Folder Options Missing??

Many of us sometimes find the folder options missing in windows explorer due to some virus or trojan effect.
Here's the solution-->

Open Run and then type "gpedit.msc".
Now goto User Configuration > Administrative templates > Windows Component > Windows Explorer.
Click on Windows Explorer you will find the 3rd option on the right side of screen "Removes the Folder Option menu item from the Tools menu"
Just check it, if it is not configured then change it to enable by double clicking on it and after applying again set it to not configured.

I hopes that you will find the option after restarting windows..

Top Ten Tips To Improve System Speed

1. Let your PC boot up completely before opening any applications.

2. Refresh the desktop after closing any application. This will remove any unused files from the RAM.

3. Do not set very large file size images as your wallpaper. Do not keep a wallpaper at all if your PC is low on RAM (less than 64 MB).

4. Do not clutter your Desktop with a lot of shortcuts. Each shortcut on the desktop uses up to 500 bytes of RAM

5. Empty the recycle bin regularly. The files are not really deleted from your hard drive until you empty the recycle bin.

6. Delete the temporary internet files regularly.

7. Defragment your hard drive once every two months. This will free up a lot of space on your hard drive and rearrange the files so that your applications run faster.

8. Always make two partitions in your hard drive. Install all large Softwares (like PSP, Photoshop, 3DS Max etc) in the second partition. Windows uses all the available empty space in C drive as virtual memory when your Computer RAM is full. Keep the C Drive as empty as possible.

9. When installing new Softwares disable the option of having a tray icon. The tray icons use up available RAM, and also slow down the booting of your PC. Also disable the option of starting the application automatically when the PC boots. You can disable these options later on also from the Tools or preferences menu in your application.

10. Protect your PC from dust. Dust causes the CPU cooling fan to jam and slow down thereby gradually heating your CPU and affecting the processing speed. Use compressed air to blow out any dust from the CPU. Never use vacuum.

RAM IS THE WORKING AREA (DESKTOP) OF THE CPU, KEEP IT AS EMPTY AND UNCLUTTERED AS POSSIBLE!

Top 20 Tips To Keep Your System Faster

Follow these tips and you will definitely have a much faster and more reliable PC!

1. Wallpapers: They slow your whole system down, so if you're willing to compromise, have a basic plain one instead!

2. Drivers: Update your hardware drivers

as frequently as possible. New drivers tend to increase system speed especially in the case of graphics cards, their drivers are updated by the manufacturer very frequently!

3. Minimizing: If you want to use several programs at the same time then minimize those you are not using. This helps reduce the overload on RAM.

4. Boot Faster: The 'starting Windows 98

/XP' message on startup can delay your booting for a couple of seconds. To get rid of this message go to c:\ and find the file Msdos.sys. Remove the Read-Only option. Next, open it in Notepad or any other text editor. Finally, go to the text 'Options' within the file and make the following changes: Add BootDelay=0. To make your booting even faster, set add Logo=0 to remove the Windows logo at startup.

5. Restart only Windows: When restarting your PC, hold down Shift to only restart Windows

rather than the whole system which will only take a fraction of the time.

6. Turn Off Animations: Go to Display Settings from the Control Panel

and switch to the Effects Tab. Now turn off Show Windows Content While Dragging and Smooth Edges on Screen Fonts. This tip is also helpful with Windows XP because of the various fade/scroll effects.

7. Faster Start-Menu Access: Go to the Start menu and select Run. Now type Regedit and hit Enter. The Registry Editor will appear on the screen. Now, open the folder HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop. You should see a MenuShowDelay value. If you don't then do the following: right click on a blank space in the right pane and select New\String. Change the name in the new value to MenuShowDelay. Now that we have the MenuShowDelay value, double click on it and enter 0 in the value data field. This sets the start menu delay to 0 milliseconds.

8. Resolutions: If you are willing to do anything for faster performance from your PC, then try lowering your display resolution. The lower it is, the faster your PC.

9. Turn off Active Desktop: Go to your Display Properties and switch to the Web tab. Uncheck View My Active Desktop As a Web Page. Since the Active Desktop option under Windows 98 uses a lot of system resources, this option can have a dramatic effect on the speed of the whole system.

10. Defragment Often: Windows 98's

Defrag tool uses Application Acceleration from Intel which means that when you defragment your drive, data is physically arranged on the drive so that applications will load faster.

11. Take your PC to Bed: Using the Advanced Power Management feature under Windows 98 gives you the option to use the sleep command. That way, you can send your PC to sleep instead of shutting it down and then restarting it. It's as simple as pressing a button and then pressing the same button to wake it up. You can tell Windows after how many minutes/hours of inactivity to automatically sleep the machine in the Advanced Power Management section of the Control Panel.

12. Faster Internet Access: If you use the internet for reference and the sites you visit are rarely updated then try the following. In IE (the same can be done in Netscape) go to Tools, Internet Options. Next, click on Settings... in the Temporary Internet Files section. Finally, select Never for the first option and double the amount of storage space to use, click OK!

13. Benchmarking: Benchmarking can be very useful when run frequently. It can tell you how your PC's components are performing and then compare them to other machines like yours. For example, when you overclock your PC, you want to know how much more speed you have and whether it is stable. All this and more can be discovered using benchmarking. An excellent piece of software for doing this job is SiSoft Sandra which can be found in the Downloads File Archive!

14. Refresh the Taskbar without restarting: If you in some way change the taskbar, either in Regedit or elsewhere, you can refresh the task bar without restarting. Hold down Ctrl Alt Del, and double click on Explorer. Say Yes to close Explorer, but no to closing Windows. This will refresh the Taskbar and system tray.

15. Quick CD Eject: Instead of pushing the button on your drive, right-click your CD drive letter in My Computer and click on Eject. This will also remove any icons that have become associated with the CD drive.

16. Start Up Programs: Windows can be slowed down when programs run on start up. To eliminate this, check your Start up folder. You can access it from the start menu: Start, Programs, Start Up. Another way to eliminate programs from loading even before Windows actually starts is by doing the following: Click on Start, then Run. Type msconfig. It will take quite a long time for this program to load, but when you finally see it on your screen, explore the different tabs. They all have to do with how quickly your PC boots, so select what you want, and uncheck what you don't want!

17. Fonts: When Windows starts, it loads every single font in the Fonts folder. Therefore, the more fonts you have, the slower the booting process. To get rid of unwanted fonts, simply go to the Fonts folder under c:\windows and remove whatever you don't want. Fonts that have a red letter 'A' as their icon are system fonts, so don't delete them.

18. Stretching Wallpapers: Don't "stretch" your wallpaper in Windows 98 since it actually slows Windows down when you drag icons around on the desktop.

19. RAM Matters: If you have less than 32MB then you should seriously think of upgrading it to at least 64MB. Windows runs much more smoothly with 64MB or higher and tends to use less hard disk space for virtual memory.

20. Partitioning: A very nice little thing you can do to boost system performance. By partitioning your hard drive, splitting one physical drive into several logical ones, you can gain several advantages. 1. If you get a virus or you accidentally format a drive, not all will be lost. 2. By placing the swap file (Win386.swp) on a separate drive, The swap file will be less fragmented and thus, faster. 3. Place Windows on a separate drive and whenever you need to reinstall it, you rest assured that your data is safe on a separate drive. Partitioning can be done using a few programs such as FDisk which comes with DOS. However, FDisk formats everything on the hard disk before partitioning. Alternatively, you can use Partition Magic from Power Quest to partition your hard disk without losing your data.

Increase your RAM and so system speed

1). Start any application, say Word. Open some large documents.

2). Press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC to open Windows Task Manager and click Processes tab and sort the list in descending order on Mem Usage. You will notice that WINWORD.EXE will be somewhere at the top, using multiple MBs of memory.

3). Now switch to Word and simply minimize it. (Don't use the Minimize All Windows option of the task bar).

4). Now go back to the Windows Task Manager and see where WINWORD.EXE is listed. Most probably you will not find it at the top. You will typically have to scroll to the bottom of the list to find Word. Now check out the amount of RAM it is using. Surprised? The memory utilization has reduced by a huge amount.

5). Minimize each application that you are currently not working on by clicking on the Minimize button & you can increase the amount of available RAM by a substantial margin. Depending upon the number and type of applications you use together, the difference can be as much as 50 percent of extra RAM.

In any multitasking system, minimizing an application means that it won't be utilized by the user right now. Therefore, the OS automatically makes the application use virtual memory & keeps bare minimum amounts of the code in physical RAM.

Top Tips to increase bittorent download Speed

The latest file sharing protocol bittorrent has modified everything when it comes to file sharing. It is a nice platform for downloading large files. Sharing of files include movies, iso images and MP3 songs. Bittorent is mainly famous for illegal file sharing .
The Bittorrent system can be slow at times due to heavy traffic. so let us tweak bittorrent sharing program a little bit.
There are a lot of different bittorrent clients that you can download. I think the best are BitCommet and uTorrent.

Here is a few tips to speed up uTorrent Client. Similar can be implemented on any other torrent clients ,which you are using.

Step 1: Increase TCP connections

You need to increase the number of TCP connections that are allowed at max.Windows XP Service Pack 2 came with the number of allowed open connections to 10. This is to stop any piece of spyware(in our case bittorent client even) from totally taking over your internet connection. TCP connection allowed should be 50 for optimal performance. The best way to increase the maximum number of connections is to apply patch that is available at www.lvllord.de. A nice way to fix this is to download this patch .

The little tweak to the torrent client works great in certain times. If you’re using uTorrent go to Options menu then Preferences. In the Preferences go the Advanced Options. In the advanced options change the net.max_halfopen connections to 80. In the same section change the max half open tcp connections to 80. Once your done click on OK and you are all set. This tweak will let the maximum TCP connection available for the bittorrent client. Now start downloading you’ll realize a little difference in the download speed. Port forwarding technique is more effective than this.

A third point of interest is that some “windows updates” revert your tweaked tcp connections back to 10. So it’s wise to check this every now and then. You can check this by going to (in windows xp) Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer > System… Look for event 4226 (sort by event).
If there are a lot of daily occurrences it’s likely that the max amount of half-open tcp connections was set back to 10. Or you’re infected with some nasty spy ware…

Step 2:Torrent Client Configuration
In order to apply these tips you must know your maximum up- and download speed. You can test your bandwidth over here (stop all download activity while testing).

Settings 1-4 can be found in the options, settings or preference tab of most torrent clients.

1. Maximum upload speed

Probably the most important setting there is. Your connection is (sort of) like a pipeline, if you use you maximum upload speed there’s not enough space left for the files you are downloading. So you have to cap your upload speed.

Use the following formula to determine your optimal upload speed…

80% of your maximum upload speed

so if your maximum upload speed is 40 kB/s, the optimal upload rate is 32kB/s But keep seeding!

Hidden Emotions in Yahoo Messenger

Yahoo messenger is one of the mostly used chatting application accross the globe. So, Yahoo has many built in hidden emotions like laughing yahoo emotions, sad yahoo emotions, oncall, busy yahoo emotions and many more..

Below images contains all the yahoo emotions.

Trick To Make Your Firefox Fast

This Firefox tricks will improve the speed & load time of firefox. And you will be able to surf faster.

Type about:config in the address bar, Then look for the following entries, and make the corresponding changes.
network.http.max-connections-per-server =32
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy =16
network.http.max-connections = 64
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server = 10
network.http.pipelining = true
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests = 200
network.http.request.max-start-delay = 0
network.http.proxy.pipelining = true
network.http.proxy.version = 1.0

Lastly right-click anywhere and select New- Integer. Name it nglayout.initialpaint.delay and set its value to 0. This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives. Enjoy!!

Multi Google Talk Login without any software

Just follow the simple steps Below:
1) Right click on the Google Talk shortcut.
2) click on Properties.
3) Go to Shortcut tab on Google Talk Properties window.
4) On the Target textbox, add in the /nomutex to the end of the line so that it looks like below (or you can simply copy and paste the below syntax and replace the original).
“c:\program files\google\google talk\googletalk.exe” /nomutex
5) Click on OK.
I didn't have to do anything after this and clicking on the shortcut multiple times just gave me different Google talk window.

Alternative

To create a new shortcut for Google Talk:

1) Right-click on the desktop or anywhere you want to place the GTalk shortcut.
2) Select New on the right click context menu.
3) Then select Shortcut.
4) Copy and paste the following line to the text box when prompted to type the location of the item:
“c:\program files\google\google talk\googletalk.exe” /nomutex

5) Click on Next.
6) Give the shortcut a proper name such as Google Talk or Google
Talk Multiple or Google Talk Polygamy.
7) Click OK until you are done.

Find who is Invisible on Yahoo messenger

Sometimes some of your friends who appear offline in yahoo messenger may not be actually offline, they may in the 'Invisible' mode. This maybe if they are trying to ignore you or are too busy to talk to anyone.

There is this small trick that you can use to find out what the truth is.

Firstly open your yahoo messenger main window and double click on the name of the person whom you want to check. The chat window will open obviously.
Click IMVironment button, select See all IMVironments, select Yahoo! Tools or Interactive Fun, and click on Doodle.
After loading the Doodle imvironment there can be two possibilities

1.If the user is offline Doodle are will show this "waiting for your friend to load Doodle" continuously .See in the picture below:

2. If the user is online (but in invisible mode), after few seconds (it can take up to one minute, depending on your connection speed), you should get a blank page like in the picture below. So you know that the user is online.

Multiple login in yahoo Without Using any Software

You can login with multiple id's on the same yahoo messenger without any download or patch .
Follow these steps :

1. Go to Start ----> Run . Type regedit, then enter .

2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER --------> Software ---> yahoo --->pager---->Test

3. On the right page , right-click and choose new Dword value .

4. Rename it as Plural.

5. Double click and assign a decimal value of 1.

Its done!!
Now close registry and restart yahoo messenger and try Multiple Login

Speed up your internet by 20%

Microsoft reserves 20% of your available bandwidth for their own purposes like Windows Updates and interrogating your PC etc

You can get it back:

Click Start then Run and type "gpedit.msc" without quotes. This opens the group policy editor.

Then go to:
--> Local Computer Policy
--> Computer Configuration
--> Administrative Templates

--> Network

--> QOS Packet Scheduler

--> Limit Reservable Bandwidth.

Double click on Limit Reservable bandwidth.

It will say it is not configured, but the truth is under the 'Explain' tab i.e." By default, the Packet Scheduler limits the system to 20 percent of the bandwidth of a connection, but you can use this setting to override the default."
So the trick is to ENABLE reservable bandwidth, then set it to ZERO. This will allow the system to reserve nothing, rather than the default 20%.It works on Win 2000 as well.

Increase the speed of your internet connection without a new modem

As more and more people get quick connections to the internet, such as cable or ADSL, it becomes apparent to the user of a simple dial-up modem that the World Wide Web can quickly turn into the World Wide Wait. Here a trick that can help speed up your current modem without shelling out the big bucks.

There is a setting located in your windows registry called the Maximum Transfer Unit (MTU). This determines the size of the packets of data sent between your and your server. In Windows 95, this setting is has a value of 1,500 bytes when the actual size of internet packets is 1,000 bytes. This can sometimes slow things down. To remedy the situation, simply follow these steps:
In the registry editor (Start > Run > regedit.exe), navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\NetTrans.

In the NetTrans folder you should find another folder named "000x" in which x represents a fourth digit. Right-click on the "000x" folder and select New and StringValue. Rename the item that appears in the panel on the right side to MaxMTU, then double-click it to bring up the Edit String box and give it a velue of 1002.

Remember to keep playing with the MaxMTU value until you feel that your internet connection has greatly sped up. Some people report huge speed gains using this tricks, while others hardly notice a difference. In any case, it's definetly worth a try.

Google Search Tricks

Well let me tell You what actually google tricks mean. Google tricks/google tips, does not mean hacking google, Using the below Google operators, we can get the desired google result very quickly. Well we can name this as hidden google secrets or Advanced google searching. .

Google Trick -1 :- GOOGLE OPERATOR

Type the following highlited words in google search box.

Google has several google operators that can help you find specific information, specific websites or inquire about the indexing of your own site, below you will find the most important ones:

Click on the example google trick, and You will be redirected to google.

define: - This google operator will find definitions for a certain term or word over the Internet. Very useful when you come across a strange word when writing a post. I use this as a google dictionary. example : (define computer)

info: - The google info operator will list the sets of information that Google has from a specific website (i.e. info:http://hack2007.50webs.com)

site: - This google operator can be used to see the number of indexed pages on your site (i.e.site:www.hack2007.50webs.com). Alternative it can also be used to search for information inside a specific site or class of sites.

link: - This google link operator allows you to find backlinks pointing to your site. Unfortunately the count is not updated frequently and not all backlinks are shown

allinurl: - Using this Google operator will limit the search to results that contain the desired keywords on the URL structure. (i.e. allinurl:dailyblogtips)

fileformat: - Useful Google operator for finding specific file formats. Sometimes you know that the information you are looking for is likely to be contained in a PDF document or on a PowerPoint presentation, for instance. (i.e. “fileformat:.pdf market research” will search for PDF documents that contain the terms “market” and “research”)

Google trick -2 Top 10 Cool Google Search Tricks

well as we have gained enough knowledge regarding google operators, lets have a look at the following 10 cool google search tricks. Click on the example google trick, and You will be redirected to google.

1. Google trick to search different file formats (keyword filetype:doc)

2. Google trick to search educational resources (keyword site:.edu) example (computer site:.edu)

3. Finding the time of any location (time romania)

4. Finding the weather of any location (boston weather)

5. Tracking commentary of live events (Olympic games Beijing 2008)

6. Using Google as a calculator (9 * 10)(143+234)(119-8)

7. Converting currencies (1 USD in INR)(10 US Dollars in Indian Rupee)

8. Find how many teaspoons are in a quarter cup (quarter cup in teaspoons)

9. how many seconds there are in a year (seconds in a year)

10. Tracking stocks (stocks:MSFT)

11. Finding faces (add imgtype=face to the URL)

google trick -3 Top Essential Google Search shortcuts

#1: Get Local Weather

Type: “weather [city name or zip/postal code]” Example: “weather 500054″ or “weather boston”

#2: Check Flight Status

Google automagically pulls flight data from FlightStats.com. All you have to do is enter the flight number. Type: [flight name and/or number] Example: “bc254″ or “newyork21″

#3: Convert Distances

Type: “[value] [first distance unit] to [second distance unit]” Example: “100 kilometers to miles”

#4: Find a Phone Number

Find a Person:

Type: “[person’s name], [city or zip/postal code]” Example: “john smith, london”

Find a Business/store:

Type: “[business name or type], [city or zip/postal code]” Example: “book store, boston”

Google trick -4 :Google search trick for Rapidshare files search:

#1 site:rapidshare.com inurl:users "*"

#2 site:rapidshare.de inurl:users "*"

#3 site:rapidshare.com inurl:files "*"

#4 site:rapidshare.de inurl:files "*"

#5 site:rapidshare.com inurl:users (pass|password)

#6 site:rapidshare.de inurl:users (pass|password)

Suppose u need some info on ebooks. Then u can try following keyword to see all rapidshare folders having any hacking related thing in it

site:rapidshare.com inurl:users "ebooks"

How to hack Rapid share and Mega upload...

Hi all, This is for those who have to wait for about an hour after downloading certain amount of stuff from rapid share. To overcome this time constraint follow these steps:
RAPID SHARE
Method 1
1.open your rapid share link
2.then click on free.
3.As soon as timer start type this in address bar and click enter
javascript:alert(c=0)
4.a pop up message will come click ok your counter is zero just download the stuff
Method 2
1.Delete the cookies in your browser internet explorer or Firefox or opera or whatever u use).
2.Press start->run,type cmd.
3.In the command prompt,type ipconfig/flushdns press enter.Then type ipconfig/release,then ipconfig/renew .Now type exit.
4.Now try downloading, for many people this may work if their ISP provides a dynamic ip

Method 3
1.Just switch off your router or modem) and switch it back on.
2.This may work for some users Mtnl and Bsnl) and maybe some others too.

Actually these methods generally work for those people whose ISP gives them dynamic ip.
If these don't work then one more thing that can be done is to use proxies.
Method 4
1.Download the software Hide ip platinum

2.Run it, then it will automatically chose a proxy (ip of a different country) for you. So you can easily download without any restrictions. You just have to change the proxy each time you download.

Secure Yourself from Hackers & Hijackers...

Hackers and Browser Hijacking is one area of the Net that affects everyone at some stage.

In addition to having third party utilities such as SpyBot, Anti Virus scanners and firewalls installed there are some changes that can be made to Windows 2000/XP. Below are some details to make your system safer from hackers and hijackers.

Some of these tips require editing of the Registry so it is wise to either backup the registry and/or create a Restore Point.

1. Clearing the Page File at Shutdown
Windows 2000/XP paging file (Sometimes called the Swap File) can contain sensitive information such as plaintext passwords. Someone capable of accessing your system could scan that file and find its information. You can force windows to clear out this file.

In the registry navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSession ManagerMemory Management and add or edit the DWORD ClearPageFileAtShutdown. Set it to 1.

Note that when you do this, the system will take much longer to shut down: a system with a really big Page File (! Gig or more) may take a minute or two longer.

2. Disable the POSIX and OS/2 Subsystem.

Windows 2000 and XP come with little-documented subsystems it at allow compatibility with UNIX and OS/2 systems These rues systems are enabled by default but so rarely used that they are best off bring disabled completely to prevent possible service hijackings.

To disable these subsystems, open the registry and navigate to HKEY LOCAL MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSession ManagerSubSystems. Delete the subkeys Os2 and Posix. then reboot.

3. Never leave default passwords blank.
On installation, Windows 2000 sets up an Administrator account with total system access and prompts for a password. Guess what: by default, it allows that password to be blank. If a user doesn't want to type a password, he can simply click Next and the system will be an open door for anyone who wants to log on. Always opt for a password of some kind when setting up the default account on a machine.

4. Disable the Guest account
Windows XP comes with a Guest account that's used for limited access, but it's still possible to do some damage with it. Disable it completely if you are not using it. Under Control Panel, select User Accounts, click on Guest Account and then select Turn Off the Guest Account.

5. Install Windows In a different directory.
Windows usually installs itself in the WINDOWS directory. Windows NT 4 0 and 2000 Will opt for WINNT. Many worms and other rogue programs assume this to be the case and attempt to exploit those folders files. To defeat this install Windows to another directory when you're setting it up - you can specify the name of the directory during setup. WINDIR is okay; so some people use WNDWS - A few (not that many) programs may not install properly if you install Windows to another folder but t hey are very few and they are far between

6. Fake out hackers with a dummy Administrator account
Since the default account in Windows 2000 is always named Administrator, an enterprising hacker can try to break into your system by attempting to guess the password on that account. It you never bothered to put a password on that account, say your prayers.

Rather than be a sucker to a hacker, put a password on the Administrator account it you haven't done so already. Then change the name of the Administrator account. You'll still be able to use the account under its new name, since Windows identifies user accounts by a back-end ID number rather than the name. Finally, create a new account named Administrator and disable it. This should frustrate any would -be break-ins.

You can add new accounts and change the names of existing accounts in Windows 2000 through the Local Users and Groups snap in. Right-click on My Computer, select Manager, open the Local Users and Groups subtree, look in the Users folder and right-click on any name to rename it. To add a new user, right-click on the containing folder and select New User. Finally, to disable an account, double-click it, check the Account is disabled box and click OK.

Don't ever delete the original Administrator account. Some programs refuse to install without it and you might have to log in under that account at some point to setup such software. The original Administrator account is configured with a security ID that must continue to be present in the system.

7. Set the Hosts file to read-only to prevent name hijacking.

This one's from (and to a degree, for) the experts. The HOSTS file is a text file that all flavors of Windows use to hold certain network addresses that never change. When a network name and address is placed in HOSTS, the computer uses the address listed there for that network name rather than performing a lookup (which can take time). Experts edit this file to place their most commonly-visited sites into it, speeding things up considerably.

Unfortunately hijackers and hackers also love to put their own information into it - redirecting people from their favorite sites to places they don't want to go. One of the most common entries in HOSTS is local host which is set 1770.0.1. This refers to the local machine and if this entry is damaged the computer can behave very unpredictably.

To prevent HOSTS from being hijacked, set it to read-only. Go to the folder %Systemroot%system32driversetc, right-click on HOSTS, select Properties check the Read-Only box and click OK. If you want to add your own entries to HOSTS, you can unprotect it before doing so, but always remember to set it to read-only after you're done.

8. Turn off unneeded Services
Windows 2000 and XP both come with many background services that don't need to he running most of the time: Alerter, Messenger, Server (If you're running a standalone machine with no file or printer shares), NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing, Remote Desktop Help Session Manager (the last two if you're not using Remote Desktop or NetMeeting), Remote Registry, Routing and Remote Access (if you're not using Remote Access), SSDP Discovery Service, Telnet, and Universal Plug and Play Device Host.
A good resource and instruction on which of these services can be disabled go to /http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/

9. Disallow changes to IE settings through IE
This is another anti hijacker tip. IE can be set so that any changes to its settings must be performed through the Internet icon in the Control Panel, rather than through IE's own interface. Some particularly unscrupulous programs or sites try to tamper with setting by accessing the Tools, Options menu in IE. You can disable this and still make changes to IE's settings through the Control Panel.

Open the Registry and browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER SoftwarePoliciesMicrosoftInternet ExplorerRestrictions. Create or edit a new DWORD value named NoBrowserUptions and set it to 1 (this is a per-user setting). Some third-party programs such as Spybot Search And Destroy allow you to toggle this setting.

You can also keep IE from having other programs rename its default startup page, another particularly annoying form of hijacking. Browse to HKEY.CURRENT USERSoftwarePolicies MicrosoftInternet ExploreControl Panel and add or edit a DWORD, Homepage and set it to 1.

10. Disable simple File Shares.
In Windows XP Professional, the Simple File Sharing mode is easily exploited, since it抯 a little too easy to share out a file across your LAN (or the NET at large). To turn it off, go m My Computer, click Tools, Folder Option and the View tab, and uncheck Use Simple file sharing (Recommended). Click OK. When you do this you can access the Security tab in the Properties window for all folders; set permissions for folders; and take ownership of objects (but not in XP Home)

Hacking Windows SEND TO MENU...

How often do you copy songs from a CD? Or some photos from a CD?

What do you do? You select the required files and do a CTRL –C. Open the destination folder and do a CTRL-V. Here is something you can benefit time from. Customize your SEND TO MENU.

This sounds simple and you can do it in less than sixty seconds.
You can create your own BASKET.

First you’ll need access to hidden files. So change your view settings to make all hidden files visible.
Tools -> folder options -> view (tab) and select the show hidden files and folders.
go to parent drive:/documents

and settings/(user name)/send to

Open up my computer and locate your most used folders.

Create a shortcut of the most used folders in SEND TO FOLDER.You can do this in a number of ways.

Right click -> send to desktop(create shortcut) and move the shortcut from the desktop to the SEND TO FOLDER

Copy the most used folder and go to SEND TO FOLDER and right click -> paste shortcut.

Also remember to rename the shortcuts to send to videos or send to potos. We don’t need confusion when we use the same later.

5. DONE.

How to check china mobile IMEI number valid and original?

Last month i.e.; November I came across a news article regarding China Mobiles and the importance of IMEI numbers. So here I provide a method by which you can check whether your phone has a valid and original IMEI number.

Mobile number without or wrong IMEI number are banned accorss India now. Mostly China mobile phone brands like Alkatel, Sigmatel, Spice, Carboonn, GFIVE and many more now provide valid IMEI number

Check China or any Mobile Phone IMEI Number Validity

1.Press *#06# on your mobile handset and note down the 15 digit IMEI number
2.Compose a new message from your mobile >> Type your 15 digit IMEI number >> Send it to 53232
3.If you get “Success” as the reply, then your mobile IMEI number is valid
4.If you get “Invalid IMEI” as the reply, that means your IMEI number is not valid
5.You are now done.

This will help you to know that your imei number is valid or not

Trace Mobile numbers or Ip-Address...

Recently I came accross a website in which we can easily trace a Mobile number. For example , when we enter the 10 digit mobile number, then we get the Mobile Service provider, Location, City along with area. Thats really awesome.

This tool will be really helpful specially for business persons to verify the location etc...

The site link is indiatrace.com

Features of this site is

Trace Mobile Number

Trace Vehical Number

Trace Pin Code

Trace IP Address

WHOIS Trace

Hidden Secret China Mobile Phones Codes...

The following Mobile Phones codes works with various China mobile Phones such as Alkatel, Sigmatel, Carboonn, GFive, and more such China Mobile phones.

–Default user code : 1122, 3344, 1234, 5678
–Engineer mode : *#110*01#
–Factory mode : *#987#
–Enable COM port : *#110*01# -> Device -> Set UART -> PS Config -> UART1/115200
–Restore factory settings : *#987*99#
–LCD contrast : *#369#
–Software version : *#800#
–Software version : *#900#
–Set default language : *#0000# Send
–Set English language : *#0044# Send
–Set English language (new firmware) : *#001# Send

Nokia Secret Codes...

*#06# for checking the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity).
*#7780# reset to factory settings.
*#67705646# This will clear the LCD display (operator logo).
*#0000# To view software version.
*#2820# Bluetooth device address.
*#746025625# Sim clock allowed status.
*#62209526# - Display the MAC address of the WLAN adapter. This is available only in the newer devices that support WLAN
#pw+1234567890+1# Shows if sim have restrictions.

*#92702689# - takes you to a secret menu where you may find some of the information below:
1. Displays Serial Number.
2. Displays the Month and Year of Manufacture
3. Displays (if there) the date where the phone was purchased (MMYY)
4. Displays the date of the last repair - if found (0000)
5. Shows life timer of phone (time passes since last start)

*#3370# - Enhanced Full Rate Codec (EFR) activation. Increase signal strength, better signal reception. It also help if u want to use GPRS and the service is not responding or too slow. Phone battery will drain faster though.
*#3370* - (EFR) deactivation. Phone will automatically restart. Increase battery life by 30% because phone receives less signal from network.
*#4720# - Half Rate Codec activation.
*#4720* - Half Rate Codec deactivation. The phone will automatically restart

If you forgot wallet code for Nokia S60 phone, use this code reset: *#7370925538#
Note, your data in the wallet will be erased. Phone will ask you the lock code. Default lock code is: 12345

Press *#3925538# to delete the contents and code of wallet.

Unlock service provider: Insert sim, turn phone on and press vol up-arrow keys) for 3 seconds, should say pin code. Press C, then press * message should flash, press * again and 04*pin*pin*pin#

*#7328748263373738# resets security code.
Default security code is 12345

*#1471# Last call (Only Vodafone)

*#21# Allows you to check the number that "All Calls" are diverted to

*#30# Lets you see the private number

*#43# Allows you to check the "Call Waiting" status of your phone.

*#62# Allows you to check the number that "Divert If Unreachable (no service)" calls are diverted to

*#67# Allows you to check the number that "On Busy Calls" are diverted to

*#67705646# Removes operator logo on 3310 & 3330

*#73# Reset phone timers and game scores

*#746025625# Displays the SIM Clock status, if your phone supports this power saving feature "SIM Clock Stop Allowed", it means you will get the best standby time possible

*#7780# Restore factory settings

*#8110# Software version for the nokia 8110

*#92702689#

Displays - 1.Serial Number, 2.Date Made,
3.Purchase Date, 4.Date of last repair (0000 for no repairs), 5.Transfer User Data

12345 This is the default security code

press and hold #
Lets you switch between lines