Dec 17, 2007
Sometimes SD cards get corrupted. More accurately, sometimes the files on SD cards — and even the file system itself, which tells the thing that the SD card is plugged into where the files are — get corrupted.
You’d think SD cards and other kinds of solid state flash memory would be incorruptible. Although it doesn’t happen often, flash memory (unfortunately) isn’t immune to this. In the world of digital photography you’ll find lots of apps that rescue photos from corrupted flash memory cards for this reason.
If you ever find that Kinoma Player isn’t seeing all of your files on your SD card, try this first:
To reduce your chances of SD card corruption:
You’d think SD cards and other kinds of solid state flash memory would be incorruptible. Although it doesn’t happen often, flash memory (unfortunately) isn’t immune to this. In the world of digital photography you’ll find lots of apps that rescue photos from corrupted flash memory cards for this reason.
If you ever find that Kinoma Player isn’t seeing all of your files on your SD card, try this first:
- Make an new folder on your Desktop.
- Using an SD card reader (or a utility like Softick Card Export II), copy the contents of the card to the new folder. If you have problems copying a specific folder, copy the files and folders within that folder one by one until you find the culprit.
- Format the SD card, which I recommend doing on your device. To do this, launch Card Info and select Format Card from the Card menu.
- Copy the files from the folder on your Desktop back to your card.
To reduce your chances of SD card corruption:
- Use high-quality, name-brand SD cards
- Avoid software that causes device instability
Dec 8, 2007
If you spend a lot of time on WorldStart's message board or if you read a lot of online articles, you have probably already heard about this, but just in case some of you haven't, I wanted to fill you in. This was brought to my attention by one of our message board users, "jholland1964," and after doing some more research on it, I found several other news pieces on it as well. This whole thing was discovered about a week ago (November 11, 2007) and even though I'm a little behind on getting this story to you, here's the full scoop!
Over last weekend, approximately 1,800 new external hard drives were found to have been pre-installed with Trojan horse malwares. The two infections found go by the names of "autorun.inf" and "ghost.pif." These external hard drives were both the 300 GB and 500 GB sizes and they were originally made for a company called Maxtor in Thailand. When the hard drives are in use, all of the information on the disk is forwarded to two different Web sites in China: www.nice8.org and www.we168.org. The hackers can then take the information off the drive and use it however they please.
From what I've read, it looks like a company in China has been pin-pointed as the leader of this attack, but there have even been implications that the Chinese government is behind the Trojans. There have been reports of this same type of thing for Maxtor disks sold in the Netherlands as well. Now, I know this is only happening in China and a few other select countries, but that doesn't mean it could happen to you too. If you're in the market to buy a new external hard drive, just make sure you're purchasing it from a reputable source. Also, before you start using it, it's a good idea to reformat the drive and make sure it's clear of any "bad stuff." If you do that, you will be just fine. Let's just hope this whole malware issue gets cleared up sooner than later. Stay safe out there!
Over last weekend, approximately 1,800 new external hard drives were found to have been pre-installed with Trojan horse malwares. The two infections found go by the names of "autorun.inf" and "ghost.pif." These external hard drives were both the 300 GB and 500 GB sizes and they were originally made for a company called Maxtor in Thailand. When the hard drives are in use, all of the information on the disk is forwarded to two different Web sites in China: www.nice8.org and www.we168.org. The hackers can then take the information off the drive and use it however they please.
From what I've read, it looks like a company in China has been pin-pointed as the leader of this attack, but there have even been implications that the Chinese government is behind the Trojans. There have been reports of this same type of thing for Maxtor disks sold in the Netherlands as well. Now, I know this is only happening in China and a few other select countries, but that doesn't mean it could happen to you too. If you're in the market to buy a new external hard drive, just make sure you're purchasing it from a reputable source. Also, before you start using it, it's a good idea to reformat the drive and make sure it's clear of any "bad stuff." If you do that, you will be just fine. Let's just hope this whole malware issue gets cleared up sooner than later. Stay safe out there!
If you've gotten a new computer in the last few years, it more than likely came with USB ports. If you're not sure, USB ports are the little slots on either the front or back of your computer that you can use to plug in certain devices, such as a flash drive or digital camera. USB ports come in two different speeds: 2.0 and 1.0, with 2.0 being faster. Most newer PCs have the 2.0 speed, but if you purchased yours quite awhile ago, you may have the 1.0 speed. So, if you've ever wondered which speed you have, keep reading to learn how you can find out!
To get to your computer's USB area, you need to right click on the My Computer icon on your desktop and choose Properties. Next, click on the Hardware tab and then hit the Device Manager button. When that new window opens, scroll down to the very bottom where it says Universal Serial Bus controllers. Click on the plus sign (+) next to that and all of your USB information will come up. You may have quite a few listings or you may only have a few. It just depends on how many ports came with your computer and if you've added any yourself.
If you see one that says something like "USB Enhanced Host Controller," that means you have the 2.0 speed. The "Enhanced" part is what sets the 2.0 apart from the slower speed. On my computer, that entry was the very last one, so make sure you look through your whole list before you make any assumptions. Also, just for your information, if one of your USB ports is 2.0, it's likely that all of your ports will be the same. That goes for the 1.0 speed as well. Most computers don't come with two different port speeds. So, tell me, how does it feel to know what kind of USB speed your PC is running? Pretty darn good, huh? Check yours out today!
To get to your computer's USB area, you need to right click on the My Computer icon on your desktop and choose Properties. Next, click on the Hardware tab and then hit the Device Manager button. When that new window opens, scroll down to the very bottom where it says Universal Serial Bus controllers. Click on the plus sign (+) next to that and all of your USB information will come up. You may have quite a few listings or you may only have a few. It just depends on how many ports came with your computer and if you've added any yourself.
If you see one that says something like "USB Enhanced Host Controller," that means you have the 2.0 speed. The "Enhanced" part is what sets the 2.0 apart from the slower speed. On my computer, that entry was the very last one, so make sure you look through your whole list before you make any assumptions. Also, just for your information, if one of your USB ports is 2.0, it's likely that all of your ports will be the same. That goes for the 1.0 speed as well. Most computers don't come with two different port speeds. So, tell me, how does it feel to know what kind of USB speed your PC is running? Pretty darn good, huh? Check yours out today!
Dec 7, 2007
Have you ever needed to open, move or delete several files all at one time? Well, if you have, I can show you a few techniques on how to select those files much faster and easier than what you may have done in the past. Let’s get to it, shall we?!
First off, I will show you how to open a couple files at the same time. You can start by locating the files you wish to open, preferably in your My Documents folder. Once you've found them, click once on the first file and then move your cursor to the last one, but don’t click yet! Before you click, hold down the Shift key on your keyboard and then finally, double click the last file. When you double click the last file, your files should pop up together, as shown here:
The second method I’m going to show you is for opening large groups of files at the same time. It's similar to the first technique, but it is slightly different, so be sure to pay attention! First, click once on the first file and then move your cursor to the next one. Next, hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and then click your mouse through the whole list of files. Be sure to hold the Ctrl key down until you have finished selecting all of the files. Once you've finished choosing your files, you can go ahead and double click on the very last one. Just like before, all of those files will pop up together, as shown here:
Now, you can do a few other things with both of these techniques. You can drag them into another folder, to your hard drive or even to the Recycling Bin. If you can’t see the folder you want to put them in, cut them by right clicking on any file in the selection and choosing Cut from the shortcut menu. Then just navigate to the folder you want to put the files into, right click on it again and select Paste.
You can now open your files much faster than ever before.
First off, I will show you how to open a couple files at the same time. You can start by locating the files you wish to open, preferably in your My Documents folder. Once you've found them, click once on the first file and then move your cursor to the last one, but don’t click yet! Before you click, hold down the Shift key on your keyboard and then finally, double click the last file. When you double click the last file, your files should pop up together, as shown here:
The second method I’m going to show you is for opening large groups of files at the same time. It's similar to the first technique, but it is slightly different, so be sure to pay attention! First, click once on the first file and then move your cursor to the next one. Next, hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and then click your mouse through the whole list of files. Be sure to hold the Ctrl key down until you have finished selecting all of the files. Once you've finished choosing your files, you can go ahead and double click on the very last one. Just like before, all of those files will pop up together, as shown here:
Now, you can do a few other things with both of these techniques. You can drag them into another folder, to your hard drive or even to the Recycling Bin. If you can’t see the folder you want to put them in, cut them by right clicking on any file in the selection and choosing Cut from the shortcut menu. Then just navigate to the folder you want to put the files into, right click on it again and select Paste.
You can now open your files much faster than ever before.
Here's one for those of you who still use floppy disks! As you probably know, after awhile, floppies can become damaged or corrupted. That's especially true if you don’t have a case or something to protect them with. The shutter on the disk, along with the ribbon and some of the other components, may become damaged, which can cause the disk to stop working properly. It can also cause errors on the disk. Luckily, there are some things you can do to see what's going on with your floppy disk before it gets any worse.
The Disk Error Check will check your floppy for errors, the Defragment feature will make it easy and faster to access your files and the Formatting function will help clear up some of your available space. By performing all of these procedures on a regular basis, you will be able to get a lot more life out of your floppy disk. Here's how!
Disk Error Check
To check for errors on one of your floppy disks, put it into your floppy disk drive and double click on the My Computer icon on your desktop. Once you get there, right click on the 3.5 Floppy (A:) disk drive and select Properties. Click on the Tools tab and then click Check Now.
A little window will pop up with a few choices for you: "Check Disk 3.5 Floppy for Disk Options," "Check Both the Automatically Fix File System Errors" and "Scan for and Attempt Recovery of Bad Sector Boxes." Once you've made your choice, just click the Start button. There are four phases the disk checker goes through to give you complete and accurate results.
Formatting
If you have a new floppy disk that is showing up as a full disk or an older disk and it has no available space, you need to reformat it. To do so, go back to the 3.5 Floppy (A:) disk drive icon and right click it. Next, go to Format and the Format 3.5 Floppy A: window will come up. You can leave everything as it is, except for the Format Options. In that section, click Quick Format and then press Start. A caution window will come up, stating that reformatting the disk will erase all of your data. Go ahead and click Yes or OK to that. When the reformat is done, you will receive a Format Complete window, telling you that the formatting process is complete. Simply press OK to close it out.
Defragment
The Defragment tools will make it easy and faster for you to access the files on your floppy disk by rearranging them and saving the data in a color coded method. Again, go back to the 3.5 Floppy (A:) disk drive icon, right click on it and choose Properties. Next, click the Tools tab and then click Defragment Now. The Disk Defragmenter window will come up for you. From there, click on the (A :) choice, if it's not already selected. Then click on the Analyze button and give it a few seconds to run through its scan. A report will then come up for you and you can View, Print or Save the results. The report will show you the exact files and data that are going to be moved. Once you're done looking over the results, click Close and on the Disk Defragmenter window, click Defragment After the Defragmentation process is done, a final report will come up, showing you exactly how much space and files have been compressed. You can either View, Print or Save the results for future reference as well.
The next time your floppy disk takes all day to pull up your files and data, it shows a full disk that should have some available space or it appears to be corrupt, try one these methods to get more out of your floppy disk and correct the problem. I hope this has been helpful to you!
The Disk Error Check will check your floppy for errors, the Defragment feature will make it easy and faster to access your files and the Formatting function will help clear up some of your available space. By performing all of these procedures on a regular basis, you will be able to get a lot more life out of your floppy disk. Here's how!
Disk Error Check
To check for errors on one of your floppy disks, put it into your floppy disk drive and double click on the My Computer icon on your desktop. Once you get there, right click on the 3.5 Floppy (A:) disk drive and select Properties. Click on the Tools tab and then click Check Now.
A little window will pop up with a few choices for you: "Check Disk 3.5 Floppy for Disk Options," "Check Both the Automatically Fix File System Errors" and "Scan for and Attempt Recovery of Bad Sector Boxes." Once you've made your choice, just click the Start button. There are four phases the disk checker goes through to give you complete and accurate results.
Formatting
If you have a new floppy disk that is showing up as a full disk or an older disk and it has no available space, you need to reformat it. To do so, go back to the 3.5 Floppy (A:) disk drive icon and right click it. Next, go to Format and the Format 3.5 Floppy A: window will come up. You can leave everything as it is, except for the Format Options. In that section, click Quick Format and then press Start. A caution window will come up, stating that reformatting the disk will erase all of your data. Go ahead and click Yes or OK to that. When the reformat is done, you will receive a Format Complete window, telling you that the formatting process is complete. Simply press OK to close it out.
Defragment
The Defragment tools will make it easy and faster for you to access the files on your floppy disk by rearranging them and saving the data in a color coded method. Again, go back to the 3.5 Floppy (A:) disk drive icon, right click on it and choose Properties. Next, click the Tools tab and then click Defragment Now. The Disk Defragmenter window will come up for you. From there, click on the (A :) choice, if it's not already selected. Then click on the Analyze button and give it a few seconds to run through its scan. A report will then come up for you and you can View, Print or Save the results. The report will show you the exact files and data that are going to be moved. Once you're done looking over the results, click Close and on the Disk Defragmenter window, click Defragment After the Defragmentation process is done, a final report will come up, showing you exactly how much space and files have been compressed. You can either View, Print or Save the results for future reference as well.
The next time your floppy disk takes all day to pull up your files and data, it shows a full disk that should have some available space or it appears to be corrupt, try one these methods to get more out of your floppy disk and correct the problem. I hope this has been helpful to you!
Dec 1, 2007
To make manual inspection and removal more difficult, malware often disables access to Task Manager. Fortunately, a few quick Registry edits are usually all that are needed to regain control. Here's how.
Here's How:
Here's How:
- Click Start
- Click Run
- Type REGEDIT
- Click OK The Registry Editor will now open
- Browse to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\system - In the right pane, look for the value: DisableTaskMgr
- Right click DisableTaskMgr and select Delete. (When prompted with "Are you sure you want to delete this value", select Yes.
- Now browse to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system - In the right pane, look for the value: DisableTaskMgr
- Right click DisableTaskMgr and select Delete. (When prompted with "Are you sure you want to delete this value", select Yes.
- Close the Registry by choosing File | Exit
- You should now be able to access the Registry. If not, reboot into Safe Mode and repeat the steps outlined above.
Nov 12, 2007
What is a boot disk?
A boot disk will allow you to boot off of a diskette instead of your hard drive. This diskette can be used to fix issues that may arise during the lifetime of your computer and/or to help load older MS-DOS games.
Tip: After you have created a boot diskette, it is highly recommended that you write-protect the diskette to prevent possible computer virus infection and to help the diskette from being erased.
A boot disk will allow you to boot off of a diskette instead of your hard drive. This diskette can be used to fix issues that may arise during the lifetime of your computer and/or to help load older MS-DOS games.
Tip: After you have created a boot diskette, it is highly recommended that you write-protect the diskette to prevent possible computer virus infection and to help the diskette from being erased.
Creating a MS-DOS boot disk
Note: These steps are for users who have MS-DOS installed on the computer. If you have any version of Windows follow the below steps for your version of Windows.
To create a MS-DOS diskette, begin by getting to the DOS directory by typing:
cd\dos
Once at the C:\DOS directory, skip to copying files.
Creating a Windows 3.X boot disk
Note: These steps are for users who have Windows 3.x installed on the computer.
To create a Windows 3.x diskette, from Windows Program manager, click File and then choose the option to Exit Windows, which will get you to a prompt; at the prompt, type:
cd\dos
Once at the C:\DOS directory, skip to copying files.
Note: These steps are for users who have Windows 3.x installed on the computer.
To create a Windows 3.x diskette, from Windows Program manager, click File and then choose the option to Exit Windows, which will get you to a prompt; at the prompt, type:
cd\dos
Once at the C:\DOS directory, skip to copying files.
Creating a Windows 95 boot disk
Note: These steps are for users who have Windows 95 installed on the computer.
In Windows 95, Microsoft has created a new method of creating a bootable recovery diskette. Unfortunately, however, this diskette does not support CD-ROM support and is missing a few recommended files. To do this, click Start / Settings / Control Panel / double-click the Add Remove programs icon / click the Startup Disk and create disk.
Alternatively, to create a Windows 95 boot diskette manually from Windows, click Start / Shutdown and choose the option to restart the computer in a MS-DOS prompt. At the prompt, type:
cd\windows\command
Once at the C:\DOS directory, skip to copying files.
Creating a Windows 98 / ME boot disk
Note: These steps are for users who have Windows 98 or Windows ME installed on the computer.
An excellent feature of Windows 98/ME is its boot diskette. Using Windows to create you a Windows 98 boot diskette will give you all the needed files as well as CD-ROM support. To create a Windows 98 boot diskette, click Start / Settings / Control Panel / double-click the Add Remove programs icon / click the Startup Disk and create disk.
Alternatively, to create a Windows 98 boot diskette manually from Windows, click Start / Shutdown and choose the option to restart the computer in a MS-DOS prompt. At the prompt, type:
cd\windows\command
Once at the C:\DOS directory, skip to copying files.
Copying additional files
NOTE: When making a boot disk, if you are running "Stacker" or some kind of a DoubleSpace or drive swapper program, this could not work
Once you are in DOS and at the correct directory as instructed in the above sections by operating system, you are ready to create your bootable diskette. Insert a diskette that does not contain any information (it will be erased).
At the prompt, if you have MS-DOS 6.2 / Windows 3.x / Windows 95 / Windows 98, type:
FORMAT A:/S
If you have MS-DOS 5.0 type using double density 5.25" diskettes type:
FORMAT A: /360 /S
If you have MS- DOS 3.11 through 4.0 using double density 5.25" diskettes, type:
FORMAT A: /4 /S
Once the diskette has been formatted and the system has been transferred, you should be returned to your original directory. In this directory, type:
copy format*.* a: [PRESS ENTER]
copy fdisk*.* a: [PRESS ENTER]
copy mscdex*.* a: [PRESS ENTER]
copy sys*.* a: [PRESS ENTER]
copy edit*.* a: [PRESS ENTER]
copy qbasic*.* a: [PRESS ENTER] (Win 95/98 users skip this line)
copy debug*.* a: [PRESS ENTER]
copy himem*.* a: [PRESS ENTER]
copy emm386*.* a: [PRESS ENTER]
If you are planning to use this diskette as a diskette to load games or you feel that you need mouse support, you will need to copy the mouse driver onto the boot diskette. The MS-DOS mouse driver is generally mouse.com / mouse.sys. Locate this file and copy it to your bootable diskette.
For CD-ROM support, visit our CD-ROM drivers page for information on loading your CD-ROM driver.
Once you have copied the above files, create an autoexec.bat and a config.sys. Get to the floppy drive by typing A:, once at the floppy drive, type:
copy con autoexec.bat [PRESS ENTER]
@echo off [PRESS ENTER]
LH A:\MSCDEX.EXE /D:CDROM [PRESS ENTER] (this line is used for your CD-ROM drive).
LH A:\MOUSE.* [PRESS ENTER] (skip line if you did not copy mouse file, the * is either sys / com).
Press and hold CTRL + Z - this should return ^Z. Once this is displayed, press enter to copy the file.
copy con config.sys [PRESS ENTER]
device=a:\himem.sys
dos=high,umb
device=a:\emm386.exe noems
files=30
buffers=20
devicehigh=a:\oakcdrom.sys /d:CDROM (this line is used for your CD-ROM drive).
Press and hold CTRL + Z - this should return ^Z. Once this is displayed, press enter to copy the file.
Congratulations, after completing the above steps you should now have a bootable floppy diskette.
Creating a Windows NT boot disk
To create a boot diskette you must have access to the i386 directory located on your Windows NT CD or possibly your Hard disk drive.
Format the floppy diskette you wish to make a bootable Windows NT boot disk using the Windows NT machine.
Copy boot.ini, ntdetect.com and ntldr to the floppy diskette just formatted.
If you are using any SCSI devices that you need access to, you will also need to load these drivers onto the diskette.
Creating a Windows 2000 boot disk
To create a Windows 2000 Professional bootable diskette you will need four 1.44MB diskettes and the Windows 2000 Professional CD.
Click Start / Run / browse to the CD-ROM drive.
Open the "BOOTDISK" folder and double-click makeboot.exe and click ok to launch the program to create the diskette.
Users can also easily create an Emergency Repair Disk by clicking Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and opening Backup. From the Backup window, click the button for Emergency Repair Disk and follow each of the steps.
Creating a Windows XP boot disk
Note: The Microsoft Windows XP CD is a bootable CD and in many cases you should not need a bootable floppy diskette. Booting from the Windows XP CD will allow you to not only install/re-install Windows XP but will also allow you to troubleshoot it.
Create MS-DOS bootable diskette
When formatting a floppy diskette, users have the option of creating a MS-DOS startup disk, follow the below steps to do this.
1. Place diskette in the computer.
2. Open My Computer, right click the A: drive and click Format.
3. In the Format window, check Create an MS-DOS startup disk.
4. Click Start
Create Windows XP Setup diskettes
Microsoft is beginning to phase out bootable floppy diskettes in favor of bootable CD discs and has not included a method of easily creating a bootable floppy diskette in Windows XP or from the CD. However, Microsoft has downloads available for users who still need to create bootable diskettes to install (not upgrade) Windows XP. These downloads can be found through the Microsoft download center.
Additional help and information about troubleshooting bootable CDs not booting is found on document CH000217.
How to use a boot diskette
Once the bootable diskette has been successfully created, following the below steps you will be able to boot from the diskette.
Once the bootable diskette has been successfully created, following the below steps you will be able to boot from the diskette.
- Place the diskette into write-protect mode (in case a virus is on the computer, this will not allow the virus to transfer itself onto the diskette).
- Insert the diskette into the computer and reset or turn on the computer to begin the boot process.
- As the computer is booting, answer the questions prompted (if any).
- Once at the A:\> take the appropriate actions depending upon the situation of the computer.
- If you are unfamiliar with MS-DOS we recommend you see our MS-DOS page.
The autorun feature enables CDs to play automatically when inserted in the drive. This is the same feature that enabled the now infamous Sony rootkit to install. Removable and thumb drives use the same autorun feature to load files when the drives are plugged into the USB port. Malware relies on this autorun feature to spread from thumb drive to PC. Disable the autorun feature to prevent malware from spreading. And who knows, it may just stop the next rootkit-enabled CD.
Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: 2 minutes
Here's How:
- If you use XP Pro, follow steps 1 through 8 only. XP Home users begin at step 9.
- Click Start and then click Run.
- Type gpedit.msc and click OK.
- The Group Policy window will open. In the left pane, double-click Administrative Templates.
- In the right pane, double-click System.
- Scroll down the list and double-click Turn Off Autoplay.
- In the Turn Off Autoplay Properties window, select Enabled. From the dropdown next to Turn Off Autoplay on, select All drives and then click OK.
- Exit Group Policy by selecting File, then choosing Exit from the menu.
- XP Home users will need to make the changes by editing the registry directly. To begin, click Start and then click Run.
- Type regedit and click OK. The Registry Editor window will open.
- In the left pane, navigate to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Software
Microsoft
Windows
CurrentVersion
Policies
Explorer.
(Note: For help navigating the registry, see the Windows Basics System Registry tutorial). - With Explorer highlighted, in the right-pane right click the value NoDriveTypeAutoRun and select Modify from the drop down menu. The base value will be set to Hexadecimal. If not, select Hexadecimal.
- Type 91 and click OK.
- Exit Registry Editor by selecting File, then choosing Exit from the menu.
- You will now need to reboot your computer for the changes to take effect.
What is a boot sector?
All disks and hard drives are divided into small sectors. The first sector is called the boot sector and contains the Master Boot Record (MBR). The MBR contains the information concerning the location of partitions on the drive and reading of the bootable operating system partition. During the bootup sequence on a DOS-based PC, the BIOS searches for certain system files, IO.SYS and MS-DOS.SYS. When those files have been located, the BIOS then searches for the first sector on that disk or drive and loads the needed Master Boot Record information into memory. The BIOS passes control to a program in the MBR which in turn loads IO.SYS. This latter file is responsible for loading the remainder of the operating system.
What is a boot sector virus?
What is a boot sector virus?
A boot sector virus is one that infects the first sector, i.e.
The boot sector, of a floppy disk or hard drive. Boot sector viruses can also infect the MBR. The first PC virus in the wild was Brain, a boot sector virus that exhibited stealth techniques to avoid detection. Brain also changed the volume label of the disk drive.
How to avoid boot sector viruses.
The boot sector, of a floppy disk or hard drive. Boot sector viruses can also infect the MBR. The first PC virus in the wild was Brain, a boot sector virus that exhibited stealth techniques to avoid detection. Brain also changed the volume label of the disk drive.
How to avoid boot sector viruses.
Commonly, infected floppies and subsequent boot sector infections result from "shared" diskettes and pirated software applications. It is relatively easy to avoid boot sector viruses. Most are spread when users inadvertently leave floppy disks in the drive - which happen to be infected with a boot sector virus. The next time they boot up their PC, the virus infects the local drive. Most systems allow users to change the boot sequence so that the system always attempts to boot first from the local hard drive (C:\) or CD-ROM drive.
Disinfecting boot sector viruses.
Disinfecting boot sector viruses.
Boot sector repair is best accomplished by the use of antivirus software. Because some boot sector viruses encrypt the MBR, improper removal can result in a drive that is inaccessible. However, if you are certain the virus has only affected the boot sector and is not an encrypting virus, the DOS SYS command can be used to restore the first sector. Additionally, the DOS LABEL command can be used to restore a damaged volume label and FDISK /MBR will replace the MBR. None of these methods is recommended, however. Antivirus software remains the best tool for cleanly and accuarately removing boot sector viruses with minimal threat to data and files.
Creating a system disk.
Creating a system disk.
When disinfecting a boot sector virus, the system should always be booted from a known clean system disk. On a DOS-based PC, a bootable system disk can be created on a clean system running the exact same version of DOS as the infected PC. From a DOS prompt, type:
SYS C:\ A:\
And press enter. This will copy the system files from the local hard drive (C:\) to the floppy drive (A:\).
If the disk has not been formatted, the use of FORMAT /S will format the disk and transfer the necessary system files. On Windows 3.1x systems, the disk should be created as described above for DOS-based PC's. On Windows 95/98/NT systems, click Start Settings Control Panel Add/Remove Programs and choose the Startup Disk tab. Then click on "Create Disk". Windows 2000 users should insert the Windows 2000 CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, click Start Run and type the name of the drive followed by bootdisk\makeboot a: and then click OK. For example:
d:\bootdisk\makeboot a:
Follow the screen prompts to finish creating the bootable system disk. In all cases, after the creation of the bootable system disk, the disk should be write protected to avoid infection.
SYS C:\ A:\
And press enter. This will copy the system files from the local hard drive (C:\) to the floppy drive (A:\).
If the disk has not been formatted, the use of FORMAT /S will format the disk and transfer the necessary system files. On Windows 3.1x systems, the disk should be created as described above for DOS-based PC's. On Windows 95/98/NT systems, click Start Settings Control Panel Add/Remove Programs and choose the Startup Disk tab. Then click on "Create Disk". Windows 2000 users should insert the Windows 2000 CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, click Start Run and type the name of the drive followed by bootdisk\makeboot a: and then click OK. For example:
d:\bootdisk\makeboot a:
Follow the screen prompts to finish creating the bootable system disk. In all cases, after the creation of the bootable system disk, the disk should be write protected to avoid infection.
Getting a virus on your system is frustrating to say the least, and can be hazardous to the health of your computer. Indeed, today's malicious software can even steal your identity and wreck your hard-earned credit rating. To help fight back, here's a list of free tools, tips, and tricks to get rid of viruses and keep them from getting back on your system.
Free Virus Removal Tools
Sure the antivirus vendors want to make money, but if you ever get the chance to meet one of their virus researchers, you'll find their real motivation is to protect users. As corny as that may sound, it's true. That's why when stubborn or fast-spreading infectors are discovered, antivirus vendors release special tools to remove the malware - and give the tools away free. It's no substitute for installed antivirus software, but if you're already infected and in a pinch, it's the next best thing to, well, installed antivirus software.
Free Virus Removal Tools
Sure the antivirus vendors want to make money, but if you ever get the chance to meet one of their virus researchers, you'll find their real motivation is to protect users. As corny as that may sound, it's true. That's why when stubborn or fast-spreading infectors are discovered, antivirus vendors release special tools to remove the malware - and give the tools away free. It's no substitute for installed antivirus software, but if you're already infected and in a pinch, it's the next best thing to, well, installed antivirus software.
- Create a Free F-Prot Rescue CD - FRISK Software - one of the oldest and most respected antivirus companies (and the secret sauce hidden in a lot of antivirus products being sold under other names)- offers their F-Prot for DOS scanner free for personal use. It's ideal for making a rescue CD so you can scan the system from a clean boot.
- McAfee AVERT Stinger - McAfee AVERT Labs offers a handy utility to run in Windows that cleans some of the more common malware.
- Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool - Microsoft offers a free tool to remove prevalent software active on the system. The tool is offered via Automatic Updates, Windows Updates, and Microsoft Updates, or it can be manually downloaded using the provided link.
- Symantec Virus Removal Tools - Antivirus vendor Symantec offers a wide range of free cleaning tools for individual malware removal.
- F-Secure Virus Removal Tools - Another good choice for individual malware removal are these free tools from F-Secure.
- For a second opinion scan or a not-so-stubborn infector, try one of the Top Online Scanners
Free Virus Repair and Prevention Tips
- How to Repair a Boot Sector Virus - Though boot sector viruses are rare in the U.S. and most European countries, they are still prevalent in other parts of the world.
- How to Make an Antivirus Rescue CD - In case you missed it above, steps for creating an F-Prot CD.
- Eight Ways to Stop Virus Infection - Prevention. Prevention. Prevention. These are the essential steps.
- How to Make Sure Your Antivirus is Working - Viruses, worms, and trojans often disable your antivirus software when they infect your system. This prevents the antivirus software from being updated and detecting the presence of the malware. Here's how to check to ensure it's working.
- How to Avoid Macro Viruses - From the SANS Institute, tips on avoiding macro viruses.
- How To Prevent Email Worms - Security configuration changes you need to make to your favorite email client software.
- IM Safety Tips - In some crowds, instant messaging (IM) is more popular than email. But IM carries its own set of risks. These tips will help reduce the risk.
It's quite simple. Go to Start, Control Panel, Printers and Other Hardware and choose Printers and Faxes. Once there, you will see a list of all the printers you have installed on your computer. More than likely, you will only have one or two, but click on the one you want to test so that it is highlighted. Then right click and choose Properties. The Properties box for your printer will then come up. Under the General tab, look toward the bottom of the box and you'll see a Print Test Page button. Click on that and your printer will automatically print a page out for you. Don't forget to turn your printer on before you start this though or obviously, nothing will happen.
That was pretty easy, wasn't it?! Now you can test your printer(s) whenever you feel the need.
Note: Do keep in mind that all printers are different, but every printer should have this feature offered within its software. If you have trouble finding it, refer to your printer's manual.
As we all know, in the MS Office programs, there is a list of recently used files at the bottom of the File menu.
Most people access these with their mouse, which is not a bad way to do it. That method works well, but did you know you can accomplish the same task with just a few keys?
No?
Well, you sure can! So, let's move on to the "how" part, shall we?
First, hit Alt + F (that will activate the File menu or Office button in the 2007 version).
Next, press the number listed beside the file name in the list of recently used files (either at the bottom of the file menu or the right side of the Office Button menu).
Just like magic, the file will open and you'll be ready to go.
Okay, well, maybe it's not magic, but it sure can be a time saver!
Most people access these with their mouse, which is not a bad way to do it. That method works well, but did you know you can accomplish the same task with just a few keys?
No?
Well, you sure can! So, let's move on to the "how" part, shall we?
First, hit Alt + F (that will activate the File menu or Office button in the 2007 version).
Next, press the number listed beside the file name in the list of recently used files (either at the bottom of the file menu or the right side of the Office Button menu).
Just like magic, the file will open and you'll be ready to go.
Okay, well, maybe it's not magic, but it sure can be a time saver!
Cleaning Your Computer: 12 Simple Tips
A stitch in time saves nine! Believe it or not, but this adage works brilliantly for your computer too. Not only will keeping your computer clean help you save on maintenance cost, but it will also keep you stress free so that you can focus on your work and nothing else! So, why is cleaning your computer so important? Well, basically because dust and debris collect in your system, causing your computer to heat up, which can eventually lead to hardware failure.
Here are a few simple tips that will keep you in the clear. Read on!
A stitch in time saves nine! Believe it or not, but this adage works brilliantly for your computer too. Not only will keeping your computer clean help you save on maintenance cost, but it will also keep you stress free so that you can focus on your work and nothing else! So, why is cleaning your computer so important? Well, basically because dust and debris collect in your system, causing your computer to heat up, which can eventually lead to hardware failure.
Here are a few simple tips that will keep you in the clear. Read on!
- To clean your computer case, first unplug your system power from the electrical outlet. Remove all the cables and connectors from the back side of your computer. The computer will require the fans to be blown out as well. Some PCs have multiple fans: one on the processor and one or two on the power supply. Make sure you clean them all. The best thing to use is probably compressed air. Just blow that air all around the hardware components, while keeping the nozzle at least four to five inches away from the main board components.
- Another good alternative to compressed air is to use a portable battery powered vacuum that can effectively remove the dust, dirt and hair from the motherboard and prevent it from getting trapped within the case. However, do not use a standard electricity powered vacuum, as it can cause a lot of static electricity that can damage your computer. When using the vacuum, it is vital that you stay a couple inches away from the motherboard and all the other components to help prevent contact, as well as, to help prevent anything from being sucked into the vacuum. Ensure that you do not remove any small components with the vacuum, such as jumpers.
- To clean your keyboard, pick up a can of compressed air at your local office supply store. In case you're not sure, compressed air is a handy invention that forces air from a can out through a long thin straw. You can use it to clean out dust and debris on your keyboard, without having to take the whole thing apart. Be careful not to blow dust into your hard drive though, as that may cause damage to your machine. It's a good idea to turn the keyboard upside down and give it a few good shakes before you use it again. If you're brave, you can pop off the keys and soak them in a solution of ammonia and water, but be careful, because not all the keys come off easily. If you feel resistance, stop!
- If you feel the need to test fate, you can pull out the memory and other cards from your computer and gently rub a pencil eraser on the contacts before putting them back in. However, don't pull any cards out unless you're having problems reaching certain areas.
- Remember, never open a CRT monitor. Even when it's unplugged, they retain enough current to seriously harm you.
- When cleaning the inside of your computer (motherboard, etc.), make sure your computer is off. Also, never place your computer on the ground. You should always use a computer table or shelf while you're cleaning.
- Only use an air duster/canned air to remove dust from your computer's components. It's best to do it outside as well so that it doesn’t end up all over your house!
- When cleaning your monitor, make sure you do so with a clean rag and only use cleaning agents designed for electronics.
- When you're finished with the inside, use a lightly dampened cloth or paper towel to wipe off the outside of your computer case. Gently wipe down the casing using Q-Tips to clean small places like vent holes and disk drive openings.
- Never clean the inside computer components or other circuit boards with a damp or wet cloth.
- Wipe down the outside of your mouse with a slightly damp cloth. Next, unscrew the ring from the bottom of your mouse and remove the ball. Dust off the ball with a soft cloth and look inside the cavity of your mouse. There will probably be some dust clinging to the rollers that move the ball and you can just scrape that out with a Q-Tip. When you're finished, replace the ball and ring. Optical mice will require little maintenance, but ball mice can be disassembled. Clean the ball itself, as well as, the X and Y axis rollers.
- To keep your computer looking clean longer, purchase an inexpensive plastic covering for your equipment!
If you follow all of these guidelines, your computer and all of its equipment will shine like new!
Nov 5, 2007
Very simple way is to display the file extension through the Folder Options menu. Done. Does not need a headache to install an anti-dizziness and mengupdatenya each day. In this way, my computer is never wrong brontok virus, although many data exchange occurs with the outside world.
Folder Options menu can be accessed through the Control Panel or via Windows Explorer on the Tools menu-> Folder Options. After the Folder Options window opens select the View tab and uncheck the checkbox option Hide extensions for known file types.
Windows has to do with the fatal error extension by default.
Folder Options menu:
Showing Extensions:
Folder Options menu can be accessed through the Control Panel or via Windows Explorer on the Tools menu-> Folder Options. After the Folder Options window opens select the View tab and uncheck the checkbox option Hide extensions for known file types.
Windows has to do with the fatal error extension by default.
Folder Options menu:
Showing Extensions:
Display the files or folders are hidden naughty Worm
0 Commented : Post by : PazSt_Ft2K At : 11:54 AMMost of the local worm circulating in Indonesia in action with the folder / file. To create the folder / files that are hidden, there are several ways, which may already know that a lot. But, no one in this blog I write back. As for how to bring back the folder / file is missing is as follows:
1. How common is to use the command attrib [drive:] [path] *.*-h-r-s / s / d
in DOS system.
For example, attrib D: / document / *.*-h-r-s / s / d if the files and folders that appear in direktory D: / document
2. Praktisnya way, use the menu Plugins ANSAV-Hidden Revealer or Gucup Antivirus tools in the menu-option-show hidden folder selection
3. Alternatively, can use the registry for. Copy the text below into notepad, then save with the name MunculFolder.reg (file type all files).
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Drive \ shell \ MunculFolder]
@ = "Munculkan Folders and Files"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Drive \ shell \ MunculFolder \ Command]
@ = "Attrib-h-r-s *.* / s / d"
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Directory \ shell \ MunculFolder]
@ = "Munculkan Folders and Files"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Directory \ shell \ MunculFolder \ Command]
@ = "Attrib-h-r-s *.* / s / d"
Then double-click the file. After changing registry settings, then you live right-click the drive / folder to display the folder / file on the drive / folder tersebut.Semoga useful.
Virus problems often make us annoyed so we are even people who protek matter over which files will go into our computer, especially if you have friends who want to install flashdisknya wahh we are really confused with the antivirus program to prepare a reliable and certainly we often say "" heii flashdisknya please scan in the past "." In fact, the virus that gampang2 difficult, the main computer which we used the Benar2 clean of viruses, we install a new antivirus program is powerful aman2 will aja, but if we do not have computer programs antivirusnya how antivirus dinstall if we fell ill computer virus, it's useless even antivirus bisa2 itself attacked by the virus. some virus that we often hear that brontok and trojan menyembuyikan that most of the file or folder by it fell ill. problem if da page we should do is install aja NOD32 antivirus which I most powerful antivirus soalnya virus2 not Benar2 so that the virus is still in the form of a script that could have been detected, or we use norton antivirus 2005 is also good.
kompt after we installed the set in the option menu, for files that do not directly terdetek virus terdelete but only clean aja. okee now we start the next step. try to check, for example flash that we have now been scanned, right click select properties see how mega remaining, for example in case we have full flash but we see our flash content if we click the empty file does not have any, then be sure that all contents from the flash that we have been hidden by the virus. nah bsekarang to try to overcome the page teman2 open comman promt on accesories such as after the typing below:
attrib-h-s-r e: \ *.* / s / d
description:
-h is to unhide, e: \ *.* that location that will drive us all munculkan content if we want to localdisk Until then just type in d: \ *.*, then try to type dir and press enter if the file appears a lot of it means all the flash we have already shown. Try congratulations.
kompt after we installed the set in the option menu, for files that do not directly terdetek virus terdelete but only clean aja. okee now we start the next step. try to check, for example flash that we have now been scanned, right click select properties see how mega remaining, for example in case we have full flash but we see our flash content if we click the empty file does not have any, then be sure that all contents from the flash that we have been hidden by the virus. nah bsekarang to try to overcome the page teman2 open comman promt on accesories such as after the typing below:
attrib-h-s-r e: \ *.* / s / d
description:
-h is to unhide, e: \ *.* that location that will drive us all munculkan content if we want to localdisk Until then just type in d: \ *.*, then try to type dir and press enter if the file appears a lot of it means all the flash we have already shown. Try congratulations.
Oct 3, 2007
This virus can spread through the data storage media such as flash disks. When you mencolokkan flash disk on the infected computer, then the flash disk there will be some new files, such as explorer.exe,%% virusname. Exe, and msvbvm60.dll. Also, some files such as desktop.ini, autorun.inf so that it can automatically running on the flash disk when you access it.
Virus file stored on any other directory in the new flash disk with the name of the file containing the Recycled Firus.pif and Folder.htt. All files are virus hidden in a condition so that it does not appear.
Virus file stored on any other directory in the new flash disk with the name of the file containing the Recycled Firus.pif and Folder.htt. All files are virus hidden in a condition so that it does not appear.
Virus creation FFE results look simple indeed. Same as Generatornya, he also created using the Visual Basic language in the method-compile Native-Code. Then, in order to compress the tELock the small size. This virus has a body the size of the original 55,296 bytes.
When the virus first executed, it will create several master files in several locations. As in the directory \% WINDOWS% \, there will be files with nama.exe, Win32 exe, activex.exe, and% virusname% (the name of the virus according diisikan by the author on the Generator). In \% WINDOWS% \% system32% \ copy.pif file will be there, _default.pif, and surif.bin. In addition, he also change or create files Oeminfo.ini which are part of the System Properties. So if your computer is infected by the virus results from the FFE generate, then on the System Properties will be any posts "Generated by Fast Firus Engine".
In the directory \% WINDOWS% \% System% \ there will be some files that use the parent of the same name as the property of the Windows file system, such as csrss.exe, winlogon.exe, lsass.exe, smss.exe, svchost. exe, and winlogon.exe.
And do not forget, in the root drive will be there with the file name "read euy.txt" which contains messages from the creator of the virus. So when the virus makes use of generators, then the author will are some of the input box, such as the Author of the virus, Name of the virus, and Messages. Nah, the contents of this message box is displayed later in the file "read euy.txt" is.
After the virus was successful copy-and-a parent to file in the system, it will run the main file before, so will the memory process, there are several viruses, such as csrss.exe, winlogon.exe, lsass. exe, smss.exe, svchost.exe, and winlogon.exe. Name of the process is similar to the process / services belonging to a Windows may deliberately to deceive users. To distinguish them, you can see the path or the location process is executed. Process virus is usually run in the System directory while the process / services are running Windows property usually comes from the System32 directory.
When the virus first executed, it will create several master files in several locations. As in the directory \% WINDOWS% \, there will be files with nama.exe, Win32 exe, activex.exe, and% virusname% (the name of the virus according diisikan by the author on the Generator). In \% WINDOWS% \% system32% \ copy.pif file will be there, _default.pif, and surif.bin. In addition, he also change or create files Oeminfo.ini which are part of the System Properties. So if your computer is infected by the virus results from the FFE generate, then on the System Properties will be any posts "Generated by Fast Firus Engine".
In the directory \% WINDOWS% \% System% \ there will be some files that use the parent of the same name as the property of the Windows file system, such as csrss.exe, winlogon.exe, lsass.exe, smss.exe, svchost. exe, and winlogon.exe.
And do not forget, in the root drive will be there with the file name "read euy.txt" which contains messages from the creator of the virus. So when the virus makes use of generators, then the author will are some of the input box, such as the Author of the virus, Name of the virus, and Messages. Nah, the contents of this message box is displayed later in the file "read euy.txt" is.
After the virus was successful copy-and-a parent to file in the system, it will run the main file before, so will the memory process, there are several viruses, such as csrss.exe, winlogon.exe, lsass. exe, smss.exe, svchost.exe, and winlogon.exe. Name of the process is similar to the process / services belonging to a Windows may deliberately to deceive users. To distinguish them, you can see the path or the location process is executed. Process virus is usually run in the System directory while the process / services are running Windows property usually comes from the System32 directory.
Sep 17, 2007
Determining whether USB 2.0 is on your Windows XP machine
0 Commented : Post by : PazSt_Ft2K At : 10:53 AMIf you plug a USB 2.0 device into a USB 1.1 port, Windows XP will display a warning message indicating that it will drop back to the slower data transfer speed. (USB 2.0 clocks in with a data transfer speed of 480 Mbits/second to USB 1.1's 12 Mbits/second.) In order to find out what version of USB controller is on a computer before you connect a USB device to it, follow these steps:
Press [Windows][Break] to access the System Properties dialog box.
Select the Hardware tab and click the Device Manager button.
When Device Manager appears, click the + sign next to the Universal Serial Bus Controllers branch.
If you see an entry containing the words Enhanced USB Controller, then the system has a USB 2.0 controller. If you see an entry containing the words USB Controller, the system has a USB 1.1 controller.
Note:
This tip applies to both Windows XP Home and Professional editions.
Press [Windows][Break] to access the System Properties dialog box.
Select the Hardware tab and click the Device Manager button.
When Device Manager appears, click the + sign next to the Universal Serial Bus Controllers branch.
If you see an entry containing the words Enhanced USB Controller, then the system has a USB 2.0 controller. If you see an entry containing the words USB Controller, the system has a USB 1.1 controller.
Note:
This tip applies to both Windows XP Home and Professional editions.
Lost your Windows password? Here’s what you can do to get around
0 Commented : Post by : PazSt_Ft2K At : 10:29 AMDue to the security features built into Windows XP, it is virtually impossible to get back into the system without the password.
You have several options to try and get around this problem.
If you have access to another user account with administrator rights, you can use that account to change the password of the account that is locked out. You can also use the default Administrator account that is built into Windows XP.
First you need to boot the system into Safe Mode.
Restart your system.
When you see the blue screen, press the ( F8 ) key about 3 times a second.
You should get the Windows startup menu. Use the (Up or Down) arrow keys to highlight (SafeMode).
Press (Enter) on (Safe Mode), then press (Enter) on (Windows XP).
The system should boot to Safe Mode.
Once you are at the Account Log on Screen, click on the icon for the user account with administrator rights, or click on the icon for the administrators account.
Note : For Home the Administrator account isn’t normally shown & in Safe Mode you have to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete keys twice to show. For PRO you can do this in normal mode
When the system has booted to the desktop, use the following steps to change the accounts password.
Click Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools.
Click Computer Management.
Double click Local Users and Groups, double click the folder Users.
Right click on the account name that is locked out, and click on Set Password.
You may get a warning message about changing the password, simply click proceed.
Leave the New Password box blank, also leave the Confirm Password box blank.
Click OK, and OK again.
Then close all Windows, reboot the system and try to log in.
There are also applications that can recover the password for you.
If the above information does not help in recovering the password, the only option left is to format the hard drive then reinstall Windows and the system software.
You have several options to try and get around this problem.
If you have access to another user account with administrator rights, you can use that account to change the password of the account that is locked out. You can also use the default Administrator account that is built into Windows XP.
First you need to boot the system into Safe Mode.
Restart your system.
When you see the blue screen, press the ( F8 ) key about 3 times a second.
You should get the Windows startup menu. Use the (Up or Down) arrow keys to highlight (SafeMode).
Press (Enter) on (Safe Mode), then press (Enter) on (Windows XP).
The system should boot to Safe Mode.
Once you are at the Account Log on Screen, click on the icon for the user account with administrator rights, or click on the icon for the administrators account.
Note : For Home the Administrator account isn’t normally shown & in Safe Mode you have to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete keys twice to show. For PRO you can do this in normal mode
When the system has booted to the desktop, use the following steps to change the accounts password.
Click Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools.
Click Computer Management.
Double click Local Users and Groups, double click the folder Users.
Right click on the account name that is locked out, and click on Set Password.
You may get a warning message about changing the password, simply click proceed.
Leave the New Password box blank, also leave the Confirm Password box blank.
Click OK, and OK again.
Then close all Windows, reboot the system and try to log in.
There are also applications that can recover the password for you.
If the above information does not help in recovering the password, the only option left is to format the hard drive then reinstall Windows and the system software.
Remove Virus in XP that Disables “Show Hidden Files”
0 Commented : Post by : PazSt_Ft2K At : 10:18 AMThere is a certain virus that prevents XP users from viewing the hidden files.
The virus meddles with the ’Show hidden files and folders’ option in the Folder Options and the option keeps bouncing back to ‘Do not show hidden files and folders’, despite repeated trials.
Here is how you can set this problem right:
Navigate to the windows registry:
Go to Start menu
Click Run
Type regedit in the text box and then click Enter.
When the Registry Editor opens, perform the following steps:
Go to the following registry key:
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and then open Software.
Under this navigate to : Microsoft -> Windows -> Current Version -> Explorer
Then go to Advanced -> Folder -> Hidden -> SHOWALL
Delete the value CheckedValue.
(Its type should be REG_SZ and data should be 2 or 0.)
Create a new DWORD value called CheckedValue (same as above, except that the type is REG_DWORD).
Modify the value data to 1 (0×00000001).This should enable you to select the ‘Show hidden files and folders’ option without much problem.Do drop in comments if there are further queries and we shall try to find answers.
The virus meddles with the ’Show hidden files and folders’ option in the Folder Options and the option keeps bouncing back to ‘Do not show hidden files and folders’, despite repeated trials.
Here is how you can set this problem right:
Navigate to the windows registry:
Go to Start menu
Click Run
Type regedit in the text box and then click Enter.
When the Registry Editor opens, perform the following steps:
Go to the following registry key:
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and then open Software.
Under this navigate to : Microsoft -> Windows -> Current Version -> Explorer
Then go to Advanced -> Folder -> Hidden -> SHOWALL
Delete the value CheckedValue.
(Its type should be REG_SZ and data should be 2 or 0.)
Create a new DWORD value called CheckedValue (same as above, except that the type is REG_DWORD).
Modify the value data to 1 (0×00000001).This should enable you to select the ‘Show hidden files and folders’ option without much problem.Do drop in comments if there are further queries and we shall try to find answers.
Windows-XP has a “feature” (???) with which it is possible to manually crash a system by simply holding the right CTRL key and pressing the “Scroll Lock” key twice. This feature can be turned on by the following steps:
1. Start regedit.
2. Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\i8042prt\Parameters
3. Create a new DWORD value and name it CrashOnCtrlScroll
4. Right-click on this newly created value and click on Modify
5. Enter 1 in the Value data field and click on OK.
6. Close regedit and reboot your system.
7. Now you can blue screen (crash) your system by holding the right CTRL key and pressing “Scroll Lock” twice.
Note:
Your system may reboot or show a blue screen whenever this crash is initiated. If your system reboots after initiating the crash, and you want to see the blue screen, follow these steps:
1. Go to Control Panel > System
2. Click on the Advanced tab
3. Under Startup and Recovery, click the Settings button.
4. Under System failure, uncheck the option Automatically restart.
Happy crashing ... and enjoy !!!
1. Start regedit.
2. Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\i8042prt\Parameters
3. Create a new DWORD value and name it CrashOnCtrlScroll
4. Right-click on this newly created value and click on Modify
5. Enter 1 in the Value data field and click on OK.
6. Close regedit and reboot your system.
7. Now you can blue screen (crash) your system by holding the right CTRL key and pressing “Scroll Lock” twice.
Note:
Your system may reboot or show a blue screen whenever this crash is initiated. If your system reboots after initiating the crash, and you want to see the blue screen, follow these steps:
1. Go to Control Panel > System
2. Click on the Advanced tab
3. Under Startup and Recovery, click the Settings button.
4. Under System failure, uncheck the option Automatically restart.
Happy crashing ... and enjoy !!!
Aug 29, 2007
Tidak seperti RAM, harddisk mempunyai bagian yang bergerak dan oleh karena itu dapat mengalami kesalahan. Cepat atau lambat, cluster dapat terkorupsi, bagian dari file dapat hilang dan sejumlah kesalahan lainnya dapat muncul. Anda mungkin telah melihat bagaimana Windows 98/Me akan menjalankan Scandisk jika Anda tidak melakukan shutdown dengan benar, atau bagaimana Windows 2000/XP akan menjalankan Chkdsk pada situasi yang sama. Kebanyakan orang melewati pengecekan ini, terutama karena bisa memakan waktu yang lama, apalagi pada partisi yang besar. Sebenarnya Anda harus
meluangkan waktu untuk menjalankan keduanya paling tidak sekali-sekali, apalagi jika sistem Anda mulai tua – ini mungkin dapat menghindari Anda dari hilangnya pada masa yang akan datang.
Secara umum, kami sarankan untuk menjalankan Scandisk atau Chkdsk paling sedikit sekali sebulan pada sistem yang lebih tua. Scandisk dapat ditemukan di grup program System Tools, sementara Chkdsk dapat dijalankan dari perintah Run dengan mengetik chkdsk.exe pada sistem XP. Jika Anda menjalankan Scandisk pada sistem Windows 98/Me, pastikan untuk memilih opsi Thorough, yang akan memeriksa permukaan harddisk terhadap semua kesalahan. Akan membutuhkan waktu untuk menyelesaikannya, jadi lakukan pada waktu Anda ada waktu senggang atau pergi ke suatu tempat.
meluangkan waktu untuk menjalankan keduanya paling tidak sekali-sekali, apalagi jika sistem Anda mulai tua – ini mungkin dapat menghindari Anda dari hilangnya pada masa yang akan datang.
Secara umum, kami sarankan untuk menjalankan Scandisk atau Chkdsk paling sedikit sekali sebulan pada sistem yang lebih tua. Scandisk dapat ditemukan di grup program System Tools, sementara Chkdsk dapat dijalankan dari perintah Run dengan mengetik chkdsk.exe pada sistem XP. Jika Anda menjalankan Scandisk pada sistem Windows 98/Me, pastikan untuk memilih opsi Thorough, yang akan memeriksa permukaan harddisk terhadap semua kesalahan. Akan membutuhkan waktu untuk menyelesaikannya, jadi lakukan pada waktu Anda ada waktu senggang atau pergi ke suatu tempat.
Ini terjadi ke setiap orang. Anda secara tidak sengaja menghapus suatu file, mengosongkan Recycle Bin dan sekarang Anda tidak mempunyai backup dan menginginkan file itu kembali. Untungnya Anda bisa saja melakukan itu, tetapi jangan senang dulu. Data yang terhapus biasanya dapat dikembalikan dengan menggunakan applikasi free utility undelete, tetapi itu jika tidak ada data lain yang menempati cluster-nya.
Inilah yang menjadi salah satu alasan kuat perlunya menyimpan data ke partisi lain –tempat OS ter-install biasanya ditulisi dengan banyak data tanpa kita sadari, seperti temporary files misalnya, sehingga bisa membuat data Anda tidak dapat dikembalikan. Jalan terbaik adalah dengan menginstal aplikasi undelete (sebagai contoh File Recovery) sebelum Anda khawatir tentang pengembalian data – menginstalasi utiliti undelete bisa saja menyebabkan file tersebut tidak dapat dikembalikan jika utiliti menggunakan ruang harddisk yang sama.
Untuk mendapatkan applikasi Free Undelete biasa di download disini
Inilah yang menjadi salah satu alasan kuat perlunya menyimpan data ke partisi lain –tempat OS ter-install biasanya ditulisi dengan banyak data tanpa kita sadari, seperti temporary files misalnya, sehingga bisa membuat data Anda tidak dapat dikembalikan. Jalan terbaik adalah dengan menginstal aplikasi undelete (sebagai contoh File Recovery) sebelum Anda khawatir tentang pengembalian data – menginstalasi utiliti undelete bisa saja menyebabkan file tersebut tidak dapat dikembalikan jika utiliti menggunakan ruang harddisk yang sama.
Untuk mendapatkan applikasi Free Undelete biasa di download disini
Aug 26, 2007
Have you ever found yourself frustrated with a Word document you planned to bind?
You know, you're planning to print the document you've spent hours preparing and then put it into a binder, report cover or other type of binding.
The problem arises when you start putting the pages into the binding. The left margin looks smaller than the right or even worse, some of the text is in the binding!
Now what?
One way to fix this is to try manually adjusting the left margin. That is, make it larger so that it accommodates the binding.
This way works, but wouldn't it be easier if you had a place to simply enter the amount of extra space you need for the binding?
Yes, of course it would. And that's exactly what we intend to do today!
What you're looking for is MS Word's gutter.
According to the Office Assistant, the gutter margin is "a setting that adds extra space to the side or top margin of a document you plan to bind. A gutter margin ensures that text isn't obscured by the binding."
Sounds like a perfect solution to me!
(And did you catch the little "bonus?" You can set a gutter margin for either the left side or for the top of a document. This choice puts a little more flexibility into your binding options!)
So, where do we find the wonderful world of gutters?
Why, in the Page Setup section, of course.
With the document you want to bind open, go to the File menu, Page Setup choice.
Next, you're looking for the Margins tab.
The layout of the tab may vary from version to version, but you're basically looking for the same things.
As you make these choices, you should see the preview picture updated each time. The checked area that appears denotes the placement of the gutter.
Notice that the margins around the text are still intact, so once the gutter margin space is in the binding, it will all look evenly spaced.
And finally, for those of you who plan to bind a double sided document, I'm sure you're already extremely concerned over the "left side" issue, am I right?
After all, if you're going to bind double sided pages, sometimes it's the left margin and sometimes it's the right.
So, now what?
Never fear! You're in the right place and the answer is just one choice away.
You're looking for the Mirror Margins option.
In some versions, it's a checkbox and in others, it's found in the Multiple Pages drop down list.
Once you make the Mirror Margins selection, you should see your preview updated to reflect the change.
Hit the OK button when you're done.
Wow! Who knew that with a few changes to the Page Setup window, you could make your already perfect document that much better in its printed form? Yes!
You know, you're planning to print the document you've spent hours preparing and then put it into a binder, report cover or other type of binding.
The problem arises when you start putting the pages into the binding. The left margin looks smaller than the right or even worse, some of the text is in the binding!
Now what?
One way to fix this is to try manually adjusting the left margin. That is, make it larger so that it accommodates the binding.
This way works, but wouldn't it be easier if you had a place to simply enter the amount of extra space you need for the binding?
Yes, of course it would. And that's exactly what we intend to do today!
What you're looking for is MS Word's gutter.
According to the Office Assistant, the gutter margin is "a setting that adds extra space to the side or top margin of a document you plan to bind. A gutter margin ensures that text isn't obscured by the binding."
Sounds like a perfect solution to me!
(And did you catch the little "bonus?" You can set a gutter margin for either the left side or for the top of a document. This choice puts a little more flexibility into your binding options!)
So, where do we find the wonderful world of gutters?
Why, in the Page Setup section, of course.
With the document you want to bind open, go to the File menu, Page Setup choice.
Next, you're looking for the Margins tab.
The layout of the tab may vary from version to version, but you're basically looking for the same things.
- The Gutter field — In this field, enter the amount of extra margin you need added to accommodate the binding.
- The Gutter position choice — Choose between a left or top gutter.
- The Apply to field — Be sure to decide how much of the document needs to have the gutter (for example, This section, This point forward or Whole document.)
As you make these choices, you should see the preview picture updated each time. The checked area that appears denotes the placement of the gutter.
Notice that the margins around the text are still intact, so once the gutter margin space is in the binding, it will all look evenly spaced.
And finally, for those of you who plan to bind a double sided document, I'm sure you're already extremely concerned over the "left side" issue, am I right?
After all, if you're going to bind double sided pages, sometimes it's the left margin and sometimes it's the right.
So, now what?
Never fear! You're in the right place and the answer is just one choice away.
You're looking for the Mirror Margins option.
In some versions, it's a checkbox and in others, it's found in the Multiple Pages drop down list.
Once you make the Mirror Margins selection, you should see your preview updated to reflect the change.
Hit the OK button when you're done.
Wow! Who knew that with a few changes to the Page Setup window, you could make your already perfect document that much better in its printed form? Yes!
So, you're in need of a hard copy from an MS Word file, but you don't need the entire file.
Maybe you just need a page or maybe even just a section or two.
If that is all you need, why are you printing the entire document?
Good question and unfortunately, there's no good answer.
So, let's explore a few ways you can get Word to print only what you need.
To begin, you'll need to go to the Print window (File menu, Print choice or Ctrl + P).
In the Page Range section, you'll find a few choices.
By default, the All choice will be selected, but you could change it to Current page, which will print only the page where the cursor is currently located. You also could choose the Selection option, which prints whatever text was highlighted before you went to the Print window.
Below that, you'll find the Pages option. This is where all the printing flexibility comes in.
In this field, you can enter a combination of information to get Word to print exactly what you want, with nothing more and nothing less.
To print whole pages, you can request them by page number.
--> 2 will print only page two of the document.
--> 2, 5 will print only pages two and five of the document.
--> 3-8 will print only pages three through eight of the document.
--> 3, 4-7 will print only pages three and four through seven.
Okay, so you get the idea with whole pages, but here's a quick bonus.
By entering page numbers in reverse order, such as 7-2, you will get Word to print them in reverse order.
Why reverse order?
Well, if Word prints the last page first, it will be at the bottom of the pile when you take the stack off the printer. That means no more shuffling pages to get them into the correct order!
(You could also set the reverse order option through your Printer's Properties window).
Now, moving on to printing sections. (To do this, you have to work with a document that's been broken into sections by inserting section breaks).
To denote the printing of just a section, use the letter "s," followed by the section number.
For example, if you wanted to print section two of the document, you would enter "s2" in the Pages field.
You can use the comma to separate non-consecutive sections and the hyphen to print a range of sections.
Need to mix the page numbers with the sections?
No problem!
Use the letter "p," followed by the page number and then "s," followed by the section number.
For example, "p2s3" means print page two in section three.
This too can be combined with the comma and hyphen to print both consecutive and non-consecutive parts of the document.
Now, go on and get creative and take control of your printed pages!
If you're someone who frequently inserts the current date and/or time into your MS Word documents or PowerPoint presentations, here's a keyboard shortcut I just know you're going to love!
In MS Word, you can press Alt + Shift + D to insert the current date and Alt + Shift + T to insert the current time.
In MS PowerPoint, if you press either combination, you'll get a window that looks like this:
Now you're free to make choices as to the type of data you put on your slide(s). When finished, click the Apply to All button to put the data on the entire presentation (including the master slide) or click Apply to put the data on the slides that were selected before you began.
What more could you ask for? Time and dates at our fingertips, no mouse required!
In MS Word, you can press Alt + Shift + D to insert the current date and Alt + Shift + T to insert the current time.
In MS PowerPoint, if you press either combination, you'll get a window that looks like this:
Now you're free to make choices as to the type of data you put on your slide(s). When finished, click the Apply to All button to put the data on the entire presentation (including the master slide) or click Apply to put the data on the slides that were selected before you began.
What more could you ask for? Time and dates at our fingertips, no mouse required!
Here's a great keyboard shortcut for repetitive tasks!
I tested it and found that it works great in MS Word and Excel. I also tried it in PowerPoint with very limited success and had no luck in MS Outlook or Outlook Express.
At any rate, in Word and Excel, this one can be a huge time saver.
The trick is all in one key: the F4 key.
The F4 key is set to repeat the last action.
Literally, if you simply hit the F4 key, the program will repeat the last action you completed. That's it. Really. it's that simple!
Ideas for MS Excel:
Let's say, for example, you've just inserted a row or column in Excel using the Insert menu. If you then hit F4, you'll get a second row or column inserted, without all the menu work.
Or, with that same example (inserting a row or column), you could move to another part of the worksheet, hit F4 and have a new row or column inserted in the new location.
Repeatedly hitting the F4 key will continue to repeat the last action, allowing you to insert multiple rows or columns quickly and efficiently.
I found I could get this little trick to work with almost any action I used: bolding, underlining, cell format type, justification, etc.
Ideas for MS Word:
In Word, I found this one to work extremely well. I was able to get the F4 key to repeat text formatting, line spacing, text color changes, indenting, font changes and more.
I even found that I could get the repetition of a "just typed" phrase or sentence in Word. It's much quicker than the old copy and paste routine I often find myself using when I have repetitive statements to make.
(Actually, I could use it a lot when writing this newsletter. I often find myself creating lists of shortcuts that are so similar, I just copy and paste and then just change the relevant information to make my next point. This will really speed up the process).
Bonus Idea:
I also tried this one with the drawing tools and found that it was an excellent way to repeat things, without needing the buttons and menus constantly. I found that the F4 key would duplicate a newly drawn shape, repeat a fill color change in a newly selected shape, change line size and color and so on. Whatever you need, it can do!
The key thing to remember is that it repeats the last action you did. So, if you last drew a circle, it will immediately draw a duplicate circle. If you just changed the format of a cell to be percentages, it will change the format of the next cell(s) you select to percentages. Get the idea?
Yeah, I knew you would!
Give this one a try. It's a really great trick with tremendous potential!
I tested it and found that it works great in MS Word and Excel. I also tried it in PowerPoint with very limited success and had no luck in MS Outlook or Outlook Express.
At any rate, in Word and Excel, this one can be a huge time saver.
The trick is all in one key: the F4 key.
The F4 key is set to repeat the last action.
Literally, if you simply hit the F4 key, the program will repeat the last action you completed. That's it. Really. it's that simple!
Ideas for MS Excel:
Let's say, for example, you've just inserted a row or column in Excel using the Insert menu. If you then hit F4, you'll get a second row or column inserted, without all the menu work.
Or, with that same example (inserting a row or column), you could move to another part of the worksheet, hit F4 and have a new row or column inserted in the new location.
Repeatedly hitting the F4 key will continue to repeat the last action, allowing you to insert multiple rows or columns quickly and efficiently.
I found I could get this little trick to work with almost any action I used: bolding, underlining, cell format type, justification, etc.
Ideas for MS Word:
In Word, I found this one to work extremely well. I was able to get the F4 key to repeat text formatting, line spacing, text color changes, indenting, font changes and more.
I even found that I could get the repetition of a "just typed" phrase or sentence in Word. It's much quicker than the old copy and paste routine I often find myself using when I have repetitive statements to make.
(Actually, I could use it a lot when writing this newsletter. I often find myself creating lists of shortcuts that are so similar, I just copy and paste and then just change the relevant information to make my next point. This will really speed up the process).
Bonus Idea:
I also tried this one with the drawing tools and found that it was an excellent way to repeat things, without needing the buttons and menus constantly. I found that the F4 key would duplicate a newly drawn shape, repeat a fill color change in a newly selected shape, change line size and color and so on. Whatever you need, it can do!
The key thing to remember is that it repeats the last action you did. So, if you last drew a circle, it will immediately draw a duplicate circle. If you just changed the format of a cell to be percentages, it will change the format of the next cell(s) you select to percentages. Get the idea?
Yeah, I knew you would!
Give this one a try. It's a really great trick with tremendous potential!
I love flash drives, whether it’s a jump drive or a flash memory MP3 player, it seems that I always always at least one connected to the system I’m working on. So, I’m always excited when I see a cool new trick or program that I can use my flash drive for. I’m all over it!
Portable programs are applications that actually run in place. For example, from the folder or drive in which they are located. These programs may install a couple of registry entries, but nothing significant or potentially revealing. Due to the fact that these programs run in place and are usually small in size marks them as great applications that can be used on a flash drive.
I ran a couple of download articles awhile back concerning portable programs that could be useful if ran from a flash drive (Portable Firefox, Thunderbird and Sunbird), which I myself have found great use for. It has been awhile however, since I have checked back with the community to see if anything new has come along in the area of portable programs. Well, I should have a long time ago, because there are some really cool programs out there.
For today’s Download of the Week, I’m actually going to showcase a program that I believe will really impress you. It is called Process Explorer. This is actually a program that Steve himself asked me about awhile ago. He sent me an e-mail concerning an article or program that could more easily describe what certain processes are doing in your system. I thought this would be a good idea and spotted this little fella, and I knew immediately that fate had brought us together.
Process Explorer is a process viewer to the tenth degree. You can easily view and identify, not only processes, but also services and DLLs.
Process Explorer’s list of features:
· Process suspend/resume
· Thread details including stacks
· Job object information
· Start time and CPU time process columns
· Option to hide the lower pane
· Kill process tree
· Accurate registry key names for profile unload debugging
· Extensive help file
· Service descriptions on services tab of service process properties dialog
· You can configure custom column selections and save them as easy-to-access column sets
· Image verification option now verifies images in the background
· Process menu includes restart item to kill and then restart a selected process
· Can suspend individual threads on threads page of Process Properties dialog
· The find Window target moves Process Explorer's main window to the back to get it out of the way
· Close Window command uses same End Task functionality as Task Manager
· Show New Processes option scrolls display to make new processes visible, heuristics to detect more image packers
· User name of account in which Process Explorer is running is shown in the title bar
· Services can be stopped, resumed and paused from the Services tab of the Process Properties dialog
· The DLLs that host SvcHost processes are listed in the Services tab of the Process Properties dialog
· Services running within a process display on the process' tooltip
· As a parallel to the CPU Usage History column, there's now a Private Bytes Usage History column
· The Process view includes columns that show the working set breakdown of the process in shared, shareable and private pages
· New delta private-bytes column to show changes in private virtual memory usage
· Can copy lines from the Process, DLL and Handle views to the clipboard
· Option to show pagefile-backed (unnamed) sections in DLL view
· DLL and handle searching consolidated
· The DLL view includes columns that show the working set contributions in shared, shareable and private pages
· The DLL a Rundll32 process hosts is shown in its process tooltip
· Packed DLL highlighting in DLL view
· Image signing verification available for DLLs
· Better DLL properties dialog
· Object address shown in Object Properties dialog
· File object share flags column for Handle view
· CPU history in tray icon
· CPU history column
· I/O delta column
· Process security editing
· Reports loaded 32-bit DLLs on Windows 64-bit
· Support for Windows Vista
· Opacity settings
· Tray window context menu options
· More performance information on process properties dialog
· Lock option in shutdown menu
· Reconfigured menu items and highlighting configuration
· Status bar column options
· Status bar information is configurable to show CPU usage, commit charge, # of processes and more
· Can terminate individual threads
· Shutdown menu for logging off and shutting down the system
· Only allow one instance option
· Auto-open of lower pane when a find result is clicked
· .NET tab for .NET processes that shows AppDomains and .NET performance counters
· x64 and x86 executables are in a single binary
· New Verified Company column shows image signer information
· Strings tab in process properties dialog has in-memory image scan option
· Highlighting for images that are packed (have compressed or encrypted code, which is common in malware)
· System information dialog has per-CPU graph option with hyperthreaded and NUMA processor information
· A Users menu duplicates the functionality of Task Manager's Users tab, showing Terminal Services session information and supporting logoff, disconnect, and sending messages
· On XP SP2 and higher, the TCP/IP tab displays the thread stack at the time an endpoint was opened, the tray icon context menu includes the shutdown menu
· Search engine option to use Google or MSN Search
· Object address column is available for the handle view
· Image signatures can be checked on-demand in the process properties dialog
· Process explorer is digitally signed with Sysinternals' Verisign Class 3 signing certificate
· Data Execution Protection (DEP) status on process image tab and as column
· Copy-to-clipboard from process environment variable and strings dialogs
· Can select and copy text strings of process image properties page
· Multi-row tabs on process properties dialog
· Image signing verification on process image properties dialog
· Mini-CPU usage graph on toolbar
· Command-line option for specifying Process Explorer priority
· Manual refresh (F5) forces recheck of job and .NET process status
· Single-clicking on tray icon minimizes and restores main window
· Finder tool for identifying the process that owns a selected window
· Strings listings for process and DLL images
· Google menu item for searching process and DLL information
· Tray tooltip shows highest-CPU consuming process
· Window status column (like Task Manager's Status column on the Applications tab)
· DLL view for System process shows list of loaded device drivers
· TCP/IP process properties page shows active TCP and UDP endpoints
· 64-bit version shows which processes are 64-bit on process properties and adds
· 64-bit process column
· Runs in non-admin account
· Tree view functionality to collapse and expand process subtrees
· Can bring process-owned window to the foreground
· System CPU graph shows timestamps and most active process for any given point, Per-process graph data tracked even when main window is minimized to tray
· Per-process graph data displays timestamps
· Can set process CPU affinity
· Process tooltip no longer between mouse pointer and process name
· Ability to add a comment to processes and new comment column
· Can open multiple process properties dialogs simultaneously
· System information dialog CPU and memory usage graphs like Task Manager
· Per-process CPU and memory graph tab in process properties
· Option to only show your own processes
· System Information dialog showing the same memory counters as Task Manager (when symbols are configured, also shows maximum paged and nonpaged pool values)
· Tray icon for CPU usage that's yellow when usage is > 70 percent and red when > 90 percent
· Highlight color configuration dialog
· Context switch and context switch delta columns
· Run processes using the system Run dialog from the File menu
· Replace task manager option so that when you run Task Manager Process Explorer runs instead
· Only non-zero CPU usage, .NET counters and context switch values are displayed to clearly highlight process activity
· Search for DLLs or handles regardless of what mode the lower pane is in
· Correct icons for MMC windows
· Mouse hover over process names and DLL names shows full path of executable or DLL
Other Process Explorer features include:
· Support for full handle viewing on Win9x/Me (with the exception of registry key handles)
· Process icons
· Service process highlighting
· Process tree display
· Configurable refresh rate
· Refresh highlighting: new entries in the process, handle and DLL views are green and deleted ones red
· DLL descriptions in the DLL view
· Highlights relocated DLLs
· Jump-to-entry in the find dialog
· Lists all process owners, even on Terminal Server systems
· Column selection and a wide variety of configurable process, DLL and handle columns
· Asynchronous updates of all views
· Configurable refresh highlighting effects
· Save function saves process view and current bottom view (handle or DLL)
This is one cool program, and the fact that it’s portable (runs from a flash drive), makes it a must see. Trust me, you’ll never use your Task Manager again.
You can download Process Explorer here.
Portable programs are applications that actually run in place. For example, from the folder or drive in which they are located. These programs may install a couple of registry entries, but nothing significant or potentially revealing. Due to the fact that these programs run in place and are usually small in size marks them as great applications that can be used on a flash drive.
I ran a couple of download articles awhile back concerning portable programs that could be useful if ran from a flash drive (Portable Firefox, Thunderbird and Sunbird), which I myself have found great use for. It has been awhile however, since I have checked back with the community to see if anything new has come along in the area of portable programs. Well, I should have a long time ago, because there are some really cool programs out there.
For today’s Download of the Week, I’m actually going to showcase a program that I believe will really impress you. It is called Process Explorer. This is actually a program that Steve himself asked me about awhile ago. He sent me an e-mail concerning an article or program that could more easily describe what certain processes are doing in your system. I thought this would be a good idea and spotted this little fella, and I knew immediately that fate had brought us together.
Process Explorer is a process viewer to the tenth degree. You can easily view and identify, not only processes, but also services and DLLs.
Process Explorer’s list of features:
· Process suspend/resume
· Thread details including stacks
· Job object information
· Start time and CPU time process columns
· Option to hide the lower pane
· Kill process tree
· Accurate registry key names for profile unload debugging
· Extensive help file
· Service descriptions on services tab of service process properties dialog
· You can configure custom column selections and save them as easy-to-access column sets
· Image verification option now verifies images in the background
· Process menu includes restart item to kill and then restart a selected process
· Can suspend individual threads on threads page of Process Properties dialog
· The find Window target moves Process Explorer's main window to the back to get it out of the way
· Close Window command uses same End Task functionality as Task Manager
· Show New Processes option scrolls display to make new processes visible, heuristics to detect more image packers
· User name of account in which Process Explorer is running is shown in the title bar
· Services can be stopped, resumed and paused from the Services tab of the Process Properties dialog
· The DLLs that host SvcHost processes are listed in the Services tab of the Process Properties dialog
· Services running within a process display on the process' tooltip
· As a parallel to the CPU Usage History column, there's now a Private Bytes Usage History column
· The Process view includes columns that show the working set breakdown of the process in shared, shareable and private pages
· New delta private-bytes column to show changes in private virtual memory usage
· Can copy lines from the Process, DLL and Handle views to the clipboard
· Option to show pagefile-backed (unnamed) sections in DLL view
· DLL and handle searching consolidated
· The DLL view includes columns that show the working set contributions in shared, shareable and private pages
· The DLL a Rundll32 process hosts is shown in its process tooltip
· Packed DLL highlighting in DLL view
· Image signing verification available for DLLs
· Better DLL properties dialog
· Object address shown in Object Properties dialog
· File object share flags column for Handle view
· CPU history in tray icon
· CPU history column
· I/O delta column
· Process security editing
· Reports loaded 32-bit DLLs on Windows 64-bit
· Support for Windows Vista
· Opacity settings
· Tray window context menu options
· More performance information on process properties dialog
· Lock option in shutdown menu
· Reconfigured menu items and highlighting configuration
· Status bar column options
· Status bar information is configurable to show CPU usage, commit charge, # of processes and more
· Can terminate individual threads
· Shutdown menu for logging off and shutting down the system
· Only allow one instance option
· Auto-open of lower pane when a find result is clicked
· .NET tab for .NET processes that shows AppDomains and .NET performance counters
· x64 and x86 executables are in a single binary
· New Verified Company column shows image signer information
· Strings tab in process properties dialog has in-memory image scan option
· Highlighting for images that are packed (have compressed or encrypted code, which is common in malware)
· System information dialog has per-CPU graph option with hyperthreaded and NUMA processor information
· A Users menu duplicates the functionality of Task Manager's Users tab, showing Terminal Services session information and supporting logoff, disconnect, and sending messages
· On XP SP2 and higher, the TCP/IP tab displays the thread stack at the time an endpoint was opened, the tray icon context menu includes the shutdown menu
· Search engine option to use Google or MSN Search
· Object address column is available for the handle view
· Image signatures can be checked on-demand in the process properties dialog
· Process explorer is digitally signed with Sysinternals' Verisign Class 3 signing certificate
· Data Execution Protection (DEP) status on process image tab and as column
· Copy-to-clipboard from process environment variable and strings dialogs
· Can select and copy text strings of process image properties page
· Multi-row tabs on process properties dialog
· Image signing verification on process image properties dialog
· Mini-CPU usage graph on toolbar
· Command-line option for specifying Process Explorer priority
· Manual refresh (F5) forces recheck of job and .NET process status
· Single-clicking on tray icon minimizes and restores main window
· Finder tool for identifying the process that owns a selected window
· Strings listings for process and DLL images
· Google menu item for searching process and DLL information
· Tray tooltip shows highest-CPU consuming process
· Window status column (like Task Manager's Status column on the Applications tab)
· DLL view for System process shows list of loaded device drivers
· TCP/IP process properties page shows active TCP and UDP endpoints
· 64-bit version shows which processes are 64-bit on process properties and adds
· 64-bit process column
· Runs in non-admin account
· Tree view functionality to collapse and expand process subtrees
· Can bring process-owned window to the foreground
· System CPU graph shows timestamps and most active process for any given point, Per-process graph data tracked even when main window is minimized to tray
· Per-process graph data displays timestamps
· Can set process CPU affinity
· Process tooltip no longer between mouse pointer and process name
· Ability to add a comment to processes and new comment column
· Can open multiple process properties dialogs simultaneously
· System information dialog CPU and memory usage graphs like Task Manager
· Per-process CPU and memory graph tab in process properties
· Option to only show your own processes
· System Information dialog showing the same memory counters as Task Manager (when symbols are configured, also shows maximum paged and nonpaged pool values)
· Tray icon for CPU usage that's yellow when usage is > 70 percent and red when > 90 percent
· Highlight color configuration dialog
· Context switch and context switch delta columns
· Run processes using the system Run dialog from the File menu
· Replace task manager option so that when you run Task Manager Process Explorer runs instead
· Only non-zero CPU usage, .NET counters and context switch values are displayed to clearly highlight process activity
· Search for DLLs or handles regardless of what mode the lower pane is in
· Correct icons for MMC windows
· Mouse hover over process names and DLL names shows full path of executable or DLL
Other Process Explorer features include:
· Support for full handle viewing on Win9x/Me (with the exception of registry key handles)
· Process icons
· Service process highlighting
· Process tree display
· Configurable refresh rate
· Refresh highlighting: new entries in the process, handle and DLL views are green and deleted ones red
· DLL descriptions in the DLL view
· Highlights relocated DLLs
· Jump-to-entry in the find dialog
· Lists all process owners, even on Terminal Server systems
· Column selection and a wide variety of configurable process, DLL and handle columns
· Asynchronous updates of all views
· Configurable refresh highlighting effects
· Save function saves process view and current bottom view (handle or DLL)
This is one cool program, and the fact that it’s portable (runs from a flash drive), makes it a must see. Trust me, you’ll never use your Task Manager again.
You can download Process Explorer here.
Have you ever formatted a USB drive? Well, whether it was on purpose or not, it would be my bet that some of you ran into a problem while doing so. Perhaps the USB drive wouldn’t function at all. That's a pretty common one, but don’t worry about it too much. There is a simple fix for this problematic situation and it involves using the tools provided with any Windows operating system.
Click Yes and then you should see this box:
Click on New Partition and then go through the Wizard steps.
Now, just to be sure, double click on the My Computer icon on your desktop and then click on your USB drive. For me, it’s drive E:, but yours could be different. When you click on that icon, you should see a pop up that says something very similar to this:
Click Yes and then you should see this box:
If you have gotten this far and everything has gone as I have stated, a solution is right around the corner. The next thing to do is make sure you are signed in under your Administrator account, as you will be using the Administrative Tools. Once you are, go to Start, Control Panel (make sure you have it set to the classic view option), Administrative Tools, Computer Management.
Now, what you must do is click on Disk Management.
Now, what you must do is click on Disk Management.
The screen you will see is shown above and all the information you need is on the bottom right. So, where it indicates your USB drive letter, click on it.
Click on New Partition and then go through the Wizard steps.
Just in case your Wizard allows you to select any other options, make sure you select Primary Partition. (A Primary Partition is basically, the main storage area).
Also, be sure to make sure you select FAT32 as the File System. This just makes it so everything is stored in the proper format. Once done, click Finish. The USB drive should be formatted once the screen pops up saying that it has been formatted. To test the USB drive to make sure it works properly, put a couple of files onto the drive. Then unplug the drive, but make sure you do it properly, using the Safely Remove Hardware icon in your taskbar ( 
).
Take the USB drive to a different computer or just plug it back in. Then wait and see if the files are still there and if they open up. If they do, congratulations! You have just fixed your USB drive. If it doesn’t work, contact the maker of your USB drive. Often times, if formatting doesn’t work, the company requires there be certain drivers on the drive itself. Confusing as this may be, it is critical for the USB drive to have them.
I hope this works for you! And the next time you format, for whatever reason, make sure you back up the data on your USB drive first. Enjoy this one!
).Take the USB drive to a different computer or just plug it back in. Then wait and see if the files are still there and if they open up. If they do, congratulations! You have just fixed your USB drive. If it doesn’t work, contact the maker of your USB drive. Often times, if formatting doesn’t work, the company requires there be certain drivers on the drive itself. Confusing as this may be, it is critical for the USB drive to have them.
I hope this works for you! And the next time you format, for whatever reason, make sure you back up the data on your USB drive first. Enjoy this one!
Jul 17, 2007
Change the font Windows XP displays in Windows Explorer
0 Commented : Post by : PazSt_Ft2K At : 4:00 PMWindows XP uses the same font for desktop icons and Windows Explorer. If the font is too hard to read, you can change its size or the font itself with a few mouse clicks. Here's how to adjust the look of your system fonts.
Windows Explorer and My Computer display the same font that Windows XP uses for icon titles on your desktop: Tahoma, 8 point. If you want to change the font or font size used in Windows Explorer, follow these steps:
- Access the Display Properties dialog box by right-clicking the desktop and selecting the Properties command.
- Select the Appearance tab and click the Advanced button.
- Select Icon from the Item drop-down list.
- Use the Font drop-down arrow to select a font from the list.
- Click OK twice -- once to close the Advanced Appearance dialog box and once to close the Display Properties dialog box.
You can see the new font by launching Windows Explorer or My Computer. If you don't like what you see, repeat the steps and select a different font.
Note: This tip is for both Windows XP Home and Professional.
Jul 8, 2007
1. Boot the computer using the XP CD.
You may need to change theboot order in the system BIOS. Check your system documentationfor steps to access the BIOS and change the boot order.
2. When you see the "Welcome To Setup" screen, you will see theoptions below This portion of the Setup program prepares Microsoft Windows XP to run on your computer:
To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.
To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R. - Dont press !
To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3. - Dont press !
3. Press Enter to start the Windows Setup.
Do not choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R", (you do not want to load Recovery Console). I repeat, do not choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R".
4. Accept the License Agreement and Windows will search for existing Windows installations.
5. Select the XP installation you want to repair from the list andpress R to start the repair.
6. Setup will copy the necessary files to the hard drive and reboot.
Do not press any key to boot from CD when the message appears.
Setup will continue as if it were doing a clean install, but your applications and settings will remain intact.
Speed Up Your PC by Moving the Paging File and Print Spoolers to Another Drive
0 Commented : Post by : PazSt_Ft2K At : 6:00 PMThis only works if you have another physical drive to move it to:
Moving the Paging File
- In Control Panel, double-click System.
- Click the Advanced tab.
- Click Settings under Performance.
- Click the Advanced tab, and then click Change under Virtual Memory.
- Select the new drive that you want to use to store the paging file.
- Set Initial Size (MB) and Maximum size. For the initial size, Microsoft recommends that you use the recommended value in the Total Page File Size for All Drives box.
- Click Set, and then click OK twice.
- Click Restart Now.
Moving the Default Spool Directory for All Printers
This procedure applies a new default spool directory to all printers that are configured on this computer.
- In Control Panel, double-click Printers and Faxes.
- On the File menu, click Server Properties, and then click the Advanced tab.
- In the Spool Folder box, type the path that you want to use, and then click OK.
Jul 6, 2007
Possibly you have known the Deep Freeze program, A Frozen program the Program in Hardisk that will freeze setting and the configuration in System the computer Operation or Drive in Hardisk at the time of Deep Freeze in instal or was activated (Frozen) . The method his work by means of meng-copy and kept all the configurations of the available system in System Operasi. When the change in the configuration happened, whether because of being software that was new diinstal, or because of having the virus that entered, we remained me-restart the computer, and the configuration of the system returned to the situation originally.
So all the changes that were carried out after Deep Freeze in instal/active, both the installation and the data file in the computer that used Deep Freeze only was temporary/now. All that will be lost or uninstal when this computer in restart.
Briefly if your computer when his system was still clean, was not yet error, continued diinstall deep freeze this, and at one time was affected by the virus, Trojan and his friends. Then when the computer in restart, the computer will be berish came back like the condition originally gain to hard the disk that was given deep freeze.
File that was kept by us after in restart also will be lost?.. yes, if you kept him in Drive where you menginstall Deep Freeze, Lalu how we kept file...?, his Method we our Hardisk partition was Drive the place of the storage System the Operation and the place kept the data was separated by us so that we the Drive protection the place system because of the virus or the cause error worked in System, for example you install System the Operation in Drive C:\and Drive D: to keep the date.
To get your Deep Freeze Program could download here DOWNLOAD DEEP FREEZE
The Instalasinya method was easy, After you download the extract Deep Freezenya with winzip or winrar, continued double the clique file setup him (DeepFreeze2000XPSTD.exe). As the note, Deep freeze that was discussed by me was current to win 2000 and win XP, not to win98/Me.
If still has not dipartisi, the partition then with software partision magic. Drive C:\better only was filled up software the application, and Drive D:\or E:\to keep your date.
Then had the choice, drive whatever that will be frozen (deepfreeze), chose that C:\then. Because if all was chosen by you, then file-file your date that in D:\or E:\when you more or the fox, after in restart would again like ready the time. The virus also most attacked file the system in drive C:\, After the installation was finished, you were asked for restart the computer, and you afterwards will be faced with tampilan deep freeze when the computer was on wanted to enter windows. You were asked for to put password deep freeze. Gave password that only you personally that knew him. Because if not, definitely him the user will find it easy to was opened password you.
Password this useful to activate and deactivated deepfreeze. After that you will enter to windows, the sign if deep freeze has terinstall and active was, in systray windows you, emerged the icon deepfreeze (the Picture of the pole bear).
- Deep Freeze active in the Boot Frozen position (default after in install)
- Deep Freeze inactive in the position of Boot Thawed
To deactivate deep freeze, pressed the switch [SHIFT] in keyboard and double the clique of the icon deepfreeze in system tray windows you that was in the right corner lowest Then put password you , Then moved in the Boot Thawed position then restart PC you, to activated as the first step positioned Boot Frozen then restart PC you.
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