up the "default" OS.

default=multi( 0)disk(0) rdisk(0)partitio n(2)\WINDOWS: -

Most of these lines use what are known as ARC (Advanced RISC Computing) paths to specify the location of various boot partitions. Almost every machine using ATA (EIDE / IDE) hard drives will have: "multi(0)disk( 0)". The multi(x) parameter is used to set the disk controller number, where x=0,1,2,... . The multi(x) parameter is always followed by disk(0); unless you're using a SCSI controller without the BIOS enabled.

The second line under the "[operating systems]" section is what you could call an alternate, backup or rescue copy of my main Win2000 OS which is located in the same volume as the main OS. A line like this will only be found if you install the Recovery Console files from your install CD onto your hard disk! Though its entry appears to differ radically from the usual
"multi(0)disk( 0)" + "rdisk(n)" + "partition(p) " + "\systemroot" format.

Modifying the Boot.ini

At the MS-DOS prompt, type:

c:
cd\
attrib -r -a -s -h boot.ini
edit boot.ini

While you can modify the Boot.ini file using the Startup and Recovery dialog, where you can select the default operating system, change the timeout value, or manually edit the file, the following method uses the command line utility, Bootcfg.exe.

Note The Bootcfg.exe utility is only available in Windows XP Professional. This utility is not available in Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition. Therefore, this section does not apply to Windows XP Home Edition.

1.	Click Start, and then click Run.
2.	In the Open text box, type cmd.
3.	At the command prompt, type bootcfg /?.
4.	The help and parameters for BOOTCFG.exe will display.

Adding an Operating System

At the command prompt, type:

bootcfg /copy /d Operating System Description /ID#

Where Operating System Description is a text description (e.g. Windows XP Home Edition), and where # specifies the boot entry ID in the operating systems section of the BOOT.INI file from which the copy has to be made.

Removing an Operating System

At the command prompt, type:

bootcfg /delete /ID#

Where # specifies the boot entry ID that you want to be deleted from the operating systems section of the BOOT.INI file (e.g. 2 for the second Operating system that is listed.

Setting the Default Operating System

At the command prompt, type:

bootcfg /default /ID#

Where # specifies the boot entry id in the operating systems section of the BOOT.INI file to be made the default operating system.
Setting the Time Out

At the command prompt, type: bootcfg /timeout# Where # specifies the time in seconds after which default operating system will be loaded.

Open the Boot.ini File to Verify Changes

1.	Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties. -or- Click Start, click Run, type sysdm.cpl, and then click OK.
2.	On the Advanced tab, click Settings under Startup and Recovery.
3.	Under System Startup, click Edit.

How to rebuild the Windows boot.ini

1. Insert the Microsoft Windows XP CD into the computer. Note: If you have a system recovery CD or restore CD these steps will likely not work for your computer.
2. Reboot the computer with the CD and press any key when prompted to press any key to boot from the CD. If you do not receive this prompt and/or are not able to boot from the CD.
3. Once in the Microsoft Setup menu press R to open the recovery console.
4. Select the operating system you wish to use; if you only have Windows XP on the computer you will only have one prompt.
5. Once prompted for the password enter the Admin password and press enter.
6. Once at the command prompt type bootcfg /rebuild to start the rebuild process.
7. The rebuild process will step you through a number of steps depending upon how many operating systems you have on the computer and how the computer is setup. Below is a listing of the common steps you are likely going to encounter.
   
   * Prompt for the identified versions of Windows installed. When you receive this prompt press Y if the bootcfg command properly identified each of the Windows operating systems installed on the computer. It is important to realize this command will only detect Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows NT installations.
   
   * Prompt to enter the load identifier. This is the name of the operating system for the boot.ini. For example, Microsoft Windows XP Home users would enter "Microsoft Windows XP Home edition".
   
   * Prompt to Enter OS load options. When this prompt is received type /fastdetect to automatically detect the available options.
   
   
8. Once you have completed all the available options in the rebuild and are back at the prompt type exit to reboot the computer.