101 Tips & Tricks to PC Per

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101 Tips & Tricks To PC Performance

Wonder why your PC is not as fast as it was when you first bought it? Is it time for an upgrade? Probably not. Like cars, PCs

need to regular maintenance. Also, if you know how to tweak various hardware and software settings from their factory-set

defaults, you will be surprised to find your PC performing better than when you bought it!

In this writeup, you will find over 100 tips and tricks that you can use with 32-bit Windows operatings systems, such asWindows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000 and Windows XP. In another writeup called Windows XP Tips &

Tricks, I have provided some other tips and tricks that are special to Windows XP. If some of the PC-hardware-related concepts

mentioned here seem alien to you, then read the writeup PC Hardware Explained. If you find that none of these writeups

really address the problem that you had come in search for, then you can mention it in my discussion forum.

Hardware

A well-configured PC by itself offers great performance. The key here lies in the choice of the components and their

arrangement.

Choice of CPU: Because ordinary people do not know much about computers, they simply buy one that has an Intel

processor. More discerning buyers get PCs with AMD processors. Benchmark tests by prominent computer magazines and

websites have shown that AMD Athlon processors score over Intel Pentium processors. Unlike Intel CPUs, AMD processorsnatively support both 32-bit and 64-bit software. AMD processors consume less power and consequently generate less

heat. Hence, they do not require huge noisy fans. AMD is also a much better consumer-friendly company. It has been

contributing to the development of open standards, which results in cheaper PC components. Intel, on the contrary, had

tried to impose proprietary products like the RD-RAM memory technology, which was developed by its subsidiary Rambus.

The biggest argument for AMD processors is the cost. AMD CPUs are always cheaper than Intel's. Remember, it is always

the consumer who ultimately pays for the advertising and marketing expenses.

I.

Choice of Motherboard: Thanks to the HyperTransport technology developed by AMD, motherboards of their CPUs are at

a level higher than than Intel motherboards. Intel motherboard still use the obsolete front-side bus (FSB) technology to

provide a connection between the CPU and the RAM (memory) modules. In the AMD platform, the CPU has an integrated

memory controller which directly accesses the memory modules. Hence, memory operations are not bottlenecked by the

FSB. Also, motherboard chipsets for AMD processors are being made by many third-party vendors (like VIA, nVidia, and

ATI) who add their own expertise and performance increments to the motherboards. Intel jealously guards the chipset

market for their CPUs and hence all innovations have to come from Intel.

II.

IDE Drives Setup: Most motherboards have to IDE connectors allowing you to connect up to four IDE devices (hard

disks and CD/DVD drives). Each connector can connect to two IDE devices in a master/slave combination. If you have just

two devices, say a hard disk and a CD drive, connect them separately to the two IDE connectors. If you have a CD drive

and CD-RW drive, connect them both to an IDE connection with the CD writer as the master and the CD drive as the slave.

III.

Autostart CDs: To prevent a CD from autostarting when it is inserted, hold down the Shiftkey until Windows Explorer

recognises the disk. Use Xteq X-Setup or TweakUI to permanently disable autostart behavior for CD/DVD drives.

IV.

Power Supply and Cabinet: PC components like the CPU and the graphic card consume a lot of power. So, make sure

your PC cabinet has a power supply rated at a minimum of 350W. Also, make sure the cabinet has provisions for two extra

fans (one in the front and one in the back). The power supply comes with a fan, which also tries to takes some hot air off

the CPU through a grill placed just above the CPU. This grill needs to properly spaced out, be big enough and ideally

located to provide effective cooling. Almost all PC cabinets today support the ATX standard, which will allow software to

shut the PC down. In Windows 9x/Me/2000/XP, select Enable hibernationunder the Hibernatetab of the Power

Optionsapplet in Control Panel. A new Hibernateoption will now be available in the Shutdown Windowsmenu.

V.

COM Ports: If you use a serial mouse, then connect it to the COM1port as this is the first port that the OS checks when

it is looking for a mouse. You can connect your dialup modem to COM2.

VI.

CNR Port: This port (known as Audio Modem Riser or AMR in older motherboards) can be used to add a specially made

low-cost peripheral replacement. The replacement is far cheaper than a separate sound card or modem.

VII.

Fans: If your cabinet allows it, install additional fans for extra cooling.VIII.

Dust: Remove dust regularly from the insides of your cabinet and prevent them from forming a coating over the

motherboard and other parts.

IX.

Driver updates: Manufacturers of PC components release new driver updates to fix problems associated with their

products. Check their websites for these releases and keep your machine updated.

X.

Tips & Tricks To PC Performance http://www.vsubhash.com/writeups/tipsandtricks.asp

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BIOSBIOS Backup: Sometimes the BIOS program on your motherboard can become corrupt and your PC will not function

properly. So, you need to always keep a backup of a good version of the BIOS on a floppy disc. If something ever goes

wrong with the BIOS, you can flash (overwrite) it with your backup. The software used to backup or flash the BIOS is

usually available on the motherboard driver CD or on the motherboard/BIOS manufacturer's website. Refer the

motherboard manual for step-by-step instructions on using the BIOS flash software.

XI.

Do not Detect Absent Devices: When a PC is started, the BOIS checks all available ports/connectors on the

motherboard to identify devices attached to them. Usually, not all of these ports/connectors have devices attached to them

and bootup time gets unnecessarily prolonged. For example, even if you have only one IDE drive on your PC, the BIOS

will still check the other three IDE connectors. To avoid this delay, enter the BIOS Setupprogram and change the

settings to Disabledor Nonefor these ports/connectors. However, when you add new hardware components, make sureto change their BIOS setting to Autoso that they get properly detected.

XII.

Supervisor Password: To prevent your BIOS settings from being changed by anyone else, set a Supervisor password in

the BIOS and do not set the user password.

XIII.

User password: If you want to prevent access to anyone else, then set the User password.XIV.

Remote access: If you often travel with a laptop PC, you might have felt the need to connect to your desktop PC at

home. All you need to remotely access your home PC is a telephone connection. In the power settings section of the BIOS,

set the PC to wake up on external modem act. When you leave home, keep the modem powered on, the PC switched off,

and the power line connected. Use your laptop to dial your home number. When your modem at home receives the call,

the PC will switch itself on. You can then use software-based networking to retrieve files from your machine. You can also

use the same principle to send faxes to your PC and make it work like a fax machine. To shut down your the desktop PC

remotely, you can simply rely on OS power schemes or use a remote access software.

XV.

Boot sequence: After you have installed your OS, set your hard disk first in the boot-up sequence with the CD drive and

the floppy following it in that order.

XVI.

Quick Power On Self Test: Keep this enabled and save on boot-up time.XVII.

Boot Up Floppy Seek: Keep this disabled.XVIII.

PCI Expansion Cards: PCI add-on cards will not work properly if there is IRQ sharing conflict. Refer the motherboard

manual for an IRQ number that has been designated as for PCI IRQ Steering. Set this number as the IRQ for the devices in

the BIOS setup. Many devices will happily share their IRQ with other devices. However, some devices like graphic cards

and TV tuner cards have heavy performance requirements and will not work with a shared IRQ. Provide these cards with a

dedicated IRQ.

XIX.

Disk PartitionsPrimary Partitions, Extended Partitions and Logical Partitions: A hard disk can have a maximum of only 4

partitions, which are called PRIMARY PARTITIONS. In the early days of the PC, this four-partition limit was deemed

sufficient. To go beyond this limit, a special kind of primary partition called EXTENDED PARTITION was invented. A hard

disk could have ONLY ONE extended partition but this particular partition could have any number of smaller partitions

called LOGICAL PARTITIONS housed inside it.

XX.

Multiple OS and Partitions: Some people have more than one OS installed on their PCs. It is not possible to have more

than one OS on a single partition. So, you need to dedicated a partition for each OS. It is preferrable to install Linux on aprimary partition. Windows 2000/XP will work on kind of partition. Windows 95/98/Me installs in the first partition on the

hard disk. Perhaps you would like to read my writeup How To Multiboot Operating Systemsfor more information.

XXI.

My recommendationis to have three primary partitions - two ordinary primary partitions (one for Win 9x/Me and one

for Linux) and one extended partition.

XXII.

Partitioning tool: Windows 9x/Me supplies a partition tool called FDISK. It does not recognize partitions created by

Linux installations. So, you might want to use something like Ranish Partition Manager. In Windows 2000/XP, the disk

management tool in the Computer Managementconsole will allow you to partition your hard disk.

XXIII.

Boot Loader: If you have multiple operating systems, you might want to use a GUI-based boot loader such as Extended

Operating System Loader (XOSL).

XXIV.

Disk SwapConsole-based OSs like DOS have only modest memory requirements. GUI-based operating systems like Windows needs

lot of memory, much larger than the RAM that is usually installed on PCs. So, they use something called virtual memory.

Here, a large file on the hard disk is used in conjunction with the RAM, which greatly expands the memory available to the

OS. Only the data that is required at the given moment is loaded on the RAM; the rest is cached on the swap file. Just like

any other file on a disk, the swap file can also get fragmented over time and OS might seem to slow down. To prevent the

swap from breaking up, you can place it on a dedicated partition (just like in Linux). Set the size of this partition at about

2.5 times the size of your installed RAM and format it. Next, you need to make sure that the OS does not reserve space on

this partition for deleted files because this partition is going to have only one file - the swap file. From the Recyle Bincontext menu, choose Properties Configure drives independently. Select the partition's tab and select the Do not

move files to the Recycle Bin. Remove files immediately when deleted option.

In Windows 9x/Me: Right-click on My Computer, click on Properties, choose the Performancetab, and click onVirtual Memory. Here, check the Let me specify my own virtual memory settingsand chose the new partition. Setthe Minimum and maximum size to something below the total size of the partition. See screenshot.

In Windows 2000/XP: Right-click on My Computer, click on Properties, click on the Advancedtab, click onPerformance Options, and click on Change. Here, choose the drive where the swap currently resides and remove thesettings (set them to 0) in the Initial Sizeand Maximum Sizeboxes. Now, choose your swap partition and set the initialand maximum sizes to the new partition's full capacity minus say 20 MB. See screenshot.

Use the Microsoft TweakUIutility to hide this partition so that you don't save ordinary files on it inadvertantly. If you

plan to run heavy-duty applications such as Oracle Database, you may need a swap partition as big as 1.5 GB, just to run

the installer. In these cases, do not create a swap partition.

XXV.

If you have two hard disks, then the swap partition could be created on the first partition on the second disk, preferrably

connected to the secondary IDE channel. When the OS load gets shared on two hard disks, there is a perceivable increase

in performance.

XXVI.


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Device ManagerKeyboard shortcuts: There may have been times when your mouse was not detected and you had a hard time getting

around the device manager. Here are the navigation keys with Device Manager. If you are in the desktop, press the TAB

key repeatedly until My Computeris selected. Then press the CONTEXT MENU key, which is between the left Ctrl key and

the Windows Key. This opens up the context menu for the My Computer. Now select Propertiesfrom this menu. Now

you see the System Propertieswindow. This has several tabs, one of which is the Device Manager. Press Ctrl+TAB

repeatedly to move to Device Manager. Now you see all the devices listed. Press TAB to move to them. To open up any

particular device, press the RIGHT ARROW and to shrink it up press LEFT ARROW. To open up the properties of any

particular device, press ALT+ENTER or the CONTEXT MENU key.

XXVII.

DMA: Direct Memory Access (DMA) technology enables high-speed transfers from hard disk and reduces the load on the

CPU in making correct data reads and writes. Make sure this option is checked in the Disk Drive Properties. Otherwise,your disk operations will be slow.

XXVIII.

Ports: If you have a 56 kbps modem, then set its port speed to 1,15,200. This can be done from the Communication

Port Properties

XXIX.

Modem: Most Indian modems use American-made chipsets, they do not dial tones on Indian telephone lines. So, set the

modem to blind dialby choosing the Do not wait for dial tonesetting or using the modem initializing string ATX3.

Refer your modem manual for the list of AT commands you can use with your modem.

XXX.

Saving Memory and Increasing SpeedIn Windows 9x/Me, the system cache setting is not always optimised. A software called Cachemanwill do this for you. In

Windows 2000/XP, try changing the I/O lock page size. To do this, you can use Xteq Systems X-Setup. Choose the

appropriate setting under System Memory.

XXXI.

Clear the startup programs: Startup programs get loaded along with Windows. This causes a delay before the desktop

becomes active. Most of these programs do nothing but hog precious memory. See if you can use the programs' settings

to prevent them loading with Windows. If that is not possible, use Mike Lin's Startup Control Panelto do that. After you

install this program, you can access it from the Control Panel.

XXXII.

RAM: A PC might start running faster simply by adding an extra module of RAM. See if this works for you. If you think

you have more than adequate ram but the PC seems sluggish, then use RamBoosterto proactively free up unused RAM at

regular intervals.

XXXIII.

Task Manager: Task Manager (taskmgr.exe) in Windows 2000/XP will list of programs in memory. For detailed

information, use TaskInfo. These programs are useful if you are trying to weed out unwanted programs that get loaded

on to the memory.

XXXIV.

Increasing the Performance of Individual Programs: You can increase the speed of a program, by setting the

process priority of the program to either High or Realtime in Task Manager. Do not go overboard on this or your system

will become unresponsive.

XXXV.

Active Desktop: Unless you run stock market price tickers on your desktop, deactivate Active Desktopto save memory.

If you have enabled Active Desktop just to enable a GIF or JPEG file as the background, then convert the file to a BMP file

and set that as the wallpaper without Active Desktop.

XXXVI.

Plain Desktop: Remove the desktop background image and set it None. This will save some memory.XXXVII.

Screen Resolution: Set your screen resolution to 15 bit or 16 bit for both speed and saving memory. Set a higher levelonly when playing games and other such special programs that require higher resolutions.

XXXVIII.

Clean the Desktop: Remove all unwanted icons from the desktop and shortcuts from the desktop and the quick launch

bar. If you have shortcuts for CD drives, windows will check for their contents every time it loads up and cause a delay

before the Desktop becomes active.

XXXIX.

Remove sound events: If you remove the desktop theme sounds, your operations will get faster. To do so, go to

Control Panel Sounds and Multimedia Schemesand then choose No Sounds.

XL.

Windows ExplorerKeyboard and mouse shortcuts:

Open any folder and press F3. This will bring up the Find Filesdialog box for that folder.

Press Start+TAB key combination just once. Now, pressing TAB repeatedly will allow you to jump between various areas ofthe desktop, such as the desktop proper, taskbar, system tray, quicklaunch toolbar, and Start button.

When you drag a file with the right mouse button, you will be presented with an option to move or copy the file when youdrop it elsewhere.

If you drag a file from some location and hover it over a folder that is minimized on the desktop without dropping it, thenthat folder will spring open allowing you to drop the file there.

If you drag a shortcut and place it over the Start button without dropping it, then the Start menu will spring open and youcan navigate to your special program groups and drop it there.

Sometimes, when you have many programs open and you use the Alt+TAB combination to switch to another program, itdoes not switch. In this situation, press the Start button twice.

Press Alt+F4, to close a program. If no program is open, then it functions like a Shutdown command.

Pressing Alt+Enter after selecting an item will bring up its properties box.

Pressing Start+Pause will bring up the System Properties of your computer.

XLI.

Add Extra the Send To Menu Options: Open the SendTofolder create shortcuts to the programs and folders that you

commonly use. My suggestion is to have shortcuts for the Desktop, My Documents, IrfanView, and Subhash VCDPlayer.

When you use the Send Tomenu option on a file, it will be opened by the relevant program or copied to the relevant

folder.

XLII.

Adding Extra Context Menu Options: Usually, a certain file type can be opened with many programs. However, the file

type's right-click menu may have option for just one or two programs. So, why not add some new options for otherprograms? Here is how you create a context menu option for the MP3 file type so that their files can be opened by

Subhash VCDPlayer. Go to Folder Options. Click on File Typestab. From the list under Registered File Types, search

for and select MP3 Format Sound. Now click on Advanced. In the Edit File Typewindow, click on New. In the New

Actionwindow, enter Open with Subhash VCDPlayerin the text box under Actionand

"C:\Program Files\Subhash VCDPlayer" "%1"(including the quotation marks) in the Application used to perform

XLIII.


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action. Here, the ampersand symbol '&' is placed before the 'S' in Subhash VCDPlayer so that 's' becomes the hot key in

the context menu. Use the Editbutton to modify any existing settings. Exercise caution with the choice of the program. If

the program and the file type are incompatible, results can be unpredictable. See screenshot.

Resize Explorer Columns: Press Ctrl+Plusto resize columns to best fit the contents. Do not use this trick in the

Temporary Internet Filesfolder though; super-bad news if you frequent this folder to manually pick out files.

XLIV.

Folder Options: Customizing the Windows Explorer is done via the Folder Options. To access this,

In Windows Me/2000: From the menu, choose Tools Folder Options.

In Windows 9x: From the menu, choose View Folder Options

To move between the different tabs, press the Ctrl+TABkey combination or just use the mouse.

XLV.

Setting the default view: There are five types of views available

Large Icons

Small Icons

List

Details

Thumbnails

You can have the same view for all Explorer windows. Open any folder and choose the type of view that you want from

the toolbar. If you were to choose the Details view, then adjust the column sizes. Then, go to Folder Optionsand in the

Viewtab, click on the Like Current Folder.

XLVI.

Single-Click To Run Applications: Normally, to select a file you single-click and to run you double-click. You can

change this to hover for select and single-click to run. Go to Folder Options. Here, in the Click items as follows

section, check the Single-click to open an itemand Underline items only when I point at them.

XLVII.

Expanding and Collapsing Folder Tree Branches: On the folder pane, you can expand a branch by pressing the *

(asterisk) key. To collapse a branch, press the - (minus) key.

XLVIII.

Customized Links Toolbar: The Linkstoolbar has shortcuts to several Internet sites that you will never visit. Why not

replace them with shortcuts to folders or files in your hard disk or your own choice of Internet sites? Display theFavoritesmenu, right click on Links, and select Open. In the Linksfolder that opens, remove the shortcuts that

Microsoft has provided and create some shortcuts to your own files and folders in your hard disk or network.

XLIX.

Open Links in the Same Window: When you click on a folder shortcut in the Links toolbar, a new Explorer window is

opened. To open the folder in the same window, right click on the shortcut and select Openfrom the context menu.

L.

Removing the Links toolbar: If you want to remove toolbar from showing up at all, then right click on the Links

toolbar, and click on the Links option in the context menu.

LI.

Favorites: Rather than having links to Internet websites alone, you can also have links to folder in your disk drives or

network in the Favoritesmenu. Just open these folders and select the Add to Favoritesfrom the Favorites menu. Now,

you do not have to dig deep into My Computeror My Network Places. Just selecting the location from the Favorites

menu will take you to the folder.

LII.

Using Favorites in Other Programs: The above tip can come to good use not just in Explorer windows, but also in

other programs such as Word or Excel when you want to open or save files. Just click on the Favoritesicon on the left of

the Openor Save Asdialog boxes.

LIII.

Customising the Toolbar: In Windows Me/2000/XP, you can customise the toolbar with your own choice of buttons. For

this, right click on the toolbar and select Customizefrom the context menu.

LIV.

Suggested toolbar buttons: My suggestion for buttons for the customized toolbar is

Back

Forward

Separator

Refresh

Separator

Cut

Copy

Paste

Separator

Copy To

Move To

Separator

Delete

Separator

Undo

Separator

Properties

Folder Options

Views

Separator

Up

LV.

BrowsingOpera is one of the lightest and fastest browsers available. It was also the first one to provide tabbed browsing. It has

numerous customisable features and is a treat to use.

LVI.

Internet Explorer (IE) has the biggest share among Internet browsers and is the most standards-compliant one. Hence,many websites prefer to work with IE and some of them will not even work with other browsers. As an unfortunate result

of its popularity, IE is also a favourite target for hackers, spyware and viruses. IE then becomes a security hole in your

computer. So many people have migrated to other browsers like Mozilla Firefox. Firefox has been developed to closely

resemble IE and has support for tabbed browsing. But because it lacks support for ActiveX controls and VBScript, it has

largely escaped many browser-based attacks. If you like Firefox, feel free to use it in place of IE but remember that

LVII.


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Firefox by itself is not an inherently safe product. New Firefox vulnerabilities are being discovered and as the new

browsers gains in popularity, it will suffer the same fate as IE.

...LVIII.

You can send messages to computer running the Messenger service (Windows 2000/XP) by using the command net send

messagefrom the MS-DOS prompt. To send a message to yourself, type net send 127.0.0.1 helloin the

Rundialog box.

LIX.

Internet Explorer

IE loads up pretty fast because parts of it is loaded by Windows.

Disable the Linkstoolbar to provide more space for webpages. Close the History/Search pane for the same reason.LX.

Customize the toolbar via View Toolbars Customize. My suggestion for toolbar buttons includes

Back

Forward

Separator

Stop

Separator

Refresh

Media

Separator

Search

Favorites

History

SeparatorEdit

Separator

Full Screen

LXI.

Blank home page: Set your home page to a blank one so that it loads up faster. This is done via Tools Internet

Options General Use Blank. When your browser is infected with spyware, you will find that no matter how many

times you set the home page, it always changes to something else. Use anti-spyware software like Ad-Awareto root out

such annoyances.

LXII.

Offline browsing: You do not have to be online to revisit a webpage. You can access it from the browser cache. Select

Work Offlinefrom the Filemenu. Open the Historypane by pressing Ctrl+Hor clicking the Historytoolbar button and

select the page from the list. You check the latest version on the Net however by clicking on the Refreshtoolbar button or

pressing the F5key.

LXIII.

Search Pane: The search pane (press F3) is a feature of Internet Explorer that allows you to use MSN Search to search

the Internet. When you install the Yahoo! toolbar, it will modify IE so that Yahoo! Search is used inside their search pane.

However, you are still limited to using just one search engine. So, I created a search pane tweak called Search Heaven,

which will allow you to access all popular search engines plus other resources like dictionaries and thesaruses from thesearch pane. See a demo here.

LXIV.

Context Menu Extensions For IE: IE allows you to copy the address of a link with just two clicks. But to copy the

address of an image on a webpage, you have make at least 5 clicks. To make things like this more easier, you can create

your own context menu extensions. For this, some new keys will have to be added to the registry. These keys will refer to

Javascript or VBScript functions placed in some special HTML files. For a sample, download the cmes.zip. Extract the HTM

files to C:\. Extract the Install CMES.regand double click on it. The keys will be merged into the registry. Your IE

context menu will have new options - "Copy All Hyperlink Address" (default), "Copy All Image Addresses" (default), "Copy

Image Address" (on images), "Set Text Size To Medium" (on selected text), "Copy HTML Code" (on selected text), "Open

Frame In New Window" (default), "Highlight Text" (on selected text) and "Open Link In Same Window" (on hyperlink).

LXV.

Computer Security: Some websites carry misleading ads and wrong tactics to sell computer security products. Do not

download or install these software. Be careful about installing ActiveX controls. The only ActiveX controls or plugins that

ordinary people can safely install are that of Macromedia Flash, Real Player, QuickTime and Windows Media Player. All

others like Gator or Bonzi are likely to be spyware of some sort. Many spware products are released along with dialers,

screensavers, and programs like MP3 Dancer. They are almost impossible to uninstall. Even if you run their uninstall

programs, they will continue to hide in your computer without your knowledge. So, be careful about installing software.

LXVI.

Paranoia 1: IE's autocomplete feature may throw up some web addresses at the address bar, which you may not want

others to see. So, clear the history. This is done by Internet Options Clear History. If otherwise you want to

selectively remove history items, then delete the appropriate folders inside the History folder. In Windows 9x/Me, the

History folder is inside the Windows folder. In Windows 2000/XP, it will be inside the Documents and Settings\User

name\Local Settings\folder. A list of web addresses that you have typed in the Address bar is saved in the registry.

Run regedit.exe, do a search for "TypedURLs" keys and delete any values you find on the right-side pane.

LXVII.

Paranoia 2: Deleting the files in the Temporary Internet Filesfolder can remove only part of your tracks. Cookies

stored by websites usually remain in this folder with their full web address. So, that is a security violation. To remove

them, choose Internet Options Temporary Internet Folder Delete Cookies.

LXVIII.

Paranoia 3: There is a file named index.datinside the the Temporary Internet Filesor the Temporary Internet

Files\Content.IE5folder. This contains a list URLs you have visited. If you delete this file, Windows will automatically

generate an empty index.dat. However, this file can refuse to go away easily. If this is the case, then go close all

windows, start Task Manager (taskmgr.exe)and end the last remaining explorerprocess. Your taskbar and desktop

will disapear but this is okay. Now, go to the File New Task (Run...)menu option. Type cmdto start an MS-DOS

window. Use the cdcommand to navigate to the folder containing the index.datfile and give the delcommand to delete

the file. Type exitto close the command prompt window. Now, switch back to Task Manager, go the File New Task(Run...)menu option and type explorerto get back your desktop and taksbar.

LXIX.

Paranoia 4: When the Autocomplete feature is enabled, all your personal information including passwords are stored on

the computer, which is available for others to misuse. So, when you are done with browsing at your office or an Internet

cafe, follow the above three steps and clear the saved data by choosing Internet Options Content AutoComplete

Clear Formsand Clear Passwords. Sometimes, the Internet Optionsmenu option might be disabled in your office

LXX.


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or web cafe. So, delete the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\IntelliFormskey from

the registry. If you want to steal or backup passwords, export this key and import it on a different machine or installation.

You will also have to copy the {username}.pwl file and cookies to the new machine/installation. Sometimes, there are

ActiveX programs that sit silently recording everything. You can check them out at Internet Options Temporary

Internet Files Settings View Objects. This will open the Downloaded Program Filesfolder in the windows

folder. By right-clicking the contents, you can either remove them or check out their properties.

Paranoia 5: In many Internet cafes, some people leave keylogger software installed on the PCs. These record everything

that is typed on the keyboard, including your usernames and passwords. So, when you visit a Internet browsing centre,

run Task Manager and kill all suspicious-looking programs you find. Some sophisticated keyloggers do not even appear in

the Task Manager. To be safe, do not type the characters in the your password in the usual order. Jumble them up. Use

your mouse to position the cursor so that the characters are in their proper positions. Few keyloggers are smart enough todetect mouse clicks. Try this demo. The password is "lkBg(tts)2" but we do not type it in that order.

LXXI.

Dialer: When you click on a link, IE starts the dialer program, which can be very annoying. So, disable this via Internet

Options Connection Never dial a connection. When you want dial a connection, go to the Dial-Up Networking.

LXXII.

Savings on Telephone Bills: You can make optimum use of your online time by opening the links in new windows

rather than in just a single window. Take for example your Yahoo! Inbox. Right click on each message and open new

windows. By the time, you finish reading the web page in one window, all the other windows would have downloaded

their messages.

LXXIII.

Downloading Recalcitrant Files: Download managers can download files faster by using more than one connection to

the download server. However, they may not be able to catch the URL of some files. In such cases, open the source code

of the web page via View Sourceand do a search for the download file. Usually, the full url of the file will be found

here. Copy this and paste it in the download manager. Some websites prevents you from right-clicking so that you are

unable to save images from their website. But you can look inside the Temporary Internet Filesfolder and you will find

that the image has been already downloaded there. All you need to do is maka a copy.

LXXIV.

IE Toolbars & Desktop Tickers: Add the Google Toolbarto IE. With this toolbar, you will get to the results without

having to visit Google's home page first. If you have to keep in touch with the latest news, then get the

Reuters Desktop Ticker. Reuters is the world's leading news provider and almost every newspaper and TV station in the

world gets feeds from it. Once connected to the Net, headlines flash across the ticker and you can click on the headlines to

read the news stories in a browser window.

LXXV.

ESCAPE: Many people do not know this. If a page is being downloaded and you want to stop it, then pressing the Escape

key will do that. Also, pressing Backspacekey will take you to the previous page.

LXXVI.

Saving web pages: IE allows saving a web page in a single file along with it images and other embedded content. To do

this, choose Save Asfrom the Filemenu. In the Save as type, choose Web Archive, single file (*.mht). Sometimes,

MHT files may not show anything even though its thumbnail does show something. If you disable Javascript, you will be

able to see the saved content.

LXXVII.

Restore files and foldersFrom deleted or formatted drivesWindows XP, Vista, 2003, 2000,

98www.quetek.com

Autocad 2006 Tutorials25 Courses, 500 Learning Videos,50 Projects, Access All Online Now!

www.MyIGetIt.com/2006

Outlook Express RecoveryRecovery damaged OutlookExpress folders. Easy to use tool.

www.oemailrecovery.com

Sibelius Editing KeyboardUnleash the Power of Sibelius Nowonly 8.99 ($16.99)

www.editorskeys.com

Outlook ExpressOutlook Express is a free e-mail client that comes bundled with IE.

OE has a lot of GUI clutter and you can reduct this. Go to View Layoutand uncheck Contact, Outlook Bar, and

View Barin the Window Layout Propertieswindow. This is chosen by selecting Layoutfrom the Viewmenu.

LXXVIII.

Customize the toolbar from Window Layout Properties. My suggestion for buttons is

Send/Recv

Separator

Create Mail

Separator

ReplySeparator

Delete

Separator

Copy To

Separator

Preview

Separator

Offline

The New Messagewindow has a separate set of toolbar buttons. Customize this with

Send

Separator

Undo

Separator

Spelling

Separator

Attachment

Separator

Insert Signature

LXXIX.


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Separator

Offline

Messages that are already in the various folders have a different toolbar. Customize this with

Reply

Separator

Previous

Separator

Next

Separator

The columns that are viewed inside a folder can be customized via View Columns. My suggestion for columns isSize

Attachment

Mark for Offline

Sent

From

To

Subject

The Outbox has a different set of columns so modify that separately.

Implementing Spam Filters For POP Accounts: Create two folders in your mail client - Filtered Inboxand Spam.

Create the following four Message Rulesin Outlook Express (Tools Message Rules Mail). Use your old messages as a

guide while picking the words for your filters. Check the Spamfolder once in a while for any false-positives. If you find

any spam among the flagged messages in the Filtered Inbox, then update the filters in the third rule with new words.

Mail Rule #1: Mail From Known Contacts

Where the From line contains 'friendname' or '[email protected]'Move it to the Filtered Inbox folder

and Stop processing more rules

Mail Rule #2: Mail Not Addressed To Me

Where the To or CC line does not contain '[email protected]'

Move it to the Spam folder


Mail Rule #3: Word filters on From, To, & Subject lines

Where the From line contains 'debt' or 'enlargement' or 'teens' or 'viagra'

or Where the Subject line contains 'debt' or 'enlargement' or 'teens' or 'viagra'

or Where the To line contains 'debt' or 'enlargement' or 'teens' or 'viagra'

Move it to the Spam folder


Mail Rule #4: Suspect MailFor all messages

Move it to the Filtered Inbox folder

and Flag it


LXXX.

Integrating HotMAIL: You can integrate your HotMAIL account with Outlook Express. Just go about as you would do

with adding a POP account. After you enter your HotMAIL address, OE will automatically identify it as a HotMAIL account

and pre-fill the E-mail Server Namesdetails. Click Nextenter the userid and password. When you are done, OE will ask

if you want to download folders for that account. Here, choose Yes. After the folders have been downloaded, you can use

it like you would use a POP mail account except that you will not be able to use the Message Rules(available under the

Toolsmenu) on this account.

LXXXI.

Protecting Your E-mail Address: Junk mail seems inevitable but there are a few things you can do about it. Do not give

your office e-mail address or personal POP address to any website or service. Just to make sure your contacts use your

e-mail address responsibly, add the following to your e-mail signature ( Tools Options Signatures).

E-MAIL BEST PRACT ICES

When you send a joke to many contacts, put all e-mail addresses in the bcc (blind carbon copy) box. (None ofthe recipients will know who the other recipients were.)

1.

If you do have to forward a joke, delete all names and e-mail addresses from the message before sending it.Respect others' privacy.

2.

Never send a mail asking the recipient to forward it to everyone he/she knows. (Chain mail accumulate manye-mail addresses over time & spammers thank the Lord when they receive one.)

3.

Never send virus warnings to anyone. (It may be a hoax and your contacts may end up damaging theirmachine or losing useful data. Making regular updates to the OS, firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware and othersoftware is enough.)

4.

Never use another person's e-mail address without his/her permission on any website. (Spammers harveste-mail addresses by providing some free service.)

5.

LXXXII.

Handling Bulk Mailers:

Use an e-mail address from a free e-mail provider like Hotmail or Gmail. They have better junk mail filters than you canpossibly create on your own.

If you want to stay one step ahead of junk mailers, then use disposable email addresses provided by Yahoo! Mail'sAddressGuard service.

If a website requires that you provide an e-mail address before you can use their services, then use temporary e-mailaddresses provided by Mailinator.com.

LXXXIII.


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After you add your HotMAIL account to Outlook Express, r ight click on individual folders and select SynchronizationSettings Headers Only. This will ensure that only the message headers are downloaded when you send/receivemessage. After identifying useful message, you can double-click them and have their entire content downloaded. Now, youcan choose to delete other messages that you think are junk without having to download them.

It is very easy to forge the the Fromaddresses of e-mail messages. Almost all bulk messages have forged From addresses.So, there is no point in complaining to the owners of the domain used in the From address. You need to look at the messageheaders (select the message, right-click, select Properties Details) to identify the ISP used by the bulk mailer. Checkthe screenshotfor an example. The Received:header identifies the ISP used by the spammer as rr.com (Road Runner).To complain to an ISP, you need to "abuse@" to the ISP's domain name. In this case, the e-mail address to use will be"[email protected]." In your message, add a copy mail headers of the junk message you had received. Without the mailheaders, the ISP will not be able to take any action on the culprit.

Archiving E-mail Messages: Your e-mail messages are kept in a message store folder. The store folder's location can befound by going to Options Maintenance Store Folder. Copy the location of the store folder and paste it in the

address bar of Explorer. Make a backup of this folder at regular intervals. When you want to move your old messages to

another PC or a different installation of Windows, simply import messages (File Import Microsoft Outlook Express

6 Import mail from an OE6 store directory Browse) from the backup of your original message folder.

LXXXIV.

Options: To change the various settings of OE, choose Optionsin the Toolsmenu. If you have a dial-up account, then

under the Generaltab, uncheck all the check boxes. Under the Sendtab, uncheck the Send messages immediately.

Under the Composetab, under Font Settingschoose the Verdana 9pt font or anything else that you might fancy. Under

the Signaturestab, create different signatures for different accounts or one for all accounts. If you are in India, then

setting the dictionary to English (United Kingdom)in the Languagesection of the Spellingtab will prevent conflicts

with American spelling.

LXXXV.

Blind Carbon Copy (bcc): Not many people know how to send e-mail messages using bcc (blind carbon copy). Choose

View All headersin the New Messagewindow.

LXXXVI.

Xteq X-Setup

Xteq X-Setup is a great utility to tweak your system. It has different settings for Win 9x/Me/NT/2000.

To create a DOS box with current folder as its default directory, go to Appearance Explorer Context Menu

Context Menu Optionsand check on Enable 'DOS Prompt here' command for directories.

LXXXVII.

To hide certain drives, go to Appearance Explorer Options Hide drives. For settings on shortcuts, go to

Appearance Explorer Shortcuts.

XXXVIII.

To set up your own customized OEM logo on the Device Manager, go to Appearance OEM information. Set the

outer portions of the BMP file to the color of the 3D object (in your color scheme) before that. See screenshot.

LXXXIX.

To speed up your modem, choose the port in Hardware Modem COM Port Speed.XC.

To prevent others from changing the screensaver or background, go to Appearance Control Panel Other Settings

Visible Pages in 'Display'.

XCI.

MiscellaneousWith faxing software, if you cannot locate the recommended initialization string for your particular modem, try fax class 1

in combination with the generic initialization string: AT&F&C1&D2&K3S7=55If this doesnt work, try fax class 2 incombination with the generic initialization string: AT&F&C1&D2&K4S7=55

XCII.

Windows 9x/Me might sometimes throw up error message that some system file has gone corrupt. You can restore things

using System File Checker from Start Programs Accessories System Tools System Information Tools.

XCIII.

To show the correct speed with which your modem connects to the ISP, enter the initialization string ATW2XCIV.

Of all antivirus programs, AVG Antivirusis the best and the lightest. It is better than Norton or McAfee.XCV.

Run your antivirus program's complete checkup every week. Also, defrag your hard disk every week. Use Disk Cleanup

every now and then to clear your hard disk of junk files.

XCVI.

When Windows throws up a lot of errors and refuses to stop them even after a reinstall, a clean install of Windows is in

order. This process can be done more safely and easily if your data files reside in a drive other than the one where

Windows sits on. This way you don't have to do time-consuming backups. So, after the first time you install Windows,

follow these steps.

Your My Documentswould typically be in C:\My Documentsor C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\MyDocuments. If you have space on drive D, why not keep your documents in it? If anything goes wrong with your C drive,your documents will be safe in the D drive. For this, right-click on your My Documentsand select Properties Move.

Now, select a folder in the D drive. Now, your My Documentswill be available from this folder.Change the store folder of your Outlook Express email messages as mentioned above, to a folder in another drive.

It also helps to backup email account settings too. Select Tools Accounts Mail. Select the email account and click onExport. This will create a file with the extension .iaf. Whenever you want to re-create the email account, click on theImportbutton and select this .iaffile.

Most people format their Windows drive before doing a clean install. This is not necessary. If you have more than one OS,

it will delete the boot files of the other OSs too. Just delete the Program Filesfolder and the Windowsfolder from

MS-DOS or from another OS and go ahead with the install. After that is done, import your email messages from the folder

you had created previously. Now, delete any files in that folder. Next, change the message store back to that folder. Also,

change the My Documentsback to the folder you had created earlier.

XCVII.

Use a download manager to manage your downloads. Second-generation download managers allow for the files to be

downloaded in pieces simultaneously by more than one thread, and combine them together after download is over.

XCVIII.

If you keep a lot of programs installed, your program menu can get very long. So, divide them into sections such as

Multimedia, Internet, System Tools, Utilities, etc., by creating appropriately named folders inside the c:\windows\Start

Menu\Programsfolder and making appropriate choices during installation.

XCIX.

Quicklaunch Toolbar: Keep the Show Desktopicon in it. If you had deleted it for some reason, then do a search for*.scf in the drive and if you find the Show Desktop.scffile, copy it to the Quicklaunch folder. If you do not find it, then

create a new folder. Open Notepad and type the following

[Shell]

Command=2

C.


9 17.9.2008 14:24


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IconFile=explorer.exe,3

[Taskbar]

Command=ToggleDesktop

Choose Save asfrom the Filemenu. In the dialog box, change Save as typeto All files. Give the filename as Show

Desktop.scf. Make sure you save it in the folder you had created just then. Now, right click the taskbar and choose

ToolbarNew Toolbar. Here choose the folder where you had put the Show Desktop.scffile.

Keep shortcuts in your Quicklaunch bar for your drives. Create a shortcut with the target as c:\windows\rundll32.exe

user.exe,exitwindows. Clicking on this icon will shut down Windows in a snap. However, this command works for

Windows 9x/Me only. For Windows NT/2000/XP, you need something more sophisticated. I suggest you download Wizmo(Windows Gizmo - 37 KB). Create shortcuts to this small program using appropriate parameters for logoff, shutdown,

restart, hibernate, reboot, and several other functions.

Explore and try to find new ways of doing things.CI.

Subhash VCDPlayer - free media player w ith support for VCD playback, image

capture and transcript ion

Subhash VCDPlayeris a free VCD player software program that I have created. Apart from Video CDs, the software can play all sorts of audio and video formats that are compatible with Windows

Media Player 6.4, such as wave, MP3, MIDI, MPEG, AVI, ASF and WMA/WMV. Its best-loved feature is the ability to capture still imagesfrom video files and save them in bitmap (BMP) format.

Captured images can also be set as the desktop background (wallpaper), allowing you to preview the images the very moment they are captured. The contents of the down load file can be placed

on VCDs to create autorun-enabled VCDs, which makes it easy for you to distribute your home videos on ordinary CD-ROM discs . The program can also be used as a w ave player by professional

transcriptionists to create transcripts of recorded audio/video dictations and conversations.

Go to the DOWNLOADSsection to ge t Subhash VCDPlayer.

V. Subhash, 2008.

All rights reserved.

To link to this page, use the URL

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http ://www.vsubhash .com

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