I found this awesome trick a few days back when one of my friends told me to find a folder locker software. I found the folder locker software but the decryption of the password was very easy so I started looking for an alternate method when I found a way to make an invisible folder in Windows XP. Hope you guys will find this interesting.
Make your folders invisible-
>>Right Click on the desktop make a new folder
>>Now rename the folder with a space(You have to hold ALT key and type 0160).
>>Now you have a folder with out a name.
>>Right click on the folder>properties>customize. Click on change icon.
>>Scroll a bit, you should find some empty spaces, Click on any one of them.
There you go your invisible folder is ready to store your confidential data.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Invisible Folder
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Do not Restart your Computer after installing a new Software
If you are like me you wouldn't want to restart your computers after installing a new software especially when your computers is slow. Any modification made to the registry, prompts you to restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
For example: When you install new software, you are instructed to restart the computer so the registry has all the files it needs for the smooth working of all your software.
Instead of restarting your computer so that the registry reloads itself here is a way you can do it without restarting your computer.
All you have to do is:
>>Bring up the Task Manager by pressing Alt-Ctrl-Del.
>>Select explorer.exe in the Processes tab.
>>Click the End Process button on the bottom right.
>>All windows, the task bar and desktop icons will disappear, but don't panic task manager will still be there.
>>Go to the Applications tab and click on New Task.
>>Type explorer and press enter.
>>This reloads the explorer.exe process and the registry.
There you go never restart your computer after installation of a new software or making changes in the registry.
Please note:
Making changes in your registry can cause damage to your system do not make changes unless you are acquainted with it.
Click on the following link to learn to backup your registry
How to back up your registry?
Increase performance of your sata Hard disk
With the advancing technology there has been a lot of improvements in tools and utilities provided to the users. The new SATA hard disk has an option provided to squeeze a little more performance out of your hard disk. This tool speeds up the performance of your hard disk by enhancing write caching. If your computer is not connected to a battery backup and you loose power you have a increased risk for data loss or corruption. If you have a laptop your chances of data loss or corruption are dramatically less since your laptop battery will kick on if your power source is lost.
What is Write Back Cache?
A disk or memory cache that supports the caching of writing. Data normally written to memory or to disk by the CPU is first written into the cache. During idle machine cycles, the data are written from the cache into memory or onto disk. Write back caches improve performance, because a write to the high-speed cache is faster than to normal RAM or disk.
Write Back Adds a Delay
A write back cache for disks adds a slight amount of risk, because the data remain in volatile memory longer. At shut down, the operating system typically adds a small delay to ensure the write cache is emptied. If it is necessary to turn the computer off in a hurry because of an imminent loss of power, a write back cache will keep data in memory for a couple extra seconds before being saved to disk.
>>Go to My Computer, Right click, Properties.
>>Select the Hardware tab, click on Device Manager.
>>Look for Disk drives.
>>Select your Hard disk, right click on it and go to properties.
>>Select the Policies tab.
>>Click on "Enable write caching on the disk".
>>Hit OK and close Device Manager.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Speed up your Boot Time
If your system is using Windows Vista or XP as an operating system and your computer has a
multi-core processor like Intel core 2 Duo or AMD Turion.
it is possible to speed up boot time by using multiple processors
during the boot of your system.
When you enable the following setting on your system Windows uses multiple processors duiring the boot sequance
causing a faster boot of your computer rather than the slow boot using a single processor boot sequance.
>>Click on 'Start' and then 'Run'
>>In the run dialoge box type msconfig and hit enter
>>Select the BOOT.INI tab
>>Select the line multi(0)disk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=option /fastdetect
>>Click on Advanced Options button below
>>A new window named BOOT.INI Advanced Options will open
>>Tick on /NUMPROC=
>>The default value in the value box will be 1 change it to 2
>> Reboot your system
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Hibernate your computer.
Many a times we fall into a situation where we instantly have to turn off our computer. I fall too often in such a situation when my mom starts yelling at me and asks me to turn off the computer. This frustrates a lot of people as you have to stop whatever you are doing or have to save every open file. This becomes a tedious task when there are a lots of applications open. In worse situations you have to close everything without saving your files just adding to your frustration
I always knew what hibernate is, but never used it until this day when I was writing posts for my blogs, my registry editor was open I had opened a few tabs in my browser and suddenly my mom asked me to shutdown my computer. I got really annoyed I was about to turn off my computer without saving any of the contents. It was at this time when my eyes fell on hibernate icon in the turn off menu, looking at which I just smiled to myself saying, "Why did I not think about this?".
What is the Hibernate mode in a computer? What does it do?
The Hibernate mode feature for windows saves up all the currently open applications and hence you don't have to manually save all the programs, not only this but when you turn on your computer for the next time it shows you everything just as you left it. This saves a lot of time when you start your computer again.
How does the hibernation mode work?
The RAM(Random Access Memory) holds content till it is in power ON state and contents goes off as it is switched OFF. When you hibernate your computer contents of RAM are copied to the hard disk. When you turn on your system the next time, those contents are written back to the RAM from your hard disk and you get the same working space you left.
Before trying Hibernation, you need to enable it.
Go to:
>> Control panel
>> Look for 'Performance and Maintenance'
>> At the bottom find 'Power Options'
>> This will open the 'Power Options Properties' dialog box
>> Click on the 'Hibernate tab'
>>Tick the 'Enable hibernation' box
>> Click 'Apply'
To set your computer into the hibernate mode all you have to do is, go to your Turn off menu form the start option on your task bar and then select hibernate.
If it doesn't show the hibernate option then press 'Shift' and the 'Stand by' option will become 'Hibernate'
Benefits of hibernation:
>> You get to resume from where you left even when you had turned off your computer.
>> If your computer takes ages to boot up, then this is going to decrease your boot up time as it doesn't have to boot the Operating System as it wasn't turned off.
>> All your web2.0 applications that are loaded in your browser remains as it is. For example: G mail, Online photo editing tools etc (No need of reloading).
Disadvantage:
>> As the contents of the RAM are copied to the hard disk, the Hibernation Mode reserves space on your hard disk as much as that of your RAM. (Now you know why it was asking for space while enabling hibernation)
This is very helpful for dialup users who can’t afford to loose time while waiting for such heavy applications to load again.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Use pen / flash drive as RAM
What do you do with your pen / flash drive?
Just copy movies and stuff and transfer data here and there.
You might just wonder about how ignorant you have been. Here is something that you might wonder why didn't you think of this.
How does more RAM help improve my Computer's speed?
RAM is Random Access Memory that provides space for your computer to read and write Data which is to be accessed by your processing unit. If you have more RAM on your computer you reduce the number of times of reading Data from your hard disk by your processor resulting your computer to give you a quick response.
Want to use your pen or flash drive as RAM?
Please follow:
>>Connect your pen drive to your Computer (minimum of 1GB is required or if you having 4 GB then its better)
>>Allow the system to detect your pen drive
>>Right click on the 'My Computer'
>>Select 'Properties' this will open the 'System Properties' dialog box
>>Go to 'Advanced' tab
>>Then in the 'Performance' section click on 'Settings'
>>Again look for the 'Advanced' tab
>>At the bottom of the dialog box you'll find a section of 'Virtual memory' click on 'Change' there
>>After the 'Virtual Memory' dialog box is opened select your pen drive from the 'Volume Label'
>>Then click on 'Custom size'
>>See for the space that is shown just above the custom size in the 'Space available' label
>>Enter the same value of space in the 'Initial size' and the 'Maximum size' boxes
>>Now reboot your computer
Run and get your pen/flash drives back from your friends.
How to Backup your Registry Editor?
I've been posting lots of posts which involve some changes in the Registry Editor. I have myself done many changes in the Registry Editor, there is always a possibility that you may mess up things in the Registry Editor which might adversely affect your computer's system. So here is a way to backup your Registry Editor.
To backup your Registry:
>>Go to 'Start' and then 'Run'
>>Type 'regedit' this will open the 'Registry Editor'
>>Choose the 'File' tab from the toolbar
>>Select 'Export'
>>In the 'Export Registry File' window, select the place where you want to save the backup
>>'Name' the file
>>Look for the 'Export Range' category in the bottom of the window
>>Select the 'All' option
>>Click the 'Save' button
Friday, June 26, 2009
Clean up your Disk to enhance your comp's Performance
If you want to get the best out of your computer keep it clean and tidy. The Disk Cleanup frees up space on your hard disk by identifying files that can be safely deleted, and then prompts you to choose whether you want to delete some or all of the identified files.
Use Disk Cleanup to:
*Remove temporary Internet files
*Remove downloaded program files (Microsoft ActiveX controls and Java applets)
*Empty the Recycle Bin
*Remove Windows temporary files
*Remove optional Windows components that you don't use
*Remove installed programs that you no longer use
To use Disk Cleanup:
>>Click Start
>>Point to All Programs
>>Go to Accessories
>>Point to System Tools
>>Then click Disk Cleanup
>>This will open a Disk Cleanup dialog box, scroll through the content of the 'Files to delete' list
>>Check for the content that you don't want to delete and untick the boxes and then click OK
>>When prompted to confirm that you want to delete the specified files, click Yes
The Disk Cleanup box will close after the process enhancing your computers performance
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Detect and repair disk errors
How is a bad disk detected and repaired?
Hard drives contain millions of sectors.
A small number of sectors will normally go bad during the lifespan of a drive.
As you use your hard drive, it can develop bad sectors. Bad sectors slow down your hard disk performance and sometimes make data writing difficult, or even impossible. The Error Checking Utility scans the hard drive for bad sectors, and scans for file system errors to see whether certain files or folders are misplaced.
Whenever a disk develops a bad sector, the data in those sectors may be lost, but the data on the rest of the disk will be unaffected and the disk is still completely usable.
A bad sector cannot be repaired, however it can be marked as unusable. Once marked as unusable, the Operating System will know not to attempt to store data in that bad sector. This obviously leads to the decrease in the storage capacity of your disk.
If you use your computer daily, you should run this utility once a week to help prevent data loss.
To run the Error Checking utility:
>>Close all open files.
>>Click 'Start'
>>Click on 'My Computer'
>>In the 'My Computer' window, right-click on the disk you want to search for bad sectors
>>Then click 'Properties'
>>In the 'Properties' dialog box click on the 'Tools tab'
>>In the 'Error-checking' section click on the 'Check Now'
>>This will open the 'Check Disk dialog box'
>>Select the 'Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors' box
>>Click on 'Start'
>>If Bad sectors are found, choose to fix them.
Please note:
If your hard drive develops a bad sector, create a backup of the hard drive immediately. If the bad sector is caused by a faulty drive head, the problem may quickly spread to other sectors on the disk.
##Only select the 'Automatically fix file system errors' box if you are sure that your disk contains bad sectors.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Decrease the Starting time of your computer:
Some times after 'logging in' into your user account you may feel that your computer is taking a little more time to start up. Whenever you start your computer your processor checks for your registry and locates the needed software.This process is done as soon as you press the power button on your CPU.
After that your processor looks for your wallpapers customizes it creates all your shortcuts and customizes your computer just to the same way the last time you shut it down. This time taken by your processor can be minimized to a great extent.
Just do the following:
>>Press 'start' and 'R' button on your keyboard
>>You will go to Run
>>Type 'regedit' and press enter
>>This will open the 'Registry editor'
>>Look for the key 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE'
>>Double click on 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE'
>>Look for 'SYSTEM'
>>Double click on 'SYSTEM'
>>Look for 'CurrentControlSet'
>>Double click on 'CurrentControlSet'
>>Look for 'Control'
>>Double click on 'Control'
>>Look for 'ContentIndex'
>>Double click on 'ContentIndex'
>>In the right pane look for 'StartupDelay'
>>Double click on 'StartupDelay'
>>This will open a new dialogue box 'Edit DWORD Value'
>>In the Base section select 'Decimal'
>>Its default value is 4800000 (75300:Hexadecimal)
>>Change it to 40000
>>Close the registry editor and restart your computer