PC TIPS...!

Identifying the auto startup programs

The first step in stopping the auto startup is identifying exactly what is starting up and what its purpose is.To do so, you will use a cool little program called the system configuration utility, which is built into Windows XP, and the Google search engine (www.google.com), which can look up what the entries are for. First, you will need to start up the system configuration utility and write down what programs are listed.To do so, follow these
directions:
1. Start up the System Configuration Utility by clicking the Start Menu and selecting Run. Then key in msconfig and click OK.

2. Once the System Configuration Utility has loaded, click the Startup tab.

3. Now that the list of the active startup programs is visible, make a list of all of the items listed with the name as well as the file that is loaded, which is listed under the command column.

4. Once you have your list made, you can start researching which programs should be removed from the list and which programs should stay. Because almost every computerb has different programs starting up after logon, I recommend that you browse the Web and look for a specific program and what will happen if it is removed from startup. One interesting site to visit is a database of common startup programs called AnswersThatWork. It is located at www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm. At that site, they can’t present you with recommendations for each of the programs listed. If you can not find one of your programs listed on that site, just do a quick search on Google and most likely you will find several Web sites telling you what that program does and what removing it will do.

WEBSECURITIE

Folder Option in Windows....

Are you among those who are not able to access or see your folder options under File Menu>>Tools in Windows Explorer on your Windows XP ? This problem of hidden or disabled folder options occur normally due to malicious virus activity.

The virus creates an entry in registry to disable “Folder Options” in Windows explorer.

Let us see how we can fix it. Fix:

In most of the cases, even if the virus is been already removed by your anti-virus program, it doesn’t restore the registry back to the original state. Also anti-virus usually does not delete the registry entry created by the virus. For restoring the registry settings,follow the steps given below Enable your folder options in explorer.
1. Go to Start > RUN

2. Type regedit and press enter.

3. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Policies > Explorer

4. On the right side of the screen, you can see some registry entry names, out of them, right-click on NoFolderOptions and click Modify option
.
5.A new small screen pops up, on this screen, sen the value data field as 0 (zero).Press OK.

That’s it but it requires reboot. Trouble Fixed.

Increase Utorrent Download Speed

Add Public Trackers for low seed trackers

This is another way of increasing the download speed by adding public trackers into your torrent’s tracker list. This is helpful when the number of seeders gow low in count and you will have to wait for a longer time to download the file.This list of public tracker you will need to add in your tracker list for a particular torrent which is downloading very slow. Right-Click on the torrent which is very slow and go to Properties. Then under the General tab, you’ll notice a list of existing trackers for the selected torrent. Just paste the below list right there.


http://tracker2.istole.it:60500/announce
http://inferno.demonoid.com:3400/announce
http://vip.tracker.thepiratebay.org/announce
http://track.sextorrent.to:2710/announce
http://tracker.deluxebits.to:3552/announce
http://denis.stalker.h3q.com:6969/announce
http://tracker.thepiratebay.org/announce
http://tracker.torrentbox.com:2710/announce
http://tracker.hexagon.cc:2710/announce
http://tracker.torrent.to:2710/announce
http://axxo.sladinki007.net:6500/announce
http://220.162.244.175:53880/announce
http://tpb.tracker.prq.to/announce
http://open.tracker.thepiratebay.org/announce
http://eztv.sladinki007.net:60500/announce
http://tv.tracker.prq.to/announce
http://218.145.160.136:8080/announce
http://tracker.prq.to/announce
http://tracker.torrenty.org:6969/announce
http://tpb.tracker.thepiratebay.org/announce
http://t.ppnow.net:2710/announce
http://www.torrentvideos.com:6969/announce
http://tracker.bitebbs.com:6969/announce
http://www.torrent-downloads.to:2710/announce
http://eztv.sladinki007.eu:60500/announce
http://www.ipmart-forum.com:2710/announce
http://tracker.ydy.com:83/announce
http://bt1.the9.com:6969/announce
http://tracker.sladinki007.net:6500/announce
http://tracker.ydy.com:102/announce
http://tracker.paradise-tracker.com:12000/announce
http://moviesb4time.biz/announce.php
http://tracker.deadfrog.us:42426/announce
http://mpggalaxy.mine.nu:6969/announce
http://www.sumotracker.org/announce

Improve your XP Performance

>>In run command type services.msc to see your services details....

Bare-bones system service setup

To get the maximum amount of performance out of your system, you have the option of disabling all of the services on your computer that are not critical to the system. This would take away a lot of the nice features and conveniences of Windows, but you would have a much faster machine. The following is a list of system-critical services that should not be disabled. Feel free to disable all other services.

Bare Minimum Services:

• Com Event System
• Cryptographic Services
• DCOM Server Process Launcher
• DHCP Client
• DNS Client
• Event Log
• IPSEC Services
• Workstation
• Shell Hardware Detection
• System Event Notification
• Protected Storage
• Network Connections
• Plug and Play
• Print Spooler
• Remote Procedure Call
• Secondary Logon
• Security Accounts Manager

Recommended service setup

The bare-bones system service setup is a good setup for optimal performance. However, don’t you want to have some of the conveniences of Windows XP? Check out the recommended services to disable shown in the following list. If you follow these recommendations, you will cut down on your boot time but you will also have the nice features and conveniences of Windows XP.

Disable the following services:

• Background Intelligent Transfer Service
• Distributed Link Tracking Client
• Error Reporting Service
• Fast User Switching Compatibility
• Help and Support
• Indexing Service
• Messenger
• Machine Debug Manager
• Network Location Awareness (NLA)
• Portable Media Serial Number Service
• Remote Registry (Only included with Windows XP Pro)
• SSDP Discovery Service
• Terminal Services
• Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)
• Wireless Zero Configuration (If you have a wireless network card, do not disable this one)
• Windows Time
• WebClient
• Task Scheduler

Do you know to disable the system boot screen?

So, are you enjoying the fun blue bars moving across your screen when your system starts up? Not? Are you finding that you can live without the daily reminder that you are running Windows XP? If so, then you might want to consider removing the boot screen. One added advantage to doing so: You will be getting a boost of performance in return.

Disabling the boot screen might only save you a fraction of a second off your boot time. But keep in mind, every fraction of a second counts.

This performance improvement works on a very simple principle. It takes time for the computer to do anything.Taking away some work that it has to do, such as loading the boot screen, will free time that it can spend loading your system files instead.

The process for disabling the system boot screen is similar to the process for modifying the default operating system in the boot file. If you do not have any other operating systems installed on your system, then you will have to create your own boot.ini file to place in your drive root (that is, the c:\ drive). I am going to show how to create a file first, and will then show how to modify the boot.ini file if you already have one in your drive root or have multiple operating systems installed.

Creating boot.ini file

This section will show you how to create a boot.ini file for your computer if you have just one operating system installed and you do not already have a boot.ini file in your drive root. To get started, let’s go over what the boot.ini file looks like.

The boot.ini file that disables the boot screen looks like the following:

[boot loader]
timeout=0
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=
"Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /noguiboot

The above boot.ini file is pretty standard except for the addition of the /noguiboot to the last line of the file. That is the parameter that tells Windows to start up without using the graphical user interface boot screen. To get started, open up a copy of Notepad, found in the Accessories menu of the All Programs entry, in the Start Menu and follow these
steps:

1. On the first line of the file, type in [boot loader].

2. On line 2 of the file, key in timeout=0 so Windows does not show the boot selection screen at all. You don’t want this anyways because you only have one operating system installed on your computer.

3. On line 3 of the file, type in default multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
so that Windows knows where to look on your hard drive to start the operating system.

4. On line 4, type in [operating systems].

5. On line 5, type in multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=”Microsoft
Windows XP Professional” /fastdetect /noguiboot to start up Windows with the
/noguiboot parameter to disable the boot screen.

6. Click the File menu bar item and select Save As.

7. Type Boot.ini in the File name box and change the Save as type to All Files.

8. Then, change the Save in directory to your drive root, which is usually Local Disk (C:).

9. Click the Save button and you are now finished.

You can now close Notepad. The next time you reboot your computer, you will not see the boot screen.

Hacking Techniques

Stop unnecessary start-up programs

The Services utility is included in all versions of Windows XP and is hidden away. Do the following to disable a service using the Services utility:

1. Click the Start Menu and select Run. In the text box, type services.msc and click OK. This will start the Services utility.

2. Now that you are in the Services utility, you will see a list of a lot of services on your computer. First, you will need to stop the service that you want to disable. Right-click the service name and select Stop on the pop-up menu.

3. When the service is stopped, right-click the service again and select Properties. Located on the General tab, look for the Start up Type drop-down box. Click the arrow on the drop-down box and select Disabled.

4. Click the OK button and from now on, the system will not start the service any more during boot, speeding up your system start.

Kill GODZILLA....

Remove Killgodzilla (Manual)

MANUAL REMOVAL INSTRUCTIONS

Terminating the Malware Process.This procedure terminates a legitimate process that is used by the malware to load itself.

1. Open Windows Task Manager.
• On Windows 98 and ME, press CTRL+ALT+DELETE
• On Windows NT, 2000, XP, and Server 2003, press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC, then click the Processes tab.

2. In the list of running programs*, locate the process:
WSCRIPT.EXE

3. Select the process, then press either the End Task or the End Process button,
depending on the version of Windows on your computer.

4. To check if the process has been terminated, close Task Manager, and then open it again.

5. Close Task Manager.

*NOTE: On computers running Windows 98 and ME, Windows Task Manager may not showcertain processes. You can use a third party process viewer such as Process Explorer toterminate the malware process.

If the process you are looking for is not in the list displayed by Task Manager or ProcessExplorer, continue with the next solution procedure. If the malware process is in the listdisplayed by either Task Manager or Process Explorer, but you are unable to terminate it,restart your computer in safe mode.

Removing Autostart Entry from the Registry

This solution deletes/modifies a registry entry added/modified by this malware. Beforeperforming the steps below, make sure you know how to back up the registry and how torestore it if a problem occurs. Refer to this Microsoft article for more information aboutmodifying your computer's registry.

1. Open Registry Editor. Click Start>Run, type REGEDIT, then press Enter.

2. In the left panel, double-click the following:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SOFTWARE>Microsoft>Windows>CurrentVersion>Run

3. In the right panel, locate and delete the entry:
KILLMS32DLL = "%Windows%\killgodzilla.vbs"

Removing Other Malware Entry from the Registry

This solution deletes/modifies registry keys/entries added/modified by this malware. Beforeperforming the steps below, make sure you know how to back up the registry and how torestore it if a problem occurs. Refer to this Microsoft article for more information aboutmodifying your computer's registry.

1. Still in Registry Editor, in the left panel, double-click the following:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER>Software>Microsoft>Internet Explorer>Main

2. In the right panel, locate and delete the entry:
Window Title = " "

3. Close Registry Editor.

Deleting Malware-created AUTORUN.INF

1. Right-click Start then click Search... or Find..., depending on the version of Windows you are running.

2. In the Named input box, type:
AUTORUN.INF

3. In the Look In drop-down list, select a drive, then press Enter.

4. Select the file, then open using Notepad.

5. Check if the following lines are present in the file:
[autorun]
shellexecute=wscript.exe killgodzilla.vbs

6. If the lines are present, delete the file.

7. Repeat steps 3 to 6 for AUTORUN.INF files in the remaining removable drives.

8. Close Search Results.

Windows Secrets

How to disable Windows Scripting Host

These instructions explain how to tell whether Windows Scripting Host (WSH) is installed on your machine and how to disable the running of VBS scripts. This can prevent some worms from infecting your computer. When Windows, Internet Explorer or some other products are installed or upgraded, Windows Scripting Host might be reinstalled. You would then have to repeat the procedures described below.

Important note: Some applications require Windows Scripting Host. They will cease to function if it is disabled or removed.


Windows 2000/Me/XP/2003

WSH is installed by default.
To prevent scripts with a .VBS extension from being run:

1. Log on as an Administrator.

2. On the Desktop, or in Windows Explorer, right-click on 'My Computer'.

3. Select 'Open' from the menu.

4. In the My Computer window, open the Tools menu and select 'Folder Options'.

5. Open the File Types tabbed page.

6. Look for 'VBScript Script File' in the list of file types (if you can't find it, you don't need to do anything else).

7. Click on the Delete button.

8. If you see a dialog asking you to confirm removal, click 'Yes'.

Advanced Searching of Gmail

Gmail is run by Google, so it’s obvious that its built-in search engine is going to be extremely powerful indeed. Everyone is used to the ordinary search technique of putting keywords into the box and pressing Enter, but not everyone is aware of the additional operators you can use.





The operators detailed in above tables are all self-explanatory and can be combined.For example, consider the following search parameters:
in:inbox from:BenHammersley “fancy a pint?”This search would result in any message from my Gmail account, in your Inbox,
suggesting a visit to the pub. In order to bring any unread mail sent before New
Year’s Eve 2004, with an attachment, and the subject line New Year’s Eve Invitation, you would conduct the following search:is:unread before:2004/12/31has:attachment subject:”New Years Eve Invitation”
Very simple indeed.

About PC Secrets.

The Services utility is included in all versions of Windows XP and is hidden away. Do the following to disable a service using the Services utility:

1. Click the Start Menu and select Run. In the text box, type services.msc and click OK. This will start the Services utility.

2. Now that you are in the Services utility, you will see a list of a lot of services on your computer. First, you will need to stop the service that you want to disable. Right-click the service name and select Stop on the pop-up menu.

3. When the service is stopped, right-click the service again and select Properties. Located on the General tab, look for the Start up Type drop-down box. Click the arrow on the drop-down box and select Disabled.

4. Click the OK button and from now on, the system will not start the service any more during boot, speeding up your system start.

Hacking the registry to optimize the Prefetcher

Located inside the System Registry are the settings for the Prefetcher component of Windows XP. Several different settings can be changed, such as the mode that the Prefetcher is running in, the number of items that are tracked by the Prefetcher, and where the Prefetcher cache is located. Several more can be manipulated. Almost all of these settings are not published in documentation available to the public. The only setting that Microsoft has said anything about is the EnablePrefetcher setting. Some users of Windows XP were having trouble with the Prefetcher, which caused problems with certain

unknown applications, so Microsoft released information on how to disable the Prefetcher. Also, around the same time, information became available on how to disable or enable certain parts of the Prefetcher.

The Prefetcher can be either disabled or set to optimize the boot only, to optimize applications only, or to optimize both applications and the boot. By default, the Prefetcher is set to optimize both. This default mode sounds like it is the best one for all users, but some people have discovered better performance by experimenting with the different modes.To change the modes of the Prefetcher, follow these steps:

1. Start the Registry Editor by clicking the Start Menu and then selecting Run. In the text
box, type regedit, then click the OK button.

2. This will load the Registry Editor. Once it has loaded, expand HKEY_LOCAL
_MACHINE.

3. Expand SYSTEM.

4. Expand ControlSet001.

5. Expand Control next.

6. Now you will see Session Manager. Expand that as well.

7. Because you will be changing the setting for memory, expand Memory Management.

8. Finally, open PrefetchParameters and you will see all of the Prefetcher settings.

9. Locate the EnablePrefetcher doubleword value and right-click it and select Modify, as
shown in Figure 11-2.

10. Once the Edit DWORD Value box is shown, update the number with the corresponding number.Which number you use depends on how you want the Prefetcher to act. Refer to fallowing table for all of the options and their meanings for this value.

11. Click the OK button after you have updated the value and restart your computer.

Experiment with these different settings on your computer to see which ones work best for you. I highly recommend that you do not disable your boot prefetch, as the prefetch information used by this mode is also used in other parts of the operating system to improve speed. For example, it is used by the boot defrag.
Feel free to experiment with other settings, such as AppLaunchMaxNumPages,
AppLaunchMaxNumSections, BootMaxNumPages, and BootMaxNumSections. I would leave all of the other settings alone because they are all in hexadecimal format, which can be difficult to work with. But make sure that before you do any tampering, you use system restore to create a restore point so that any problems that you may cause can be easily undone.

Working with the Windows Prefetcher

What is the Prefetcher? It is a very nifty component of Windows XP that can seemingly read your mind and will start loading your program seconds before you actually start it to boost the startup of the application.

Although the Prefetcher keeps track of the applications that you run, creates optimized copies of them, and stores them in a special cache on your computer, this special cache is simply a location on your hard disk that has no, or very few, file fragments and stores application setting files. The next time you start your program,Windows will load it out of the Prefetcher cache, which is what causes the application to start up quicker.

If you really want to investigate this matter further, take a look at the Prefetcher cache. It is located in the Windows directory inside the Prefetcher folder. You will notice that the cache does not have an exact copy of each application because the files are a fraction of the size of the actual application executable file. Rather, it just has fragments of applications that are used to boost the performance of the startup.
The Prefetcher constantly monitors what applications you are running, even during parts of the bootup. That information is then passed on to help the disk defragmenter optimize the boot files.

The Prefetcher is a very complex component. The majority of the settings can be changed by hacking the registry; however, due to a lack of documentation on these settings, changing them without any guidance would be very risky. Thankfully, a few tips have surfaced in the vast documentation buried at Microsoft’s site and revealed in Microsoft’s applications.

Do you know to disable the system boot screen?

So, are you enjoying the fun blue bars moving across your screen when your system starts up? Not? Are you finding that you can live without the daily reminder that you are running Windows XP? If so, then you might want to consider removing the boot screen. One added advantage to doing so: You will be getting a boost of performance in return.

Disabling the boot screen might only save you a fraction of a second off your boot time. But keep in mind, every fraction of a second counts.

This performance improvement works on a very simple principle. It takes time for the computer to do anything.Taking away some work that it has to do, such as loading the boot screen, will free time that it can spend loading your system files instead.

The process for disabling the system boot screen is similar to the process for modifying the default operating system in the boot file. If you do not have any other operating systems installed on your system, then you will have to create your own boot.ini file to place in your drive root (that is, the c:\ drive). I am going to show how to create a file first, and will then show how to modify the boot.ini file if you already have one in your drive root or have multiple operating systems installed.

Creating boot.ini file

This section will show you how to create a boot.ini file for your computer if you have just one operating system installed and you do not already have a boot.ini file in your drive root. To get started, let’s go over what the boot.ini file looks like.

The boot.ini file that disables the boot screen looks like the following:

[boot loader]
timeout=0
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=
"Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /noguiboot

The above boot.ini file is pretty standard except for the addition of the /noguiboot to the last line of the file. That is the parameter that tells Windows to start up without using the graphical user interface boot screen. To get started, open up a copy of Notepad, found in the Accessories menu of the All Programs entry, in the Start Menu and follow these
steps:

1. On the first line of the file, type in [boot loader].

2. On line 2 of the file, key in timeout=0 so Windows does not show the boot selection screen at all. You don’t want this anyways because you only have one operating system installed on your computer.

3. On line 3 of the file, type in defaultmulti(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
so that Windows knows where to look on your hard drive to start the operating system.

4. On line 4, type in [operating systems].

5. On line 5, type in multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=”Microsoft
Windows XP Professional” /fastdetect /noguiboot to start up Windows with the
/noguiboot parameter to disable the boot screen.

6. Click the File menu bar item and select Save As.

7. Type Boot.ini in the File name box and change the Save as type to All Files.

8. Then, change the Save in directory to your drive root, which is usually Local Disk (C:).

9. Click the Save button and you are now finished.

You can now close Notepad. The next time you reboot your computer, you will not see the boot screen.

Hacking Techniques

All about autorun ini files

Extending the functionality of Autorun.inf

There are also some extensions to the autorun.inf file you can use that will put shortcutson the right-click menu of CD's icon. For example, add this to your autorun.inf (below the icon= line):

shell\read\command=notepad.exe readme.txt
shell\read=Read M&e First

The CD icon right-click menu will have a new item, “Read Me First” (with E as a hotkey)that launches Notepad with the readme.txt from the CD loaded. The ampersand (&)character in the second line denotes the hotkey letter, which is underlined in the menu. So Rea&d Me First would make ‘D’ the hotkey, and the menu item would appear as “Read Me First”. If you use hot keys (you don’t have to), do ensure that the letter you wish to use isn’t already assigned to a standard Windows context menu choice, such as Copy, Properties and Rename. The first listed menu entry for any hotkey gets executed. As for the open command, you can give a path to the file you wish to open (note as for the‘open=’ and ‘icon=’ lines, no leading backslash is used):

shell\read\command=notepad.exe mydocs\readme.txt

You can add more than one such context menu shortcut by tweaking the ‘read’ verb:

shell\read1\command=notepad.exe readme.txt
shell\read1=Read M&e First
shell\read2\command=notepad.exe EULA.txt
shell\read2=Read My E&ULA

This adds “Read Me First” and “Read My EULA” items to the CD’s right-click context menu. Items are added in the order they are in the autorun.inf. For more use ‘read3’, ‘read4’ etc. You may be aware that as from version 4.x, Adobe Reader can also be run from CD. This means that you can provide the user with a way of opening the Browser's "Quick Start guide" which is provided in PDF format - without assuming the user has Acrobat installed.

shell\read1\command=notepad.exe readme.txt
shell\read1=Read M&e First
shell\readit2\command=acrobat\reader\acrord32.exe
portbrws\qsg.pdf
shell\readit2=Read Quick Start Guide (PDF)

Note: the shell\readit2\command line is typed all as one line with a space between the 2 paths.

Hacking Techniques