How to Find Your Computer Name and Change it

There will be times when you need to know your computers name. This is not the same as your computer username. You might use your computer name to share files and printers on your home network and sometimes the default computer name is just too difficult to remember. This is the number one reason for changing your computer name. If you are using the computer name to setup a shared printer you will need to rename your computer something easy. You do not want a string of numbers and letters.

How to find your computer name and change it?

1. Press the Windows key and the Pause Break button at the same time. How easy is that? Applies to Windows Xp and Vista.
2. Or go to Start menu>control panel>system (For Vista you can get more details by clicking on the items in the left bar menu.)
3. Or go to the Start Menu and right-click on My Computer and select Properties (For Vista its not my Computer but just computer)

To get a similar dialog box, as above, to appear in Vista you need to look a bit further. When you open system properties as in the steps above, you also need to click on a menu item in the left panel. For example, you can click on Advanced Options. This will bring up a dialog box like the Windows XP one.

You can also see your computer name  in System properties as the arrow shows below. And here you can click on change settings to change your computer name.

Where is the name of your computer?

1. Choose computer name from the tab
2. And there it is in small writing…If it is a difficult or overly long name click on change. Change your computer name to something easy. Mine is called ‘server’ See screenshot below.

Can I change the computer name and still keep all of my files?

Changing your computer name will not effect your files on your computer. The will stay where they are, untouched and safe. Changing the name of your computer may effect your network settings. For example if you are sharing a printer and the path to the printer is rizviprinter and you change rizvi to saboo it will not find the printer.

Notes:

• Windows Vista displays the computer name on the first page of the system properties.
• When networking or sharing files you can either use your computer IP Address or your computer name.
• All computers on the Network should have different names and IP address’s to avoid conflicts.

How to Shrink a Partition on Your Hard Drive

If you have your hard drive partitioned and want to change the size of the partitions or the amount of partitions you have on your computer, you can. It is still going to wipe your data but if you backup your files to the main partition just while you are shrinking the other partition then you can move it all back after. 

How to shrink a partition?

In this tutorial I have 3 partitions on my hard drive. The first is C: drive, then D: drive, and finally E: drive. You can see this in the screen shot below. The first thing I am going to do is shrink E: drive. Now we must open the disk management tool in Windows Vista.

I cannot guarantee this will work in Windows Vista Home and Windows XP as this was done using a higher version of Vista.

Yes they could be depending on what version of Windows you are using. Be warned that I strongly suggest you backup any data or files that your partition has on it.

If you leave files on there and decide to shrink the partition some versions will clearly not let you do this, while others will but we all know accidents can happen. Its always better to be safe than sorry.

If I shrink a partition will the files be lost or wiped clean?

If you use partition software then you can basically shrink a partition with the files on it.

How to open disk management to shrink a partition?

1. Go to the start menu.
2. Right click on my computer or computer for Windows Vista.
3. Choose manage from the menu.
4. Choose storage.
5. Then click on  computer management.
6. Choose Disk Management in the left side menu. Then you see all your drives listed in the right side.

When you open disk management you will see the partitions I have on my computer. Now to continue to shrink drive E:

1. Right click on Drive E: as shown in the screenshot below.
2. Choose Shrink Volume from the menu.

• Now a box will appear. It will automatically choose the size to shrink the partition by.
• change the size of the shrink by changing the amount in the box that is highlighted blue.
• When you are happy with your size press Shrink.

Now see the screenshot below. My E: partition was 116mb and now it is 58.27mb. The data and files that was on there is gone. And now I have 58.17gb of free space. To use this free space we need to right click on that area and choose to create a new volume. We can also extend E: back out to 116mb by using the free space.

Shrink a Partition in Windows Seven

In Windows Seven you can decrease the size of the main partition without removing files first. You are restricted by the position files. It is probably a good idea to defrag your files to place them in an organized state, ready for the partition shrink. You can shrink the existing partition from the end of the volume to create new unallocated space. Then you can label the drive and start loading it up with files.

Easily Resize, Copy, Move hard disk partitions without losing data!

Notes on shrinking a partition

• You can experiment with any of your partitions but not C: drive. (except Windows seven)
• You cannot shrink C: drive unless you use another program likePartition Magic
• You can shrink any other partitions but you will still loose the files on it.

How To Add Your Own Windows Tips

Are you sick of seeing the same tips again and again when you first logon to Windows? Now you can change them to whatever you want, whether it's quotes, jokes or a to-do list, anything is possible.

Open your registry and find the key below.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ Tips

Create a new string valued named by incrementing the existing value names and set it to the required tip text.

eg. 32 - Dont forget to Visit / http://techsohail.blogspot.in

Change The Storage Location Of 'My Documents'

Normally windows saves the "My Documents" folder on your C-drive. 

But when you right-click on it and go to properties, you can change the location where you want windows to save your Documents folder.
 

I have a partition set up with just windows on it, and all my things i want to keep are on different partitions/disks. 

So now I put My Documents on another partition than where I have windows installed. 

If windows screws up and you have to format your C-drive again, your documents will be spared at least...

Manual virus removal from 'System Volume information'

In Windows,  System Volume Information is a system folder, to keep track of the changes took placed on a partition in a fix time period. This folder exists in every partition on your HDD. By default this folder is hidden, but you can see it by showing the hidden and system files and folders.The information stored in these folders helps Windows to revert to an earlier state, when you use the System Restore tool.

But sometimes, some malware files get in the System Volume Information folder. This can happens by any of following reasons:

1.  the malware wants to get there so that user doesn't have access to delete it and from where it can restore itself, 
2. or some malware file gets deleted and Windows decides that the file was important and it automatically stores it there, in case you ever want it back.

Well, you can easily clean malware infection from this folder by using the following simple steps:

• Right click on My Computer, then go to Properties
• Now in Windows XP:  Go to System Restore tab, enable the option Disable System Restore on all drives and click Apply. This should erase all System Restore Points, including the infected file(s).
• In Windows 7: Go to System Protection > then under protection settings choose hard drive that have malware and click Configure > Turn off system Protection > ok
• After this, again enable the system Restore option and press Apply again, so that you'll re-enable System Restore.

Delete Recent File List In Windows Media PLayer

This tip requires a change to the Windows Registry. Please see the MSFN Guide "Backup Your Registry" if you are new to the Windows Registry.

Windows Media Player (WMP) is a built-in application that allows you to play multimedia files. Like many other applications, WMP remembers the most recently played files and displays them in the Recent File List under the File menu. This feature is useful if you regularly play certain files, but you may want to clear the list if you share the computer and a user account or create archives and CDs.

There are two ways you can clear the list:

I. The ClearMRU.exe Utility is available for free in the Windows Media Player Bonus Pack from Microsoft, but Microsoft does not support this tool.

II. You can also manually delete the list through the Windows Registry:

1. Start the Windows Registry Editor, regedit.exe, by typing regedit in the Windows Run Command Line.

2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Player\RecentFileList.

3. Delete the RecentFileList subkey.

4. If you've also streamed content from the Internet, you can delete the RecentURLList subkey.

5. Exit the Registry Editor.

6. Restart the computer.

To keep certain files in the list, don't delete the entire key. Deleting individual entries within the key will get rid of the files that you no longer want in the Recent File List.

Add open cmd prompt here to context menus

Copy following to notepad and save as cmd here.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\cmd]
@="Command Prompt"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\cmd\command]
@="cmd.exe /k \"cd %L\""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmd]
@="Command Prompt"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmd\command]
@="cmd.exe /k \"cd %L\""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\shell\cmd]
@="Command Prompt"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\shell\cmd\command]
@="cmd.exe /k \"cd %L\""

Delete An Undeletable File

Open a Command Prompt window and leave it open.

Close all open programs.

Click Start, Run and enter TASKMGR.EXE

Go to the Processes tab and End Process on Explorer.exe.

Leave Task Manager open.

Go back to the Command Prompt window and change to the directory the AVI (or other undeletable file) is located in.

At the command prompt type DEL <filename> where <filename> is the file you wish to delete.

Go back to Task Manager, click File, New Task and enter EXPLORER.EXE to restart the GUI shell.

Close Task Manager.

Or you can try this

Open Notepad.exe

Click File>Save As..>

locate the folder where ur undeletable file is

Choose 'All files' from the file type box

click once on the file u wanna delete so its name appears in the 'filename' box

put a " at the start and end of the filename

(the filename should have the extension of the undeletable file so it will overwrite it)

click save,

It should ask u to overwrite the existing file, choose yes and u can delete it as normal

Here's a manual way of doing it. I'll take this off once you put into your first post zain.

1. Start

2. Run

3. Type: command

4. To move into a directory type: cd c:\*** (The stars stand for your folder)

5. If you cannot access the folder because it has spaces for example Program Files or Kazaa Lite folder you have to do the following. instead of typing in the full folder name only take the first 6 letters then put a ~ and then 1 without spaces. Example: cd c:\progra~1\kazaal~1

6. Once your in the folder the non-deletable file it in type in dir - a list will come up with everything inside.

7. Now to delete the file type in del ***.bmp, txt, jpg, avi, etc... And if the file name has spaces you would use the special 1st 6 letters followed by a ~ and a 1 rule. Example: if your file name was bad file.bmp you would type once in the specific folder thorugh command, del badfil~1.bmp and your file should be gone. Make sure to type in the correct extension.

How To Create Bootable USB

You do not have a CD / DVD and you want to try a  Live bootable CD via USB. 

Or say You want to make a bootable USB.

 

WinToFlash starts a wizard that will help pull over the contents of a CD or DVD or a disc image in ISO format and prepare the USB drive to become a bootable replacement for the optical drive.

• It Supports Windows XP, Vista and Win 7.
• Freeware
• Easy to Use

How to use it:

1. Download and install and Run it.

Download From here

2. Now choose any operation from the list. and press Run.

3. Select the Location of iso file in Source and also select Usb Drive's Location and press run.

How to remove Autorun.inf Virus

There is a very simple process to remove autorun.inf virus file. Follow the method below...

1. open up a command prompt (i.e. cmd.exe) ; to load it go to Run, type cmd, enter.

2. Now see the Four code lines highlighted below... you have to use them all one by one.

e.g. for f: drive...

F: \

F: \attrib

F: \attrib -s -h -r autorun.inf

F: \del autorun.inf

• First for entering into any drive
• Second, for checking virus's attributes.After pressing enter, you will see all files of that drive. Check for autorun.inf  file in them. 

You should see something like:

    SHR    Autotun.inf        C:\Autorun.inf

• third, for changing file's  to attributes.  Usually this virus has attributes SHR(checked by second line) where S stands for system, H for hide,  R for read-only. So To clear an attribute we use  -  (the minus sign) with attrib. 
• fourth, for deleting virus file.

3. Repeat Second step for all drives of ur system.

How To update BIOS

All latest Motherboards today, 486/ Pentium / Pentium Pro etc.,ensure that upgrades are easily obtained by incorporating the system BIOS in a FLASH Memory component. With FLASH BIOS, there is no need to replace an EPROM component. Once downloaded, the upgrade utility fits on a floppy disc allowing the user to save, verify and update the system BIOS. A hard drive or a network drive can also be used to run the newer upgrade utilities. However, memory managers can not be installed while upgrading.

Most pre-Pentium motherboards do not have a Flash BIOS. The following instructions therefore do not apply to these boards. If your motherboard does not have a Flash BIOS (EEPROM) you will need to use an EPROM programmer to re-program the BIOS chip. See your dealer for more information about this.

Please read the following instructions in full before starting a Flash BIOS upgrade:
A. Create a Bootable Floppy (in DOS)

•With a non-formatted disk, type the following:

format a:/s

•If using a formatted disk, type:

sys a:

This procedure will ensure a clean boot when you are flashing the new BIOS.

B. Download the BIOS file

•Download the correct BIOS file by clicking on the file name of the BIOS file you wish to download.

•Save the BIOS file and the Flash Utility file in the boot disk you have created. Unzip the BIOS file and the flash utility file. If you don't have an "unzip" utility, download the WinZip for Windows 95 shareware/ evaluation copy for that one time use from _www.winzip.com or _www.pkware.com. Most CD ROMs found in computer magazines, have a shareware version of WinZip on them.

•You should have extracted two files:

Flash BIOS utility eg: flash7265.exe (for example)

BIOS eg: 6152J900.bin (example)

Use the latest flash utility available unless otherwise specified (either on the BIOS update page or in the archive file). This information is usually provided.

C. Upgrade the System BIOS

During boot up, write down the old BIOS version because you will need to use it for the BIOS backup file name.

Place the bootable floppy disk containing the BIOS file and the Flash Utility in drive a, and reboot the system in MS-DOS, preferably Version 6.22

•At the A:> prompt, type the corresponding Flash BIOS utility and the BIOS file with its extension.

For example:

flash625 615j900.bin

•From the Flash Memory Writer menu, select "Y" to "Do you want to save BIOS?" if you want to save (back up) your current BIOS (strongly recommended), then type the name of your current BIOS and its extension after FILE NAME TO SAVE: eg: a:\613J900.bin

Alternatively select "N" if you don't want to save your current BIOS. Beware, though, that you won't be able to recover from a possible failure.

•Select "Y" to "Are you sure to program?"

•Wait until it displays "Message: Power Off or Reset the system"

Once the BIOS has been successfully loaded, remove the floppy disk and reboot the system. If you write to BIOS but cannot complete the procedure, do not switch off, because the computer will not be able to boo, and you will not be given another chance to flash. In this case leave your system on until you resolve the problem (flashing BIOS with old file is a possible solution, provided you've made a backup before)

Make sure the new BIOS version has been loaded properly by taking note of the BIOS identifier as the system is rebooting.

For AMI BIOS
Once the BIOS has been successfully loaded, remove the floppy disk and reboot the system holding the "END" key prior to power on until you enter CMOS setup. If you do not do this the first time booting up after upgrading the BIOS, the system will hang.

BIOS Update Tips
note:
1.Make sure never to turn off or reset your computer during the flash process. This will corrupt the BIOS data. We also recommend that you make a copy of your current BIOS on the bootable floppy so you can reflash it if you need to. (This option is not available when flashing an AMI BIOS).

2. If you have problems installing your new BIOS please check the following:

Have you done a clean boot?
In other words, did you follow the above procedure for making a bootable floppy? This ensures that when booting from "A" there are no device drivers on the diskette. Failing to do a clean boot is the most common cause for getting a "Memory Insufficient" error message when attempting to flash a BIOS.

If you have not used a bootable floppy, insure a clean boot either by

a) pressing F5 during bootup

b) by removing all device drivers on the CONFIG.SYS including the HIMEM.SYS. Do this by using the EDIT command.

Have you booted up under DOS?
Booting in Windows is another common cause for getting a "Memory Insufficient" error message when attempting to flash a BIOS. Make sure to boot up to DOS with a minimum set of drivers. Important: Booting in DOS does not mean selecting "Restart computer in MS-DOS Mode" from Windows98/95 shutdown menu or going to Prompt mode in WindowsNT, but rather following the above procedure (format a: /s and rebooting from a:\).

Have you entered the full file name of the flash utility and the BIOS plus its extension?
Do not forget that often you will need to add a drive letter (a:\) before flashing the BIOS. Example: when asked for file name of new BIOS file which is on your floppy disk, in case you're working from c:\ your will need to type a:\615j900.bin, rather than 615j900.bin only.

How Do U See Hidden Files, Using DOS

at command prompt just type
dir /ah

if the list is too long u can use
dir /ah/p/w

How To Disable Compression On Xp,Disk Cleanup

On an NTFS partition, Disk Cleanup can compress old files
to save space. 

But calculating the savings and performing the compression often take a long time, and on some systems,Disk Cleanup hangs during the process. 

If that happens, or if you don't care to wait, use this Registry tweak to disable the compression: 

Delete the key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Compress Old Files.

Notepad Option In Send To

Many apply a registry tweak to have notepad as an option for unknown file types. We frequently see such files which are actually just text, but named with some odd file-extension. And then, some suspicious files which we want to make sure what the contents are. Well, in such cases where the registry tweak is applied, the downside happens to be that even some known files get associated with notepad - but no, all we want is to be able to open a file with notepad - the association part in such cases is unwanted interference. Also, notepad becomes a permanent fixture on the right-click menu - which is again an annoyance.

So what we do, is to have notepad as an option in the Send-To options, of the right-click menu in explorer. It fulfils the purpose to perfection (atleast, in my case). Here's what we do:

1. right-click desktop, choose "New >> Shortcut"
2. Type the location of the item - "notepad" - (that's all, no need to give path)
3. Next >> type name for shortcut - "Edit with Notepad"
4. Click finish
5. Now right-click this shortcut on the desktop, and choose properties.
6. Confirm that the "target" and "start in" fields are using variables - "%windir%\system32\notepad.exe" - (absolute paths will be problematic if you use this .LNK on machines other than your own)
7. Now, browse to "%UserProfile%\SendTo" in explorer (which means "C:\Documents and Settings\User_Name\SendTo\" folder)
8. And copy the "Edit with Notepad.lnk" file which you already created, to that folder.
9. So now, you can right-click on ANY file-type, and be offered an option to open with notepad, from the SendTo sub-menu.

So now, you just right-click on an .nfo or .eml or .diz file (which are associated with other programs, and are sometimes just plain-text files), and choose "Send To >> Edit with Notepad" and it will open in notepad!
No more botheration of applying registry tweaks for something as simple as this.

How Long Has Your System Been Running?

Here's how you verify system uptime:

Click Start | Run and type cmd to open a command prompt.
At the prompt, type systeminfo

Scroll down the list of information to the line that says System Up Time.

This will tell you in days, hours, minutes and seconds how long the system has been up.

Note that this command only works in XP Pro, not in XP Home. You can, however, type net statistics workstation at the prompt in Home. The first line will tell you the day and time that the system came online.

How To Access Your Folders From Your Taskbar

This is an easy way to get to the folders on your system without having to open a Windows Explorer Window every time you want to access files. I find it very useful to have this feature as it allows me to access my Folders and Drives immediately and saves me a lot of time.

This works in Windows XP:

1. Right Click an empty spot on your Taskbar (Between your Start Button and your System Tray).
2. Click Toolbars.
3. Click New Toolbar.
4. A Small Window will Open that allows you to pick the folder you wish to make a Toolbar. If you want to access your Desktop Without having to minimize all your windows. Just Pick Desktop. If you want to access ONLY your My Documents Folder, Select that. Any folder will work for this.
5. Click OK.
The New Tool bar will appear at the bottom of your screen next to your System Tray.

If you find this to be not useful, Repeat Steps 1 and 2 and then check click the Toolbar you created that has a check mark next to it. And it will disappear.

How to Back Up the Registry & Restore the Registry

Back Up the Registry

Before you edit the registry, export the keys in the registry that you plan to edit, or back up the whole registry. If a problem occurs, you can then follow the steps how-to restore the registry to its previous state.

How to Export Registry Keys
Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
On the File menu, click Export.
In the Save in box, select the boxs at the bottom the bottom according to weather you want to export all or only selected branches of the registry.
Next select a location in which to save the backup .reg file. In the File name box, type a file name, and then click Save.

Restore the Registry

To restore registry keys that you exported, double-click the .reg file that you saved.

To Hide / Unhide the Partitions with DiskPart

I have 2 partition on my PC and now i want to hide the second partition for my private files is not to showed to other who want to use my computer.

This will be the best solution for your needs. Windows Xp provides a Utility which you can hide your one or more drives.

This steps will show you how to do the Tricks:

• 1: Open Run at type "cmd" and Enter.
• 2: Type "diskpart" and Enter.
• 3: type "list volume" and Enter.

* you will notice it will shows the partition on the Hard with the appropriate Drives Letters.

• 4: type "select volume 1" (select the volumes or partitions you want to hide).
• 5: type "remove letter d" (type the letter for which the volume you select stands for).
• 6: it will show that you successfully remove the partition.

* if you want to undo or Unhide the changes you did at the partitions repeat Steps 1 - 4

• 5: type "assign letter d" and Enter.

* assigning the partition with the letter you want will do the changes to the partition to show on your system.
hiding the partitions with this simple steps can prevent the security of your files to others.
DiskPart will remove the Letter. Window XP has not the capability to identify the unknown volume. Don't afraid your Data will remain.

Good Luck and Enjoy.

How To: Double Your Internet Browsing Speed on Firefox

How to Disable Windows Logo Key

i was recently playing games and this nasty windos logo key keep annoying me , cause i often accidently clicked it , and i start to search a solution to solve my problem, and found the following article in microsfot website, and it did work, hope this helps, thanks!


CODE
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=181348




or in other articles, u can copy the following messages into ur notepad and save as *.reg, and use it..


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00


[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,00,00,5b,e0,00,00,5c,e0,\
00,00,00,00