How to increase your cable modem / DSL internet speed in Windows

This tweak is for broad band cable connections on stand alone machines with WinXP
professional version - might work on Home version also. It may also work with networked machines as well.

This tweak assumes that you have let WinXP create a connection on install for your
cable modem/NIC combination and that your connection has tcp/ip - QoS - file and print sharing - and client for Microsoft networks , only, installed. It also assumes that WinXP will detect your NIC and has in-box drivers for it. If it doesn't do not try this.

Step 1: In the "My Network Places" properties (right-click on the desktop icon and choose
properties), highlight the connection then at the menu bar choose "Advanced" then "Advanced Settings". Uncheck the two boxes in the lower half for the
bindings for File and Printer sharing and Client for MS networks. Click OK.

Step 2: From the Windows XP CD in the support directory from the support cab, extract the
file netcap.exe and place it in a directory on your hard drive or even in the root of your C:\ drive.

Step 3: Next, open up a command prompt window and change directories to where you put
netcap.exe. then type "netcap/?".
It will list some commands that are available for netcap and a netmon driver will be
installed. At the bottom you will see your adapters. You should see two of them if using a 3Com card. One will be for LAN and the other will be for WAN something or other.

Step 4: Next type "netcap/Remove". This will remove the netmon driver.

Step 5: Open up Control Panel->System->Dev Man and look at your network adapters. You
should now see two of them and one will have a yellow ! on it. Right-click on the one
without the yellow ! and choose uninstall. YES! You are uninstalling your network
adapter, continue with the uninstall. Do not restart yet.

Step 6: Check your connection properties to make sure that no connection exists. If you get
a wizard just cancel out of it.
Now re-start the machine.

Step 7: After re-start go to your connection properties again and you should have a new
connection called "Local area connection 2". Highlight the connection, then at the menu bar choose "Advanced" then "Advanced Settings". Uncheck the two boxes in the lower half for the bindings for File and Printer sharing and Client for MS networks. Click OK.

Step 8: Choose connection properties and uncheck the "QOS" box.

Step 9: Re-start the machine.

After restart enjoy the increased responsiveness of IE, faster page loading, and a
connection speed boost.

Why it works, it seems that windows XP, in its zeal to make sure every base is covered installs two separate versions of the NIC card. One you do not normally see in any properties. Remember the "netcap/?" command above showing two different adapters? The LAN one is the one you see. The invisible one loads everything down and its like your running two separate cards together, sharing a connection among two cards, this method breaks this "bond" and allows the NIC to run un-hindered.

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What if My Hard Drive is not Recognized / Found / Detected / Accessible

If you setup a new hard drive and install an Operating System on it and it suddenly acts like the hard drive is not there, it may be a loose connection.

If a bootable CD, such a s Knoppix, is not able to read your hard drive, it can have several causes. The list of possibilities below can also be used for troubleshooting hard drives, floppy drives, and CD/DVD drives.

CAUTION: Make sure the power is off and that the PC is disconnected from power. Also be sure to avoid static electricity, or you will need a new PC. Do not force any thing. All parts should easily fit together if they are properly aligned. Sometimes you may have to push or pull harder than you think. Just be careful to make sure any levers or buttons that hold it in place are not overlooked.

* Least likely is that a new hard drive has failed. Try the other options before assuming it is the new hard drive. If all of the below do not work, and it is a new hard drive, contact the manufacturer. New hard drives should include very good instructions for installation and troubleshooting. When in doubt read the instructions.

* Open the case and make sure that all the connections are correct.

* Unplug the power supply connection, make sure there are no bent pins, and plug it in securely.

* Repeat the procedure with the connection to the motherboard, make sure no pins are bent.

* If you have multiple drives, try hooking up just one drive to make sure you can read it.

* Make sure that the power supply, and other components are working correctly. It is possible that another component of the PC has failed.

* If you have another PC available, try connecting it to the other PC. This could point to failure of the power and/or motherboard cables in the original PC.

* If none of the above works, call in professional help. You can also beg a friend or family member to help. If you cannot pay a friend or family member, a good meal, is a nice way to get them to rescue you again.

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How To Add Music On My iPod ??

Assuming that you already have itunes installed and your iPod isn't sync'd with your library:

step 1. Open up itunes

step 2. Plug the ipod usb cable into the computer's usb port and plug your ipod in at the other end.
If you don't know which is the usb port on your computer a symbol next to it should look like this: click here to view

step 3. Wait for your ipod to show up in itunes

step 4. Select the songs you want to put on your ipod and drag them over into the "Music" folder on your ipod and wait for it to load.

step 5. When you are done, make sure you eject your ipod
There's an eject sign next to where it should show "(Your name)'s iPod"

That should be it,Depending on what kind of iPod you have there MIGHT be a different way to do it but I know this way works with the iPod mini, nano, and video.

If your iPod is synced to your library all you really have to do is plug it in and it adds all of the songs in your itunes library to your ipod.

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How To Block A Web Site On My Computer (In All Web Browsers)

Below are the steps to do the task..

step 1: Click Start->All Programs->Accessories->Command Prompt.

step 2: Click Command Prompt This will open a DOS command window.

step 3: Type: notepad C:/Windows/System32/drivers/etc/hosts

step 4: Locate the line 127.0.0.1 localhost

step 5: To block the website orkut.com for example, just add this text under 127.0.0.1 localhost:

127.0.0.1 orkut.com
127.0.0.1 www.orkut.com

You can add as many sites any site, However you will need to prefix it with "127.0.0.1".

step 6: Save the file

Google will now be blocked in all web browser. This is an advanced but easy method on how to block a website.

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How To Remove Identical Music Files from Pc and Free up Disk Space

We usuallydownload songsfrom various websites and may not be aware of downloading the same song once again on our computer. Duplicate orsimilarfiles are in most cases redundant and unnecessary, so keeping them is merely a waste of valuable hard disk space.Is your hard drive full of extra copies of audio files waiting to be removed ? Then all you need isSimilaritytool.Similaritywill help you reclaim your valuable disk space and organize yourmusic collection.Similarityis a free tool which helps you to findmusic fileswhich havesimilarmusic tags or file content. It not only scans the music file based on the music tag or file content, It actually scans the file based on thesimilarsound content. You can also adjust the sensitivity of searching criteria to find exact orsimilarfiles.How does it find thesimilarmusic files? What is the technology behind it ?Similarity tool finds the duplicatemusic filesusing the sound content comparison. Then what is File content comparison ?File content(Byte to Byte comparison), comparison that made bit by bit, two files identical if all bits in them are identical. This method of comparison useless in music duplicates finding, because, usually, duplicates have different sample rate, different bit rate or information tags, ie. different characteristics (which incompatible with byte to byte comparison).Sound content comparison(which uses Similarity) is different, first sound decoded to raw sound waves and after used in different mathematical calculations to get unique sound estimation (hash). What estimation used in comparison with other sound estimations. This method of comparison give much better results than simple byte to byte comparison or tag comparison.
Features of Similarity tool :
1. Support lossy formats: MP3, MP2, OGG, WMA, ASF, FLAC, APE, WF, WMA.
2. Tag editor and tag, file renaming tool.
3. Very fast sound content scanning. (approx 100 songs in 30 secs)
4. Three powerful comparing algorithms (content based, tags based and experimental).
5. Works with removable media devices like USB, etc.
6. Functionality of scanning multiple folders or disks.

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Ways To Transfer / Copy Files From Local Desktop Computer / Laptop To Remote Desktop Computer

At times, when I’m at work there will be situations when I have to transfer files from my PC / Laptop to a remote computer, which is a Windows 2008 server. There are a couple of ways to do it. My office computer has Windows XP installed and my laptop has Windows Vista installed, so I’ll explain the procedure for both (actually, their is no difference ).

First let’s start with, different ways through which we can upload / transfer / copy files from local desktop computer to a remote computer which has windows server (windows 2008 in my case) installed on it.

1> Using an FTP program to transfer the files is the easiest and recommended. Get the public IP of a common server, use a free FTP software like CoreFTP or FileZilla and upload / transfer the files on to the common server. These files will be later downloaded on to the remote machine.

Connect to the remote machine using Remote Desktop Connection (procedure explained below), launch the FTP software, log on to the common server where you have uploaded the files and download the files on to the remote machine.

One of the common problems here is, the admin normally would not have instlled FTP software, and if you are not the admin, then you will not have rights to installe FTP software, in such case you can use the command line FTP facility to download / upload files on Remote machine.

This tutorial will help you use FTP service using Command line. FTP route is recommended if you have to transfer big / large chunk of files as it is very quick when compared to the second option.

2> If you are not comfortable using Command line FTP and if there is no FTP software instlled on your Windows Server, then you can use Advanced Remote Desktop Connection feature to transfer files to and from remote machine.

With the advanced feature you can share your local computer drives with the remote machine, as though they are a part of the remote machine. So you can copy / paste the content from one drive to another, as you’d do on your local system.

Advanced Remote Desktop Connection On Windows XP / Windows Vista :

1> Click on Start –> Programs –> Accessories –> Remote Desktop Connection. Alternatively you can Click on Start –> Run –> and type mstsc.

2> Click on Options

3> Go To Local Resources tab, click the More button

4> Select all the drives you want to share and click OK and click on connect. You’ll get a warning message asking if you trust the remote source. If you do then click OK and you’ll be logged into the remote machine.

If you go to the My Computer in remote machine you’ll see drives from your system listed there along with the remote machines local drives.

Note: Only administrators will be allowed to share drives. If you are not the admin, then you should use FTP service to transfer files (which is much faster and easier to use).

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Some Free Screen Capturing Softwares - Alternative For Camtasi

1> Camstudio - With Camstudio you can record all screen and audio activity on your computer and create industry-standard AVI video files and using its built-in SWF Producer can turn those AVIs into lean, mean, bandwidth-friendly Streaming Flash videos (SWFs).

2> Jing - With Jing you can Snap a picture of your screen. Record video of onscreen action. Share instantly over the web, IM, email.

3> Windows Media Encoder - Windows Media Encoder is a powerful tool for content producers who want to capture audio and video content using the many innovations in Windows Media, including high-quality multichannel sound, high-definition video quality, and support for mixed-mode voice and music content.

4> Virtualdub - VirtualDub is a video capture/processing utility for 32-bit Windows platforms (95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP), licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). It lacks the editing power of a general-purpose editor such as Adobe Premiere, but is streamlined for fast linear operations over video. It has batch-processing capabilities for processing large numbers of files and can be extended with third-party video filters. VirtualDub is mainly geared toward processing AVI files, although it can read (not write) MPEG-1 and also handle sets of BMP images.

5> Wink - Wink is a Tutorial and Presentation creation software, primarily aimed at creating tutorials on how to use software (like a tutor for MS-Word/Excel etc). Using Wink you can capture screenshots, add explanations boxes, buttons, titles etc and generate a highly effective tutorial for your users.

6> XVidCap - XVidCap is a small tool to capture things going on on an X-Windows display to either individual frames or an MPEG video. On Windows machines there are commercial tools like Lotus ScreenCam or Camtasia which do a very good job esp. for the purpose I was needing such a tool for: Software documentation, esp. installation procedures and such

7> FFMPEG - FFmpeg is free software and is licensed under the LGPL or GPL depending on your choice of configuration options. If you use FFmpeg or its constituent libraries, you must adhere to the terms of the license in question. If you do not, we will track down your project and list it in our Hall of Shame. To see how easy it is to comply, take a look at our license and legal considerations page.

8> Screen Toatser - No download. Compatible with Windows, Mac OS X, Linux. Capture videos of onscreen action in one click. Record screencasts, tutorials, demos, training, lectures and more. Share and stream videos online in Flash. Embed them on blogs and webpages or send them by email.

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How To Break Windows XP Password

In case of user password boot the pc in safemode by pressing the F8 key and then selecting the Safe Mode option. You can now logon as an administrator and XP wont prompt for the password. Incase of an administrator account try rebooting the PC in DOS. access C:\Windows\system32\config\sam . Rename SAM as SAM.mj
Now XP wont ask for password next time You Login. Also

Go to the cmd prompt .
Type net user *.
It will list all the users.
Again type net user "administrator" or the name of theadministrator "name" *.
e.g.: net user aaaaaa *(where aaaaaa is the name).
It will ask for the password.
Type the password and there you are done.
Logging In As Administrator:

Hold the Ctrl-Alt key and press Del twice. This will bring up the normal login and you can log on as Administrator.

To unhide the Administrator account so it does show up:

Start Regedit

Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon \ SpecialAccounts \ UserList

Unhide the Administrator key by giving it a value of 1

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How To Keep Images/Pictures in Folder/Drive Background

This window trick will help ypu in setting a pic in your folder background .

1.Go to Control panel -> Folder options -> view tab -> show hidden files

2.Uncheck the 2 boxes below it

3.Open a folder, search for a file desktop.ini


There u will have somecode like this or a bit different

[.ShellClassInfo] IconFile=%SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll IconIndex=3


4.Now add the lines below :

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


5.Now copy the path location of the Picture or Wallpaper that you want to use and Paste it at the end of the line "image=" and paste the address path.

Example::

[ExtShellFolderViews] {BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}={BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC} [{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}] IconArea_Image=C:\Documents and Settings\win xp\My Documents\My Pictures\kihlo32qwe.jpg


6.Finally Refresh and Close the folder and check again

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How to log on to Windows XP if you forget your administrator password

Can't remember your Windows XP administrator password?

1. With your Windows XP CD in the cd-rom drive and boot your computer

2. Press any key when you read "Press any key to boot from CD " on the screen

3. The first screen will indicate that Setup is inspecting the system hardware and loading files

4. When you get to the Welcome screen, press ENTER to Setup Windows now

5. Press F8 to accept the Licensing Agreement

6. The next screen gives you the option to start a Repair process. Use the arrow keys to select your XP installation (if you only have one, it should already be selected) and press R to begin the Repair process

7. Setup will now check your disks and then start copying files which can take several minutes. Shortly after this stage you will be required to reboot

8. During the reboot do not press any key to boot from the CD again. Setup will resume automatically with the standard screen

10. Keep your eye on the lower left hand side of the screen. When you see the Installing Devices progress bar, press SHIFT + F10. A command console will now open up giving you a wide access to the system

11. At the prompt, type NUSRMGR.CPL and press Enter. You have gained graphical access to your User Accounts in the Control Panel

12. Now remove or change your password as you prefer. Once the Repair is done, you will be able to log on with your new password. Your programs and personalized settings should remain intact.

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Build and Repair Your Own PC (Free Easy Video Tutorials)

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How to Speed Up Start Menu Display

When using the Start menu then you will notice a delay between different tiers of the menu hierarchy. For the fastest computer experience possible I recommend changing this value to Zero. This will allow the difference tiers to appear instantly. Start --> Run (Windows + R) -->Regedit.
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Select MenuShowDelay from the list on the right.
Right click on it and select Modify.
Change the value to 0.
Reboot your computer

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How To Login With Multiple Orkut/Gmail/Yahoo ID In Firefox:

Here I have Created a simple tutorial to show you how to login with Multiple Orkut/Gmail or Yahoo Id at the same time using Firefox Browser.

This is simple hack that you will love to do if you are a Firefox Lover.By doing this you can login with Multiple Ids for any mail service.So Here we go,

1.Right Click on My Computer-->Properties-->Choose Advanced Tab.

2.Click Environment variables button.Under System Variables section, Click new.

3.Now type this information to each textbox.variable name: moz_no_remotevariable value: 1

4.Press ok.

5.Now Right Click Firefox icon in desktop Select Properties.

6.Add extension -p to command line(like "c:\program files\mozilla firefox\firefox.exe" -p).As i have shown in the below screenshot,

7.Press ok.

8.Now Open the Firefox it will ask for Choose Profile.

9.Now you can Create a new Profile by clicking Create Profile Button.

10.After Creating a Profile,select any one Profile for using Firefox.

11.So by selecting Other Profile you can simultaneously login to two accounts of any(orkut,yahoo,rediff or anything else)

Note:You can increase you Create more Profiles for accessing more than 2 account

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Fake DeskTop - Read at Work

What is Readatwork?
Readatwork is a website built to encourage people to read during work. Really clever! It creates a “fake” desktop and you can sit there reading books without anyone suspecting a thing!
1.First Click here www.readatwork.com
2.Wait till 100% loaded then click on the NZ Council Book Guest link.
3.Now the fake screen appears like a desktop.
4.You can Click on the Folders available in Fake Desktop.
5.A fake Powerpont 2008 will appear Select your book and Read.
6.ESC puts it back to normal as mention .
Note:www.readatwork.com requires you to have Adobe flash player version 9 installed.
I’m sure if you try it especially in office many will fall for it !

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How to Disable Windows Key in Keyboard

If you do not have a windows enabled keyboard you can disable its use. Navigate to the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\KeyboardLayout. Lookfor value of "Scancode Map". Its binary data. Set its value to "00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 5B E0 00 00 5C E0 00 00 00 00" to disable the win key. Please be cautious while entering this lengthy key.

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Faster Start Up and Turn Off Your Computer (PC)

When you have Windows installed for several month or more it can become very slow. It's not only your programs run slower than usual but also Shut Down and Start Up time increases a lot. What you can do to make computer turn off and start up faster? One way is to reinstall windows or add more RAM but if you have many programs instaled which you need to use everyday, you can not afford to go with fresh Windows installation. Searching for drivers alone could cost you a half day. Buying RAM is good but also needs time and investment.
The easiest way to decrease up and down time for your computer is to use hibernate function. Off course you know about hibernating but do you really used it? You will be impressed with the results. It can take up to 2 or 3 minutes for old and stuffed computer to shut down but with hibernating you can leave your computer after 15-20 seconds. Starting up also takes much less time.
The main concept of hibernating is that computer saves all the information of working Windows OS to the hard drive and later only has to load already working Windows session. You can even watch DVD movie from the point where you left before hibernating.
How to use hibernation?
Press Start button and as usual select Turn of Computer. On the popup window press Shift and you will see that Standby button changes to Hibernate. Press it and you're done. Literally you can continue one session even a month if you never shut down your computer fully. But I suggest you to do so once in a while because sometimes one program can become unstable and you will load that error again and again, but if everything works fine you can hibernate as much as you want.

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Safety Tips FOR Children's when Using Internet (MUST GUIDE FOR PARENTS)

General Guidelines:
>>Place your computer in an open room with the monitor facing out. This allows you to see and control what is occurring on the Internet.

>> Educate your children about the Internet, both the positives and the potential dangers.

>> Bookmark child-friendly web sites. This allows your children to easily get to safe sites that they have used before.

>> Teach your children that Internet safety means never giving out personal information over the Internet.* Share your Internet child safety experiences, both good and bad, with others.

>> Never allow your children to meet with someone from an online session unless the parent approves.* Know the parents of your children's friends.

>> Teach children to never open email from someone they don't know.

>> Never respond to an unsubscribe on a pornographic email. If you or your child receives a message that is harassing, of a sexual nature, or threatening, forward a copy of the message to your ISP, and ask for assistance.

>> Teach your children to refrain from chat rooms.

>> Don't install Peer-to-peer applications. A high percentage of what occurs with children and peer-to-peer applications is related to either illegal or immoral activities.

>> Teach children to crash and tell. If they encounter a bad experience, they should feel comfortable in immediately turning off the computer and talking with a parent about the experience.

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How to Clear Unnecessary Files to Free Up Space in Hard Disk

After you have used your PC for a while, you will have accumulated lots of unnecessary files and other 'junk', this can slow your PC down, so here is how to remove it...Open an Internet Explorer window [it doesn't matter if you are connected to the Internet or not].Go to Tools>Internet OptionsClick on 'Clear History' and then on 'Yes' in the dialog box to clear the 'Memory' of all the pages you have visited recently.Click on 'Delete Files' and then check 'Delete all off-line content' before clicking OKClick on 'Delete Cookies' and then on 'Yes' in the dialog box.Click OK in 'Internet Options' and then close Internet Explorer.Open 'My Computer'Double-click on your hard drive [usually C:]If there is a folder called 'temp' in the list, it can be deleted.If there are any folders named $WINDOWS.~, they can be deleted also.Close the Explorer window you have been working on, so you can see the desktop.Right-click on the icon 'Recycle Bin' and then on 'Empty Recyle Bin' in the menu which appears.Click 'Yes' in the dialog box which appears.You can also remove files and programs that you have not used for a while by using the harddisk cleaning tool that comes with Windows.
1. Open My Computer
2. Right click on the drive you want to clean.
3. Go down to the bottom of the menu and click 'Properties.'
4. A window should appear.
5. On the lower right corner of the pie chart that tells how much free space is left on that disk you should see a button that says 'Disk Cleanup.'
6. Click it.
7. A small window will appear that says 'Disk Cleanup.'
8. When the progress bar is full (this may take 5-10 min) another window should appear.
9. Click an object a description of what it is appears on the bottom half of the screen.
10. If you want to delete it click it's check box.
11. When you're done click OK
12. A window appears that checks to see if you want to preform the actions you selected. Click Yes.
13. A window should appear telling you how much it has deleted so far.
{Note} Running ths program can possibly free up 1GB of Disk space!
15. Congratulations! Your PC should run a lot better now!Note : Similarly you can free up hard disk space by clearing system restore files.To do this , Open My Computer. Right Click on the Main Drive (usually C:).Now click on Properties. From the window that appears select Disk Cleanup. Now select More Options Tab from the top. In the third option System Restore click on Clean.Hence empty space can be increased.

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How to Remove Programs not listed in Add/Remove

There are some programs which gets installed but not get listed in Add/Remove, which makes it difficult to remove. Now follow these steps.
Go to C:\Windows\Inf folder. In the right pane, scroll down to sysoc.inf. Open it with notepad. It will look like…[Components]NtComponents=ntoc.dll,NtOcSetupProc,,4Pinball=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,pinball.inf,HIDE,7The word "HIDE" in an entry hides that application from your Add/Remove Programs dialog box. To add Pinball to the Add/Remove menu, delete the word HIDE from its entry. Leave the commas that surround it.Save the file. Check for the new entries in the Add/Remove Programs dialog box after you restart your computer.== Alternate Method (when the programs are not in sysoc.inf file) ==Right click the Program's shortcut/ Properties to gain the target path where the application folder is located. Delete the folder.Go to Start/Run/Msconfig/Startup and make sure it is not listed or checked there. If so, uncheck it.Remove the program listing from registry by going here…Start/Run/Regedit
For items that were in the Start menu, Programs, Startup folder:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\MSConfig\startupfolder. You'll find a subkey for each disabled item.
For items loaded from the Registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\MSConfig\startupreg. Again, you'll find a subkey for each disabled item.Again while in Regedit, navigate to this key:HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications. If the program is listed, right click, delete.Go to Windows Explorer/Tools/Folder Options/File Types. If the program file type is listed, either use Change or Delete.

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How to Avoid Disk Check Scan at every BootUp

Often while startingup windows we will feel a problem called Disk Check.The check disk scan that appears at boot up because of improper shutdown of the previous session.
1. Open Start->Run and Type cmd2. Type chkntfs /x For example: chkntfs /x d:3. Run this command for all the partitions of your hard drive.4. Reboot your computer properly and it will not do a disk scan again.
Caution: You need to do a manual chkdsk here after on all the partitions or physical hard drives if you want to keep your hard disk healthy.

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