Enable / Disable Firewall

Open Control Panel and double click on Network Connections. In the new box that appears right click on the Connection and click on the Advanced tab. Check or uncheck the box according to your desire.

Remove shortcut arrow from desktop icons

Here's how you can remove those shortcut arrows from your desktop icons in Windows XP.
1. Start regedit.
2. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Lnkfile
3. Delete the IsShortcut registry value.
You may need to restart Windows XP.

Remove Shared Documents from my computer

Open Regedit(Start- Run- Regedit) and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Explorer My Computer NameSpace DelegateFolders
There will see a sub-key named {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}. By Deleting this you can remove the 'Other Files stored on This Computer' group.

To change drive letters

To change drive letters (useful if you have two drives and have partitioned the boot drive, but the secondary drive shows up as "D")

Go to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management, Disk Management, then right-click the partition whose name you want to change (click in the white area just below the word "Volume") and select "change drive letter and paths."
From here you can add, remove or change drive letters and paths to the partition.

Disable CD Autorun

1) Click Start, Run and enter GPEDIT.MSC
2) Go to Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, System.
3) Locate the entry for Turn autoplay off and modify it as you desire.

Force users to press Ctrl-Alt-Delete to Logon

(XPPro only)
Go to start/run,
and type control userpasswords2

How to Convert FAT to NTFS file system

To convert a FAT partition to NTFS, perform the following steps.
Click Start, click Programs, and then click Command Prompt.
In Windows XP, click Start, click Run, type cmd and then click OK.
At the command prompt, type CONVERT [driveletter]: /FS:NTFS.
Convert.exe will attempt to convert the partition to NTFS.
NOTE: Although the chance of corruption or data loss during the conversion from FAT to NTFS is minimal, it is best to perform a full backup of the data on the drive that it is to be converted prior to executing the convert command. It is also recommended to verify the integrity of the backup before proceeding, as well as to run RDISK and update the emergency repair disk (ERD).

How to make your Desktop Icons Transparent

Go to Control Panel > System, > Advanced > Performance area > Settings button Visual Effects tab "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the Desktop

Converting from FAT32 to NTFS at a later time

If you want, under Windows XP you can convert your FAT32 partition to NTFS using the following command from your Command Prompt:
convert c: /fs:ntfs
Conclusion
With all this information, find what suits your needs and go with it. If you're the kind of person that backs up regularly, go with NTFS. Same if you want to use a partition over 32GB without partitioning. If you want to play it safe, or if you want the ability to transfer files from one partition to another under a dual-boot situation, stick with FAT32. If you want to read more about these file systems, Microsoft has an excellent article on their web site.

The Windows XP File Systems

When installing Windows XP from scratch, it prompts you to select from two different file systems: FAT32 and NTFS. As expected, it gives no real reason why you should select one or the other, and defaults to NTFS.
FAT32
If you're installing on a dual-boot system where you would have a FAT32 partition (default type for Windows 98 and SE for partitions over 2GB), you may run into problems depending on your situation. The FAT32 file system was created when the size of hard drives exceeded 2GB. The previous file system for DOS and Windows 95 was FAT16, which offered at most 2GB of allocation on your hard drive. This of course is useless for today's hard drives when you can't find anything under 10GB anymore. Where FAT16 allowed a 2GB maximum, FAT32 only allows a 32GB maximum. If your hard drive is over 32GB, you'll have to split it into separate partitions, or use NTFS.
NTFS
NTFS was introduced with Windows NT. Among the reasons why it was introduced, it allowed partitions greater than what's even offered today, and boasts better performance and security. Focusing on security, it's possible that while an NTFS hard drive is secure when running Windows XP, there's no easy way to get back into the hard drive if you boot from an emergency floppy that only sees a FAT16 or FAT32 partition, such as what you'd get from a 98 or ME emergency floppy. The security in NTFS actually prevents you from circumventing its own file system from a boot floppy. This means that if for some reason your hard drive becomes unusable and you need to move data off of it, the task won't be as easy as it was when using Windows 95, 98, and ME. The solution that the user has in this situation is to boot from the Windows XP CD and run a repair on the hard drive. This should fix any problems the user had with the system and bring it back to a bootable state. The other issue is in dual-boot situations. Running under NTFS, you can see FAT16 and FAT32 partitions, but if you boot back into Windows ME, you can't see the NTFS partition. This is a problem if you downloaded something to your XP partition and you want to move it to your ME partition while running under ME. Also, if you upgraded ME to XP and you convert your file system from FAT32 to NTFS, you cannot go back to Windows ME since ME can't run under NTFS. However, only NTFS allows you to set permissions on individual folders so that you can control who sees what.

Rename a Series of Files

 

When you download photos from your digital camera, they often have unrecognizable names. You can rename several similar files at once with the following procedure. This also works for renaming other types of files.

1.Open the My Pictures folder. (Click Start, and then click My Pictures.) Or open another folder containing files that you want to rename.
2.Select the files you want to rename. If the files you want are not adjacent in the file list, press and hold CTRL, and then click each item to select it.
3.On the File menu, click Rename.
4.Type the new name, and then press ENTER

Enable / Disable Firewall

Open Control Panel and double click on Network Connections. In the new box that appears right click on the Connection and click on the Advanced tab. Check or uncheck the box according to your desire.

Remove shortcut arrow from desktop icons

Here's how you can remove those shortcut arrows from your desktop icons in Windows XP.
1. Start regedit.
2. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTlnkfile
3. Delete the IsShortcut registry value.
You may need to restart Windows XP.

IP address of your connection

IP address of your connection

Go to start/run type 'cmd'

then type 'ipconfig'

Add the '/all' switch for more info.

Set Processes Priority

Set Processes Priority

Follow this tip to increase the priority of active processes, this will result in prioritisation of processes using the CPU.

CTRL-SHIFT-ESC

1.Go to the second tab called Processes, right click on one of the active processes, you will see the Set Priority option

2.For example, your Run your CDwriter program , set the priority higher, and guess what, no crashed CD’s

Remove the Recycle Bin from the Desktop

Remove the Recycle Bin from the Desktop

If you don't use the Recycle Bin to store deleted files, you can Delete it’s from desktop icon.

Follow these steps:-

Step1. Go to Run and type Regedit then enter
Step2. Now follow this address
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
Step3. Now right click on {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} key and click on Delete option
If you want to show again recycle bin on your Desktop then follow this steps:-
Step3. Right click on NameSpace key and move cursor on New and then click on Key option
Step4. Paste this on new key name  {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
Step5. Double click on Default and Type here Recycle Bin

Rename Recycle Bin without any software

To change the name of the Recycle Bin desktop icon, open Regedit and go to:

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

and double click on LocalizedString and change the name to whatever you want

Run a program as a different user without logging in other user account

You can run a program as a different user without logging out and back in again. Right click the icon, select Run As... and enter the user name and password you want to use. This only applies for that run. The trick is particularly useful if you need to have administrative permissions to install a program, which many require. Note that you can have some fun by running programs multiple times on the same system as different users, but this can have unforeseen effects.

Do you want to remove window unwanted application

XP hides some system software you might want to remove, such as Windows Messenger, but you are unable to remove them If you want to remove them then follow this steps….:-
Step1. Click on start button
Step2. Then click on control panel and double click on Add or Remove programs
Step3. Then click on Add/remove windows components
Step4. Here You have to select those application Those you want to remove then click on Next

You can lock your XP with Duble click of the Mouse

You can lock your XP workstation with two clicks of the mouse. Create a new shortcut on your desktop using a right mouse click, and enter 'rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation' in the location field. Give the shortcut a name you like. That's it -- just double click on it and your computer will be locked. And if that's not easy enough, Windows key + L will do the same.

Immediately Deleting Files

You can delete files immediately, without having them move to the Recycle Bin first. Go to the Start menu, select Run... and type 'gpedit.msc'; then select User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Windows Explorer and find the Do not move deleted files to the Recycle Bin setting. Set it. Poking around in gpedit will reveal a great many interface and system options, but take care -- some may stop your computer behaving as you wish. (Professional Edition only).
Or
Shift+Delete

Faster Boot Time

First, let's do a bit of comparing with the "before and after" you try this registry trick. Please try restarting your pc and observe at the blue lines that appear upon booting. Notice how many times it appeared?

To increase system boot speed, here's what you can do...

1. Start>run> and type ''regedit''

2. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/ SYSTEM / CurrentControlSet / Control / Session Manager / Memory Managment / PrefetchParameters / EnablePrefetcher.

3. Double click on "Enableprefetcher"

4. Past 1 in Value Date, and Hexadecimal most be on(enable)

Then restart the pc and and look at the blue lines again. See how many times or how fast it goes? Most of the time it just quickly passes that part.

PDF Tricks

Hey peoples now u can listen to wats there in a pdf document instead of reading the whole document....

Try out the following key combinations for Acrobat 6.0 & 7.0:

ctrl+ shift + b ---> To hear the whole document

ctrl + shift + v---> To hear only the page

ctrl + shift + c ---> To resume

ctrl + shift + e ---> To stop

Background Image in any Folder without Software:-

If you want this then follow these steps:-

Step1. Go to Notepad and type this code

[{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}]

iconarea_image= “Full Path of Image with extension those u want to set as u folder background”

E.g. If your photo is in “photos” folder of “D” drive and Name of photo is “heart”

And type of photo is “jpeg” then your full path will be “D:\photos\heart.jpg”

Step2. Save this file as desktop.ini name in your selected folder

E.g. suppose that your selected folder is song is in D then path of your selected folder will be D:\song

Step3. Go to run and type Attrib +s “Path of your selected folder”

Step4. Now open your folder and you will see that folder background is sated.

Note: - Double quote is compulsory

Keep enjoying my dear Friends