Home Page

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Create a Folder With Out Any Name

This is not a super high-tech geeky trick, but it just a short and simple trick on how you can create a folder without name in Microsoft Windows (XP, Vista & 7) !!!

When each time you create a new folder in Windows XP, Vista or 7, Microsoft has made "New Folder" as the default name. Even you enter the space-bar so many times to create blank spaces, it still will generate the "New Folder" text like this.
So, how you can create a folder like this?
No, it is not a Photoshop trick. I did not edit the first image.  Here is how to do this trick :
  • To rename the folder with blank spaces, just press Alt + 255 and hit Enter. Then you are successfully creating a folder without name in Windows XP.
Note : Make sure to press the numbers from the numpad and not from the numbers below the F1 - F12 keys. You only can create one folder without name in a directory.

Thank you..

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Lock PC Automatically When Stepping Out

While in office you may move around to different desks and cubicles. Most of the time you may think you will return to your desk in a minute or two but end up only after an hour or so. In the mean time your PC and data may be at risk if you have not locked your computer. So its better to set up an automatic lock on your computer after few minutes of inactivity.

First, what is the shortcut to lock the computer?
I have seen many people fighting hard to lock the computer as they first press ‘alt + ctrl + del’ and then they click ‘Lock this computer’. But windows key combination is a much simpler keyboard shortcut just press ‘Windows Key + L’ to lock your computer.

How to set up the computer to lock automatically?
If you don’t have the habit of locking your PC manually then I seriously advise you to follow this :

Windows has password protect option in screen savers. If you have enabled that, the system would automatically lock itself as soon as the screen saver comes up. On resume, you will be asked for the password before you can enter.
  • Right click on the desktop -> Personalize -> Screen Saver.
  • If you are using Vista or windows 7, check the box which says ‘On resume, display logon screen‘ or else in Windows XP this would be ‘On resume, password protect‘.
  • Save and close.



Next time you move out of your PC it will lock itself after the time you have mentioned in the screen saver settings.

 Thank you..

Friday, February 4, 2011

Lock Drives In Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7

Many of us might be having confidential documents in various drives of our system, which we don’t like to be accessed by others. Here is the way for you to lock the drives of your choice and your files will be pretty safe inside !!!

Follow the simple steps below :
  • Goto "RUN" and type "gpedit.msc"
  • A window will be opened (Group Policy).You will find two options in left side of the page.
  • Drop down the "user configuration" and again drop down sub menu "Administrative Templates" and again drop down another sub menu "Windows Components" and click on "Windows Explorer".
  • Right click on "Prevent Access To Drives From My Computers" and then click on properties. (For Windows XP)
  • Right click on "Prevent Access To Drives From My Computer" and then click on Edit. (For Windows Vista & Windows 7)
  • Click on the radio button "Enabled" and you can select any option in the menu.( For Windows XP)
  • Click on the radio button "Enabled" and a drop down menu of "Restrict all drives" will be activated. Under that you can select any drives of your choice to be locked. (For Windows Vista & Windows 7)
Follow the same procedures for disabling it.

Note : You have ample of options other than "Prevent Access To Drives From My Computer" under the "Windows Explorer" menu. You can have the complete available options that can be modified under "Administrative Templates" menu like; Control Panel, Desktop, Network, Shared Folders, Start Menu And Task Bar, System, Windows Components etc. You can have complete settings under the "All Settings" menu. According to your choice and use, you can modify the settings. All options can be disabled as they were before.

Thank you..

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Partitioning, Formatting & Installation Of Windows XP

This article describes how to partition (prepare) and format a hard disk before you install Windows XP using the Windows XP Setup program. This article also contains things to consider before you partition or format your hard disk. This article is intended for an advanced user.


Prepare the hard disk according to the manufacturer's instructions :
If you are using a SATA hard disk, skip this step and go to the "Determine the type of file system that you want to use" section. If you are using an IDE hard disk, set the jumpers and the cabling according to the role of the hard disk (for example, master or subordinate) and make any required BIOS (or CMOS) changes. To set the jumpers and cabling, and make any required BIOS or CMOS changes, see the documentation that was included with your hard disk and motherboard, or contact the manufacturers.

Determine the type of file system that you want to use :
You can use either the NTFS or FAT file systems. NTFS is the preferred file system to format the hard disk unless you want to run an earlier version of Windows that cannot read NTFS partitions.

If the hard disk already contains data, back it up
Make sure that you back up all your important data before you continue. When you partition and format a hard disk, all the data on that partition is permanently deleted. You can view current partition information without deleting your data.

If the hard disk has a drive overlay or a disk management program, make sure that it is compatible :
If your computer uses drive overlay software for large hard disk support, do not use the Windows XP Setup program to partition or to format the drive until you have verified that Windows XP is compatible with the software. If you have drive overlay software installed, contact the software manufacturer to find out whether it is compatible with Windows XP. If you are not sure whether you have drive overlay software installed, contact the manufacturer of your hard disk drive or motherboard.

If you have software that you want to reinstall, verify that you have the disks. Make sure that you have the original CDs or DVDs. So that you can reinstall the software programs after you partition and format your drive. If you purchased an upgrade for a program, make sure that you have the full version of the original program. Many upgrades for programs require a compliance check before you can install the upgraded product. If you cannot find the original CDs or DVDs, contact the software manufacturer before you continue.

If you have updated device drivers for peripheral devices, back them up. If you have installed an updated device driver for your peripheral devices (for example, modems and printers), make sure that you back up the new driver for the device to a location other than the drive that you want to format and partition so that you can reinstall it after you install your operating system.

Configure your computer to start from the CD or DVD drive :
To start your computer from the Windows XP CD, your computer must be configured to start from the CD or DVD drive. In some cases, you may have to modify your computer's BIOS settings to set this configuration. For information about how to configure your computer to start from the CD or DVD drive, see the documentation that is included with your computer, or contact the computer manufacturer.

How to partition and format the hard disk using the Windows XP Setup program :
You can use the Windows XP Setup program to partition and format the hard disk. To do this, use the following steps :

1: Partition the hard disk

a)     Insert the Windows XP CD into your CD or DVD drive, and then restart the computer to start the Windows XP Setup program.

Note : If you are using the Windows XP Setup disks, insert each additional disk when you are prompted, and then press ENTER to continue after you insert each disk.

b)     If you are prompted, select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD or DVD drive.

c)      If your hard disk controller requires a third-party original equipment manufacturer (OEM) driver, press F6 to specify the driver.

d)     At the Welcome to Setup page, press ENTER.

Note : If you are using the Setup disks (six bootable disks), the setup prompts you to insert the Windows XP CD.

e)     Press F8 to accept the Windows XP Licensing Agreement.

f)        If an existing Windows XP installation is detected, you are prompted to repair it. To bypass the repair, press ESC.

g)     All existing partitions and non-partitioned spaces are listed for each physical hard disk. Use the ARROW keys to select an existing partition, or create a new partition by selecting the non-partitioned space where you want to create a new partition. You can also press C to create a new partition using non-partitioned space.

Note : If you want to create a partition where one or more partitions already exist, you must first delete the existing partition or partitions, and then create the new partition. You can press D to delete an existing partition, and then press L (or press ENTER, and then press L if it is the System partition) to confirm that you want to delete the partition. Repeat this step for each existing partition that you want to include in the new partition. When all the partitions are deleted, select the remaining non-partitioned space, and then press C to create the new partition.

h)     To create the partition with the maximum size, press ENTER. To specify the partition size, type the size in megabytes (MB) for the new partition, and then press ENTER.

i)        If you want to create additional partitions, repeat steps g. and h.

j)        To format the partition and install Windows XP, go to step 2.

If you do not want to install Windows XP, press F3 two times to exit the Windows Setup program, and then do not follow the remaining steps in this article. To format the partition without installing Windows XP, use a different utility.

2 : Format the hard disk and install Windows XP
  
a)     Use the ARROW keys to select the partition where you want to install Windows XP, and then press ENTER.

b)     Select the format option that you want to use to format the partition. You can select from the following options:

Ø Format the partition by using the NTFS file system (Quick)
Ø Format the partition by using the FAT file system (Quick)
Ø Format the partition by using the NTFS file system
Ø Format the partition by using the FAT file system
Ø Leave the current file system intact (no changes)

Important Notes :

Ø If the selected partition is a new partition, the option to leave the current file system intact is not available.
Ø If the selected partition is larger than 32 gigabytes (GB), the FAT file system option is not available.
Ø If the selected partition is larger than 2 GB, the Windows Setup program uses the FAT32 file system (you must press ENTER to confirm).
Ø If the selected partition is smaller than 2 GB, the Windows Setup program uses the FAT16 file system.
Ø If you deleted and created a new System partition, but you are installing Windows XP on a different partition, you are prompted to select a file system for both the System and Startup partitions.

c)      Press ENTER.

d)     After the Windows Setup program formats the partition, follow the instructions that appear on the screen to install Windows XP. After the Windows Setup program is finished and you can restart the computer. Further you can use the Disk Management tools in Windows XP to create or format more partitions.

Additional notes :
Before you can install an operating system such as Windows XP, you must first create a primary partition on the first physical hard disk (Disk 0) on your computer. Then, you can format a file system on that partition to create what is called the System partition or, you can create a separate partition for the operating system on any physical hard disk. This is known as the Startup partition. The System partition on Disk 0 can also be used as a Startup partition.

Thank you..