Computer Tutorials

Slow Shutdown In Windows XP Possible Fix

noreply@blogger.com (Elite Kid) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 12:15:00 -0700

Some people have noticed that they are experiencing a really slow shutdown after installing Windows XP Home or Professional. Although this can be caused a number of ways, the most clear cut one so far is happening on systems with an NVidia card installed with the latest set of drivers. A service called NVIDIA Driver Helper Service is loading up on start up and for whatever reason doesn't shut itself down properly. The service isn't needed and can also increase the amount of memory available to your system.

Here is how to disable it.

- Go into your Control Panel

- Select Administrative Tools and then click on Services

- Right click on the file "NVIDIA Driver Helper Service" and then select STOP.

- To stop this loading up every time you boot up your PC Right click it again and select properties - then where the option "Startup Type" is shown - make sure it is set at Manual

Speed Up Browsing

noreply@blogger.com (Elite Kid) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 12:10:00 -0700

When you connect to a web site your computer sends information back and forth. Some of this information deals with resolving the site name to an IP address, the stuff that TCP/IP really deals with, not words.

This is DNS information and is used so that you will not need to ask for the site location each and every time you visit the site. Although Windows XP and Windows XP have a pretty efficient DNS cache, you can increase its overall performance by increasing its size.

CAUTION:

*Before editing your registry, always back it up first.*

You can do this with the registry entries below:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Dnscache\Parameters]
"CacheHashTableBucketSize"=dword:00000001
"CacheHashTableSize"=dword:00000180
"MaxCacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000fa00
"MaxSOACacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000012d

Make a new text file and rename it to dnscache.reg. Then copy and paste the above into it and save it. Merge it into the registry.

Tweaking Your Broadband Connection

noreply@blogger.com (Elite Kid) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 12:06:00 -0700

While there are a wide variety of cable modem tweaks, I believe the TCP (packet based protocol) RWIN (receive window) registry setting is by far the best tweak you can perform manually. The bad news is you will have to edit the registry which can be a dangerous venture. Below is the simple information on performing this registry tweak, *WARNING* Always backup your registry prior to making any changes!

Cable Modem Tweaks - TCP RWIN Setting

The TCP RWIN registry setting controls the receive window size which will impact your cable modem speed. Generally speaking, the TCP RWIN setting controls how large a window is set to pick up transmitted packets, these data packets need to have delivery confirmed before more data is sent. Therefore if the window is too small, there will be a delay if the new incoming packets have to wait for their predecessors to be confirmed delivered.

A larger receive window allows a continuous flow of data packets. It's a sensitive adjustment because an over sized receive window may result in reloading of unnecessary data packets when there is a transmission error. So the TCP RWIN setting needs to be large enough to allow continuous data flow, but not overly large to hinder performance with the transmission errors that constantly occur.

Backup Your Registry

You should always backup your registry before attempting any kind of registry manipulation.

For Windows 98 & ME click here to learn how to back up the registry.

For Windows 2000 click here.

For Window XP click here.

For Windows 95 click here.

To start the registry editor (REGEDIT), which should already be on your system, simply click Start, then click Run. Type in REGEDIT and click OK. This should popup the registry editor.

Finding the Proper Registry

In your left window pane, you'll need to open the following folders by clicking on them...

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

System

CurrentControlSet

Services

VxD

MSTCP

Changing the RWIN Value

Make sure the MSTCP folder is highlighted so as to display the key values in the right panel. Double-click to open the DefaultRcvWindow key. Now the moment of truth, the value to put here is the subject of much debate... some suggest a value between 32120 to 32760. Some believe it should be set much higher. You could start with 32120 and if there's no speed increase, just experiment a little until you zero in on the optimal setting. After typing in the new value, simply click OK. BUT don't close the editor, there's one more key you may wish to change in this folder.

Some believe setting the DefaultTTL key to 128 may help performance. Others prefer 64. Since this folder is open, you could try to adjusting this setting to 128 now.

Close the Registry and reboot for changes to take effect.

How To Disable Guest Access In Windows XP

noreply@blogger.com (Elite Kid) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 12:03:00 -0700

This description and procedure applies only to users of Windows XP Home Edition and to users of Windows XP Professional configured to link the computer to a workgroup. If your version of Windows XP Professional links the computer to a domain, see your network administrator or visit Help and Support Center and search for “user accounts”.

If you're a party of one—sole owner and user of a computer—you might still want to set up your computer with user accounts, naming you as computer administrator and protecting the account with a password. Doing so prevents casual access to the system by others if you leave your computer unattended while logged onto Windows XP, provided you log off from your account. For added security, disable guest access.

To disable guest access:

- Click Start, and then click Control Panel.

- Click User Accounts.

- Under or pick an account to change, click Guest.

- On the What do you want to change about the guest account page, click Turn off the guest account.

Basic Tips To Preventing Spam

noreply@blogger.com (Elite Kid) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 11:51:00 -0700

Almost everyone hates spam email, cluttering up in-boxes with worthless promises of free vacations and various body part enlargement or reduction pills. Most systems administrators and hardcore computer geeks get very little spam in their inbox. Sometimes this is because of smart filters or special programs they have applied to their email servers, but most often, it's because they know the simple spam-reduction rules that anyone can use.

Things Anyone Can do to Reduce Spam:

Have Several Email Addresses

With the many free email services out there today, it is easy to have several free email accounts. For instance, I have one that I only give to my family and friends, one that I use for business-level communications, and one that I consider a "junk" address. The "junk" address is the one I use when I have to enter an e-mail address for an on-line registration form or contest of any sort. That way, all the spam goes to the "junk" address, and email from my family and friends or my business contacts goes to other addresses, spam-free.

Don't Make Your Private Email Address Publicly Available

Putting your email address on a web page is the quickest way to get tons of spam. If you absolutely have to publish your address, try to obscure it, so a human can read it but an automated "email address harvester" program cannot, such as "Lone Wolf at hot mail dot com" or set up a "junk" account that you only use for email from that website.

Don't Give Your Email Address to Just Anyone

Read the privacy policy and "terms of use" statements of a website or organization before you give them your e-mail address. If it's not clear what they plan to do with your address, you should give them a "junk" account address.

Don't Respond to Spam

This is very important! Don't click a link in a spammer's email, even if it promises to remove you from their "list." Don't hit "reply" and send them an email. No matter how good it would feel to respond to a spammer and tell them off, DON'T! They will never read it, and all this really does is validate that your e-mail address is active and thus a good target for further spam messages. The same thing happens when you click a link in a spam email -- the website it takes you to will record your information (yes, they can easily do that) and be able to see that you have a valid email address. Some spammers just collect "active" email addresses, put them in lists, and sell those lists to other spammers. Clicking that link or replying to that email makes you a target for an ever-increasing amount of spam.

Run Anti-Virus Programs

While anti-virus programs won't detect spam, some viruses can steal your e-mail address and send it to spammers, or they can actually open up your computer to be secretly used by spammers, causing more spam to go to other people and causing your computer and internet connection to slow down dramatically.

Educate

Educate your users, friends, and family about spam, and the simple rules they can follow to get less spam. The fewer people that receive and respond to spam, the less profitable sending spam will be for the spammers!

Windows 2000-XP - Disable Auto Reboot

noreply@blogger.com (Elite Kid) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 11:49:00 -0700

When you are running Windows XP, you may have noticed that every so often (rarely) that Windows reboots without you asking it to. This tends to be caused by a Blue Screen error. If you want to see what this error is, you will have to check the error log list because Windows reboots too quickly for you to read what happened. Well with this tip you can disable the Auto-Reboot so you can finally read, and see the blue screen error.

- Go to Start -> Control Panel -> System

- Go to Advanced

- Under the Startup and Recovery section, click Settings...

- Under System Failure un-check "Automatically restart"

Closing Error Reporting (Windows 2000 - XP)

noreply@blogger.com (Elite Kid) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 11:44:00 -0700

Error reporting, what is it and why does Microsoft want you to have it on? Basically whenever your computer crashes Win XP makes a little report of what went wrong and then sends it to Microsoft so they can improve the Windows Operating System. Generally it sounds like a nice idea, but do you really want to be sending reports about your computer to Microsoft? I personally don't and they allow you to shut off this feature.

Here's how you do it:

Open your control panel
Click on Performance and Maintenance
Then click on System
Go to the Advance Tab
Click on the Error Reporting button at the bottom
Select Disable Error Reporting
Click the "But notify me when a critical error occurs"
Click Ok Twice.

You can leave out step 7, but I like my operating system to tell me when its had a major error, mainly because I can look up the cause of the error and hopefully find a solution to it on the net or at Microsoft. There you have it, error reporting to Microsoft is off and you don't have to worry about sending a report to Bill Gates.

How to remove the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine (JVM)

noreply@blogger.com (Elite Kid) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 09:16:00 -0700

The Microsoft Java Virtual Machine, or MS Java VM, is used to run Java applets that can be found on web sites. When you visit a web site that has a Java applet, the MS JVM will compile and execute that applet on your machine. As of this writing Microsoft no longer supports the MS JVM and it has become obsolete. There have also been known security issues with un patched version of the MS JVM we advise that you remove it and install the safer SUN JVM as an alternative. If you have Windows XP SP1a installed on your computer, then you do not have the MS JVM installed on your machine.

Uninstalling the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine (JVM)

Please follow these steps to uninstall the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine:

Click on the Start menu, then select the Run option.
In the Open: field type in or copy and paste the following text

RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection java.inf,UnInstall
Then press the OK button.
You will now be presented with a conformation prompt like the one below:
Press the Yes button to start the uninstall process of the MS JVM.
Windows will uninstall the files and then give you a prompt asking whether or not you want to restart the computer. You should press the YES button to allow it to do so.
When the computer has restarted and you are back at the desktop delete the follow folders and directories:
1. c:\windows\inf\java.pnf
2. c:\windows\java
3. c:\windows\system32\wjview.exe
4. c:\windows\system32\jview.exe
Click on the Start menu, then select the Run option.
In the Open: field type in or copy and paste the following text:

regedit.exe
Press the OK button.
Navigate to the following keys and delete them:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Java VM
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\AdvancedOptions\JAVA_VM

If you are using Windows NT or 2000 then you may have to replace all occurrences of c:\windows with c:\winnt in the instructions above.

If you are using Windows 95, 98, 98SE and ME then you need to replace all occurrences of c:\windows\system32 with c:\windows\system in the instructions above.

Now you should go to http://www.java.com/ and download and install the latest SUN Java for your operating system.

Understanding Windows Update and Extras in Windows Vista

noreply@blogger.com (Elite Kid) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:59:00 -0700

When software is created, whether it be operating systems or games, there is a good chance that a bug or security hole will rear its head over time. Software can be complex, with millions of lines of code in them. This amount of code and the complexity of a program invariably lead to mistakes or oversights. When these errors are found the software developer will usually release an updates that can be used to fix the errors.

Windows Update is Microsoft's delivery platform for downloading and installing updates to fix problems found in the Microsoft operating system or other related software. Windows Update is also the platform where you can download new features, add-ons, and Ultimate Extras. For those who do not know what an Ultimate Extras is, they are premium content and applications that are only available to owner of the Windows Vista Ultimate.

Updates come in three flavors. The first are Important, or Critical, Updates, which are necessary to install in order to fix security holes or major issues within Vista. The second type is Recommended updates, which are updates to various components of the operating system that should be installed for proper functionality. The last type, called Optional Updates, are new features, updates, or Ultimate Extras that are not necessary to install for proper functionality of the operating system or applications.

This guide will walk you through how to setup Windows Vista so that your computer is updated properly and securely. We will also cover Ultimate Extras, which is one of the major perks for purchasing the more expensive Vista Ultimate. For those who do not have Vista Ultimate, any references to the Ultimate Extras will not apply to you.

Configuring and Using Windows Update in Vista

When working with Windows Update it is important to remember that you must be either logged in as an administrator or have access to an administrator's login credentials in order to install any updates. With that said, to access Windows Update follow these steps:

Click on the Start () button.
In the Start Menu Search Box () type Windows Update and press enter on your keyboard.
A User Account Control prompt may appear asking if you would like to continue. Click on the Continue button to proceed..

You will now be at the main Windows Update screen as shown in Figure 1. below.

Figure 1. Windows Update Screen

From this screen you can configure how Vista will check and install updates, check for new updates and Ultimate extras, display any available updates or extras, manage them, and install them. In the screen above, there are currently no new updates available. Your Windows Update screen may be different depending on how you have Windows Update configured on your computer. For now, just follow the steps in the tutorial regardless of whether or not you have updates available to install.

Your first goal is to make sure that you have Windows Update configured in the most secure manner possible. To configure Windows Update please click on the Change settings option in the navigation bar on the left. You will now be at a screen where you will be able to set up how Windows Vista will download and install updates on your computer.

Figure 2. Windows Update settings

Vista provides four different methods for how Windows Update will update your computer. Below we explain each method and when it is the recommended setting.

Install updates automatically (recommended) - If you select this option then all critical updates will be downloaded automatically and installed on your computer. These updates will be installed at the time you specify in the fields labeled Install new updates. This is the recommended option for the majority of people as it guarantees that you have all the critical updates automatically installed on your computer.

Download updates but let me choose whether to install them - If you select this option, Vista will download updates to your computer, but not install them automatically. If you want to install the updates then you must install them manually. You should only select this option if you have a reason for not installing updates automatically. Only advanced users should use this option.

Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them - If you select this option, you will be alerted when there are new updates available to download and install. You can then choose to download and install the updates that you wish. This option should really only be used by people who know exactly what updates they need or those who have limited access to the Internet.

Never check for updates (not recommended) - If you select this option, Vista will never automatically check for updates. This option should never be selected as it puts your computer at great risk to being compromised, infected, or hacked.

The last option under the Recommended updates category is the Include recommended updates when downloading, installing, or notifying me about updates option. If you select this option, which we recommend, then Windows Vista will also perform the same behavior that you selected above for Recommended updates as well as Important updates.

When you are done configuring the options as you wish, press the OK button to save these settings. You will now be back at the main Windows Update screen.

You may remember from Figure 1 that there were no updates available. As we were writing this tutorial, though, new updates had been downloaded to the computer and are now available to install. When this happens, Windows Update will state that there are new updates as shown in Figure 3 below.

Figure 3. New updates available

As you can see from the screen above, the computer has 4 important updates, 18 optional updates, and 2 coveted Ultimate Extras available. To see what updates are available you can click on the View available updates button. You will now see a list of updates that are available to install on your computer.

Figure 4. View available updates

Remember how I stated that the Important, or possibly Recommended, updates would be the only ones downloaded automatically. This is evident in the screen above as we can see only the Important and Recommended updates are automatically checked off to be installed. If you wish, though, you can now browse through the list of optional updates and put a checkmark next to the ones you want installed. For the time being, let's not select any of the additional Optional updates and instead press the Cancel button to get back to the main screen.

Windows Update, by default is configured to automatically download and install critical updates at 3 am. If you do not want to wait till that time for the updates to install, you can instead have Vista install the selected updates now. To be safe, though, before installing updates you may want to perform a manual check to see if there any new updates available to download. You can do this by clicking on the Check for updates option in the left navigation bar. Windows Update will now connect to Microsoft's servers and check for any new updates as shown below.

Figure 5. Checking for update

Vista will check for new updates and if found, ask if you wish to download them. If there are no new updates available, then you can go ahead and install the already selected ones. If there are new updates, then you should view them and determine if they should be selected for install as well. When you are ready you can click on the Install updates button to install the currently selected updates.

Figure 6. Installing updates

As you can see Windows Vista is now installing the selected updates onto your computer. Depending on the size and the amount of the updates, this can take a while. So sit back and wait till the update is complete. When it is complete you will be presented with a screen showing a summary of the installation.

Figure 7. Update installation summary

As you can see the updates were installed successfully and in order to finish the installation Vista needs to reboot the computer. If you are prompted with this message, you should reboot the computer as requested by clicking on the Restart now button.

When your computer reboots, go back into the Windows Update screen. You will now see that Windows states that Windows is up to date.

Figure 8. Windows is up to date

What about the 18 Optional updates that have not been installed? It would be annoying if every time we open up Windows Update we see this ever-increasing list of Optional updates that we do not wish to install. We have either two options at this point. We can either install them or HIDE them! Hiding updates is a new feature of the Vista Windows Update programs that allows you to hide an update so that it is removed from the list. To hide updates just follow these steps:

Click on the View available updates option.
When the list appears, double-click on an update to read its description and make sure you do not want to install it. After reading the description, you should click on the Close button.
If you do not want to see the update again, simply right click on the update and select the Hide update option.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 until all the Optional updates that you do not wish to install are hidden.
When done press the Cancel button to exit the Updates list screen and to get back to the main Windows Update screen.

When hiding updates, it is recommended that you do not hide any Optional updates found in the Ultimate Extras category. These updates, even though they are optional, tend to be ones that you want to install, as they are part of the reason you purchased Vista Ultimate in the first place. The tutorial will go over the Ultimate Extras later, so for now lets move on.

Now that you are back at the main Windows Update screen after hiding some updates, you may realize that you have a problem. It turns out that one of the Optional updates would have been nice to install. Now that it is hidden, though, you can't install it. Luckily that's not true. Hiding the updates just cleans it up so that they are not shown as available. These updates, though, are not actually removed from your system. To restore a previously hidden update you can click on the Restore hidden updates option in the left navigation menu. This will open a screen showing all the updates that have you have hid in the past.

Figure 9. Restore hidden updates

To restore hidden updates just put a checkmark in the checkbox next to each update that you would like to restore, and when ready, click on the Restore button. The restored updates will now be visible in the main Windows Update screen so that you can install them

This concludes the section on using Windows Update in Vista. To learn more about Ultimate Extras, how to uninstall an update, and frequently asked questions you can read the following sections.

Installing and Accessing the Windows Ultimate Extras

If your version of Windows Vista is Ultimate then you have access to new content and applications that are exclusive to Vista Ultimate, called Windows Ultimate Extras. These Extras are programs, services, and publications that are intended to enhance the enjoyment and functionality of Windows Vista Ultimate. It is important to note that these programs are exclusive to Windows Vista Ultimate, so if you are not running that version then this entire section will not apply to you, not will you see any mention of Windows Extras when you use Vista.

The following are examples of the Windows Ultimate Extras that are currently available, or will be soon:

A new poker game called Windows Hold'em.
Use different Language Packs so that you can use multiple languages on the same PC.
Secure Online Key Backup allows you to store your Bitlocker password and certificate on Microsoft's servers so that they do not get lost.
A new tool called Bitlocker Drive Preparation Tool, which automates the configuring of your computer to use BitLocker to protect your data with encryption.
The ability to have full motion video as a background for your desktop using the soon to be released, DreamScene.

If there are Windows Ultimate Extras available that have not been installed on your computer, you will be able to see them in the Windows Update screen. If you remember, from Figure 3, there were 2 Windows Ultimate Extras available to be installed. Since Vista treats Windows Ultimate Extras as Optional updates they will not be installed or download automatically. Instead when there are Extras available, and you visit the Windows Update screen, you will see a box labeled There are Windows Ultimate Extras available for download with information as to what Extras are available. To install these Extras you would first open up the Windows Update screen using the directions given in the previous section. Once there, click on the View available extras option. This will open a screen listing the available updates, with the Windows Ultimate Extras being listed towards the bottom of the list.

Figure 10. Available Windows Ultimate Extras

As you can see, the screen states that the Hold Em Poker and BitLocker and EFS Enhancements extras are available to install. To see a description of an extra, you can double-click on its entry in the list. After reading the description, if you would like to install the Extra you would put a checkmark in the checkbox next to it. Once you have selected all the Extras you would like to install, you would then click on the Install button. After you click on the Install button, Vista will download the updates and install them. It is important to remember that you must be either logged in an administrator or enter their logon information before Vista will allow you to install any Extras.

The one problem that I have found with Windows Ultimate Extras is that after you install them you do not know where to find them. For example, Hold Em is installed into the Games Start Menu folder, Secure Online Key Backup is found in the Extras and Upgrades Start Menu folder, and Bitlocker is found in the System Tools Start Menu folder. It would have been more user friendly to have one central location for all installed Extras. Therefore, after you install an Extra, you may have to search around the Start Menu in order to find how to launch it.

Uninstalling Windows Updates and Ultimate Extras

Just like you can uninstall a program that you install, you can also uninstall an update or Extra as well. You may be wondering why you would want to uninstall an update if it's necessary to have it installed. The reason is that, at times, updates are released that cause more problems on a computer than they fix. When this happens you may want to uninstall the update until a revised one is released in order to regain the functionality that the update degrades or breaks.

To see a list of the installed updates or Extras on your computer go back into Windows Update and then click on the Installed Updates option in the lower left hand corner. This will bring you to a screen showing all the installed updates and Extras on your computer.

Figure 11. Installed Updates Screen

Unfortunately Microsoft does not provide a method of seeing the description of the installed updates or Extras in this screen. So if you are unsure what a particular entry is for, your best bet is to search on the web for the text between the parenthesis. For example if we search for KB928089, found in the first listed update, we find the page: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928089, which explains what it is for.

When we have found the update that we wish to uninstall, we can do so by left clicking once on the update to select it, and then pressing the Uninstall button. For those who like to use shortcuts, you can also just double-click on the entry. When you do so you will be presented with a prompt asking if you are sure you want to continue with the uninstall.

Figure 12. Uninstall update confirmation\

If you press the No button you will go back to the Installed Updates screen. On the other hand if you press the Yes button, Vista will start to uninstall the update from your computer. While the update or Extra is being uninstalled you will be presented with a small window similar to the one below.

Figure 13. Uninstalling an update

When Vista has finished the uninstall you may be presented with a prompt asking you to reboot your computer. At that point, you should press the Restart Now button to reboot your computer and finish the uninstall process. If in the future you need to reinstall the update, you simply need to go to the Windows Update screen and Check for updates. This update will be downloaded again so that you can install it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: If I choose to let Vista download updates automatically, when are they downloaded?

A: Updates are downloaded behind the scenes as you use your computer. If you shut off your computer while an update is being downloaded, the download process will resume the next time you turn your computer back on and it is connected to the Internet.

Q: If I choose to let Vista install updates automatically what happens if I shut off my computer before the installation time?

A: If you shut down your computer before the scheduled time, and there are updates already downloaded, Vista will prompt you to install them before you shut down the computer. If you choose to not install them when you shut down, Vista will install the updates the next time your computer is on at 3 am or any other time that you specified..

Q: I have selected the option to download and install all Important and Recommended updates automatically yet when I go into the Windows Update screen I still see updates available to install. What's the deal?

A: Remember, there are three classifications for updates. The Important updates will be installed automatically, as will the Recommended if you configured it that way. On the other hand, Optional updates like Windows Extras, Language Packs, etc will not be installed without you telling them to do so.

Conclusion

This finishes up our guide on Windows Update and Vista Ultimate Extras. Using Windows Update you can now keep Vista running securely and efficiently. If you are a owner of Vista Ultimate, then you now know how to download, install, and access the premium content and applications that are available to you.

How to uninstall a program in Windows Vista

noreply@blogger.com (Elite Kid) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:51:00 -0700

There are two ways to uninstall a program in Vista; the wrong way and the right way. Unfortunately, though, too many people uninstall a program using the wrong ways, which can lead to poor performance and problems on the computer. These wrong ways are delete the program's folder or just deleting the icons. When you attempt to remove a program in this way, there will be a large amount of configuration information left in the Windows Registry as well as files that may be installed in locations other than the program's folder. These orphan files and Registry data have the chance of causing conflicts on your computer thus leading to problems.

The proper way to uninstall a program is to use the uninstall routine that is bundled with the program itself. This will remove the files, Windows Registry information, and other configuration from your computer so that there are no conflicts in the future. When a program is installed in Windows, it will add information to the Windows Registry on the proper way to uninstall it. You can then use Windows Vista's Programs and Features control panel to properly uninstall the program. This tutorial will walk you through using this control panel so that you uninstall programs correctly. This method has not changed too much from previous version of Windows, but there have been some changes in Vista, which should be outlined.

How to uninstall a program in Windows Vista

To see a list of the programs that we can uninstall we must first open the Programs and Features control panel. To do this you should follow these steps:

Click on the Start button to open your Start Menu. The Start button looks like this:
When the Start Menu opens click on the Control Panel menu option.
When the Control Panel window opens click on the Uninstall a program option option under the Programs category. This option is shown by the arrow in the image below. If you are using the Classic View of the Control Panel, then you would double-click on the Programs and Features icon instead.

You will now be at the Programs and Features, or Uninstall or change a program, screen as shown below. From this screen you can uninstall programs, view installed updates, examine your digital locker, and turn Windows features on and off.

Figure 1. Programs and Features Screen

This screen contains a list of the programs installed on your computer, the company that developed it, and when it was installed. This screen also contains four options in the left navigation bar that are unrelated to uninstalling a program. These four options are:

View Installed Updates - If you click on this option you will come to a screen that shows the installed updates and Ultimate Extras. From this screen you then have the ability to uninstall them.
Get new programs online at Windows Marketplace - If you click on this link your web browser will open and go to the Windows Marketplace homepage. From here you can purchase and download software.
View purchased software (digital locker) - When you purchase software at the Windows Marketplace, the software will be added to your digital locker. You can manage these programs from this screen.
Turn Windows features on or off - Windows Vista is installed with certain features enabled and disabled by default. By clicking on this option you can manage that Vista features you want enabled.

Now that we know what all the options in this screen do, lets start learning how to uninstall a program. The first step is look through the list of programs for the one that you would like to uninstall and then left-click on it once so that it becomes highlighted. Once you highlight a program you will see two new options next to the Organize and View button called Uninstall and Change. I have pointed those out with arrows in the image below.

Figure 2. Select entry in the program list

If you press the Change button, the program will launch it's setup so that you can modify how the program is presently installed. It is important to note that the Change button does not uninstall a program, but rather allows you to modify how it is currently installed. If you want to uninstall the program you should instead click on the Uninstall button. Once you click on the uninstall button you will be presented with a confirmation asking if you would like to continue as shown in Figure 3 below. For those who like shortcuts, you could just double-click on an entry to start this process as well. For some programs when choose to uninstall it, Windows may prompt you with a message stating Windows needs your permission to continue. At this screen you should click on the Continue button.

Figure 3. Confirmation screen to continue with the uninstall

If you do not want to continue, then you should press the No button, and you will come back to the list of programs. If you press the Yes button Vista will start the uninstall routine for the program and begin to remove it. An uninstall screen will typically now open and may ask you questions about how the program should be uninstalled. You typically want to remove the entire program except any data that you may need in the future. As each program's uninstall process is different, it is advised that you read each screen carefully and continue with the uninstall process. When uninstalling certain programs you may receive a prompt from Windows stating An unidentified programs wants access to your computer. When you receive this as you uninstall the program, you should click on the Allow button, as it is the uninstaller being started.

The program will now continue to uninstall, and when completed you will be back at the list of programs installed on your computer. You will notice, though, that the program you just uninstalled is no longer listed. At this point you can either uninstall another programs or close the Programs and Features screen.

Windows XP System Restore Guide

noreply@blogger.com (Elite Kid) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:44:00 -0700

With new programs being installed, viruses infecting, and spyware lurking in your browsers it is not uncommon for your computer to suddenly stop behaving correctly. In fact, it is almost guaranteed that at some point your computer will just not do what you expect it to. This is not because your a lousy computer user or even a bad person, this is just the life as we know it when working with computers. Luckily for us, Microsoft bundles an application called System Restore into it's operating system to help alleviate this problem. This article will cover what System Restore is, how it works, and how you can use it to protect your computer.

System Restore

System Restore is a feature of Windows XP that allows you to restore your computer to a previous known working state in the event of a problem. This is done without loss of personal files or data such as word processing documents, spreadsheets, music, images, etc. This feature is enabled by default and runs in the background making backups after certain events happen on your computer. System restore functions are only available to an administrator of the computer, therefore if you are not an administrator, you will not be able to follow this tutorial.

System Restore protects your computer by creating backups of vital system configurations and files. These backups are known as restore points. These restore points are created before certain events take place in order to give you a recourse in case something bad happens during that event. These events are as follows:

If you install a new application and that application's installation program is compliant with the System Restore API, which most are these days, then a new restore point will be created.
Installation of Microsoft security and OS updates will trigger a Restore Point creation.
If you choose to use system restore to restore to a previous restore point, system restore will create a new restore point prior to restoring a previous state in case something goes wrong.
Before a Microsoft Backup Utility Recovery operation.
Before installing an Unsigned driver.
By manually creating a new restore point.
By default at a 24 hour interval a new restore point will be made. This restore point will only be made if the system is in an idle state.
If system restore is disabled and then reenabled a new restore point will be made.

These restore points contain configuration and settings and files that are necessary for your computer to run correctly. The following are some of the settings and files that are saved in a Restore Point:

Registry (Contains Configuration information for application, user, and operating system settings)
Windows File Protection files in the dllscache folder. (Used for protecting system files)
COM+ Database
Windows Management Instrumentation Database
IIS Metabase (Contains configuration for Internet Information Server)
Files with extensions listed in the Monitored File Extensions list in the System Restore section of the Platform SDK
Local Profiles

What System Restore does not store in a Restore Point include:

Windows XP passwords and hints are not restored. This is done so that you do not by accident restore an old password and then lock yourself out of the computer..
Microsoft Internet Explorer and Content Advisor passwords and hints are not restored.
Any file types not monitored by System Restore like personal data files e.g. .doc, .jpg, .txt etc.
Items listed in both Filesnottobackup and KeysnottoRestore (More on that later)
User-created data stored in the user profile
Contents of redirected folders

The amount of space a System Restore will allocate towards its use is, by default, 12 percent of your total useable space on the particular partition being monitored if the partition is greater than 4GB, otherwise it will use up to 400 MB. This amount can be adjusted per partition in the System Restore tab in your System control panel. If you have less than 200 MB, system restore will be disabled until the amount of available space rises above 200 MB. If system restore attempts to make a new restore point, and that restore point would put you past the allocated amount of storage that system restore can use, system restore will delete the oldest restore point automatically to create more room for the new one.

Disabling System Restore

NOTE: You need to be logged in as an Administrator to administer System Restore. If you are not logged in as an administrator you will not be able to follow these steps

WARNING: By disabling system restore you will delete all stored restore points.

You should first go into the Control Panel and then double click on the System icon. If you are in the control panel and do not see the System icon, click on the link that says "Switch to classic view" in the upper left hand side of the window. Now you should be able to see the System icon. After you double click on it you should then click on the System Restore tab. If system restore is enabled you will see an image like Figure 1 below.

Figure 1: Disabling System Restore

If you see in the Status section, designated by the green box, that it is Turned off , then system restore is already disabled and you do not have to do anything further. If it is showing that it is monitoring as seen in Figure 1 above, then you should check the checkbox labeled "Turn off System Restore", designated by the red box. You should then click on the Apply button to disable system restore.

Enabling System Restore

NOTE: You need to be logged in as an Administrator to administer System Restore. If you are not logged in as an administrator you will not be able to follow these steps.

To enable system restore you should follow these steps.

By default system restore is enabled on Windows XP machines, so there is a good chance that it is already enabled if this is your first time working with system restore.

You should first go into the Control Panel and then double click on the System icon. If you are in the control panel and do not see the System icon, then click on the link that says "Switch to classic view" in the upper left hand side of the window. Now you should be able to see the System icon. After you double click on it you should then click on the System Restore tab. If system restore is turned off you will see an image like Figure 2 below.

Figure 2. Enabling System Restore

If you see in the Status section, designated by the green box, that it is Monitoring a partition, then system restore is already enabled and you do not have to do anything further. If it is showing that it is turned off as seen in Figure 2 above, then you should uncheck the checkbox labeled "Turn off System Restore", designated by the red box, and then adjust how much disk space you want to allow system restore to use, which is by default 12 percent of your entire disk space.

When you are done with making your settings, you should click on the apply button. Since you are turning system restore back on, a new restore point will automatically be made. After the new restore point is made, you should see in the status section that system restore is monitoring the partition; which means it is enabled.

Manually Creating Restore Points

It is possible to manually make restore points when you wish by using the System Restore utility. Common reasons to do this are because you feel have your computer set up perfectly and would like to save that state in case something goes wrong in the future.

To open the utility, go to your System Tools group under Accessories in your Programs menu. Then click on the System Restore icon. You will be presented with a screen similar to Figure 3 below.

Figure 3. System Restore Utility.

To create a manual restore point select the radio dial labeled "Create a restore point", designated by the blue box, and press the Next button. You will then be presented with a screen similar to Figure 4 below.

Figure 4. Name your Restore Point

At this point you should type the name you would like this restore point to be referred as in the field designated by the red box. The current date and time will automatically be appended to the name you choose. When you are done, press the Create button designated by the blue box. System restore will create the restore point and give you a confirmation screen with information like Figure 5 below.

Figure 5. Manual Restore Point Created

At this point you can press the Close button to close the System Restore utility.

Restoring Windows XP to a previous State

To restore Windows XP to a previous restore point you need to open the System Restore Utility. To open the utility, go to your System Tools group under Accessories in your Programs menu. Then click on the System Restore icon. You will be presented with a screen similar to Figure 3 above.

You should select the radio button that is labeled "Restore my computer to an earlier time", which is designated by the red box. When that is selected press the Next button. You will then be presented with a screen similar to Figure 6 below.

Figure 6. Select a Restore Point

At this point you should select a restore point that you would like to restore. If a particular day has any restore points created on it the date will be in bold. You can then select the restore point by clicking once on its name, as designated by the red box in Figure 6 and then pressing the Next button.

At this point you will prompted with a confirmation as to whether or not you want to continue. If you do want to continue, you should press the Next button again, otherwise press cancel. System restore will then shut down all open applications and reboot the computer.

After the computer is rebooted you will see a screen that contains information as shown Figure 7 below confirming that the restoration to the restore point is complete.

Figure 7. Restoration Complete

If there are any problems with your computer since you restored to this restore point, you can revert back to your previous settings by going back into the System Restore Utility and selecting the "Undo my last restoration" radio button and pressing the Next button as show in Figure 8 below.

Figure 8. Undo your last Restoration

Deleting Restore Points

There are three known safe ways to delete restore points stored on your computer. These ways are described below:

Disk Cleanup - Launch the Disk Cleanup tool and then select the more options tab. On this tab you will find a section for System Restore. If you press the Clean Up button for that section, Windows will delete all restore points except for the most recent one.

Turn off System Restore - Just by turning off System Restore all your restore points will be deleted. Unless you want this to happen, be careful that you don't mistakenly delete all your restore points by disabling system restore.

System Restore runs out of storage space - If system restore runs out of the storage space that has been allocated towards its use, it will delete the oldest restore point in order to create space for the new restore point.

Problems with System Restore

There are some problems associated with System Restore when it comes to viruses. When restore points are created they are stored in a directory that is accessible only to the System account and not to a user. This keeps the restore points safe from misuse and tampering. Unfortunately this also means that any virus scan software you may have installed can not scan the files located there as well. This causes a problem if a file that is infected with a virus gets backed up into a restore point because now the anti-virus software can not clean it. Now if you ever restore from a restore point, that file that is infected will be introduced back into your system.

With this in mind, if you find that you are infected with a virus, hijacker, or spyware and want to make sure you do not get reinfected if you restore a restore point, you should turn System Restore off and then back on again to clear all the restore points. This will guarantee that their are no infected files that could be restored.

Advanced Info

WARNING: Information found in this section is for advanced users only. If you use this information without advanced knowledge of your operating system you can cause serious damage to your Windows installation.

All restore points are stored in a folder that starts with _restore in the System Volume Information folder found in the root of your individual partitions. This folder is used to store copies of your registry, files, configs, etc. The system volume information folder is only accessible to the System account by default. You can access this folder, though, by adding yourself to the security permissions of this account. Though its advised that you do not do so, I am sure that some of you will poke around in there anyway. Remember, doing this is at your own risk.

Most of the configuration options for System Restore can be found at the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore

One interesting key you can change here is the interval Windows uses to make an automatic restore point. By changing the value, which is the total seconds between automatic restore point creation, you can make Windows create restore points more often or less frequent. The default value is 86400, which in seconds corresponds to 24 hours between each automatic restore point creation.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore\RPGlobalInterval

For more information on the registry keys used by System Restore read this Microsoft Knowledgebase article:

The Registry Keys and Values for the System Restore Utility

You can also specify what registry keys should not be restored and what files should not be backed up by System Restore.

These registry keys are:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\FilesNotToBackup
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\KeysNotToRestore

The values contained in the FilesNotToBackup key are files or directories, in which you can specify wildcards as well to exclude all files in a particular directory. Any files listed in this way will not be added to a restore point when one is created.

The values contained in the KeysNotToRestore key are registry keys that should not be restored if you ever restore your computer to a previous restore point.

Conclusion

The System Restore application is a powerful tool for keeping your Windows Installation running smoothly and safely. If you use this feature you will be guaranteed to have a valid restore point to revert to if any issues arise in the future. Care must be taken, though, when using this application so that damaged or infected files are not restored to your computer and cause you to be reinfected. With caution in mind when using System Restore you should not have these problems.

Another excellent system restore guide, by Bert Kinney, can be found here: http://bertk.mvps.org/

Setting up Windows Vista Parental Controls

noreply@blogger.com (Elite Kid) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:36:00 -0700

With the launch of Windows Vista, Microsoft has introduced a new security feature called Windows Parental Controls. Windows Parental Controls allows a parent to configure, on a per user basis, various restrictions on what that user can do on the computer. These settings range from blocking websites to controlling what games they can play. Having access to these types of controls allows a parent to feel comfortable with their children using a computer and at the same time gives them the flexibility to customize these settings to their specific needs.

It is important to note that not all programs are compatible with Windows Parental Controls. In order for Windows Parental Controls to properly monitor and control certain activities on the computer, the application must be compatible with this new service. For the most part, most of the settings can be enforced across all applications, but it is important to test these controls using the applications that your users will be using. This way you know for sure that any restriction you put into place can be enforced. It is also important to note that Windows Parental Controls can only be assigned to a Standard User, which is a user with limited rights on the computer, and cannot be assigned to accounts that are configured as an Administrator. This is so a user cannot remove restrictions placed on them.

One of the more powerful features of this new service is that you will be able to view reports of the activity for each user that you have configured Parental Controls. The information you see will be determined by whether or not the user is using applications that are compatible with Windows Parental Controls. Assuming that all the applications are compatible you will be able to monitor the following activity.

Most recent websites blocked.
Attempts to visit sites that have been specifically blocked or allowed.
What files were downloaded.
What file downloads were blocked.
When the user logged on.
What programs they have run.
Emails sent and received
Instant Messages sent and received.
What games were played.
What media such as movies and videos were played.

In this guide we will go into detail on how to use Windows Parental Controls to restrict a user's activity. If you read through this guide, at the end you will know all that you need to know about Windows Parental Controls and how to use them to provide a safe computing environment for your children.

Welcome to Windows Vista Parental Controls

In order to access and start using the Vista Parental Controls you need to log onto to your computer using an account that is an administrator. Once logged in you should do the following:

Click on the Start () button.
In the Start Menu Search Box () type Parental Controls and press enter on your keyboard.
A User Account Control prompt will appear asking if you would like to continue. Click on the Continue button to proceed with opening the Parental Controls.

You will now be at the Vista Parental Controls welcome screen. This screen is the main launching pad for setting the global Parental Controls options as well as configuring Parental Controls for the Standard Users on your computer. From this screen you can create a new Standard User account, configure existing user's Parental Controls settings, configure the global game rating system, and set some other basic global settings.

Figure 1. The Main Vista Parental Controls Screen

The first option we will explore is to create a new Standard User account that you can assign Parental Controls to. You can do this by clicking on the Create a new user account option which will bring up a screen that enables you to create a new account as shown below.

Figure 3. Create a new account

In this screen you would type the login name for the new user account that you would like to create. We also suggest that you leave the option labeled User must set password at next logon checked so that when the user logs on for the first time they will be prompted for a new password enabling them to keep their password private. When you are ready to create the user, you would click on the Create Account button to finish the creation process. You would then be brought to the Parental Controls page for that particular user. We will go into more detail about setting user controls later in the tutorial so just press the OK button to get back to the welcome screen..

The first global setting you can modify from the main welcome screen is the games rating system that will be used for all Parental Controls enabled accounts. To view or modify your current setting you should on the Select a games ratings system option.

Figure 4. Global game rating systems setting

It is advised that you stick with the Entertainment Software Rating Board, ESRB, rating system as your default but feel free to choose another if you wish. Once you are finished selecting the rating system, or keeping the current one, press the OK button to exit this screen and go back to the welcome screen.

This brings us to the next set of global settings, the Family Safety Options. By clicking on Family Safety Options you will be brought to a page that contains two global settings.

Figure 4. Family Safety Options

The first option is labeled How often would you like to be reminded to read activity reports. This option allows you to specify how often you should be reminded that there are Parental Controls activity reports available to be viewed. You will see these reminders when you log into an administrator account. An example of this alert is below.

Figure 5. Activity Report Reminder

The second option labeled Reset the Web Content filter to be the Windows Vista Web Content Filter allows you to configure Vista to use the built-in content filter rather than a 3rd party software that you may have installed. If you had installed another web content filtering software and would like to reset it back to using the Vista one, you can click on the Reset button. When you are done configuring these options you should press the OK button to get back to the main welcome screen.

Now that we have explored the main welcome screen, lets dig down into configuring the Parental Controls for the individual users on your computer. To start this process you simply need to click on a Standard User listed in the welcome screen. As said previously, you can only enable Parental Controls on an account that is a Standard User. If you attempt to add Parental Controls to an administrator you will instead receive the following message.

Figure 6. Cannot apply controls to an administrator

Once you click on a Standard User account you will be brought to the User Controls screen where you can view the users activity log, enable or disable Parental Controls, and fine tune the various Parental Controls for this particular user. If the user that you are configure Parental Controls for is currently logged on you will receive a warning stating that the new settings may not go into affect until the user logs off and back on.

Figure 7. User Controls Screen

On the left hand side of the screen are the various options that you can configure for this user. These settings will be disabled if Parental Controls is not turned on for this user. On the right hand side of the screen you will find a summary of the user's currently configured controls as well as have the ability to view the user's activity reports by clicking on the View activity reports option.

Let us start by enabling the Parental Controls for this particular user. To do that you would select the option labeled On, enforce current settings. Once this option is selected you will now have access to the other settings on this screen. It is important to note that once you select this option, default restrictions will go into place. These default restrictions are described below. We then suggest that you enable the option under the Activity Reporting: category labeled On, collect information about computer usage. With this option enabled, Vista will log to the user's activity report their activity on the computer.

Now that you have enabled Parental Controls for this user, the following options will become available under the Windows Settings category.

Windows Vista Web Filter: This section allow you to controls the sites the user is allowed to visit, whether or not they can download files, and the type of web site content they can view.
: This section allows you to specify the specific times that the user is allowed to use the computer.
Games: This section allows you to specify what games are allowed to be played on this computer based on their rating, content or title.
Allow and Block Specific Programs: This section allows you to specify programs that a user can or cannot use.

Each of the above settings is discussed in greater detail in their own sections below. Let's move on to the first of these four sections and learn about the Windows Vista Web Filter.

Configuring the Windows Vista Web Filter

If you select the Windows Vista Web Filter option you will be brought to the Web Restrictions screen shown below. At this screen you have a variety of different options that enable you to control what sites the user can visit.

Figure 8. Web Restrictions Page

By default, when you enable Parental Controls on an account Web Restrictions are automatically enabled and the Block some websites or content option will be selected. To disable restrictions select the Allow all websites and content option. When web restrictions are enabled, Vista will automatically set your restriction level, which can be set under the Block web content automatically category, to Medium. If the medium setting is too relaxed or too strict you can modify it one of the following settings:

Custom - If you select this category you will be brought to a new screen where you can select the specific site categories that you would like to restrict this user from visiting.

Figure 9. Custom Content Filtering Level

None - There will not be any web content restrictions on the sites this user visits.

Medium - This level will block unratable content and content that fits in the following categories: mature content, pornography, drugs, hate speech, and weapons.

High - Block all websites except those approved for children.

It is important to note when using web restrictions that these settings may not block every site that fits these categories due to the fact that what some people find objective others do not. The restrictions will, though, be able to block a large amount of sites that fall under the particular category. When a user attempts to visit a site blocked by Parental Controls, the user will see a screen in Internet Explorer, or another browser, similar to the one below:

Figure 10. Site blocked by Parental Controls

If the user knows the administrator password then they can click on the Ask administrator for permission link in the blocked site's message. They will then be prompted to enter the administrator's login information to unblock the site.

Under the Block web content automatically category is another option labeled Block file downloads. If you enable this option then the user will not be able to download files through Internet Explorer. When using this feature, it is fairly easy to circumvent it as not all browsers are blocked. For example though Internet Explorer is able to block downloads, users of Firefox will have no problems downloading anything. Therefore you should not rely on these features entirely, but rather test them with the various applications your users will be using. When Parental Controls blocks a download it will show an alert similar to the one below.

Figure 11. Download blocked by Parental Controls

The last category under web restrictions is Allow and block specific sites. This section allows you to specify specific sites that you want to deny or allow the user to visit. When adding sites to the block or allow list they override any restrictions based on the sites content that were configured previously. In this way you can use this section to fine tune the content filters based on a specific site. To configure this setting click on the Edit the Allow and block list option. This will bring you to the Allow Block Webpages screen as shown below.

Figure 12. Allow Block Webpages Screen

At this screen you can enter specific URLs, with only http:// URLs currently being supported, into the Website address: field and then either press the Allow or Block button. If you press the Allow button it will add that URL into the allow list and the site will always be accessible by the user. If you add it to the block list then the user will not be allowed to access it. When adding URLs to these lists, any URL in the allow list overrides the same URL, or a more general URL, in the block list. For example, if you add the broad and general URL, http://www.example.com, to the block list it would block every page that started with http://www.example.com/. Now if you added a more specific URL for that domain, http://www.example.com/safepage.html, to the allow list, that one URL would be accessible overriding the block list.

If you really want to harden the system so that almost no sites can be accessed you can put a checkmark in the Only Allow websites which are on the allow list checkbox. With this checked only URLs that you enter into the allow category will be able to be visited. It is strongly suggested that you do not select this option, as you will be seriously curtailing the amount of useful sites available on the web.

Last but not least, you also have the ability to export and import your Allow and Block lists to a file. This is useful if you want to use the same rules on a different computer or if you have compiled a really good list and want to share it with your friends. If you want to save your Allow and Block list to a file you would click on the Export button. This will bring up a prompt where you give your list a name and then save it in the folder of your choice. If you would like to import a list, you would click on the Import button and browse to the Web Allow Block Lists file that you would like to import. We will go into more detail about these types of files later in the tutorial. When you are done configuring the Allow and Block lists, press the OK button to save your settings.

That covers the configuration of the Windows Vista Web Filter for this user. Press the OK button again to get back to the main User Controls screen so we can configure this the time restrictions for this user.

Configuring time restrictions

When you select the Time Limits option in the Users Controls you will be brought to a screen where you can specify the hours that the user is allowed to use the computer.

Figure 13. Time Restrictions

By default a user can logon to and use the computer at any time in the day. If you want to limit when they can use the computer you can specify using this screen the specific times they can log on. The hours are represented as individual boxes, where each box represents a specific hour on a specific weekday. If you click on a box, it turns it blue which means the user cannot log on to the computer at that particular time. To remove this restriction you simply need to click once again on the same box so it becomes white. You are also able to select multiple time restrictions at the same time. To do this left click on a box and while holding down the left mouse button, drag the pointer over the time boxes that you would like to restrict. As you highlight each box it will turn blue and block the user from logging on during that time period.

When a user attempts to log on to the computer when they are restricted they will receive the error shown below.

Figure 14. User is restricted from logging on to the computer

Once you have finished configuring the time restrictions for this particular user, you can save these restrictions by clicking on the OK button. This will bring you back to the main User Controls screen where we will now configure what types of games the user can play.

Configuring Game Restrictions

When you select the Games option in the Users Controls screen you will be brought to the Game Restrictions screen where you can control whether or not the user can play games and what type of games can be played.

Figure 15. Game Controls Screen

By default all users with Parental Controls can play games of any content level. To disable access to games you can select No under the Can username play games? category. If you want to allow this user to play games, you can specify the maximum content rating of a game that the user can play, by clicking on the Set game ratings option.

Figure 16. Game Restrictions

From this screen you can specify whether or not the user can play games that are not rated as well as specify the maximum content rating of a game that a user can play. When games are created they are given a rating similar to a movie rating so that a parent can determine if the game is appropriate for a child's age. Depending on what you feel is best for your child; select the rating of the games that your child can play. When selecting a rating it is important to remember that the user can play games up to and including the rating you select. Some games, for whatever reason, may not have a rating. If you want to block these types of games from being played you can select the Block games with no rating option. If you don't mind that the user will play games with no rating you should instead select the Allow games with no rating option.

To further filter games you can also select various game content that you would like a user not to be able to play. Examples of content that you can prohibit are blood, alcohol reference, drug reference, nudity, etc. These settings will override any game ratings that you select, so if you specify that you do not want the user to play games with cursing, but you allow a game rating that allows for that, the games with cursing will still not be allowed. When you are done configuring this section you would click on the OK button to save your changes.

You will now be back at the main Game Controls screen. From this screen we will configure the last available setting, which is for allowing or blocking specific games. By clicking on the Block or Allow specific games option you will come to the Game Overrides screen.

Figure 17. Game Overrides Screen

At this screen you can specify whether or not a game can be played on a per game basis. There are three options next to each game title. The first option is User Rating Setting, which will block the game based on the Parental Controls settings previously set. The Always Allow or Always Block settings will override the other Parental Controls settings and allow access to the game based on the choice in this screen.

When you are done configuring this screen, you can press the OK button to save your changes and bring you back to the main Game Controls screen. Now that we are done configuring game settings, we would press the OK button again to exit back to the User Controls screen.

Configuring what programs are allowed or are blocked

We are now at the User Controls screen and there is one last section that we have not explored. When you click on the Allow and Block Specific Programs option you will be brought to a screen asking if the user can use all programs or only ones that you allow. If you want the user to be able to use all of the programs on the computer you should press the Cancel button to exit this screen. Otherwise select the Username can only use the programs I allow option and Vista will scan your computer for programs and then display them in a list as shown below.

Figure 18. Application Restrictions

You can now pick and choose the specific programs that you wish to allow the user to use. To allow a program to be used, simply put a checkmark in the checkbox next to the programs name. If there is a program that is missing from the list, and you would like the user to have access to it, you can click on the Browse button and browse to the executable. When the executable is added it will automatically be checked. You can also select the Check All button to allow all the programs or the Uncheck All button to disallow all of the listed programs. When you are done selecting the programs you want to permit access to, click on the OK button to save these settings and bring you back to the User Controls screen.

Congratulations! You have now completed setting up Parental Controls for this user. As this was the last group of settings to configure for this user, you can now press the OK button to get back to the main Parental Controls welcome screen. You can now configure Parental Controls for any other users on your computer, or close the screen to finish this process. In the next sections we will go over some advanced material about Parental Controls. If you have no need for this material, then you can skip to the conclusion.

How to create a custom Web Allow Block Lists file

The Windows Vista Web Filter allows you to export and import lists of sites that you would like to allow or block for a particular user. These lists of sites are stored in a file called a Web Allow Block Lists file. These files are text files that have the extension of .WebAllowBlockList and contain a list of URLs. The URLs are formatted in a particular way so that the Vista Web Filter knows whether or not they should be added to the Allow or Block lists. Below we describe the format of the file so that you can make your own Web Allow Block Lists files.

The contents of all Web Allow Block Lists files start with the tag and end with the tag. In between these two tags are URL statements using the following syntax:

http://example.com

The value of the AllowBlock variable, represented by X, can either be the number 1 or the number 2. If you specify the value of AllowBlock to be 1 then the Web Filter will add that URL into the Allow list. On the other hand if you specify the value of the AllowBlock to be 2 then the Web Filter will add that URL into the Block list. It is also important to note that when you add URLs to the list, you can only add URLs that start with http://. Below are some example URL statements:

http://www.example.com would allow all pages that start with www.example.com/ to be accessible.

http://www.example.com/badurl/ would block access to the specific URL http://www.example.com/badurl/

You can list as many URL statements as you wish as long as you use the syntax shown above and as long as they are in between the opening and the closing tags. An example Web Allow Block Lists file can be found below so that you can see the format used.

http://apple.test.com/
http://test.com/test
http://mac.test.com/
http://test.com/
http://test.com/blocked

One frustrating issue when making a Block Lists file is that certain legitimate types of http:// URLs are not permissable in a Web Allow Block Lists file which makes it difficult to automate the conversion of existing lists of unwanted sites to this new format. The first is that you cannot use a &, ampersand, in an URL. So an URL that looks like the following is not allowed:

http://www.example.com/test.html?test=1&bad=1

When trying to import urls that contain an &, you will get an error message stating the import failed. One last caveat, which is not necessarily a problem, is that the import process will strip off the first GET variable in an URL so that it is only the specific page, without arguments, that gets added to the lists. Let's look at the following URLs list as an example:

http://www.example.com/index.php
http://www.example.com/index.php?type=.html

Both URLs are legitimate and both may perform differently when you visit them, but when you import this list, you will be notified that the URLs are redundant, the importer will strip off the arguments, and you will only be left with the single URL, http://www.example.com/index.php, in your block list. I understand that they are doing this so that you have a more general URL to block, but I find it strange that the import process is fine with the first variable designated by a ?, but has problems with further arguments specified with an &.

Advanced Information

In this section we will touch on some advanced information as to the inner workings of Parental Controls. The configuration settings for the Parental Controls are stored in the following Windows Registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Parental Controls

Under that key are a variety of global settings, exemption lists, and the per user settings. For each user that has Parental Controls there is a subkey named for their SID, or Security Identifier, under the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Parental Controls\Users

Under the SID subkey you will find all the settings that were configured for the user. An interesting subkey is the Web\Overrides subkey, which contains the Web Filter overrides.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Parental Controls\Users\S-1-5-21-2583266263-1766765975-3327590656-1004\Web\Overrides

Each value name is the particular URL in our block or allow list and the data of that value is either the number 1 or 2, with 1 meaning the URL is allowed and 2 meaning it is blocked. These settings are obviously only accessible by an Administrator so we do not have to worry about malware running under a standard user's account modifying this information.

According to a blog post by David Bennet, a developer on the Windows Parental Controls team, there are four different exclusion lists, in two categories, for Parental Controls. These lists contain URLs and programs that are white listed so that they cannot be blocked or filtered. The first category of white lists are for entries added to the list by programs so that they can update themselves, retrieve help information, or activate their products. These program writable lists are the HttpExemptionList and the UrlExemptionList. They are found at the following Registry keys:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Parental Controls\HTTPExemptions

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Parental Controls\URLExemptions

HTTPExemptions are a list of programs that are can't be blocked from accessing the HTTP protocol and URLExemptions are urls that can't be blocked by the Vista Web Filter. Below are default exemptions for a Vista Ultimate installation.

HTTPExemptions
C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\Wmprph.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\Wmpnscfg.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\Wmlaunch.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\Wmpenc.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\Wmpsideshowgadget.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\Wmpnetwk.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\Wmpshare.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\Wmpconfig.exe

URLExemptions
http://services.wmdrm.windowsmedia.com
http://preview.services.wmdrm.windowsmedia.com
http://drmlicense.one.microsoft.com

The second type of white list is read-only and is a list of Windows programs and URLs that are required for proper Windows functionality. These entries cannot be added or removed by standard means and will most likely only be altered via future Windows updates. The Registry keys associated with these white lists are:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Parental Controls\WinHTTPExemptions

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Parental Controls\WinURLExemptions

WinHTTPExemptions are a list of programs that are can't be blocked from accessing the HTTP protocol and WinURLExemptions are urls that can't be blocked by the Vista Web Filter. Below are default exemptions for a Vista Ultimate installation.

WinHTTPExemptions
C:\\Windows\eHome\ehrec.exe
C:\\Windows\HelpPane.exe
C:\\Windows\eHome\MCUpdate.exe

WinURLExemptions
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/images/lockedout_uncompressed48.png
http://wer.microsoft.com
http://oca.microsoft.com
http://www.microsoft.com/library/media/1033/windowsvista/images/shield.png
http://images.metaservices.microsoft.com
http://games.metaservices.microsoft.com
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/

Conclusion

Now that you understand how to use Vista's Window Parental Controls, it is possible to create a safe and productive environment for the children in your household. It is particularly comforting knowing that the Windows Parental Controls team envisioned that what one parent may find offensive, another may not, and thus provided us a set of tools that we can customize to fit our own requirements.

XP Network logon for Home Users

noreply@blogger.com (Elite Kid) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:30:00 -0700

If you use a computer at work, school, library, or where ever a computer is on a network, you've probably seen the logon screen where it tells you to press Ctrl+Alt+Del. This is the logon prompt that XP Professional users and Windows 2000 users receive when the machine is configured to log on to a network. If this type of login is more comfortable for you to use and you would like to change your XP Home logon to do this as well, then please read on.

Want your logon screen to look like this?

Figure 1.1

Requirements

There are only two (2) things you need to have in order to use this logon type:

You need to have Microsoft Windows XP Home or Professional.
You need to have access to an administrator account on the computer.

Instructions

Very first thing you need to do is to turn off your current logon type.

Click Start
Click Control Panel
In the Classic View of the Control Panel, double click on User Accounts.
Click Change the way users log on or off. If you get a pop-up about "Fast Switching," just click cancel.
Uncheck Use Fast User Switching and Use the Welcome Screen
Click Apply Options
Click on the Guest account
Click Turn OFF the Guest Account
Close out of the User Accounts windows by clicking the little X.

Now that you have turned off your old logon, now you have configure your new logon. :)

Right Click on the TaskBar
Click Properties
Click the Start Menu tab
Click the Radio Button option Start Menu
Then click Customize
Click the Advanced tab
Scroll down and click the Radio Button option under "System Administrative Tools," labeled Display on the All Programs menu and the Start Menu.
Click Ok, then click Ok.
Now you have to adjust our "preferences." You should be viewing your desktop.
Click Start
Click Administrative Tools while the rollover menu is still there, click Local Security Policy
On the left side of the screen click the + so its a – on the Local Policies menu.
Then click on Security Options
Then make sure the following is changed to or is the option in bold.
1. Interactive logon: Do not display last user name. Change it to Enabled
2. Interactive logon: Do not require CTRL+ALT+DEL. Change it to Disabled*
3. Interactive logon: Message text for users attempting to log on. Change it to anything you want, on mine it is: "Welcome to YanoNet! By touching this computer you are agreeing to the EULA. Thank you. If you need an account please contact the administrator."(This text will appear as shown in Figure 1.3)
4. Interactive logon: Message title for users attempting to log on: Change it to anything you want. Mine is: Welcome to YanoNet!" (White text in the top bar of Figure1.3)
5. System cryptography: User FIPS compliant algorithms for encryption, hashing, and signing. Enabled
6. System objects: Strengthen default permissions of internal system objects (e.g. Symbolic Links) Enabled

If you have followed these steps correctly your computer is now set to login as if you are on a network. Next time you reboot you will see a screen like this.

Figure 1.2

To start the login process, press Control-Alt-Delete. You will now be presented with the message text that you created in step 14.3 and 14.4.

Figure 1.3

Press OK to accept the message and you will be presented with the logon screen as show below.

Figure 1.4

You can now enter your account information to logon to Windows.

How to determine what services are running under a SVCHOST.EXE process

noreply@blogger.com (Elite Kid) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:26:00 -0700

A very common question we see here at Bleeping Computer involves people concerned that there are too many SVCHOST.EXE processes running on their computer. The confusion typically stems from a lack of knowledge about SVCHOST.EXE, its purpose, and Windows services in general. This tutorial will clear up this confusion and provide information as to what these processes are and how to find out more information about them. Before we continue learning about SVCHOST, lets get a small primer on Windows services.

Services are Windows programs that start when Windows loads and that continue to run in the background without interaction from the user. For those familiar with Unix/Linux operating systems, Windows servers are similar to *nix daemons. For the most part Windows services are executable (.EXE) files, but some services are DLL files as well. As Windows has no direct way of executing a DLL file it needs a program that can act as a launcher for these types of programs. In this situation, the launcher for DLL services is SVCHOST.EXE, otherwise known as the Generic Host Process for Win32 Services. Each time you see a SVCHOST process, it is actually a process that is managing one or more distinct Windows DLL services.

Outlined below are three methods, depending on your Windows version, to see what services a SVCHOST.EXE process is controlling on your computer as well as some advanced technical knowledge about svchost for those who are interested.

Determining the services running under a SVCHOST.EXE process using Process Explorer

Process Explorer, from Sysinternals, is a process management program that allows you to see the running processes on your computer and a great deal of information about each process. One of the nice features of Process Explorer is that it also gives you the ability to see what services a particular SVCHOST.EXE process is controlling.

First you need to download Process Explorer from the following site:

Process Explorer

Download the file and save it to your hard drive. When it has finished downloading, extract the file into its own folder and double-click on the procexp.exe to start the program. If this is your first time running the program, it will display a license agreement. Agree to the license agreement and the program will continue. When it is finished loading you will be presented with a screen containing all the running processes on your computer as shown in the figure below. Remember that the processes you see in this image will not be the same as what is running on your computer.

Process Explorer Screen

Scroll through the list of processes until you see the SVCHOST.EXE process(es). To find out which services are running within a particular SVCHOST.EXE process we need to examine the properties for the process. To do this double-click SVCHOST.EXE entry in Process Explorer and you will see the properties screen for the process like in the image below.

SVCHOST.EXE Properties

Finally, to view the services running in this process, click on the Services tab. You will now see a screen similar to the one below.

Services Tab

This window displays the services that are being managed by this particular SVCHOST.EXE process. As you can see the SVCHOST.EXE that we are currently looking at in this tutorial is managing the DCOM Server Process Launcher and Terminal Services.

Using this method you can determine what services a SVCHOST.EXE process is controlling on your computer.

Determining the services running under a SVCHOST.EXE process using Task List

For those who like to tinker around in a Windows command prompt/console window, and have Windows XP Pro or Windows 2003, there is a Windows program called tasklist.exe that can be used to list the running processes, and services, on your computer. To use task list to see the services that a particular SVCHOST.EXE process is loading, just follow these steps:

1. Click on the Start button and then click on the Run menu command.

2. In the Open: field type cmd and press enter.

3. You will now be presented with a console window. At the command prompt type tasklist /svc /fi "imagename eq svchost.exe" and press the enter key. You will see a list of the processes on your computer as well as the services that a SVCHOST.EXE process is managing. This can be seen in the image below.

TaskList /svc output

When you are done examining the output, you can type exit and press the enter key to close the console window.

Determining the services running under a SVCHOST.EXE process in Windows Vista

Windows vista has enhanced their Windows Task Manager and one of its features allows us to easily see what services are being controlled by a particular SVCHOST.EXE process. To start, simply start the task manager by right clicking on the task bar and then selecting Task Manager. When Task Manager opens click on the Processes tab. You will now be presented with a list of processes that your Vista user account has started as shown in the image below.

.
Vista's Current User Processes

We, though, need to see all of the processes running on the computer. To do this click on the button labeled Show All Processes. When you do this Windows Vista will prompt you to allow authorization to see all the processes as shown below.

Show all Vista Processes Confirmation

Press the Continue button and the Vista task manager will reload, but this time showing all the processes running in the operating system. Scroll down through the list of processes until you see the SVCHOST processes as shown in the image below.

All Vista Processes

Right-click on a SVCHOST process and select the Go to Service(s) menu option. You will now see a list of services on your computer with the services that are running under this particular SVCHOST process highlighted. Now you can easily determine what services a particular SVCHOST process is running in Windows Vista.

Advanced Information about SVCHOST.EXE

Now that we know that a single SVCHOST.EXE process can load and manage multiple services, what determines what services are grouped together under a SVCHOST instance? These groups are determined by the settings in the following Windows Registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SVCHOST

Under this key are a set of values that group various services together under one name. Each group is a REG_MULTI_SZ Registry value that contains a list of service names that belong to that group. Below you will see standard groups found in XP Pro.

Group Name	Services in the group
LocalService	Alerter, WebClient, LmHosts, RemoteRegistry, upnphost, SSDPSRV
NetworkService	DnsCache
netsvcs	6to4, AppMgmt, AudioSrv, Browser, CryptSvc, DMServer, DHCP, ERSvc, EventSystem, FastUserSwitchingCompatibility, HidServ, Ias, Iprip, Irmon, LanmanServer, LanmanWorkstation, Messenger, Netman, Nla, Ntmssvc, NWCWorkstation, Nwsapagent, Rasauto, Rasman, Remoteaccess, Schedule, Seclogon, SENS, Sharedaccess, SRService, Tapisrv, Themes, TrkWks, W32Time, WZCSVC, Wmi, WmdmPmSp, winmgmt, TermService, wuauserv, BITS, ShellHWDetection, helpsvc, xmlprov, wscsvc, WmdmPmSN
rpcss	RpcSs
imgsvc	StiSvc
termsvcs	TermService
HTTPFilter	HTTPFilter
DcomLaunch	DcomLaunch, TermService

Each of the service names in these groups corresponds to a service entry under the Windows Registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services

Under each of these service entries there is a Parameters subkey that contains a ServiceDLL value which corresponds to the DLL that is used to run the service.

When Windows loads it begins to start services that are set to enabled and have an automatic startup. Some services are started using the SVCHOST.exe command. When Windows attempts to start one of these types of services and there is currently not a svchost instance running for that services group, it will create a new SVCHOST instance and then load the DLL associated with the service. If on the other hand, there is already a SVCHOST process running for that group it will just load the new service using that existing process. A service that uses SVCHOST to initialize itself, provides the name of the group as a parameter to svchost.exe command. An example would be:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe -k DcomLaunch

In the above command line, the svchost process will look up the ServiceDLL associated with the service name from the DcomLaunch group and load it.

This can be confusing, so let's use an example. There is a Windows service called Distributed Link Tracking Client which has a service name TrkWks. If we examine the table above, we can see that the TrkWks service is part of the netsvcs group. If we look at the Registry key for this service we see that it's ServiceDLL is %SystemRoot%\system32\trkwks.dll. Therefore, using this information and what we learned above, we know that the executable command for the TrkWks service must be:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs

When the TrkWks service is started Windows will check to see if there is a SVCHOST process for the netsvcs group already created. If not it will create an instance of one to handle services in the netsvcs group. The SVCHOST process for netsvcs will then start the service by executing the %SystemRoot%\system32\trkwks.dll. Once the DLL has been loaded by SVCHOST the service will then be in a started state.

Conclusion

Now that you understand what SVCHOST.EXE is and how it manages certain Windows services, seeing multiple instances in your process list should no longer be a mystery or a concern. It is not uncommon to see numerous SVCHOST entries, sometimes upwards to 8 or 9 entries, running on your computer. If you are concerned with what is running under these processes, simply use the steps described above to examine their services.

Introduction to the Windows Command Prompt

noreply@blogger.com (Elite Kid) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:21:00 -0700

Before Windows was created, the most common operating system that ran on IBM PC compatibles was DOS. DOS stands for Disk Operating System and was what you would use if you had started your computer much like you do today with Windows. The difference was that DOS was not a graphical operating system but rather purely textual. That meant in order to run programs or manipulate the operating system you had to manually type in commands. When Windows was first created it was actually a graphical user interface that was created in order to make using the DOS operating system easier for a novice user. As time went on and newer versions of Windows were developed DOS was finally phased out with Windows ME. Though the newer operating systems do not run on DOS, they do have a something called the command prompt, which has a similar appearance to DOS. In this tutorial we will cover the basic commands and usage of the command prompt so that you feel comfortable in using this resource.

Using the Command Prompt or Dos Window

When people refer to the command prompt they may we refer to it in different ways. They may refer to it as a shell, console window, a command prompt, a cmd prompt, or even dos. In order to enter the command prompt you need to run a program that is dependent on your operating system. Below we list the programs that you need to run to enter a command prompt based on the version of Windows you are running.

Operating System	Command	Notes
Windows 3.1,.3.11, 95, 98, ME	command.com	This program when run will open up a command prompt window providing a DOS shell.
Windows NT, 2000, XP, 2003	cmd.exe	This program will provide the native command prompt. What we call the command prompt.
Windows NT, 2000, XP, 2003	command.com	This program will open up a emulated DOS shell for backwards compatibility. Only use if you must.

To run these programs and start a command prompt you would do the following steps:

Step 1: Click on the Start Menu

Step 2: Click on the Run option

Step 3: Type the appropriate command in the Open: field. For example if we are using Windows XP we would type cmd.exe.

Step 4: Click on the OK button

After following these steps you will be presented with a window that look similar to Figure 1 below.

Figure 1. Windows Command Prompt

The command prompt is simply a window that by default displays the current directory, or in windows term a folder, that you are in and has a blinking cursor ready for you to type your commands. For example in Figure 1 above you can see that it says C:\WINDOWS>. The C:\WINDOWS> is the prompt and it tells me that I am currently in the c:\windows directory. If I was in the directory c:\program files\directory the prompt would instead look like this: C:\PROGRAM FILES\DIRECTORY>.

To use the command prompt you would type in the commands and instructions you want and then press enter. In the next section we will discuss some useful commands and how to see all available built in commands for the command prompt.

Useful commands

The command.com or cmd.exe programs have built in commands that are very useful. Below I have outlined some of the more important commands and further instruction on how to find information on all the available commands.

The Help command - This command will list all the commands built into the command prompt. If you would like further information about a particular command you can type help commandname. For example help cd will give you more detailed information on a command. For all commands you can also type the command name followed by a /? to see help on the command. For example, cd /?

The Exit command - This command will close the command prompt. Simply type exit and press enter and the command prompt will close.

The CD command - This command allows you to change your current directory or see what directory you are currently in. To use the CD command you would type cd directoryname and press enter. This would then change the directory you are currently in to the one specified. When using the cd command you must remember how paths work in Windows. A path to a file is always the root directory, which is symbolized by the \ symbol, followed by the directories underneath it. For example the file notepad.exe which is located in c:\windows\system32 would have a path as follows \windows\system32\notepad.exe. If you want to change to a directory that is currently in your current directory you do not need the full path, but can just type cd directoryname and press enter. For example if you are in a directory called c:\test, and there were three directories in that the test directory called A, B, and C, you could just type cd a and press enter. You would then be in the c:\test\a. If on the other hand you wanted to change your directory to the c:\windows\system32 directory, you would have to type cd \windows\system and press enter.

The DIR command - This command will list the files and directories contained in your current directory, if used without an argument, or the directory you specify as an argument. To use the command you would just type dir and press enter and you will see a listing of the current files in the directory you are in, including information about their file sizes, date and time they were last written to. The command will also show how much space the files in the directory are using and the total amount of free disk space available on the current hard drive. If I typed dir \test I would see the contents of the c:\test directory as shown in Figure 2 below.

Figure 2. DIR of c:\test

If you examine the screen above you will see a listing of the directory. The first 2 columns are the date and time of the last write to that file. Followed by whether or not the particular entry is a directory or a file, then the size of the file, and finally the name of the file. You may have noticed that there are two directories named . and .., which have special meaning in operating systems. The . stands for the current directory and the .. stands for the previous directory in the path. In the example above, .. stands for c:\windows.

Also note for many commands you can use the * symbol which stands for wildcard. With this in mind, typing dir *.txt will only list those files that end with .txt.

The Copy command - This command allows you to copy files from one location to another. To use this command you would type
copy filetocopy copiedfile. For example if you have the file c:\test\test.txt and would like to copy it to c:\windows\test.txt you would type
copy c:\test\test.txt c:\windows\test.txt and press enter. If the copy is successful it will tell you so and give you back the prompt. If you are copying within the same directory you do not have to use the path. Here are some examples and what they would do:

copy test.txt test.bak	Copies the test.txt file to a new file called test.bak in the same directory
copy test.txt \windows	Copies the test.txt file to the \windows directory.
*copy \windows**	Copies all the files in the current directory to the \windows directory.

The Move command - This command allows you to move a file from one location to another. Examples are below:

move test.txt test.bak	Moves the test.txt file to a new file renaming it to test.bak in the same directory.
move test.txt \windows	Moves the test.txt file to the \windows directory.
*move \windows**	Moves all the files in the current directory to the \windows directory.

At this point you should use the help command to learn about the other available commands.

Redirectors

Redirectors are an important part to using the command prompt as they allow you to manipulate how the output or input of a program is displayed or used. Redirectors are used by appending them to the end of a command followed by what you are redirecting to. For example: dir > dir.txt. There are four redirectors that are used in a command prompt and they are discussed below:

>	This redirector will take the output of a program and store it in a file. If the file exists, it will be overwritten. If it does not exist it will create a new file. For example the command dir > dir.txt will take the output of the dir command and place it in the dir.txt file. If dir.txt exists, it will overwrite it, otherwise it will create it.
>>	This redirector will take the output of a program and store it in a file. If the file exists, the data will be appended to the current data in the file rather than overwriting it. If it does not exist it will create a new file. For example the command dir >> dir.txt will take the output of the dir command and appends it to the existing data in the dir.txt file if the file exists. If dir.txt does not exist, it will create the file first.
<	This redirector will take the input for a program from a specified file. For example the date command expects input from a user. So if we had the command date <>it would take the input for the date program from the information contained in the date.txt file.
\|	This redirector is called a pipe. It will take the output of a program and pipe it into another program. For example dir \| sort would take the output of the dir command and use it as input to the sort command.

Batch Files

Batch files are files that have an extension ending in .bat. They are simply scripts that contain command prompt commands that will be executed in the order they are listed. To create a batch file, just make a file that ends in .bat, such as test.bat, and inside the file have the commands you would like. Each command should be on its own line and in the order you would like them to execute.

Below is example batch file. It has no real use but will give you an example of how a batch files works. This test batch file contains the following lines of text:

cd
cd \test
dir
cd \

If I was to run the test.bat file I created I would have output that looks like the following:

Figure 3: Example of a batch file running.

As you can see from the figure above, my batch file executed each command in my batch file in the sequence they were written in the batch file.

Console Programs

If a program is created for express purpose of running within a command prompt, or console window, that program is called a console program. These are programs that are not graphical and can only be run properly from within a command prompt window.

Below is a list of sites that contain console programs that may be useful to you:

http://www.csc.calpoly.edu/~bfriesen/software/console.shtml/software.shtml
http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/

There are many more sites that have tools available. Just do a Google search on windows console programs.

Conclusion

The command prompt can be a very powerful and versatile tool for a computer user. Hopefully this brief introduction into the command prompt will enable you to use your computer more efficiently.

How to format a floppy in Windows

noreply@blogger.com (Elite Kid) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:16:00 -0700

Everyone knows what a floppy disk is, but a common question, is how do I clean out a floppy so that it can be used again? I have spoken to many people who have said that after they store information on a floppy they throw them out as they do not know how to erase the files on them so that it is an empty and clean disk. This tutorial will cover how to reformat a floppy disk so that you can reuse it as you wish. In this way you will not have to throw out your used floppies, but can instead keep using them over and over.

Note: The images in this tutorial are taken from Windows XP , but the method shown here should still apply for Win95/98/ME/2000.

How to format a floppy in windows

Step 1: Insert the floppy you would like to erase into the floppy drive of your computer.

Step 2: Click on the Start button, then click on run.

Step 3. The run dialog box should now be shown. Type explorer in the Open: field and press the OK button. Alternatively, you can press down on the Windows key on your keyboard, which is generally located between your left Control and Alt keys and looks like a small flag, and while holding that key down press once on the letter E.

Both methods will open Windows Explorer. After Windows Explorer is opened you should see a screen similar to Figure 1 below.

Figure 1. Windows Explorer

Step 3: Click once on My Computer as show in Figure 1 above to highlight it.

Step 4: Click once on the Floppy Drive, usually the A: drive. It should now be highlighted.

Step 5: Click on the File menu and then click on the Format option as shown in Figure 2 below.

Figure 2. Select the Format Option under the File Menu

Step 6: After you click once on Format as shown in Figure 2 above. You will see a screen similar to Figure 3 below.

Figure 3. Format Dialog Box

Step 7: Type in a descriptive name in the Volume Label field for this floppy or leave it blank. This is optional, so it is up to you.

Step 8: Place a checkmark in the Quick Format box designated by the red box in Figure 3 above.

Step 9: Press the Start button. You will get a confirmation box as shown in Figure 4 below.

Figure 4. Confirmation

Step 10: If you want to continue formatting this floppy press the OK button, otherwise press Cancel.

Step 11: Windows will now format your floppy. If it has problems Quick Formatting the floppy, then it will tell you so, you should tell it continue formatting the floppy. When it is done formatting, you will be presented with a screen as shown in Figure 5 below telling you the format is complete.

Figure 5. Format Complete

Step 12: Press OK and then Close.

Your floppy is now ready to be used.

Conclusion

Now that you know how to format a floppy you can use your floppies more than once instead of throwing them out. This should allow you to always have an available floppy in the case of emergencies and save you a little money.

How to show hidden files in Windows

noreply@blogger.com (Elite Kid) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:13:00 -0700

By default Windows hides certain files from being seen with Windows Explorer or My Computer. This is done to protect these files, which are usually system files, from accidentally being modified or deleted by the user. Unfortunately viruses, spyware, and hijackers often hide there files in this way making it hard to find them and then delete them.

By following the steps below for each version of Windows you will be able to change the operating systems behavior so that you can see hidden and protected files. In this way you will be able to delete or replaces files for troubleshooting purposes.

Windows 95