Tusshar Outhouse

Save any video from any website which has video contents to stream

2010-09-19T20:56:00.000+05:30

This trick is for those who wish to watch youtube/metacafe videos without logging onto internet to stream it again and again, or want to make collection of videos from youtube or metacafe. This trick will always work without any 3rd party softwares such as youtube downloader or IDM.

1.> The very first step is to use a firefox browser or a chrome browser for ease for watching streaming videos.

2.> Watching the video until it completely buffers (light red colored line finishes).

3.> Now open a new tab or window, and on the address bar type: "about:cache" (without quotes) and hit enter key to see the following window.

4.> This window displays location of cache directory, where our video lies. Sort the list of cache files by "date" and "size" by clicking over them respectively. The higher sized file is our buffered video. Copy this scarily named file to your desktop.

5.> Now its time to change the name and extension of this file as "anyname.flv"
the .flv stands for flash video. Note that you must remove tick-mark from the "view folder options" which says "hide extensions of known file types".

6.> Enjoy the video as many no. of times you want.
7.> If you use the Google chrome browser dont worry, you can directly paste this following path into windows address bar:

C:\Users\varun\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cache

How to make your own Windows 7 Themes

2010-09-19T20:28:00.000+05:30

You can make your own themes in windows 7 itself, theres no need of any third party software to do this task.

1.> The first step in making a theme is to create a folder and dump all the favorite wallpapers into it. See image below for example.

2.> Now on the desktop, Right click on mouse to choose "personalise" option.

3.> Now see below to choose "desktop back-grounds" button, here you have to specify the folder in which you have dumped all the wallpapers, you can also set time and alignment of the picture in the same window, and clik "save changes".

4.> Now its about choosing the task bar and the windows color. after making changes you can click over the "windows color" button next to "desktop backgrounds". Again save changes after choosing a theme color of your choice.

5.> Now its up-to you whether you wish to also change the windows sounds at every event of closing or error events.

6.> Now there are two options to save a theme, a.) save only to your computer b.) save the theme for sharing.

7.> I prefer option b. because you can share your own made theme with your friends as a file.

8.> For saving a theme made by you, you should now "Right" click on the "unsaved theme" button in "personalize" options.

How to enable compiz desktop in Ubuntu 9.10

2010-09-19T19:50:00.000+05:30

Compiz is a compositing window manager that uses 3D graphics acceleration via OpenGL. It provides various new graphical effects and features on any desktop environment, including Gnome and KDE. Compiz Fusion is a collection of plug-ins and a configuration system for the Compiz compositing window manager. It was created from the re- emerging of Beryl into Compiz.

Compiz truely and honestly redefines user desktop experience and desktop/window management

1.> Pre-Requisites

In order to make life easy, let us go through a few pre-flight checks to ensure all is well once we enable Compiz/Desktop Effects and start using it.

Proper drivers installed for your Intel, ATI or nVidia or Intel Graphics card.

If you are using ATI,Nvidia Display cards you can install drivers from System--->Administration--->Hardware Drivers to detect the graphic card and to install associated drivers.

Install CCSM on Ubuntu

2.> After installing graphics card drivers you need to install compiz fusion using the following comamnd in the terminal:

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager compiz-fusion-plugins-extra compiz-fusion-plugins-main compiz-plugins emerald

3.> Now you need to enable Visual effects for this go to System--->Preferences--->Appearance

4.> Now you will get this window on your screen, here you have to choose "Extra" and close the window.

5.> Now you have to open a terminal from Applications >> System tools >> Terminal, and type "ccsm"

(without quotes), and hit enter.

You will get this large window in front of you:

6.> This window contains several desktop enhancements such as fire on screen, rain drops , wiper effects, Desktop cube, desktop cylinder, MAC osX styled window changer and lots more.

here's one of the enhancements called Desktop cube.

Customize Windows 7 Login Screen Using Account Screen Editor

2009-10-31T05:54:00.000+05:30

Windows 7 Account Screen Editor" which provides an easy way to customize Windows 7 login screen background.

Run the program "Run as Administrator" Then Click on "Set background" button and choose a picture for your login screen. Click on "Default background" button to restore default login scren background.
If a picture is too large, it'll automatically resize the picture.

You can download it using following link:

http://rapidshare.com/files/300228769/Windows_7_Logon_screen_editor_by_bcubing.exe.html

Task Manager - Win7

2009-10-16T01:53:00.001+05:30

Terminate Stubborn Processes That Can't End Process in Task Manager-Win7

Are you tried killing the application in Task Manager. But sometime its not working. Sometimes you may not able to do so. No matter how many times you have tried to kill the process, the process still continues to run and doesn’t leave any CPU cycle for other tasks processing, ended up that you need to hard reboot your computer. This could be very irritating and inefficient. Someone can ask for What's the difference between pskill and Windows "TASKKILL". There is Not a lot of difference indeed, but TASKKILL is not available on all WINDOWS editions.
Use PsKill. Its a small utility form Microsoft Sysinternals, now you can easily and very quickly kill application.
PsKill is an executable file that doesn’t required any installation. It is not only able to kill processes locally, but also able to kills processes on remote computers. To use PsKill to kill hang process, follow the steps.

Download PsKill utility.
Extract to default System32 path.(C:\Windows\System32)
Press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC to open Task manager
On the Task Manager Go to View>Select Columns…
Select PID (Process Identifier) Then Click ok

6. Now You can see running application's PID

7. Press Start type cmd. Then Press CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER (For Administrator privilege)

8. Type pskill, space and followed by the PID value. For example, if the PID is 2412, then type pskill 9596 and press enter. The process will be terminated without affecting other running processes.

FOR ADVANCED USER

Usage: pskill [- ] [-t] [\\computer [-u username] [-p password]]

-	Displays the supported options.
-t	Kill the process and its descendants.
\\computer	Specifies the computer on which the process you want to terminate is executing. The remote computer must be accessible via the NT network neighborhood.
-u username	If you want to kill a process on a remote system and the account you are executing in does not have administrative privileges on the remote system then you must login as an administrator using this command-line option. If you do not include the password with the -p option then PsKill will prompt you for the password without echoing your input to the display.
-p password	This option lets you specify the login password on the command line so that you can use PsList from batch files. If you specify an account name and omit the -p option PsList prompts you interactively for a password.
process id	Specifies the process ID of the process you want to kill.
process name	Specifies the process name of the process or processes you want to kill.

Windows 7 Features

2009-10-13T03:04:00.000+05:30

Windows 7 simplifies everyday tasks

Desktop

With Windows 7, Microsoft made it easier to get more done on the desktop.

New ways to juggle windows

Overwhelmed by open windows? Windows 7 comes with three simple yet powerful new features called Aero Shake, Aero Peek, and Snap to help you instantly clear through desktop clutter.

Peek-a-boo: Aero Peek turns open windows translucent so you can see what's on your desktop.

Spectacular new wallpapers

Microsoft spend a lot of time staring at our PCs. Aesthetics shouldn't just be an afterthought. That's why Windows 7 includes a slew of new desktop backgrounds—wallpapers—that range from sublime to silly. Or try the new desktop slide show, which displays a rotating series of pictures (ours or yours). Your desktop will never be dull again.

Windows 7 makes it easy to express your personality with creative new themes and other custom touches.

Retooled taskbar

Since Windows 95, the taskbar has served as the go-to spot for launching programs and switching windows. Times and PC habits have changed. So in Windows 7, the taskbar has been completely redesigned to help you work smarter, cut clutter, and get more done.

Improvements to the new Windows 7 taskbar include thumbnail previews of webpages, documents—even running video.

Improved gadgets

Gadgets, the popular mini-programs introduced in Windows Vista, are now more flexible and fun. Based on your feedback, Microsoft done away with the Sidebar, so you can stick your gadgets anywhere on the desktop.

Favorite gadgets can go anywhere on your Windows 7 desktop.

Note: Not all features mentioned above are available in all editions of Windows 7. See the individual feature pages for details.

HomeGroup

HomeGroup takes the headache out of sharing files and printers on a home network. Connect two or more PCs running Windows 7, and HomeGroup makes it easy to automatically start sharing your music, pictures, video, and document libraries with others in your home. The new “Share with” menu, meanwhile, provides a speedy way to share individual files.

Concerned about privacy? So are Microsoft. That’s why HomeGroup is password-protected and puts you in total control. You decide what gets shared—and what stays private. You can also make your files "read only," so other people can look at (but not touch) your stuff.

You can join a homegroup in any edition of Windows 7, but you can only create one in Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate.

Jump Lists

Jump Lists—new in Windows 7—take you right to the documents, pictures, songs, or websites you turn to each day. To open a Jump List, just right-click a program icon on the Windows 7 taskbar. (You'll also find them on the Start menu.)

What you see in a Jump List depends entirely on the program. The Jump List for Internet Explorer 8 shows frequently-viewed websites. Windows Media Player 12 lists commonly-played tunes. Your Jump List missing a favorite? You can "pin" whatever files you like there.

Jump Lists don't just show shortcuts to files. Sometimes they also provide quick access to commands for things like composing new e-mail messages or playing music.

Snap

Snap is a quick (and fun) new way to resize open windows, simply by dragging them to the edges of your screen.

Depending on where you drag a window, you can make it expand vertically, take up the entire screen, or appear side-by-side with another window. Snap makes reading, organizing, and comparing windows a...well, you get the picture.

If you like Snap, check out two new related features: Aero Peek and Aero Shake.

Windows Live Essentials

What is Windows Live Essentals? Simply put, it's free software that makes a PC running Windows 7 do more great things. Things like e-mail, instant messaging, photo editing, and blogging.

Windows Live Essentials is available from the Windows Live website. The free download includes:


Messenger Chat instantly with friends and family on your PC or mobile phone.	Photo Gallery Find, fix, and share your photos.	Mail Manage multiple e-mail accounts (like Hotmail) in one place.

Writer Compose your blog, add photos and video, then post it on the web.	Movie Maker Turn your photos and videos into great‑looking movies and slide shows.	Family Safety Manage and monitor online activities so your kids stay safe.

Toolbar Search instantly from any webpage.

Messenger

Chat instantly with friends and family on your PC or mobile phone.

Photo Gallery

Find, fix, and share your photos.

Mail

Manage multiple e-mail accounts (like Hotmail) in one place.

Writer

Compose your blog, add photos and video, then post it on the web.

Movie Maker

Turn your photos and videos into great‑looking movies and slide shows.

Family Safety

Manage and monitor online activities so your kids stay safe.

Toolbar

Search instantly from any webpage.

Windows Search

In Windows 7, you can find more things in more places—and do it faster.

Start typing into the Start menu search box—and you'll instantly see a list of relevant documents, pictures, music, and e-mail on your PC. Results are now grouped by category and contain highlighted keywords and text snippets to make them easier to scan.

Few people store all their files in one place these days. So Windows 7 is also designed to search external hard drives, networked PCs, and libraries. Overwhelmed by your search results? You can instantly narrow them by date, file type, and other useful categories.

Windows 7 works the way you want

Performance improvements

Nobody likes to wait. That's why Microsoft designed Windows 7 to be more nimble and always ready when you are. Key performance improvements include:

Sleep

Windows 7 is designed to sleep, resume, and reconnect to your wireless network more quickly.

Search

When hunting for something, you want answers, not delays. In Windows 7, search results pop up faster. Sorting and grouping of search results is also significantly quicker

USB devices

When you plug in a portable flash drive or other USB device for the first time, Windows 7 can have it ready for you in seconds. If you've used it before, the wait's even shorter.

Leaner and less busy

Unlike its predecessors, Windows 7 is designed to run speed-sapping background services only when you need them. Not using a Bluetooth device? Then the Bluetooth service in Windows 7 stays off. Windows 7 is also less memory hungry than Windows Vista—another under-the-hood tune-up that can boost overall performance.

64-bit support

If you’ve gone PC shopping lately, you’ve probably noticed more computers with 64-bit processors, and you may have wondered what advantages they offer.

Put simply, a 64-bit PC can handle larger amounts of information than a 32-bit system. Since it can use more RAM—4 GB and up—a 64-bit computer can be more responsive when you're running lots of programs at once.

Which should you buy? If you tend to have a lot of programs open simultaneously or need to switch frequently between programs—or if you just want to be sure your PC can take advantage of the larger amounts of memory available today—64-bit is a great choice. If you run only one or two programs at a time or have older hardware and software that isn't supported by a 64-bit PC, a 32-bit system is a good choice.

Whether you choose the 32-bit or the 64-bit system, Windows 7 is ready. To see if your PC is a 32- or 64-bit system, download and run the Windows Upgrade Advisor.

Power Management

Tired of your laptop dying when you need it most? Windows 7 is designed to help your battery last longer.

How? For starters, Windows 7 runs with fewer background activities so your PC processor doesn't work as hard and draws less power. Other innovations include less power-hungry DVD playback (handy on long flights), automatic screen dimming, powering off unused ports, and a more accurate battery-life indicator. So you'll be less likely to be surprised by a dead battery.

Leaner and greener: Fine-tune power consumption in Windows 7 to extend battery life.

Windows 7 makes new things possible

Networking

Windows 7 makes it a cinch to view and connect to networks on your laptop wherever you go. Just click the networking icon on the taskbar. View Available Networks displays all your wireless and wired options—Wi-Fi, mobile broadband, dial-up, or corporate VPN. One more click, and you're connected.

Windows 7 instantly shows you wireless and other available networks.

Windows Media Center

Watch, pause, and record live TV. Listen to your tunes. Show off your photo collection. Enjoy online entertainment. And do it all from your living-room couch. Is it any wonder critics call Media Center the hidden gem of Windows?

In Windows 7, Microsoft made it even better—adding great new features (many suggested by you) and visual touch-ups. Windows Media Center is available in the Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate editions of
Windows 7.

Calling all couch potatoes: Windows Media Center in Windows 7 sports eye-popping visuals and better ways to browse

More watching...

Windows Media Center supports more global TV standards and tuners, including digital and HD. It also now plays more popular audio and video formats—including 3GP, AAC, AVCHD, DivX, MOV, and Xvid.

...less waiting

Tired of trudging through TV listings or a massive music library? Zip to songs and shows more quickly using the new Turbo Scroll feature.

Stunning new slide shows

Make elegant photo collages (with background music) using the new slide show maker—perfect for parties or family get-togethers. And check out the updated slide show screen saver—its stunning visuals defy words.

Easier media sharing

Enjoy recorded TV shows, music, video—even when it's not stored on your PC. The new HomeGroup feature makes media available to any PC with Windows 7 in the house.

New gadget, bigger previews

A new Media Center gadget. Quick video skimming. More song and show details. Bigger, easier-to-see preview thumbnails. The improvements go on and on.

Windows Touch

Move over mouse: When you pair Windows 7 with a touch-screen PC, you can browse online newspapers, flick through photo albums, and shuffle files and folders—using nothing but your fingers.

Limited one-finger touch capability has been available in Windows for years. But Windows 7 is the first to fully embrace multitouch technology. Need to zoom in on something? Place two fingers on the screen of a multitouch-compatible PC and spread them apart. To right-click a file, touch it with one finger and tap the screen with a second.

Windows Touch—available only in the Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate editions of Windows 7—is fun to learn and easy to use. The Start menu and taskbar now sport larger, fingertip-friendly icons. All your favorite Windows 7 programs are also touch-ready. You can even finger paint in Paint!

Windows 7 Shortcuts

2009-10-13T02:20:00.000+05:30

Keyboard shortcuts, which also known as accelerator keys or hot keys, are a finite set of one key or a combination of two or more keys that, when pressed, will invoke an operation or perform a task by operating system or application program running within the operating system, or simply activate and run a program. Keyboard shortcuts or hot keys make it easier for user to interact with computer, which otherwise would typically require a mouse or other pointing device to perform the operation.

Windows 7 includes many new keyboard accelerator keys that make it easier to work with menus and other commands. Normally, the keyboard shortcuts to activate the command are listed along with command in the programs’ menus (typically a letter is underlined to indicate that it can be activated by pressing the combination of Alt key with the underlined key). Some are not listed and hidden though.

Here’s the full list of Windows 7 keyboard shortcuts or accelerator hotkeys available on the operating system level and also for several built-in application programs in Windows 7, as published by Microsoft.

Ease of Access keyboard shortcuts

    * Right Shift for eight seconds: Turn Filter Keys on and off
    * Left Alt + Left Shift + PrtScn (or PrtScn): Turn High Contrast on or off
    * Left Alt + Left Shift + Num Lock: Turn Mouse Keys on or off
    * Shift five times: Turn Sticky Keys on or off
    * Num Lock for five seconds: Turn Toggle Keys on or off
    * Windows logo key + U: Open the Ease of Access Center

General keyboard shortcuts

    * F1: Display Help
    * Ctrl + C (or Ctrl + Insert): Copy the selected item
    * Ctrl + X: Cut the selected item
    * Ctrl + V (or Shift + Insert): Paste the selected item
    * Ctrl + Z: Undo an action
    * Ctrl + Y: Redo an action
    * Delete (or Ctrl + D): Delete the selected item and move it to the Recycle Bin
    * Shift + Delete: Delete the selected item without moving it to the Recycle Bin first
    * F2: Rename the selected item
    * Ctrl + Right Arrow: Move the cursor to the beginning of the next word
    * Ctrl + Left Arrow: Move the cursor to the beginning of the previous word
    * Ctrl + Down Arrow: Move the cursor to the beginning of the next paragraph
    * Ctrl + Up Arrow: Move the cursor to the beginning of the previous paragraph
    * Ctrl + Shift with an arrow key: Select a block of text
    * Shift + any arrow key: Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text within a document
    * Ctrl + any arrow key + Spacebar: Select multiple individual items in a window or on the desktop
    * Ctrl + A: Select all items in a document or window
    * F3: Search for a file or folder
    * Alt + Enter: Display properties for the selected item
    * Alt + F4: Close the active item, or exit the active program
    * Alt + Spacebar: Open the shortcut menu for the active window
    * Ctrl + F4: Close the active document (in programs that allow you to have multiple documents open simultaneously)
    * Alt + Tab: Switch between open items
    * Ctrl + Alt + Tab: Use the arrow keys to switch between open items
    * Ctrl + Mouse scroll wheel: Change the size of icons on the desktop
    * Windows logo key + Tab: Cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Aero Flip 3-D
    * Ctrl+ Windows logo key + Tab: Use the arrow keys to cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Aero Flip 3-D
    * Alt + Esc: Cycle through items in the order in which they were opened
    * F6: Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop
    * F4: Display the address bar list in Windows Explorer
    * Shift + F10: Display the shortcut menu for the selected item
    * Ctrl + Esc: Open the Start menu
    * Alt + underlined letter: Display the corresponding menu
    * Alt + underlined letter: Perform the menu command (or other underlined command)
    * F10: Activate the menu bar in the active program
    * Right Arrow: Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu
    * Left Arrow: Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu
    * F5 (or Ctrl + R): Refresh the active window
    * Alt + Up Arrow: View the folder one level up in Windows Explorer
    * Esc: Cancel the current task
    * Ctrl + Shift + Esc: Open Task Manager
    * Shift when you insert a CD: Prevent the CD from automatically playing
    * Left Alt + Shift: Switch the input language when multiple input languages are enabled
    * Ctrl + ShiftL: Switch the keyboard layout when multiple keyboard layouts are enabled
    * Right or Left Ctrl + Shift: Change the reading direction of text in right-to-left reading languages

Dialog box keyboard shortcuts

    * Ctrl + Tab: Move forward through tabs
    * Ctrl + Shift + Tab: Move back through tabs
    * Tab: Move forward through options
    * Shift + Tab: Move back through options
    * Alt + underlined letter: Perform the command (or select the option) that goes with that letter
    * Enter: Replaces clicking the mouse for many selected commands
    * Spacebar: Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box
    * Arrow keys: Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons
    * F1: Display Help
    * F4: Display the items in the active list
    * Backspace: Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box

Windows logo key keyboard shortcuts

    * Windows logo key: Open or close the Start menu.
    * Windows logo key + Pause: Display the System Properties dialog box.
    * Windows logo key + D: Display the desktop.
    * Windows logo key + M: Minimize all windows.
    * Windows logo key + Shift + M: Restore minimized windows to the desktop.
    * Windows logo key + E: Open Computer.
    * Windows logo key + F: Search for a file or folder.
    * Ctrl + Windows logo key + F: Search for computers (if you’re on a network).
    * Windows logo key + L: Lock your computer or switch users.
    * Windows logo key + R: Open the Run dialog box.
    * Windows logo key + T: Cycle through programs on the taskbar.
    * Windows logo key + number: Start the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number. If the program is already running, switch to that program.
    * Shift + Windows logo key + number: Start a new instance of the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number.
    * Ctrl + Windows logo key + number: Switch to the last active window of the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number.
    * Alt + Windows logo key + number: Open the Jump List for the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number.
    * Windows logo key + Tab: Cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Aero Flip 3-D.
    * Ctrl+Windows logo key + Tab: Use the arrow keys to cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Aero Flip 3-D.
    * Ctrl+Windows logo key + B: Switch to the program that displayed a message in the notification area.
    * Windows logo key + Spacebar: Preview the desktop.
    * Windows logo key + Up Arrow: Maximize the window.
    * Windows logo key + Left Arrow: Maximize the window to the left side of the screen.
    * Windows logo key + Right Arrow: Maximize the window to the right side of the screen.
    * Windows logo key + Down Arrow: Minimize the window.
    * Windows logo key + Home: Minimize all but the active window.
    * Windows logo key + Shift + Up Arrow: Stretch the window to the top and bottom of the screen.
    * Windows logo key + Shift+ Left Arrow or Right Arrow: Move a window from one monitor to another.
    * Windows logo key + P: Choose a presentation display mode.
    * Windows logo key + G: Cycle through gadgets.
    * Windows logo key + U: Open Ease of Access Center.
    * Windows logo key + X: Open Windows Mobility Center.

Windows Explorer keyboard shortcuts

    * Ctrl + N: Open a new window
    * Ctrl + W: Close the current window
    * Ctrl + Shift + N: Create a new folder
    * End: Display the bottom of the active window
    * Home: Display the top of the active window
    * F11: Maximize or minimize the active window
    * Ctrl + Period (.): Rotate a picture clockwise
    * Ctrl + Comma (,): Rotate a picture counter-clockwise
    * Num Lock + Asterisk (*) on numeric keypad: Display all subfolders under the selected folder
    * Num Lock + Plus Sign (+) on numeric keypad: Display the contents of the selected folder
    * Num Lock + Minus Sign (-) on numeric keypad: Collapse the selected folder
    * Left Arrow: Collapse the current selection (if it’s expanded), or select the parent folder
    * Alt + Enter: Open the Properties dialog box for the selected item
    * Alt + P: Display the preview pane
    * Alt + Left Arrow: View the previous folder
    * Backspace: View the previous folder
    * Right Arrow: Display the current selection (if it’s collapsed), or select the first subfolder
    * Alt + Right Arrow: View the next folder
    * Alt + Up Arrow: View the parent folder
    * Ctrl + Shift + E: Display all folders above the selected folder
    * Ctrl + Mouse scroll wheel: Change the size and appearance of file and folder icons
    * Alt + D: Select the address bar
    * Ctrl + E: Select the search box
    * Ctrl + F: Select the search box

Taskbar keyboard shortcuts

    * Shift + Click on a taskbar button: Open a program or quickly open another instance of a program
    * Ctrl + Shift + Click on a taskbar button: Open a program as an administrator
    * Shift + Right-click on a taskbar button: Show the window menu for the program
    * Shift + Right-click on a grouped taskbar button: Show the window menu for the group
    * Ctrl + Click on a grouped taskbar button: Cycle through the windows of the group

Magnifier keyboard shortcuts

    * Windows logo key + Plus Sign or Minus Sign: Zoom in or out
    * Ctrl + Alt + Spacebar: Preview the desktop in full-screen mode
    * Ctrl + Alt + F: Switch to full-screen mode
    * Ctrl + Alt + L: Switch to lens mode
    * Ctrl + Alt + D: Switch to docked mode
    * Ctrl + Alt + I: Invert colors
    * Ctrl + Alt + arrow keys: Pan in the direction of the arrow keys
    * Ctrl + Alt + R: Resize the lens
    * Windows logo key + Esc: Exit Magnifier

Remote Desktop Connection keyboard shortcuts

    * Alt + Page Up: Move between programs from left to right.
    * Alt + Page Down: Move between programs from right to left.
    * Alt + Insert: Cycle through programs in the order that they were started in.
    * Alt + Home: Display the Start menu.
    * Ctrl + Alt + Break: Switch between a window and full screen.
    * Ctrl + Alt + End: Display the Windows Security dialog box.
    * Alt + Delete: Display the system menu.
    * Ctrl + Alt + Minus Sign (-) on the numeric keypad: Place a copy of the active window, within the client, on the Terminal server clipboard (provides the same functionality as pressing Alt + PrtScn on a local computer).
    * Ctrl + Alt + Plus Sign (+) on the numeric keypad: Place a copy of the entire client window area on the Terminal server clipboard (provides the same functionality as pressing PrtScn on a local computer).
    * Ctrl + Alt + Right Arrow: “Tab” out of the Remote Desktop controls to a control in the host program (for example, a button or a text box). Useful when the Remote Desktop controls are embedded in another (host) program.
    * Ctrl + Alt + Left Arrow: “Tab” out of the Remote Desktop controls to a control in the host program (for example, a button or a text box). Useful when the Remote Desktop controls are embedded in another (host) program.

Paint keyboard shortcuts

    * Ctrl + N: Create a new picture
    * Ctrl + O: Open an existing picture
    * Ctrl + S: Save changes to a picture
    * F12: Save the picture as a new file
    * Ctrl + P: Print a picture
    * Alt + F4: Close a picture and its Paint window
    * Ctrl + Z: Undo a change
    * Ctrl + Y: Redo a change
    * Ctrl + A: Select the entire picture
    * Ctrl + X: Cut a selection
    * Ctrl + C: Copy a selection to the Clipboard
    * Ctrl + V: Paste a selection from the Clipboard
    * Right Arrow: Move the selection or active shape right by one pixel
    * Left Arrow: Move the selection or active shape left by one pixel
    * Down Arrow: Move the selection or active shape down by one pixel
    * Up Arrow: Move the selection or active shape up by one pixel
    * Esc: Cancel a selection
    * Delete: Delete a selection
    * Ctrl + B: Bold selected text
    * Ctrl + +: Increase the width of a brush, line, or shape outline by one pixel
    * Ctrl + -: Decrease the width of a brush, line, or shape outline by one pixel
    * Ctrl + I: Italicize selected text
    * Ctrl + U: Underline selected text
    * Ctrl + E: Open the Properties dialog box
    * Ctrl + W: Open the Resize and Skew dialog box
    * Ctrl + Page Up: Zoom in
    * Ctrl + Page Down: Zoom out
    * F11: View a picture in full-screen mode
    * Ctrl + R: Show or hide the ruler
    * Ctrl + G: Show or hide gridlines
    * F10 or Alt: Display keytips
    * Shift + F10: Show the current shortcut menu
    * F1: Open Paint Help

WordPad keyboard shortcuts

    * Ctrl + N: Create a new document
    * Ctrl + O: Open an existing document
    * Ctrl + S: Save changes to a document
    * F12: Save the document as a new file
    * Ctrl + P: Print a document
    * Alt + F4: Close WordPad
    * Ctrl + Z: Undo a change
    * Ctrl + Y: Redo a change
    * Ctrl + A: Select the entire document
    * Ctrl + X: Cut a selection
    * Ctrl + C: Copy a selection to the Clipboard
    * Ctrl + V: Paste a selection from the Clipboard
    * Ctrl + B: Make selected text bold
    * Ctrl + I: Italicize selected text
    * Ctrl + U: Underline selected text
    * Ctrl + =: Make selected text subscript
    * Ctrl + Shift + =: Make selected text superscript
    * Ctrl + L: Align text left
    * Ctrl + E Align text center
    * Ctrl + R:: Align text right
    * Ctrl + J: Justify text
    * Ctrl + 1: Set single line spacing
    * Ctrl + 2: Set double line spacing
    * Ctrl + 5: Set line spacing to 1.5
    * Ctrl + Shift + >: Increase the font size
    * Ctrl + Shift + <: Decrease the font size
    * Ctrl + Shift + A: Change characters to all capitals
    * Ctrl + Shift + L: Change the bullet style
    * Ctrl + D: Insert a Microsoft Paint drawing
    * Ctrl + F: Find text in a document
    * F3: Find the next instance of the text in the Find dialog box
    * Ctrl + H: Replace text in a document
    * Ctrl + Left Arrow: Move the cursor one word to the left
    * Ctrl + Right Arrow: Move the cursor one word to the right
    * Ctrl + Up Arrow: Move the cursor to the line above
    * Ctrl + Down Arrow: Move the cursor to the line below
    * Ctrl + Home: Move to the beginning of the document
    * Ctrl + End: Move to the end of the document
    * Ctrl + Page Up: Move up one page
    * Ctrl + Page Down: Move down one page
    * Ctrl + Delete: Delete the next word
    * F10: Display keytips
    * Shift + F10: Show the current shortcut menu
    * F1: Open WordPad Help

Calculator keyboard shortcuts

    * Alt + 1: Switch to Standard mode
    * Alt + 2: Switch to Scientific mode
    * Alt + 3: Switch to Programmer mode
    * Alt + 4: Switch to Statistics mode
    * Ctrl + E: Open date calculations
    * Ctrl + H: Turn calculation history on or off
    * Ctrl + U: Open unit conversion
    * Alt + C: Calculate or solve date calculations and worksheets
    * F1: Open Calculator Help
    * Ctrl + Q: Press the M- button
    * Ctrl + P: Press the M+ button
    * Ctrl + M: Press the MS button
    * Ctrl + R: Press the MR button
    * Ctrl + L: Press the MC button
    * %: Press the % button
    * F9: Press the +/– button
    * /: Press the / button
    * *: Press the * button
    * +: Press the + button
    * -: Press the – button
    * R: Press the 1/× button
    * @: Press the square root button
    * 0-9: Press the number buttons (0-9)
    * =: Press the = button
    * .: Press the . (decimal point) button
    * Backspace: Press the backspace button
    * Esc: Press the C button
    * Del: Press the CE button
    * Ctrl + Shift + D: Clear the calculation history
    * F2: Edit the calculation history
    * Up Arrow key: Navigate up in the calculation history
    * Down Arrow key: Navigate down in the calculation history
    * Esc: Cancel editing the calculation history
    * Enter: Recalculate the calculation history after editing
    * F3: Select Degrees in Scientific mode
    * F4: Select Radians in Scientific mode
    * F5: Select Grads in Scientific mode
    * I: Press the Inv button in Scientific mode
    * D: Press the Mod button in Scientific mode
    * Ctrl + S: Press the sinh button in Scientific mode
    * Ctrl + O: Press the cosh button in Scientific mode
    * Ctrl + T: Press the tanh button in Scientific mode
    * (: Press the ( button in Scientific mode
    * ): Press the ) button in Scientific mode
    * N: Press the ln button in Scientific mode
    * ;: Press the Int button in Scientific mode
    * S: Press the sin button in Scientific mode
    * O: Press the cos button in Scientific mode
    * T: Press the tan button in Scientific mode
    * M: Press the dms button in Scientific mode
    * P: Press the pi button in Scientific mode
    * V: Press the F-E button in Scientific mode
    * X: Press the Exp button in Scientific mode
    * Q: Press the x^2 button in Scientific mode
    * Y: Press the x^y button in Scientific mode
    * #: Press the x^3 button in Scientific mode
    * L: Press the log button in Scientific mode
    * !: Press the n! button in Scientific mode
    * Ctrl + Y: Press the y√x button in Scientific mode
    * Ctrl + B: Press the 3√x button in Scientific mode
    * Ctrl + G: Press the 10x button in Scientific mode
    * F5: Select Hex in Programmer mode
    * F6: Select Dec in Programmer mode
    * F7: Select Oct in Programmer mode
    * F8: Select Bin in Programmer mode
    * F12: Select Qword in Programmer mode
    * F2: Select Dword in Programmer mode
    * F3: Select Word in Programmer mode
    * F4: Select Byte in Programmer mode
    * K: Press the RoR button in Programmer mode
    * J: Press the RoL button in Programmer mode
    * <: Press the Lsh button in Programmer mode
    * >: Press the Rsh button in Programmer mode
    * %: Press the Mod button in Programmer mode
    * (: Press the ( button in Programmer mode
    * ): Press the ) button in Programmer mode
    * |: Press the Or button in Programmer mode
    * ^: Press the Xor button in Programmer mode
    * ~: Press the Not button in Programmer mode
    * &: Press the And button in Programmer mode
    * A-F: Press the A-F buttons in Programmer mode
    * Spacebar: Toggles the bit value in Programmer mode
    * A: Press the Average button in Statistics mode
    * Ctrl + A: Press the Average Sq button in Statistics mode
    * S: Press the Sum button in Statistics mode
    * Ctrl + S: Press the Sum Sq button in Statistics mode
    * T: Press the S.D. button in Statistics mode
    * Ctrl + T: Press the Inv S.D. button in Statistics mode
    * D: Press the CAD button in Statistics mode

Windows Journal keyboard shortcuts

    * Ctrl + N: Start a new note
    * Ctrl + O: Open a recently used note
    * Ctrl + S: Save changes to a note
    * Ctrl + Shift + V: Move a note to a specific folder
    * Ctrl + P: Print a note
    * Alt + F4: Close a note and its Journal window
    * Ctrl + Z: Undo a change
    * Ctrl + Y: Redo a change
    * Ctrl + A: Select all items on a page
    * Ctrl + X: Cut a selection
    * Ctrl + C: Copy a selection to the Clipboard
    * Ctrl + V: Paste a selection from the Clipboard
    * Esc: Cancel a selection
    * Delete: Delete a selection
    * Ctrl + F: Start a basic find
    * Ctrl + G: Go to a page
    * F5: Refresh find results
    * F5: Refresh the note list
    * F6: Toggle between a note list and a note
    * Ctrl + Shift + C: Display a shortcut menu for column headings in a note list
    * F11: View a note in full-screen mode
    * F1: Open Journal Help

Windows Help viewer keyboard shortcuts

    * Alt + C: Display the Table of Contents
    * Alt + N: Display the Connection Settings menu
    * F10: Display the Options menu
    * Alt + Left Arrow: Move back to the previously viewed topic
    * Alt + Right Arrow: Move forward to the next (previously viewed) topic
    * Alt + A: Display the customer support page
    * Alt + Home: Display the Help and Support home page
    * Home: Move to the beginning of a topic
    * End: Move to the end of a topic
    * Ctrl + F: Search the current topic
    * Ctrl + P: Print a topic
    * F3: Move the cursor to the search box

How to fix corrupted files in XP

2009-06-12T12:38:00.000+05:30

** Contents **
(1) Introduction
(2) Required
(3) Actual Tutorial
(4) Copyright Notice

// Introduction //
This tutorial has been made so people that are having problems with corrupted files, can learn how to fix them easy.

// Required //
+ Windows XP operating system
+ Windows XP cd

// Right to the tutorial //
+ Place the xp cd in your cd/dvd drive
+ Go to start
+ run
+ type in 'sfc /scannow' (without the ')

Now it should all load, and fix all your corrupted file on windows XP :)

Change XP Boot Screen

2009-06-08T19:39:00.001+05:30

If you would like to change your boot up screen follow the directions below.
These instructions assume that you have a place to download the boot screen from the net.
If you would like to download a boot screen, visit http://www.themexp.org

1. Backup (copy) the file %windir%\system32\ntoskrnl.exe (most likely C:\windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe - the boot screen)
2. Download the .zip to your computer
3. Extract ntoskrnl.exe to a directory other than %windir%\system32 (most likely C:\windows\system32)
4. Reboot your computer into Safe Mode (hit F8 before the boot screen) or into true DOS (from a boot disk)
5. Overwrite the file %windir%\system32\ntoskrnl.exe (which should have been backed up) with the extracted exe
6. Reboot your computer as you normally would

Make a PDF file Speak

2009-06-08T19:38:00.001+05:30

Note : This trick works for Adobe Reaader 6.0

Do you ever wonder how nice it would be if instead of reading
through the pdf file you could just make it speak.

Is it Possible ?
The answer is yes.

It can be done in 3 simple steps.

Step 1. Press : Shift+Ctrl+Y (To Activate Read Aloud Property)
Step 2. Press : Ctrl+Shift+B (If you want to hear the entire Topic)
Step 3. Press : Ctrl+Shift+V (If you want to hear the entire Page)

Changing the DOS background colour

2009-06-08T19:37:00.001+05:30

The value DefaultColor controls the foreground and background colors used in command prompt windows. It has a default value of 0, for standard white text on a black background.
CHANGING DOS BACKGROUND
Open your registry (press win+r and type regedit , hit enter )
goto

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor]

u'll find "DefaultColor"

You can replace it's value with a two-digit hexadecimal number, in which the first digit selects a background color and the second a foreground color. The hexadecimal codes are:

Hexadecimal value Color
0 Black
1 Blue
2 Green
3 Aqua
4 Red
5 Purple
6 Yellow
7 White
8 Gray
9 Light Blue
A Light Green
B Light Aqua
C Light Red
D Light Purple
E Light Yellow
F Bright White

A value of F0, for example, would give black text on a white background, and 1E would yield yellow text on a blue background.

The change should take effect the next time you open a console window.

ADD FOLDER TO "SEND TO" MENU

2009-06-08T19:36:00.000+05:30

Many a times we require a FOLDER too often, like to store our Multimedia files and all !!!

No no need to access the folder and carry out the traditional COPY & PASTE !!!

Just add it too "SEND TO" !!!

Do as follows :

** Open any FOLDER.

** Then, TOOLS >> Folder Options

** Click view TAB.

** In LIST of Advance Settings, click Show hidden files and folders !

** Now, go to C:\Documents and Settings

** Here, double click and open your (username) folder !

** Now, open SendTo folder.

** Here copy and paste the shortcut of your favorite folder.

That's Done !!!

Now, tranfer files to your favorite folder :

** Right Click the file
** Then, Send To
** Click the folder name !

Hide ur drives || Lock ur drives

2009-06-08T19:34:00.002+05:30

Open Registry (go to run command, type "regedit" and press enter)

then go to this key

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\Explorer

now right click in right side pane and create DWORD Value (blue color)

Rename it as "NoViewOnDrive" (for locking drive)
or
Rename it as "NoDrives" (for Hiding drive)

double click on it and put some numbers to lock ur desired Drive and click ok.

DRIVE NOS.
FOR A : 1
FOR C : 4
FOR D : 8
FOR E : 16
FOR F : 32
FOR G : 64
FOR H : 128

finally restart or log-off the computer to take effect.

Keep in mind that "0" is Default Value to Disable or remove this setting..

After locking the drive when u try to open it, u will see a msgbox like this
"This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator"

Prevent PenDrive Virus

2009-06-08T19:34:00.001+05:30

Prevent PenDrive Virus
:: Do the following ::

1) Disable autorun/autoplay function of your pen drive.

2) Now plugin your pen drive and open any folder of your computer.
(Do not open any folder from ur pen drive.)

3) Now goto tools then select Folder Option
In that box mark the Show Hidden Files & Folders option.
Also Uncheck Hide Extension for known file types & Hide Protected OS files.

Now click apply and ok buttons and close that folder.

4) Nome come to desktop.
On the Desktop, click on windows Start button and select Search for files & folders.

When the search dialog box appears on the screen, in that click on All Files & Folders, now click on More Advanced Options then select search Hidden files & folders.

Now go above & in Look In option, select your pendrive letter (For example E: Or G:)
and hit Enter.

5) Now if you see any unknown .Exefiles, simply delete them all.

Run Commands

2009-06-08T19:32:00.000+05:30

I know there are a lot of people who love using the run prompt or the
* Accessibility Controls : access.cpl
* Add Hardware Wizard : hdwwiz.cpl
* Add/Remove Programs : appwiz.cpl
* Administrative Tools : control admintools
* Automatic Updates : wuaucpl.cpl
* Bluetooth Transfer Wizard : fsquirt
* Calculator : calc
* Certificate Manager : certmgr.msc
* Character Map : charmap
* Check Disk Utility : chkdsk
* Clipboard Viewer : clipbrd
* Command Prompt : cmd
* Component Services : dcomcnfg
* Computer Management : compmgmt.msc
* Date and Time Properties : timedate.cpl
* DDE Shares : ddeshare
* Device Manager : devmgmt.msc
* Direct X Control Panel (If Installed)* : directx.cpl
* Direct X Troubleshooter : dxdiag
* Disk Cleanup Utility : cleanmgr
* Disk Defragment : dfrg.msc
* Disk Management : diskmgmt.msc
* Disk Partition Manager : diskpart
* Display Properties : control desktop
* Display Properties : desk.cpl
* Display Properties (w/Appearance Tab Preselected) : control color
* Dr. Watson System Troubleshooting Utility : drwtsn32
* Driver Verifier Utility : verifier
* Event Viewer : eventvwr.msc
* File Signature Verification Tool : sigverif
* Findfast : findfast.cpl
* Folders Properties : control folders
* Fonts : control fonts
* Fonts Folder : fonts
* Free Cell Card Game : freecell
* Game Controllers : joy.cpl
* Group Policy Editor (XP Prof) : gpedit.msc
* Hearts Card Game : mshearts
* Iexpress Wizard : iexpress
* Indexing Service : ciadv.msc
* Internet Properties : inetcpl.cpl
* IP Configuration (Display Connection Configuration) : ipconfig
/all
* IP Configuration (Display DNS Cache Contents) : ipconfig
/displaydns
* IP Configuration (Delete DNS Cache Contents) : ipconfig /flushdns
* IP Configuration (Release All Connections) : ipconfig /release
* IP Configuration (Renew All Connections) : ipconfig /r
* IP Configuration (Refreshes DHCP & Re-Registers DNS) : ipconfig
/registerdns
* IP Configuration (Display DHCP Class ID) : ipconfig /showclassid
* IP Configuration (Modifies DHCP Class ID) : ipconfig /setclassid
* Java Control Panel (If Installed) : jpicpl32.cpl
* Java Control Panel (If Installed) : javaws
* Keyboard Properties : control keyboard
* Local Security Settings : secpol.msc
* Local Users and Groups : lusrmgr.msc
* Logs You Out Of Windows : logoff
* Microsoft Chat : winchat
* Minesweeper Game : winmine
* Mouse Properties : control mouse
* Mouse Properties : main.cpl
* Network Connections : control netconnections
* Network Connections : ncpa.cpl
* Network Setup Wizard : netsetup.cpl
* Notepad : notepad
* Nview Desktop Manager (If Installed) : nvtuicpl.cpl
* Object Packager : packager
* ODBC Data Source Administrator : odbccp32.cpl
* On Screen Keyboard : osk
* Opens AC3 Filter (If Installed) : ac3filter.cpl
* Password Properties : password.cpl
* Performance Monitor : perfmon.msc
* Performance Monitor : perfmon
* Phone and Modem Options : telephon.cpl
* Power Configuration : powercfg.cpl
* Printers and Faxes : control printers
* Printers Folder : printers
* Private Character Editor : eudcedit
* Quicktime (If Installed) : QuickTime.cpl
* Regional Settings : intl.cpl
* Registry Editor : regedit
* Registry Editor : regedit32
* Remote Desktop : mstsc
* Removable Storage : ntmsmgr.msc
* Removable Storage Operator Requests : ntmsoprq.msc
* Resultant Set of Policy (XP Prof) : rsop.msc
* Scanners and Cameras : sticpl.cpl
* Scheduled Tasks : control schedtasks
* Security Center : wscui.cpl
* Services : services.msc
* Shared Folders : fsmgmt.msc
* Shuts Down Windows : shutdown
* Sounds and Audio : mmsys.cpl
* Spider Solitare Card Game : spider
* SQL Client Configuration : cliconfg
* System Configuration Editor : sysedit
* System Configuration Utility : msconfig
* System File Checker Utility (Scan Imm
* System File Checker Utility (Scan Immediately) : sfc /scannow
* System File Checker Utility (Scan Once At Next Boot) : sfc
/scanonce
* System File Checker Utility (Scan On Every Boot) : sfc /scanboot
* System File Checker Utility (Return to Default Setting) : sfc
/revert
* System File Checker Utility (Purge File Cache) : sfc /purgecache
* System File Checker Utility (Set Cache Size to size x) : sfc
/cachesize=x
* System Properties : sysdm.cpl
* Task Manager : taskmgr
* Telnet Client : telnet
* User Account Management : nusrmgr.cpl
* Utility Manager : utilman
* Windows Firewall : firewall.cpl
* Windows Magnifier : magnify
* Windows Management Infrastructure : wmimgmt.msc
* Windows System Security Tool : syskey
* Windows Update Launches : wupdmgr
* Windows XP Tour Wizard : tourstart
* Wordpad : write

Best Keyboard Shortcuts

2008-10-09T05:17:00.000+05:30

Getting used to using your keyboard exclusively and leaving your mouse behind will make you much more efficient at performing any task on any Windows system. I use the following keyboard shortcuts every day:

Windows key + R = Run menu

This is usually followed by:
cmd = Command Prompt
iexplore + "web address" = Internet Explorer
compmgmt.msc = Computer Management
dhcpmgmt.msc = DHCP Management
dnsmgmt.msc = DNS Management
services.msc = Services
eventvwr = Event Viewer
dsa.msc = Active Directory Users and Computers
dssite.msc = Active Directory Sites and Services
Windows key + E = Explorer

ALT + Tab = Switch between windows

ALT, Space, X = Maximize window

CTRL + Shift + Esc = Task Manager

Windows key + Break = System properties

Windows key + F = Search

Windows key + D = Hide/Display all windows

CTRL + C = copy

CTRL + X = cut

CTRL + V = paste

Also don't forget about the "Right-click" key next to the right Windows key on your keyboard. Using the arrows and that key can get just about anything done once you've opened up any program.

Keyboard Shortcuts

[Alt] and [Esc] Switch between running applications

[Alt] and letter Select menu item by underlined letter

[Ctrl] and [Esc] Open Program Menu

[Ctrl] and [F4] Close active document or group windows (does not work with some applications)

[Alt] and [F4] Quit active application or close current window

[Alt] and [-] Open Control menu for active document

Ctrl] Lft., Rt. arrow Move cursor forward or back one word

Ctrl] Up, Down arrow Move cursor forward or back one paragraph

[F1] Open Help for active application

Windows+M Minimize all open windows

Shift+Windows+M Undo minimize all open windows

Windows+F1 Open Windows Help

Windows+Tab Cycle through the Taskbar buttons

Windows+Break Open the System Properties dialog box

acessability shortcuts

Right SHIFT for eight seconds........ Switch FilterKeys on and off.

Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN....... Switch High Contrast on and off.

Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK....... Switch MouseKeys on and off.

SHIFT....... five times Switch StickyKeys on and off.

NUM LOCK...... for five seconds Switch ToggleKeys on and off.

explorer shortcuts

END....... Display the bottom of the active window.

HOME....... Display the top of the active window.

NUM LOCK+ASTERISK....... on numeric keypad (*) Display all subfolders under the selected folder.

NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN....... on numeric keypad (+) Display the contents of the selected folder.

NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN....... on numeric keypad (-) Collapse the selected folder.

LEFT ARROW...... Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder.

RIGHT ARROW....... Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder.

Type the following commands in your Run Box (Windows Key + R) or Start Run

devmgmt.msc = Device Manager
msinfo32 = System Information
cleanmgr = Disk Cleanup
ntbackup = Backup or Restore Wizard (Windows Backup Utility)
mmc = Microsoft Management Console
excel = Microsoft Excel (If Installed)
msaccess = Microsoft Access (If Installed)
powerpnt = Microsoft PowerPoint (If Installed)
winword = Microsoft Word (If Installed)
frontpg = Microsoft FrontPage (If Installed)
notepad = Notepad
wordpad = WordPad
calc = Calculator
msmsgs = Windows Messenger
mspaint = Microsoft Paint
wmplayer = Windows Media Player
rstrui = System Restore
netscp6 = Netscape 6.x
netscp = Netscape 7.x
netscape = Netscape 4.x
waol = America Online
control = Opens the Control Panel
control printers = Opens the Printers Dialog

internetbrowser

type in u're adress "google", then press [Right CTRL] and [Enter]
add www. and .com to word and go to it

For Windows XP:

Copy. CTRL+C
Cut. CTRL+X
Paste. CTRL+V
Undo. CTRL+Z
Delete. DELETE
Delete selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin. SHIFT+DELETE
Copy selected item. CTRL while dragging an item
Create shortcut to selected item. CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an item
Rename selected item. F2
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word. CTRL+RIGHT ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word. CTRL+LEFT ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph. CTRL+DOWN ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph. CTRL+UP ARROW
Highlight a block of text. CTRL+SHIFT with any of the arrow keys
Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text within a document. SHIFT with any of the arrow keys
Select all. CTRL+A
Search for a file or folder. F3
View properties for the selected item. ALT+ENTER
Close the active item, or quit the active program. ALT+F4
Opens the shortcut menu for the active window. ALT+SPACEBAR
Close the active document in programs that allow you to have multiple documents open simultaneously. CTRL+F4
Switch between open items. ALT+TAB
Cycle through items in the order they were opened. ALT+ESC
Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop. F6
Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer. F4
Display the shortcut menu for the selected item. SHIFT+F10
Display the System menu for the active window. ALT+SPACEBAR
Display the Start menu. CTRL+ESC
Display the corresponding menu. ALT+Underlined letter in a menu name
Carry out the corresponding command. Underlined letter in a command name on an open menu
Activate the menu bar in the active program. F10
Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu. RIGHT ARROW
Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu. LEFT ARROW
Refresh the active window. F5
View the folder one level up in My Computer or Windows Explorer. BACKSPACE
Cancel the current task. ESC
SHIFT when you insert a CD into the CD-ROM drive Prevent the CD from automatically playing.

Use these keyboard shortcuts for dialog boxes:

To Press
Move forward through tabs. CTRL+TAB
Move backward through tabs. CTRL+SHIFT+TAB
Move forward through options. TAB
Move backward through options. SHIFT+TAB
Carry out the corresponding command or select the corresponding option. ALT+Underlined letter
Carry out the command for the active option or button. ENTER
Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box. SPACEBAR
Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons. Arrow keys
Display Help. F1
Display the items in the active list. F4
Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box. BACKSPACE

If you have a Microsoft Natural Keyboard, or any other compatible keyboard that includes the Windows logo key and the Application key , you can use these keyboard shortcuts:

Display or hide the Start menu. WIN Key
Display the System Properties dialog box. WIN Key+BREAK
Show the desktop. WIN Key+D
Minimize all windows. WIN Key+M
Restores minimized windows. WIN Key+Shift+M
Open My Computer. WIN Key+E
Search for a file or folder. WIN Key+F
Search for computers. CTRL+WIN Key+F
Display Windows Help. WIN Key+F1
Lock your computer if you are connected to a network domain, or switch users if you are not connected to a network domain. WIN Key+ L
Open the Run dialog box. WIN Key+R
Open Utility Manager. WIN Key+U

accessibility keyboard shortcuts:

Switch FilterKeys on and off. Right SHIFT for eight seconds
Switch High Contrast on and off. Left ALT+left SHIFT+PRINT SCREEN
Switch MouseKeys on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK
Switch StickyKeys on and off. SHIFT five times
Switch ToggleKeys on and off. NUM LOCK for five seconds
Open Utility Manager. WIN Key+U

shortcuts you can use with Windows Explorer:

Display the bottom of the active window. END
Display the top of the active window. HOME
Display all subfolders under the selected folder. NUM LOCK+ASTERISK on numeric keypad (*)
Display the contents of the selected folder. NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN on numeric keypad (+)
Collapse the selected folder. NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN on numeric keypad (-)
Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder. LEFT ARROW
Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder. RIGHT ARROW

Bandwidth Explained!

2008-10-09T05:16:00.000+05:30

This is well written explanation about bandwidth, very useful info.

BandWidth Explained

Most hosting companies offer a variety of bandwidth options in their plans. So exactly what is bandwidth as it relates to web hosting? Put simply, bandwidth is the amount of traffic that is allowed to occur between your web site and the rest of the internet. The amount of bandwidth a hosting company can provide is determined by their network connections, both internal to their data center and external to the public internet.

Network Connectivity

The internet, in the most simplest of terms, is a group of millions of computers connected by networks. These connections within the internet can be large or small depending upon the cabling and equipment that is used at a particular internet location. It is the size of each network connection that determines how much bandwidth is available. For example, if you use a DSL connection to connect to the internet, you have 1.54 Mega bits (Mb) of bandwidth. Bandwidth therefore is measured in bits (a single 0 or 1). Bits are grouped in bytes which form words, text, and other information that is transferred between your computer and the internet.

If you have a DSL connection to the internet, you have dedicated bandwidth between your computer and your internet provider. But your internet provider may have thousands of DSL connections to their location. All of these connection aggregate at your internet provider who then has their own dedicated connection to the internet (or multiple connections) which is much larger than your single connection. They must have enough bandwidth to serve your computing needs as well as all of their other customers. So while you have a 1.54Mb connection to your internet provider, your internet provider may have a 255Mb connection to the internet so it can accommodate your needs and up to 166 other users (255/1.54).

Traffic

A very simple analogy to use to understand bandwidth and traffic is to think of highways and cars. Bandwidth is the number of lanes on the highway and traffic is the number of cars on the highway. If you are the only car on a highway, you can travel very quickly. If you are stuck in the middle of rush hour, you may travel very slowly since all of the lanes are being used up.

Traffic is simply the number of bits that are transferred on network connections. It is easiest to understand traffic using examples. One Gigabyte is 2 to the 30th power (1,073,741,824) bytes. One gigabyte is equal to 1,024 megabytes. To put this in perspective, it takes one byte to store one character. Imagine 100 file cabinets in a building, each of these cabinets holds 1000 folders. Each folder has 100 papers. Each paper contains 100 characters - A GB is all the characters in the building. An MP3 song is about 4MB, the same song in wav format is about 40MB, a full length movie can be 800MB to 1000MB (1000MB = 1GB).

If you were to transfer this MP3 song from a web site to your computer, you would create 4MB of traffic between the web site you are downloading from and your computer. Depending upon the network connection between the web site and the internet, the transfer may occur very quickly, or it could take time if other people are also downloading files at the same time. If, for example, the web site you download from has a 10MB connection to the internet, and you are the only person accessing that web site to download your MP3, your 4MB file will be the only traffic on that web site. However, if three people are all downloading that same MP at the same time, 12MB (3 x 4MB) of traffic has been created. Because in this example, the host only has 10MB of bandwidth, someone will have to wait. The network equipment at the hosting company will cycle through each person downloading the file and transfer a small portion at a time so each person's file transfer can take place, but the transfer for everyone downloading the file will be slower. If 100 people all came to the site and downloaded the MP3 at the same time, the transfers would be extremely slow. If the host wanted to decrease the time it took to download files simultaneously, it could increase the bandwidth of their internet connection (at a cost due to upgrading equipment).

Hosting Bandwidth

In the example above, we discussed traffic in terms of downloading an MP3 file. However, each time you visit a web site, you are creating traffic, because in order to view that web page on your computer, the web page is first downloaded to your computer (between the web site and you) which is then displayed using your browser software (Internet Explorer, Netscape, etc.) . The page itself is simply a file that creates traffic just like the MP3 file in the example above (however, a web page is usually much smaller than a music file).

A web page may be very small or large depending upon the amount of text and the number and quality of images integrated within the web page. For example, the home page for CNN.com is about 200KB (200 Kilobytes = 200,000 bytes = 1,600,000 bits). This is typically large for a web page. In comparison, Yahoo's home page is about 70KB.

How Much Bandwidth Is Enough?

It depends (don't you hate that answer). But in truth, it does. Since bandwidth is a significant determinant of hosting plan prices, you should take time to determine just how much is right for you. Almost all hosting plans have bandwidth requirements measured in months, so you need to estimate the amount of bandwidth that will be required by your site on a monthly basis

If you do not intend to provide file download capability from your site, the formula for calculating bandwidth is fairly straightforward:

Average Daily Visitors x Average Page Views x Average Page Size x 31 x Fudge Factor

If you intend to allow people to download files from your site, your bandwidth calculation should be:

[(Average Daily Visitors x Average Page Views x Average Page Size) +
(Average Daily File Downloads x Average File Size)] x 31 x Fudge Factor

Let us examine each item in the formula:

Average Daily Visitors - The number of people you expect to visit your site, on average, each day. Depending upon how you market your site, this number could be from 1 to 1,000,000.

Average Page Views - On average, the number of web pages you expect a person to view. If you have 50 web pages in your web site, an average person may only view 5 of those pages each time they visit.

Average Page Size - The average size of your web pages, in Kilobytes (KB). If you have already designed your site, you can calculate this directly.

Average Daily File Downloads - The number of downloads you expect to occur on your site. This is a function of the numbers of visitors and how many times a visitor downloads a file, on average, each day.

Average File Size - Average file size of files that are downloadable from your site. Similar to your web pages, if you already know which files can be downloaded, you can calculate this directly.

Fudge Factor - A number greater than 1. Using 1.5 would be safe, which assumes that your estimate is off by 50%. However, if you were very unsure, you could use 2 or 3 to ensure that your bandwidth requirements are more than met.

Usually, hosting plans offer bandwidth in terms of Gigabytes (GB) per month. This is why our formula takes daily averages and multiplies them by 31.

Summary

Most personal or small business sites will not need more than 1GB of bandwidth per month. If you have a web site that is composed of static web pages and you expect little traffic to your site on a daily basis, go with a low bandwidth plan. If you go over the amount of bandwidth allocated in your plan, your hosting company could charge you over usage fees, so if you think the traffic to your site will be significant, you may want to go through the calculations above to estimate the amount of bandwidth required in a hosting plan.

Caught A Virus

2008-10-09T05:15:00.002+05:30

Caught A Virus?

If you've let your guard down--or even if you haven't--it can be hard to tell if your PC is infected. Here's what to do if you suspect the worst.

Heard this one before? You must run antivirus software and keep it up to date or else your PC will get infected, you'll lose all your data, and you'll incur the wrath of every e-mail buddy you unknowingly infect because of your carelessness.

You know they're right. Yet for one reason or another, you're not running antivirus software, or you are but it's not up to date. Maybe you turned off your virus scanner because it conflicted with another program. Maybe you got tired of upgrading after you bought Norton Antivirus 2001, 2002, and 2003. Or maybe your annual subscription of virus definitions recently expired, and you've put off renewing.

It happens. It's nothing to be ashamed of. But chances are, either you're infected right now, as we speak, or you will be very soon.

For a few days in late January, the Netsky.p worm was infecting about 2,500 PCs a day. Meanwhile the MySQL bot infected approximately 100 systems a minute (albeit not necessarily desktop PCs). As David Perry, global director of education for security software provider Trend Micro, puts it, "an unprotected [Windows] computer will become owned by a bot within 14 minutes."

Today's viruses, worms, and so-called bots--which turn your PC into a zombie that does the hacker's bidding (such as mass-mailing spam)--aren't going to announce their presence. Real viruses aren't like the ones in Hollywood movies that melt down whole networks in seconds and destroy alien spacecraft. They operate in the background, quietly altering data, stealing private operations, or using your PC for their own illegal ends. This makes them hard to spot if you're not well protected.

Is Your PC "Owned?"

I should start by saying that not every system oddity is due to a virus, worm, or bot. Is your system slowing down? Is your hard drive filling up rapidly? Are programs crashing without warning? These symptoms are more likely caused by Windows, or badly written legitimate programs, rather than malware. After all, people who write malware want to hide their program's presence. People who write commercial software put icons all over your desktop. Who's going to work harder to go unnoticed?

Other indicators that may, in fact, indicate that there's nothing that you need to worry about, include:

* An automated e-mail telling you that you're sending out infected mail. E-mail viruses and worms typically come from faked addresses.
* A frantic note from a friend saying they've been infected, and therefore so have you. This is likely a hoax. It's especially suspicious if the note tells you the virus can't be detected but you can get rid of it by deleting one simple file. Don't be fooled--and don't delete that file.

I'm not saying that you should ignore such warnings. Copy the subject line or a snippet from the body of the e-mail and plug it into your favorite search engine to see if other people have received the same note. A security site may have already pegged it as a hoax.

Sniffing Out an Infection

There are signs that indicate that your PC is actually infected. A lot of network activity coming from your system (when you're not actually using Internet) can be a good indicator that something is amiss. A good software firewall, such as ZoneAlarm, will ask your permission before letting anything leave your PC, and will give you enough information to help you judge if the outgoing data is legitimate. By the way, the firewall that comes with Windows, even the improved version in XP Service Pack 2, lacks this capability.

To put a network status light in your system tray, follow these steps: In Windows XP, choose Start, Control Panel, Network Connections, right-click the network connection you want to monitor, choose Properties, check "Show icon in notification area when connected," and click OK.

If you're interested in being a PC detective, you can sniff around further for malware. By hitting Ctrl-Alt-Delete in Windows, you'll bring up the Task Manager, which will show you the various processes your system is running. Most, if not all, are legit, but if you see a file name that looks suspicious, type it into a search engine and find out what it is.

Want another place to look? In Windows XP, click Start, Run, type "services.msc" in the box, and press Enter. You'll see detailed descriptions of the services Windows is running. Something look weird? Check with your search engine.

Finally, you can do more detective work by selecting Start, Run, and typing "msconfig" in the box. With this tool you not only see the services running, but also the programs that your system is launching at startup. Again, check for anything weird.

If any of these tools won't run--or if your security software won't run--that in itself is a good sign your computer is infected. Some viruses intentionally disable such programs as a way to protect themselves.

What to Do Next

Once you're fairly sure your system is infected, don't panic. There are steps you can take to assess the damage, depending on your current level of protection.

* If you don't have any antivirus software on your system (shame on you), or if the software has stopped working, stay online and go for a free scan at one of several Web sites. There's McAfee FreeScan, Symantec Security Check, and Trend Micro's HouseCall. If one doesn't find anything, try two. In fact, running a free online virus scan is a good way to double-check the work of your own local antivirus program. When you're done, buy or download a real antivirus program.
* If you have antivirus software, but it isn't active, get offline, unplug wires-- whatever it takes to stop your computer from communicating via the Internet. Then, promptly perform a scan with the installed software.
* If nothing seems to be working, do more research on the Web. There are several online virus libraries where you can find out about known viruses. These sites often provide instructions for removing viruses--if manual removal is possible--or a free removal tool if it isn't. Check out GriSOFT's Virus Encyclopedia, Eset's Virus Descriptions, McAffee's Virus Glossary, Symantec's Virus Encyclopedia, or Trend Micro's Virus Encyclopedia.

A Microgram of Prevention

Assuming your system is now clean, you need to make sure it stays that way. Preventing a breach of your computer's security is far more effective than cleaning up the mess afterwards. Start with a good security program, such Trend Micro's PC-Cillin, which you can buy for $50.

Don't want to shell out any money? You can cobble together security through free downloads, such as AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition, ZoneAlarm (a personal firewall), and Ad-Aware SE (an antispyware tool).

Just make sure you keep all security software up to date. The bad guys constantly try out new ways to fool security programs. Any security tool without regular, easy (if not automatic) updates isn't worth your money or your time.

Speaking of updating, the same goes for Windows. Use Windows Update (it's right there on your Start Menu) to make sure you're getting all of the high priority updates. If you run Windows XP, make sure to get the Service Pack 2 update. To find out if you already have it, right-click My Computer, and select Properties. Under the General tab, under System, it should say "Service Pack 2."

Here are a few more pointers for a virus-free life:

* Be careful with e-mail. Set your e-mail software security settings to high. Don't open messages with generic-sounding subjects that don't apply specifically to you from people you don't know. Don't open an attachment unless you're expecting it.
* If you have broadband Internet access, such as DSL or cable, get a router, even if you only have one PC. A router adds an extra layer of protection because your PC is not connecting directly with the Internet.
* Check your Internet ports. These doorways between your computer and the Internet can be open, in which case your PC is very vulnerable; closed, but still somewhat vulnerable; or stealthed (or hidden), which is safest. Visit Gibson Research's Web site and run the free ShieldsUP test to see your ports' status. If some ports show up as closed--or worse yet, open--check your router's documentation to find out how to hide them.

Firefox Speed Tweaks

2008-10-09T05:15:00.001+05:30

Yes, firefox is already pretty damn fast but did you know that you can tweak it and improve the speed even more?

That's the beauty of this program being open source.
Here's what you do:
In the URL bar, type “about:config” and press enter. This will bring up the configuration “menu” where you can change the parameters of Firefox.

Note that these are what I’ve found to REALLY speed up my Firefox significantly - and these settings seem to be common among everybody else as well. But these settings are optimized for broadband connections - I mean with as much concurrent requests we’re going to open up with pipelining… lol… you’d better have a big connection.

Double Click on the following settins and put in the numbers below - for the true / false booleans - they’ll change when you double click.

Code:
browser.tabs.showSingleWindowModePrefs – true
network.http.max-connections – 48
network.http.max-connections-per-server – 16
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy – 8
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server – 4
network.http.pipelining – true
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests – 100
network.http.proxy.pipelining – true
network.http.request.timeout – 300

One more thing… Right-click somewhere on that screen and add a NEW -> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0”. This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives. Since you’re broadband - it shouldn’t have to wait.

Now you should notice you’re loading pages MUCH faster now!

Create One-Click Shutdown and Reboot Shortcuts

2008-10-09T05:14:00.000+05:30

Create One-Click Shutdown and Reboot Shortcuts:

First, create a shortcut on your desktop by right-clicking on the desktop, choosing New, and then choosing Shortcut. The Create Shortcut Wizard appears. In the box asking for the location of the shortcut, type shutdown. After you create the shortcut, double-clicking on it will shut down your PC.

But you can do much more with a shutdown shortcut than merely shut down your PC. You can add any combination of several switches to do extra duty, like this:

shutdown -r -t 01 -c "Rebooting your PC"
Double-clicking on that shortcut will reboot your PC after a one-second delay and display the message "Rebooting your PC." The shutdown command includes a variety of switches you can use to customize it. Table 1-3 lists all of them and describes their use.

I use this technique to create two shutdown shortcuts on my desktop—one for turning off my PC, and one for rebooting. Here are the ones I use:

shutdown -s -t 03 -c "Bye Bye m8!"
shutdown -r -t 03 -c "Ill be back m8 ;)!"

Switch
What it does

-s
Shuts down the PC.

-l
Logs off the current user.

-t nn
Indicates the duration of delay, in seconds, before performing the action.

-c "messagetext"
Displays a message in the System Shutdown window. A maximum of 127 characters can be used. The message must be enclosed in quotation marks.

-f
Forces any running applications to shut down.

-r
Reboots the PC.

Enjoy.....:-)

How to Bypass BIOS Passwords

2008-10-09T05:13:00.000+05:30

How to Bypass BIOS Passwords

BIOS passwords can add an extra layer of security for desktop and laptop computers. They are used to either prevent a user from changing the BIOS settings or to prevent the PC from booting without a password. Unfortunately, BIOS passwords can also be a liability if a user forgets their password, or changes the password to intentionally lock out the corporate IT department. Sending the unit back to the manufacturer to have the BIOS reset can be expensive and is usually not covered in the warranty. Never fear, all is not lost. There are a few known backdoors and other tricks of the trade that can be used to bypass or reset the BIOS

DISCLAIMER
This article is intended for IT Professionals and systems administrators with experience servicing computer hardware. It is not intended for home users, hackers, or computer thieves attempting to crack the password on a stolen PC. Please do not attempt any of these procedures if you are unfamiliar with computer hardware, and please use this information responsibly. LabMice.net is not responsible for the use or misuse of this material, including loss of data, damage to hardware, or personal injury.

Before attempting to bypass the BIOS password on a computer, please take a minute to contact the hardware manufacturer support staff directly and ask for their recommended methods of bypassing the BIOS security. In the event the manufacturer cannot (or will not) help you, there are a number of methods that can be used to bypass or reset the BIOS password yourself. They include:

Using a manufacturers backdoor password to access the BIOS

Use password cracking software

Reset the CMOS using the jumpers or solder beads.

Removing the CMOS battery for at least 10 minutes

Overloading the keyboard buffer

Using a professional service

Please remember that most BIOS passwords do not protect the hard drive, so if you need to recover the data, simply remove the hard drive and install it in an identical system, or configure it as a slave drive in an existing system. The exception to this are laptops, especially IBM Thinkpads, which silently lock the hard drive if the supervisor password is enabled. If the supervisor password is reset without resetting the and hard drive as well, you will be unable to access the data on the drive.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Backdoor passwords

Many BIOS manufacturers have provided backdoor passwords that can be used to access the BIOS setup in the event you have lost your password. These passwords are case sensitive, so you may wish to try a variety of combinations. Keep in mind that the key associated to "_" in the US keyboard corresponds to "?" in some European keyboards. Laptops typically have better BIOS security than desktop systems, and we are not aware of any backdoor passwords that will work with name brand laptops.

WARNING: Some BIOS configurations will lock you out of the system completely if you type in an incorrect password more than 3 times. Read your manufacturers documentation for the BIOS setting before you begin typing in passwords

Award BIOS backdoor passwords:

ALFAROME ALLy aLLy aLLY ALLY aPAf _award AWARD_SW AWARD?SW AWARD SW AWARD PW AWKWARD awkward BIOSTAR CONCAT CONDO Condo d8on djonet HLT J64 J256 J262 j332 j322 KDD Lkwpeter LKWPETER PINT pint SER SKY_FOX SYXZ syxz shift + syxz TTPTHA ZAAADA ZBAAACA ZJAAADC 01322222
589589 589721 595595 598598

AMI BIOS backdoor passwords:

AMI AAAMMMIII BIOS PASSWORD HEWITT RAND AMI?SW AMI_SW LKWPETER A.M.I. CONDO

PHOENIX BIOS backdoor passwords:

phoenix, PHOENIX, CMOS, BIOS

MISC. COMMON PASSWORDS

ALFAROME BIOSTAR biostar biosstar CMOS cmos LKWPETER lkwpeter setup SETUP Syxz Wodj

OTHER BIOS PASSWORDS BY MANUFACTURER

Manufacturer Password
VOBIS & IBM merlin
Dell Dell
Biostar Biostar
Compaq Compaq
Enox xo11nE
Epox central
Freetech Posterie
IWill iwill
Jetway spooml
Packard Bell bell9
QDI QDI
Siemens SKY_FOX
TMC BIGO
Toshiba Toshiba

TOSHIBA BIOS

Most Toshiba laptops and some desktop systems will bypass the BIOS password if the left shift key is held down during boot

IBM APTIVA BIOS

Press both mouse buttons repeatedly during the boot

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Password cracking software

The following software can be used to either crack or reset the BIOS on many chipsets. If your PC is locked with a BIOS administrator password that will not allow access to the floppy drive, these utilities may not work. Also, since these utilities do not come from the manufacturer, use them cautiously and at your own risk.

Cmos password recovery tools 3.1
!BIOS (get the how-to article)
RemPass
KILLCMOS

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Using the Motherboard "Clear CMOS" Jumper or Dipswitch settings

Many motherboards feature a set of jumpers or dipswitches that will clear the CMOS and wipe all of the custom settings including BIOS passwords. The locations of these jumpers / dipswitches will vary depending on the motherboard manufacturer and ideally you should always refer to the motherboard or computer manufacturers documentation. If the documentation is unavailable, the jumpers/dipswitches can sometimes be found along the edge of the motherboard, next to the CMOS battery, or near the processor. Some manufacturers may label the jumper / dipswitch CLEAR - CLEAR CMOS - CLR - CLRPWD - PASSWD - PASSWORD - PWD. On laptop computers, the dipswitches are usually found under the keyboard or within a compartment at the bottom of the laptop.
Please remember to unplug your PC and use a grounding strip before reaching into your PC and touching the motherboard. Once you locate and rest the jumper switches, turn the computer on and check if the password has been cleared. If it has, turn the computer off and return the jumpers or dipswitches to its original position.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Removing the CMOS Battery

The CMOS settings on most systems are buffered by a small battery that is attached to the motherboard. (It looks like a small watch battery). If you unplug the PC and remove the battery for 10-15 minutes, the CMOS may reset itself and the password should be blank. (Along with any other machine specific settings, so be sure you are familiar with manually reconfiguring the BIOS settings before you do this.) Some manufacturers backup the power to the CMOS chipset by using a capacitor, so if your first attempt fails, leave the battery out (with the system unplugged) for at least 24 hours. Some batteries are actually soldered onto the motherboard making this task more difficult. Unsoldering the battery incorrectly may damage your motherboard and other components, so please don't attempt this if you are inexperienced. Another option may be to remove the CMOS chip from the motherboard for a period of time.
Note: Removing the battery to reset the CMOS will not work for all PC's, and almost all of the newer laptops store their BIOS passwords in a manner which does not require continuous power, so removing the CMOS battery may not work at all. IBM Thinkpad laptops lock the hard drive as well as the BIOS when the supervisor password is set. If you reset the BIOS password, but cannot reset the hard drive password, you may not be able to access the drive and it will remain locked, even if you place it in a new laptop. IBM Thinkpads have special jumper switches on the motherboard, and these should be used to reset the system.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Overloading the KeyBoard Buffer

On some older computer systems, you can force the CMOS to enter its setup screen on boot by overloading the keyboard buffer. This can be done by booting with the keyboard or mouse unattached to the systems, or on some systems by hitting the ESC key over 100 times in rapid succession.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jumping the Solder Beads on the CMOS

It is also possible to reset the CMOS by connecting or "jumping" specific solder beads on the chipset. There are too many chipsets to do a breakdown of which points to jump on individual chipsets, and the location of these solder beads can vary by manufacturer, so please check your computer and motherboard documentation for details. This technique is not recommended for the inexperienced and should be only be used as a "last ditch" effort.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Using a professional service

If the manufacturer of the laptop or desktop PC can't or won't reset the BIOS password, you still have the option of using a professional service. Password Crackers, Inc., offers a variety of services for desktop and laptop computers for between $100 and $400. For most of these services, you'll need to provide some type of legitimate proof of ownership. This may be difficult if you've acquired the computer second hand or from an online auction.

DirectX explained

DirectX explained

Ever wondered just what that enigmatic name means?

Gaming and multimedia applications are some of the most satisfying programs you can get for your PC, but getting them to run properly isn’t always as easy as it could be. First, the PC architecture was never designed as a gaming platform. Second, the wide-ranging nature of the PC means that one person’s machine can be different from another. While games consoles all contain the same hardware, PCs don’t: the massive range of difference can make gaming a headache.

To alleviate as much of the pain as possible, Microsoft needed to introduce a common standard which all games and multimedia applications could follow – a common interface between the OS and whatever hardware is installed in the PC, if you like. This common interface is DirectX, something which can be the source of much confusion.

DirectX is an interface designed to make certain programming tasks much easier, for both the game developer and the rest of us who just want to sit down and play the latest blockbuster. Before we can explain what DirectX is and how it works though, we need a little history lesson.

DirectX history
Any game needs to perform certain tasks again and again. It needs to watch for your input from mouse, joystick or keyboard, and it needs to be able to display screen images and play sounds or music. That’s pretty much any game at the most simplistic level.

Imagine how incredibly complex this was for programmers developing on the early pre-Windows PC architecture, then. Each programmer needed to develop their own way of reading the keyboard or detecting whether a joystick was even attached, let alone being used to play the game. Specific routines were needed even to display the simplest of images on the screen or play a simple sound.

Essentially, the game programmers were talking directly to your PC’s hardware at a fundamental level. When Microsoft introduced Windows, it was imperative for the stability and success of the PC platform that things were made easier for both the developer and the player. After all, who would bother writing games for a machine when they had to reinvent the wheel every time they began work on a new game? Microsoft’s idea was simple: stop programmers talking directly to the hardware, and build a common toolkit which they could use instead. DirectX was born.

How it works
At the most basic level, DirectX is an interface between the hardware in your PC and Windows itself, part of the Windows API or Application Programming Interface. Let’s look at a practical example. When a game developer wants to play a sound file, it’s simply a case of using the correct library function. When the game runs, this calls the DirectX API, which in turn plays the sound file. The developer doesn’t need to know what type of sound card he’s dealing with, what it’s capable of, or how to talk to it. Microsoft has provided DirectX, and the sound card manufacturer has provided a DirectX-capable driver. He asks for the sound to be played, and it is – whichever machine it runs on.

From our point of view as gamers, DirectX also makes things incredibly easy – at least in theory. You install a new sound card in place of your old one, and it comes with a DirectX driver. Next time you play your favourite game you can still hear sounds and music, and you haven’t had to make any complex configuration changes.

Originally, DirectX began life as a simple toolkit: early hardware was limited and only the most basic graphical functions were required. As hardware and software has evolved in complexity, so has DirectX. It’s now much more than a graphical toolkit, and the term has come to encompass a massive selection of routines which deal with all sorts of hardware communication. For example, the DirectInput routines can deal with all sorts of input devices, from simple two-button mice to complex flight joysticks. Other parts include DirectSound for audio devices and DirectPlay provides a toolkit for online or multiplayer gaming.

DirectX versions
The current version of DirectX at time of writing is DirectX 9.0. This runs on all versions of Windows from Windows 98 up to and including Windows Server 2003 along with every revision in between. It doesn’t run on Windows 95 though: if you have a machine with Windows 95 installed, you’re stuck with the older and less capable 8.0a. Windows NT 4 also requires a specific version – in this case, it’s DirectX 3.0a.

With so many versions of DirectX available over the years, it becomes difficult to keep track of which version you need. In all but the most rare cases, all versions of DirectX are backwardly compatible – games which say they require DirectX 7 will happily run with more recent versions, but not with older copies. Many current titles explicitly state that they require DirectX 9, and won’t run without the latest version installed. This is because they make use of new features introduced with this version, although it has been known for lazy developers to specify the very latest version as a requirement when the game in question doesn’t use any of the new enhancements. Generally speaking though, if a title is version locked like this, you will need to upgrade before you can play. Improvements to the core DirectX code mean you may even see improvements in many titles when you upgrade to the latest build of DirectX. Downloading and installing DirectX need not be complex, either.

Upgrading DirectX
All available versions of Windows come with DirectX in one form or another as a core system component which cannot be removed, so you should always have at least a basic implementation of the system installed on your PC. However, many new games require the very latest version before they work properly, or even at all.

Generally, the best place to install the latest version of DirectX from is the dedicated section of the Microsoft Web site, which is found at www.microsoft.com/windows/directx. As we went to press, the most recent build available for general download was DirectX 9.0b. You can download either a simple installer which will in turn download the components your system requires as it installs, or download the complete distribution package in one go for later offline installation.

Another good source for DirectX is games themselves. If a game requires a specific version, it’ll be on the installation CD and may even be installed automatically by the game’s installer itself. You won’t find it on magazine cover discs though, thanks to Microsoft’s licensing terms.

Diagnosing problems

Diagnosing problems with a DirectX installation can be problematic, especially if you don’t know which one of the many components is causing your newly purchased game to fall over. Thankfully, Microsoft provides a useful utility called the DirectX Diagnostic Tool, although this isn’t made obvious. You won’t find this tool in the Start Menu with any version of Windows, and each tends to install it in a different place.

The easiest way to use it is to open the Start Menu’s Run dialog, type in dxdiag and then click OK. When the application first loads, it takes a few seconds to interrogate your DirectX installation and find any problems. First, the DirectX Files tab displays version information on each one of the files your installation uses. The Notes section at the bottom is worth checking, as missing or corrupted files will be flagged here.

The tabs marked Display, Sound, Music, Input and Network all relate to specific areas of DirectX, and all but the Input tab provide tools to test the correct functioning on your hardware. Finally, the More Help tab provides a useful way to start the DirectX Troubleshooter, Microsoft’s simple linear problem solving tool for many common DirectX issues.

ENjoy............;-)

Get unlimited bandwidth from your host for free

2008-10-09T05:12:00.001+05:30

Get unlimited bandwidth from your host for free

NOTE: This applies only to specific hosting companies, due to the
specific setup needed and does have its drawbacks.

While setting up hosting space with a specific company I often deal
with, I noticed that they used a shared IP. (IP shared by two or more
websites/domains.) Well, the rates for unlimited bandwidth were
around $50+ per month, which I found unreasonable. I didnt require
much space, and didnt want to be limited to a mere 3 gig of traffic
per month.

Back on track... When setting up the acct, the hosting company needs
to know the domain name so that they can direct it accordingly.
(example: 'http://www.123.4.567.890/~user1/ ,
'http://www.123.4.567.890/~user2/ etc)

At this point you can give a url that doesnt belong to you at all. As
long as the nameservers dont change, that should have absolutly no
negative effects on you or your site whatsoever.

How it works is this:
The host propogates you a certain amount space on its servers, and
monitors the traffic that enters their space through the domain its
registered under. Being that the domain isn't connected to the site
at all, it registers ZERO traffic.

Zero traffic registered = can't possibly go over bandwidth
restrictions
can't possibly go over bandwidth restrictions = free unlimited
bandwidth

Now the problems with this (besides the ethical ones) is that your
host may offer X amount of mail addys with the acct
(you@y...) and these will not work, as the name isnt on their
DNS. However, some domain companies allow you to set it up
regardless. Another problem seems to be strictly cosmetic, but can be
highly problematic... Once you attach the domain you want onto the
site, each page comes up/w the ip/UN the host propagated to your
acct. Its at this point where you have to have a phenominal 10-15
character alphanumerical or better (#, &, etc) pw, or your site will
be vulnerable to attack since the attacker already has your UN. This
only gives attackers a slight advantage as the amount of time it
would take to brute force a 10 character pw @ a rate of 1,000,000 per
second is 10 years. Add numbers and case sensitivity to that and it
becomes approx 26,980 years.

While I'm on it, I may as well add that if you use this method,
obviously you are going to be using the lowest cost hosting plan
available, which in turn will offer the least amount of space. Thats
why free hosts were invented.

Free hosts suck as a general rule. Who wants a site smothered in ads?
However, if you upload all your programs, graphics and other large
files (have a backup of course) to a reliable free host and target
them accordingly from your site you have just freed up a signifigant
amount of space. The only setback/w this is having to keep an index
card or file around/w your pws, as you should never use the same one
twice, and want to use complicated ones.

Getting movies, mp3,games using google

2008-10-09T05:11:00.002+05:30

okay lets keep this tutorial short. you want movies and games/mp3 / games and dont' know where to get them, thank god there is google.com
goto www.google.com

put this string in

"parent directory " /appz/ -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5 -md5sums

"parent directory " DVDRip -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5 -md5sums

"parent directory "Xvid -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5 -md5sums

"parent directory " Gamez -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5 -md5sums

"parent directory " Name of Singer or album -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5 -md5sums

notice that iam only changing the word after the parent directory, change it to what you want and you will get lots of goods. i got plenty of movie sites heh.

How To Make An Animted Logo, the easy way

2008-10-09T05:11:00.001+05:30

How To Make An Animted Logo, the easy way

Things you will need:
QUOTE
1. Photoshop or Paintshop (any versions)
2. Xara3D 5.xx
3. Jasc animation shop 3.xx
4. DUH!! A pic you want as a logo LOL

Things you MIGHT need:
1. a computer
2. Internet connection
3. consciousness
4. corn on the cob

Here they are for your convinience:
Adobe Photoshop CS v8.0 thanx to TheCollector
http://www.shareordie.com/index.php?showto...85&hl=Photoshop

Jasc Paint Shop Pro 9.0 Retail thanx to arclite
http://www.shareordie.com/index.php?showto...&hl=Jasc&st=100

Xara3D 5.02 thanx to Zabref
http://www.shareordie.com/index.php?showtopic=6512&hl=XARA

Jasc Animation Shop 3.11 thanx to sev7en
http://www.shareordie.com/index.php?showtopic=34928&hl=

Steps:
1. Using your photo editor fix/touch up you pic/logo to your liking….too easy(example bellow)
user posted image

2. Save it some where easy to find, for example “C:\pictures” or “C:\Windows\thecenterofhell\system\system32\system64\system128\???” although I don’t recommend the second one.

3.Open Xara3D 5.xx, press “Alt+T” or click on the “T” button on the LEFT PANEL erase all of the text in the window that pops up then press ok.
user posted image
user posted image

4. Press “Alt+U” or click on the yellow “U” surrounded in gray on the LEFT PANEL, check the “button” box and select a desire button type and leave this option window open you will need it again.
user posted image

5. Press the “At+X” or click the black “X” on the LEFT PANEL, click “load texture” in the pop up window, find the picture you made/adjusted and highlight it then click open or just double-click it. Use the “size, x, y, angle” sliders to adjust the picture or “texture” and in the “button options” windows use the “stretch, corners”(corners, only if using this option you can adjust) to adjust the button size.
user posted image

6. Press “Alt+A” or click the black “A” on the LEFT PANEL with what looks like to me is a half-halo with an arrow tip!? Anyway, here is a quick rundown on what the options here do: (BY THE WAY TO ACTIVATE OR “PREVIEW ANIMATION” PRESS “Ctrl+spacebar”).
user posted image

A. Frames per cycle: This is the number of frames for each complete cycle through the animation sequence. The greater the number of frames the smoother the animation. The drawback is that the file is bigger - this is a big disadvantage for web graphics. You may need to try different values to get the best results.
B. Frames per second: The animation speed. Slow speeds can give jerky movement. High speeds can also give jerky movement as the program displaying the animation may not be able to keep up. Again you may need to try different values.
C. Pause: This pauses the first frame before continuing the rest of the animation. Type in a value in centiseconds (1/100ths of a second) - a 2 second pause is 200 cs. Note that this applies only to the first frame; use Frames per cycle and Frames per second to control the overall speed of the animation.
D. Loop Value: Unchecked is Infinite, Any other value see for yourself. Lmao
E. Loop: This lets you specify how many times the animation should repeat itself. Note that some browsers take any value other than 1 to mean 'loop forever'. Therefore, your animation either plays once or forever.
F. Style: This controls the type of animation:
Rotate 1 rotates all the text as one; Rotate 2 rotates each character. (Buttons have a single Rotate option.) Rotate text/Rotate lights - select whether you want the text to rotate or the lights or both. You cannot rotate the shadow as this would create very large files. Direction - selects the direction of rotation.

Swing options: Swing 1 swings all the text as one; Swing 2 swings each character. (Buttons have a single Swing option.) Angle - how much you want the heading to swing.

Pulsate options: Pulsate 1 pulsates all the text as one; Pulsate 2 pulsates each character. (Buttons have a single Pulsate option.) Minimum text size - how far back to pulsate the text. Shrink+Grow & Grow+Shrink - only have an effect if you Pause the animation. These options select the starting point for the animation (maximum or minimum.)

Fade options: Fade in - the heading emerges from the background color. Fade out - the heading merges into the background color. SO AFTER PICKING ONE………………..

7. On the top left go to FILE>>>EXPORT ANIMATION or press “Ctrl+Shift+X” and save in desired location.
user posted image

8. When the next window pops up (Export as animated gif save location then options): Experiment with each one to get it right, but remember the SoD rules about Siggys and Avatars.
user posted image
user posted image

Because Animated GIFs can be quite large, you may find that a 16 or 32 color, optimized palette per frame, produces the best results for the smallest file size. However you might need to experiment.
Dithering always makes GIFs look better, but also makes them larger. When outputting at 256 colors you may find that there is no need to turn dithering on.
Current Window Size lets you export just the area surrounding the text (Crop on) or the entire window area (Crop off.)
User Defined lets you specify the dimensions of the bitmap.

Getting started with Linux for nOObs!

2008-10-09T05:09:00.000+05:30

I. What is Linux?
II. Trying it out
III. Installing
IV. What to do now
V. The Console

Intro:
This tutorial is written with the total Linux n00b in mind.
I've seen too many n00bs get totally left in the dark by asking what
the best distro is. They seem to only get flooded with too many
answers in so short a time. I'm a little bit of a n00b too, so I know
how it feels. I will cover a grand total of two basic distros. You may
learn to strongly prefer other ones (I do!) but this is just to get
you started. I touch on a number of topics that would be impossible to
go into in depth in one tutorial, so I encourage you to actively seek
out more about the concepts I make reference to.

I. What is Linux?

Linux is basically an operating system (OS for short). The Windows
machine you're (probably) using now uses the Mcft Windows
operating system.

Ok, so what's so different about Linux?

Linux is part of a revolutionary movement called the open-source
movement. The history and intricacies of that movement are well beyond
the scope of this tutorial, but I'll try and explain it simply. Open
source means that the developers release the source code for all their
customers to view and alter to fit what they need the software to do,
what they want the software to do, and what they feel software should
do. Linux is a programmer?s dream come true, it has the best compilers,
libraries, and tools in addition to its being open-source. A
programmer's only limit then, is his knowledge, skill, time, and
resolve.

What is a distro?

A distro is short for a distribution. It's someone's personal
modification or recreation of Linux.

What do you mean by distros? I just want Linux!

Since Linux is open source, every developer can write his own version.
Most of those developers release their modifications, or entire
creations as free and open source. A few don't and try to profit from
their product, which is a topic of moral debate in the Linux world.
The actual Linux is just a kernel that serves as a node of
communication between various points of the system (such as the CPU,
the mouse, the hard drive etc.). In order to use this kernel, we must
find a way to communicate with it. The way we communicate is with a
shell. Shells will let us enter commands in ways that make sense to
us, and send those commands to the kernel in ways that makes sense to
it. The shell most Linux's use it the BASH shell (Bourne Again SHell).
The kernel by itself will not do, and just a shell on top of the kernel
won?t either for most users; we are then forced to use a distribution.

What distro is best?

This is not the question you want to ask a large number of people at
one time. This is very much like asking what kind of shoe is best,
you'll get answers anywhere from running shoes, hiking boots, cleats,
to wingtips. You need to be specific about what you plan on using
Linux for, what system you want to use it on, and many other things. I
will cover two that are quick and easy to get running. They may not be
the best, or the quickest, or the easiest, or the most powerful, but
this is a guide for getting started, and everyone has to start
somewhere.

How much does it cost?

computer + electricity + internet + CD burner and CDs = Linux
I'll let you do your own math.
Note however that a few do charge for their distros, but they aren't
all that common, and can be worked around. Also, if you lack internet
access or a CD burner or CDs or you just want to, you can normally
order CDs of the distro for a few dollars apiece.

II. Trying it out.

Wouldn't it stink if you decide to wipe out your hard drive and install
Linux as the sole operating system only to learn that you don't know
how to do anything and hate it? Wouldn?t it be better to take a test
drive? 95 out of a 100 of you know where I'm heading with this section
and can therefore skip it. For those of you who don't know, read on.

There are many distros, and most distros try to have something that
makes them stand out. Knoppix was the first live-CD distro. Although
most of the other main distros have formed their own live-CDs, Knoppix
is still the most famous and I will be covering how to acquire it.

A live-CD distro is a distribution of Linux in which the entire OS can
be run off of the CD-ROM and your RAM. This means that no installation
is required and the distro will not touch your hard disk or current OS
(unless you tell it to). On bootup, the CD will automatically detect
your hardware and launch you into Linux. To get back to Windows, just
reboot and take the CD out.

Go to the Knoppix website (www.knoppix.com). Look around some to get
more of an idea on what Knoppix is. When you're ready, click Download.
You'll be presented with a large amount of mirrors, some of which have
ftp and some of which have http also.

note: the speed of the mirrors vary greatly, and you may want to
change mirrors should your download be significantly slow.

Choose a mirror. Read the agreement and choose accept. You'll probably
want to download the newest version and in your native language (I'll
assume English in this tutorial). So choose the newest file ending in
-EN.iso

note: you might want to also verify the md5 checksums after the
download, if you don't understand this, don't worry too much. You just
might have to download it again should the file get corrupted (you'll
have to anyway with the md5). Also, a lot of times a burn can be
botched for who-knows what reason. If the disk doesn?t work at all,
try a reburn.

Once the .iso file is done downloading, fire up your favorite
CD-burning software. Find the option to burn a CD image (for Nero, this
is under copy and backup) and burn it to a disk. Make sure you don't
just copy the .iso, you have to burn the image, which will unpack all
the files onto the CD.

Once the disk is done, put it in the CD-ROM drive and reboot the
computer. While your computer is booting, enter CMOS (how to get to
CMOS varies for each computer, some get to it by F1 or F2 or F3, etc.)
Go to the bootup configuration and place CD-ROM above hard disk. Save
changes and exit. Now, Knoppix will automatically start. You will be
presented with a boot prompt. Here you can input specific boot
parameters (called cheatcodes), or just wait and let it boot up using
the default.

note: Sometimes USB keyboards do not work until the OS has somewhat
booted up. Once you?re actually in Knoppix, your USB keyboard should
work, but you may not be able to use cheatcodes. If you need to,
attach a PS/2 keyboard temporarily. Also, if a particular aspect of
hardware detection does not work, look for a cheatcode to disable it.
Cheatcodes can be found on the Knoppix website in text format (or in
HTML at www.knoppix.net/docs/index.php/CheatCodes).

Upon entering the KDE desktop environment, spend some time exploring
around. Surf the web, get on IM, play some games, explore the
filesystem, and whatever else seems interesting. When your done, open
up the console (also called terminal, xterm, konsole, or even shell)
and get ready for the real Linux. See section V for what to do from
here.

note: to function as root (or the superuser) type su.

It's not entirely necessary that you are a console wizard at this point
(although you will need to be sooner or later), but a little messing
around wont hurt.

Just as there are many Linux distros, so there are also many types of
Knoppix. I won?t go into using any of them, but they should all be
somewhat similar. Some of them include: Gnoppix, Knoppix STD, Morphix,
and PHLAK. Other distros also have live-CDs.

III. Installing

I will guide you through the installation of Fedora Core 2. The reason
I chose Fedora is because it contains the Anaconda installer, which is
a very easy installer.

Download the discs from here:
http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedo...ore/2/i386/iso/
If the link doesn?t work, then go to www.redhat.com and navigate your
way to downloading Fedora (odds are your architecture is i386).
You will want to download the FC2-i386-disc1.iso and burn it using the
method for Knoppix. Do the same for all the discs.

Note: do NOT download the FC2-i386-SRPMS-disc1.iso files.

Now, once you?re ready, insert disc 1 into the drive and reboot.

The installer should come up automatically (if not, then see the
Knoppix section on CMOS).

Note: installer may vary depending on version. Follow directions best
you can using your best judgement.

1. Language: choose English and hit enter
2. Keyboard: choose us (probably) and hit enter
3. Installation media: choose local CDROM (probably) and hit enter
4. CD test: you can choose to test or skip
5. Intro: click next
6. Monitor: choose your monitor to the best of your ability, if you?re unsure, choose on of the generic ones
7. Installation type: choose which ever you want (default should be fine)
8. Partition: choose to automatically partition (unless you know what you?re doing)
9. Partition: the default partitions should suffice
10. Boot loader: choose your boot loader (grub for default)
11. Network settings: choose the correct settings for your network (generally, don?t mess with anything unless you know what you?re doing)
12. Firewall: you can choose a firewall if you want to
13. Language support: choose any additional language support you want
14. Time zone: pick your time zone
15. Root password: set your root password (root is the admin, or superuser; you want it to be very secure)
16. Packages: choose which packages you want to install. For hard drives over 10 gigs, you can go ahead and choose all
packages (depending on how much disk space you plan on taking up later, note that most everything you?ll need is a package: the exception
being large media files). You will generally want to install all the packages you think you?ll ever need. Two desktop environments aren?t necessary.
Make sure you have at least one and the X window system! (if you want a GUI that is). I suggest you get all the servers too.

Note: Knoppix uses the KDE Desktop environment

17. Make sure everything is all right, and install
18. You can create a boot disk if you want

Note: Desktop environments might have a set-up once you enter them

IV What to do now

Now that you have a Linux set-up and running, there are many paths you
can head down. First, you should explore your GUI and menus. Browse
the web with Mozilla, get on IM with GAIM, play games, add/delete
users, check out OpenOffice, and anything else that might be part of
your daily use. Also, set up a few servers on your computer to play
around with, specifically SMTP (*wink*wink*), FTP (vsftp is a good
one), and either telnet or SSH (OpenSSH is a good one). The setup and
use of these are beyond the scope of this tutorial, but researching
them could prove to be very educational.

The filesystem
The Linux (and Unix) filesystem is different from the normal Windows
that you?re used to. In Windows, your hard drive is denoted ?C:\? (or
whatever). In Linux, it is called the root directory and is denoted
?/?. In the / directory, there are several default folders, including
dev (device drivers) mnt (mount) bin (binaries) usr (Unix System
Resources) home, etc, and others. I encourage you to explore around
the whole file system (see section V) and research more.

Once you are well situated, it?s time to get into the heart and power
of Linux: the console. The next session will guide you through it and
set you on the path to finding out how to do stuff for yourself. You
will (probably) want to start learning to rely less and less on the
GUI and figure out how to do everything through the console (try
launching all your programs from the console, for example).

V. The Console

The Console might look familiar to DOS if you?ve ever used it. The
prompt should look something like the following:

AvatharTri@localhost avathartri$

With the blinking _ following it. This can vary greatly as it is fully
customizable. Let?s get started with the commands.

First, let?s explore the file system. The command ls will "list" the
files in the current directory. Here?s an example:

AvatharTri@localhost avathartri$ ls

It should then display the contents of the current directory if there
are any. Almost all commands have options attached to them. For
example, using the -l option, which is short for "long" will display
more information about the files listed.

AvatharTri@localhost avathartri$ ls -l

We will get into how to find out the options for commands and what
they do later.

The second command to learn will be the cd command, or "change
directory". To use it, you type cd followed by a space and the
directory name you wish to go into. In Linux, the top directory is /
(as opposed to C:\ in Windows). Let?s get there by using this command:

AvatharTri@localhost avathartri$ cd /
AvatharTri@localhost /$

Now, we are in the top directory. Use the ls command you learned
earlier to see everything that?s here. You should see several items,
which are directories. Now, let?s go into the home directory:

AvatharTri@localhost /$ cd home
AvatharTri@localhost home$

And you can now ls and see what?s around. In Linux there are some
special symbol shortcuts for specific folders. You can use these
symbols with cd, ls, or several other commands. The symbol ~ stands
for your home folder. One period . represents the directory your
currently in. Two periods .. represent the directory immediately above
your own. Here?s an example of the commands:

AvatharTri@localhost home$ cd ~
AvatharTri@localhost avathartri$

This moved us to our user?s personal directory.

AvatharTri@localhost avathartri$ cd .
AvatharTri@localhost avathartri$ cd ..
AvatharTri@localhost home$

The cd .. moved us up to the home directory.
As you?ve probably noticed by now, the section behind the prompt
changes as you change folders, although it might not always be the
case as it?s up to the personal configuration.

You can use these symbols with the ls command also to view what is in
different folders:

AvatharTri@localhost home$ ls ~
AvatharTri@localhost home$ ls ..

And you can view what is in a folder by specifying its path:

AvatharTri@localhost home$ ls /
AvatharTri@localhost home$ ls /home

The last command we will cover as far as finding your way around the
filesystem is the cat command. The cat command will show the contents
of a file. Find a file by using the cd and ls commands and then view
its contents with the cat command.

AvatharTri@localhost home$ cd [directory]
AvatharTri@localhost [directory]$ ls
AvatharTri@localhost [directory]$ cat [filename]

Where [directory] is the directory you want to view and [filename] is
the name of the file you want to view. Omit the brackets. Now, if the
file you viewed was a text file, you should see text, but if it wasn?t,
you might just see jumbled garbage, but this is ok. If the file goes
by too fast and goes off the screen, don?t worry, we will get to how
to scroll through it later.

One of the most useful commands is the man command, which displays the
"manual" for the command you want to know more about. To learn more
about the ls command:

AvatharTri@localhost home$ man ls

And you will see the manual page for ls. It displays the syntax, a
description, options, and other useful tidbits of information. Use the
up and down arrows to scroll and press q to exit. You can view the
manual pages for any command that has one (most commands do). Try this
out with all the commands that you know so far:

AvatharTri@localhost home$ man cd
AvatharTri@localhost home$ man cat
AvatharTri@localhost home$ man man

One very crucial option to the man command is the -k option. This will
search the descriptions of manual pages for the word you specify. You
can use this to find out what command to do what you need to do. For
example, let?s say we want to use a text editor:

AvatharTri@localhost home$ man -k editor

And you should see a list of apps with a short description and the
word "editor" in the description.

With a blank prompt, you can hit tab twice for Linux to display all
the possible commands. For Linux to display all the commands beginning
with a certain letter or series of letters, type those letters and hit
tab twice.

Note: This is actually a function of BASH and not Linux, but BASH is
the default Linux shell.

Now that you know a little about moving around the filesystem and
viewing manual pages, there is one more trick that we will cover to
help you out. Remember how the man pages were scrollable as in you
could use the arrow keys to scroll up and down? That is because the
man pages use something called the less pager. We?re not going to go
into what this does exactly and how it works, but that?s definitely
something that you will want to look up. Here?s how to use the less
pager with a file:

AvatharTri@localhost home$ cat [filename] less

That uses something called a pipe. The line is the vertical line above
enter on your keyboard. Briefly, what this does is take the output
from the cat command, and stick it in the less pager. By doing this,
you can view files that would normally run off the screen and scroll
up and down.

Some final commands to check out:

mkdir - make directories
cp - copy file
mv - move file
rm - remove file
rmdir - remove directory
grep - search a file for a keyword
pwd - display current working directory
top - display system resources usage (kill the program with control + c)

How To Block Websties Without Software, block websites

2008-10-09T05:07:00.000+05:30

Steps:

1] Browse C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc
2] Find the file named "HOSTS"
3] Open it in notepad
4] Under "127.0.0.1 localhost" Add 127.0.0.2 www.sitenameyouwantblocked.com , and that site will no longer be accessable.
5] Done!

-So-

127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.2 www.blockedsite.com

-->www.blockedsite.com is now unaccessable<--

For every site after that you want to add, just add "1" to the last number in the internal ip (127.0.0.2) and then the addy like before.

IE: 127.0.0.3 www.blablabla.com
127.0.0.4 www.blablabla.com
127.0.0.5 www.blablabla.com

Etcetera

How To - Pick Combination Lockz

2007-11-21T02:15:00.000+05:30

Picking Combination Locks

by: The Byte Byter

The writer of this text file takes responsibility for what

this text file is used for.

Well, on with the text file.

Ok, so ya say ya wanna learn how to pick combination locks...This text

file should help you. As a matter of fact, if ya do it right, it will help

you. First of all, let me tell you about the set-up of a lock. When the lock

is locked, there is a curved piece of metal wedged inside the little notch

on the horseshoe shaped bar that is pushed in to the lock when you lock it.

To free this wedge, you must (must is a word used to much) you usually (that

sounds much better) have to turn the lock to the desired combination and the

pressure on the wedge is released therefore letting the lock open. I will now

tell you how to make a pick so you can open a lock without having to waste

all that time turning the combination (this also helps when ya don't know the

combination to begin with). First of all, ya need to find a hairpin. What's a

hairpin? Well, just ask your mom. She will have one. If she asks what its

for, say ya gotta hold something together... If she says use a rubber band or

use a paperclip, tell her thanks anyway and then go to the store and buy

you a box of 50 or so. Ok, enough stalling (yea, I was stalling). Once you

have your hair pin (make sure its metal), take the ridged side and break it off

right before it starts to make a U-turn onto the straight side. The curved part

can now be used as a handle. Now, using a file, file down the other end

until it is fairly thin. You should do this to many hairpins and file them

so they are of different thicknesses so you can pick various locks. Some locks

are so cheap that ya don't even have ta file! But most are not. Ok, now you

have a lock pick. Now if ya haven't figured it out, here's how ya use it.

You look at a lock to see which side the lock opens from. If you can't tell,

you will just have to try both sides. When ya find out what side it opens from,

take the lock pick and stick the filed end into the inside of the horseshoe-

shaped bar on whichever side the lock opens from. Now, put pressure on the

handle of the lock pick (pushing down, into the crack) and pull the lock up and

down. The lock will then open because the pick separated the wedge and the

notch allowing us thieves to open it. Don't say bullshit until you've tried it.

Also, this technique works best on American locks. I have never

picked a Master lock before because of the shape of the pressure wedge. But

if anyone does it, let me know how long it took. Also, the Master lock casing

is very tight so ya can't get the pick in. So, if you're locking something

valuable up, use a Master, cuz at least ya know I won't be picking it and I'm

sure there aren't that many that could. And when I say pick, I don't mean

lighting a stick of dynamite next to the lock, picking is opening a lock without

using force, making a substitute key, etc... If any of you believe that this

information is not sufficient for picking an American lock, or any other kind

besides Master, leave me a message at /\/\etalland 1 (503) 538-0761.

This concludes my text file on picking combination locks. My next text

file will probably be "Picking key locks". See ya later.

The Byte Byter

This text file was written on 06/21/85. Edited on 11-1-87 by Z.W.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY COMPUTER PIRATES OF UTAH

COURTESY OF THE SAFEHOUSE (801)-264-8201

L O C K P I C K I N G

WRITTEN BY: DARC DEATHE

THIS TUTORIAL WILL DEMONSTRATE HOW TO "PICK" A PIN TUMBLER LOCK. USE OF THIS

MATERIAL IS FOR LOCKSMITHS ONLY, ANY USE OF THIS INFORMATION FOR ILLEGAL

PURPOSES IS FORBIDDEN AND AGAINST THE LAW. (AS LONG AS WE ARE AT IT, DO YOU

WANT TO BUY SOME LAND IN FLORIDA?)

IN ORDER TO PICK A PIN TUMBLER LOCK, YOU WILL REQUIRE FOUR ITEMS: A LOCK,

YOU, A PICK, AND A TENSION WRENCH. YOU CAN USUALLY GET THESE AT A LOCKSMITH

STORE, IF YOU CAN NOT FIND ONE NEAR YOU THERE WILL BE AN ADDRESS AT THE END OF

THE ARTICLE THAT YOU CAN ORDER THEM FROM. HERE IS AN ILLUSTRATION OF A PICK

AND A TENSION WRENCH:

________/ !________

PICK TENSION WRENCH

MOST PEOPLE KNOW OF THE NEED FOR THE PICK, BUT HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE WRENCH

IS FOR. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT AND WITHOUT IT IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO PICK

A LOCK.

IN ORDER TO PICK A LOCK, WE MUST COUNT UPON THE IMPERFECTION OF THE LOCK.

BEFORE WE LOOK AT HOW TO ACTUALLY PICK THE LOCK, WE WILL LOOK AT THE PARTS OF

IT AND HOW THE IMPERFECTION PART FITS IN. HERE IS A DISASSEMBLED LOCK:

/ / / /

\ \ \ \

SPRINGS -> / / / /

\ \ \ \

_ _ _ _

! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

DRIVERS ->! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

!_! !_! !_! !_!

_ _

! ! _ ! !

BOTTOM PINS ->! ! ! ! _ ! !

! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/

_____________________

! : : : : : : : : !

HOUSING ->! : : : : : : : : !

! : : : : : : : : !

!___: :_: :_: :_: :___!

! : : : : : : : : !

PLUG ->! : : : : : : : : !

!______________________!

! !

!_____________________!

___

/ \

! !__ _ _

! \__ / \_/ \__

! \/ \

\__/------------------- <- KEY

WHEN YOU INSERT A KEY INTO A LOCK, THE BOTTEM PINS ARE PUSHED UP, AND IF IT

IS THE PROPER KEY, THE TOPS OF THE BOTTOM PINS WILL MATCH WITH THE SPOT

WHERE THE PLUG AND HOUSING MEET, THUS ALLOWING YOU TO TURN THE PLUG, AND OPEN

THE DOOR, ETC.. WHEN YOU INSERT THE KEY, THE BOTTOM PINS GO INTO THE VALLEYS OF

THE KEY, THUS MEANING THAT THE KEY MUST HAVE THE RIGHT HEIGHT VALLEYS TO MAKE

THE LOCK OPEN. PRETTY ELEMENTARY, RIGHT? WELL NOW WE CAN MOVE ON TO HOW TO PICK

A LOCK.

IN ORDER TO PICK A LOCK WE (AS I SAID BEFORE) DEPEND ON THE INACCURACY OF THE

MANUFACTURING PROCESS. THE FIRST THING TO DO IS TO INSERT THE TENSION WRENCH

INTO THE LOCK AND APPLY A SLIGHT PRESSURE TO THE LEFT (OR RIGHT IF YOU

WISH) SO THAT IF YOU COULD LOOK INSIDE THE LOCK AT WHERE THE PLUG AND THE

HOUSING WOULD MEET, IT WOULD LOOK LIKE THIS:

! !*! !

HOUSING ! !*! !

! !*! !

__________! !*! !___________

__________ !*! ____________

! !*!!

PLUG ! !_!!

! _ !

! !*!!

! \_/!

NOW A SLIGHT PRESSURE IS ON THE PINS. BECAUSE THE PINS CAN NOT BE PRODUCED

EXACTLY THE SAME, THERE IS ONE PIN WHICH IS THE WIDEST AND THEREFORE HAS

MORE TENSION ON IT, AND ONE WHICH IS THE THINNEST AND HAS ALMOST NO PRESSURE

ON IT. WE NOW USE THE PICK TO >GENTLY<>

WHEN YOU LET IT DOWN) UNTIL WE FIND WHICH IS THE TIGHTEST ONE AND WHICH IS

LOOSEST. GETTING THE FEEL FOR THIS IS THE HARDEST PART OF LOCK PICKING. NOW

THAT YOU HAVE FOUND THE LOOSEST ONE, GENTLY PRESS IT UPWARD UNTIL YOU FEEL

A SLIGHT REDUCTION IN TENSION ON THE TENSION WRENCH. THIS WILL HAPPEN WHEN

THE TOP OF THE BOTTOM PIN BECOMES EVEN WITH THE JUNCTION OF THE PLUG AND

THE HOUSING. DO NOT RELEASE ANY TENSION FROM THE WRENCH NOW! THE DRIVER WILL

NOW BE TRAPPED IN THE HOUSING AS ILLUSTRATED HERE: (DON'T I DRAW PRETTY)

! !*! !

HOUSING ! !*! !

! !*! !

___________! !_! !___________

_______________ ___________

! !*! !

PLUG ! !*! !

! \_/ !

! !

NOW YOU CONTINUE THIS PROCESS WITH EACH OF THE PINS UNTIL YOU WORK YOUR WAY UP

TO THE ONE THAT IS WIDEST. WITH SOME PRACTICE YOU CAN GET FAIRLY FAST AT

THIS. I SUGGEST PRACTICING ON A FOUR PIN TUMBLER LOCK THAT IS BOUGHT FROM A

HARDWARE STORE, THE CHEAPER THE BETTER.

I WOULD LIKE TO DISCUSS A PARTICULAR CONFIGURATION OF THE PINS NOW THAT MAY

PRESENT A PARTICULARLY HARD JOB TO PICK. THIS IS GRAPHICALLY SHOWN HERE BY

THE TWO MIDDLE PINS:

!*! !*! !*! !*!

!*! !*! !_! !*!

!*! !*! _ !*!

!_! !*! !*! !_!

_ !*! !*! _

!*! !*! !*! !*!

!*! !_! !*! !*!

!*! _ !*! !*!

!*! !*! !*! !*!

\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/

\_______________

WHEN YOU TRY TO PUSH THE 2ND PIN FROM THE LEFT UP, YOU WILL UNAVOIDABLY BE

PUSHING THE ONE IN FRONT OF IT UP BECAUSE OF IT'S LONG BOTTOM PIN. THE ONLY

SOLUTION FOR THIS IS TO GET A SPECIAL PICK THAT LOOKS LIKE THIS:

\ _______________

\_/

THE MAJOR PROBLEM WITH THIS IS THAT IT IS HARD TO INITIALLY DETECT. THE REASON

THAT IT MAKES IT HARDER IF IT IS NOT IMMEDIATELY APPARENT IS THAT YOU UN-

AVOIDABLY PUSH THE 3RD PIN FROM THE LEFT UP INTO THE HOUSING, GETTING IT

JAMMED:

! !*! !

HOUSING ! !_! !

! _ !

! !*! !

__________! !*! !________

___________ !*! ________

!!*!!

PLUG !!*!!

!\_/!

I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO ADDRESS A TECHNIQUE CALLED RAKING. IT USES A

TOOL LIKE THIS:

\/\/\/\___________

BASICALLY YOU "RAKE" IT BACK AND FORTH ACROSS THE PINS, HOPING THAT COMBINED

WITH THE TENSION IT WILL GIVE YOU THE RIGHT COMBINATION. THIS WAY HAS BEEN

KNOWN: FAST SOMETIMES, BUT IS NOT VERY RELIABLE, AND I WOULD SUGGEST

LEARNING TO ACTUALLY "PICK" THE LOCK.

EARLIER I PROMISED AN ADDRESS TO ORDER LOCKSMITHING MATERIALS FROM, SO HERE IT

IS:

GARRISON PROTECTIVE ELECTRONICS

BOX 128

KEW GARDENS, NEW YORK, 11415

SOURCES: PERSONAL PRACTICE AND MANY EXCELLENT BOOKS FROM MENTOR PRESS, IF

YOU WOULD LIKE THEIR CATALOG, SEND A SASE TO:

THE INTELLIGENCE LIBRARY

MENTOR PUBLICATIONS

135-53 NORTHERN BLVD.

FLUSHING, NY 11354

AND ASK FOR ANY INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON THE INTELLIGENCE LIBRARY.

THIS CONCLUDES OUR EXTRAORDINARILY GRAPHIC ARTICLE ON LOCK PICKING. IF YOU

HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, LEAVE E-MAIL FOR DARC DEATHE ON MOST NATIONAL BBS'S.

Edited by : Quasimoto

LOCK PICKING

BY ^^^NIGHTWING^^^

SO YOU WANT TO BE A CRIMINAL. WELL, IF YOU ARE WANTING TO BE LIKE JAMES BOND

AND OPEN A LOCK IN FIFTEEN SECONDS, GO TO HOLLYWOOD BECAUSE THAT'S THE ONLY

PLACE YOUR GONNA DO IT. EVEN EXPERIENCED LOCKSMITHS CAN SPEND 5 TO 10 MINUTES

ON A LOCK IF THEY'RE UNLUCKY. IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR EXTREMELY QUICK ACCESS,

LOOK ELSEWHERE.

THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS WILL PERTAIN MOSTLY TO THE "LOCK-IN-KNOB" TYPE

LOCK, SINCE IT IS THE EASIEST TO PICK. IF THERE IS SUFFICIENT DEMAND, I WILL

LATER WRITE A FILE DISCUSSING THE OTHER FORMS OF ENTRANCE, INCLUDING DEAD-BOLT

FIRST OF ALL, YOU NEED A PICK SET. IF YOU KNOW A LOCKSMITH, GET HIM TO MAKE YOU

A SET. THIS WILL BE THE BEST POSSIBLE SET FOR YOU TO USE. IF YOU FIND A

LOCKSMITH WILLING TO SUPPLY A SET, DON'T GIVE UP HOPE. IT IS POSSIBLE TO MAKE

YOUR OWN, IF YOU HAVE ACCESS TO A GRINDER (YOU CAN USE A FILE, BUT IT TAKES

FOREVER.)

THE THING YOU NEED IS AN ALLEN WRENCH SET (VERY SMALL). THESE SHOULD BE SMALL

ENOUGH TO FIT INTO THE KEYHOLE SLOT. NOW, BEND THE LONG END OF THE ALLEN

WRENCH AT A SLIGHT ANGLE..(NOT 90 DEG.) IT SHOULD LOOK SOMETHING LIKE THIS:

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (THIS IS THE HANDLE

\\\ THAT WAS ALREADY

\\\ (HERE.)

\\\

NOW, TAKE YOUR PICK TO A GRINDER OR A FILE AND SMOOTH THE END (#1) UNTIL IT'S

ROUNDED SO IT WON'T HANG INSIDE THE LOCK. TEST YOUR TOOL OUT ON DOORKNOBS AT

YOUR HOUSE TO SEE IF IT WILL SLIDE IN AND OUT SMOOTHLY.

NOW, THIS IS WHERE THE SCREWDRIVER COMES IN. IS IT SMALL ENOUGH FOR IT AND

YOUR PICK TO BE USED IN THE SAME LOCK AT THE SAME TIME, ONE ABOVE THE OTHER ?

LETS HOPE SO, BECAUSE THAT'S THE ONLY WAY YOUR GONNA OPEN IT.

IN THE COMING INSTRUCTIONS, PLEASE REFER TO THIS CHART OF THE INTERIOR OF A

LOCK:

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX| K

# # # # # # | E

# # # # | Y

* * | H

* * * * * * | O

| L

| E

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX|

#= UPPER TUMLER PIN

*= LOWER TUMLER PIN

X= CYLINDER WALL

(THIS IS A GREATLY SIMPLIFIED DRAWING)

THE OBJECT IS TO PRESS THE PIN UP SO THAT THE SPACE BETWEEN THE UPPER PIN AND

THE LOWER PIN IS LEVEL WITH THE CYLINDER WALL. NOW, IF YOU PUSH A PIN UP, ITS

TENDENCY IS TO FALL BACK DOWN, RIGHT ? THAT IS WHERE THE SCREWDRIVER COMES IN.

INSERT THE SCREWDRIVER INTO THE SLOT AND TURN. THIS TENSION WILL KEEP THE

"SOLVED" PINS FROM FALLING BACK DOWN. NOW, WORK FROM THE BACK OF THE LOCK TO

THE FRONT, AND WHEN YOU'RE THROUGH.....

THERE WILL BE A CLICK, THE SCREWDRIVER WILL TURN FREELY, AND THE DOOR WILL

OPEN. DON'T GET DISCOURAGED ON YOUR FIRST TRY! IT WILL PROBABLY TAKE YOU ABOUT

20-30 MINUTES YOUR FIRST TIME. AFTER THAT YOU WILL QUICKLY IMPROVE WITH

PRACTICE.

X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X

Another file downloaded from: The NIRVANAnet(tm) Seven

& the Temple of the Screaming Electron Taipan Enigma 510/935-5845

Burn This Flag Zardoz 408/363-9766

realitycheck Poindexter Fortran 510/527-1662

Lies Unlimited Mick Freen 801/278-2699

The New Dork Sublime Biffnix 415/864-DORK

The Shrine Rif Raf 206/794-6674

Planet Mirth Simon Jester 510/786-6560

"Raw Data for Raw Nerves"

X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X

How To - Copy Playstation Gamez

2007-11-21T02:12:00.000+05:30

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|| ||
|| Sony PlayStation (tm) Copying For Newbies ||
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

============================================================================

Table Of Contents

1.0 What Is This?
1.1 Why make a FAQ?

2.0 The PlayStation Copy Protection
2.1 How to Break It ;)
2.2 The HardWare Needed to Break Protection
2.21 Explaination of the Hardware
2.22 Myths of PlayStation Protection Breaking
2.3 Software Needed to Copy the CDs

3.0 TroubleShooting
3.1 I Can't Copy Game XXX!?!?
3.2 I still can't copy it what do I do?
3.3 Teach me some 'tricks of the trade'!

4.0 CDR Drives & CDR Media
4.1 CDR Drives
4.2 CDR Media

5.0 General Questions
5.1 Can PlayStation Read a CDRW Disc?
5.2 Can You Send Me PlayStation Games?
5.3 How do you know so much?
5.4 How do I make an image of a PSX CD? So I can like send it on the Internet?
5.5 Coolness!! How do i break it up into RAR junks now though?
5.6 What is this .SFV file? What is this .NFO file?
5.7 I've copied other games before, but i can't copy xxx!!??
5.8 Copying CD to CD

6.0 Emulation & Emulators
6.1 Emulators in General & Types
6.2 Bleem
6.3 PSEmu Pro
6.4 Virtual Game Station by Connectxx

7.0 PlayStation VCD Addon

8.0 WebSites for Various Information

9.0 PlayStation SWAP FAQ

============================================================================

1.0 What Is This?

This is, PlayStation Copying for Newbies. It is a FAQ that
gives instructions on the topic of PlayStation Copying. It started
out as a simple FAQ for a few questions. It's purpose is to answer
constant questions, and to inform the public. It has grown to
inform & answer more and more detailed questions.

1.1 Why does this FAQ exist?

People are fucking morons. Since this is true, I've decided to teach
a bunch of people how to fish, instead of just giving them fish. This
way, me and my #PSX-DC-FOR-FUN buddies don't have to answer stupid questions.

2.0 The PlayStation Copy Protection

PlayStation CDs aren't like normal CDs. There is more than them than
the Black Bottom sides. The black bottoms surface is a simple way to
recognize an authentic PlayStation CD to a normal Pressed Silver CD.
The black CDs (actually, a deep dark blue), are simple there to recognize
counterfeits from legit ones.

What really makes a PlayStation CD unique is the BAD SECTORS writen on the
CD. Notable, from SECTORS 12-15. These sectors are *BAD BLOCKS*. Just
like bad sectors you get on a floppy disk or a Hard Drive. They *ARE NOT*
ZEROs. 1s & 0s are legit sectors, these ARE BAD sectors. These CAN NOT
be duplicated with any consumer level CDR.

A CDRs firmware is intended to correct bad blocks when if they find them.
No one wanted to burn BAD BLOCKs on a CD. Thus, Sony used this knowledge
for their copy protection. Knowing that no consumer level CDR can burn
bad sectors, they created their own that could. Pretty damn smart if you ask
me.

There ISN'T ANY SOFTWARE OR FIRMWARE to allow a CDR to burn bad sectors.
ASKING ONLY MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE A FUCKING MORON.

2.1 How to break the Protection

Any PlayStation CD may be copied.. (ALL OF THEM) The problem is playing
them. Now, just because we can't produce the bad blocks doesn't mean there
is a way around them. This loop hole allows copied CDs to be played on
a PlayStation Console system.

2.2 I want to be able to play CDR Copies on my PlayStation (tm) how do I do it?

There are 3 known ways copy to play CDR Copies on your PlayStation (tm).

1) The Modchip
2) The Game Enhancer (or equivalent)
3) Swapping

2.21 Explanation HardWare to Break the Protection.

Here is a more descriptive explanation for each protection.

1) The Modchip is a small PIC microchip which is installed into
your PSX. It consists of 3, 4 or 5 wires soldered to points. Each PSX
model, (100x, 500x, 700x & 750x) have different layouts where they have
to be soldered. The modchip is deamed the best way to play CDR Copies
for the following reasons:

Advantages:

1) Modchips are cheaper: $5-$10
2) After the installation, it's easy to use.
3) No Swapping
4) Convenience
5) Unless your friends got modchips, the fuckers can't take your games.

Disadvantages:

1) They need to be soldered in. This is a pain for people who can't do it
find someone to do it for you, that is what I did.

2) The Game Enhancer is the newbie on the block. A Game Enhancer is simply
a GameShark or a Pro Action Replay with a different BIOS. (A GameShark or Pro Action
Replay is kinda like a Game Genie for the PlayStation) The GE allows you to
preform the 'swap trick' easier on the PlayStation. To put it in a nut shell,
you force the lid sensor down, put a ORIGINAL CD of YOUR COUNTRY in the PSX.
then hit 'x', it'll power up, then down. Take the CD out, put your copy in
then leave, bamn your game plays.

There is a little bit more effort you have to do to play Multiple CD games
but it is possible. If someone said you can't, they are fucking lying, tell them
to fuck off.

Advantages: Disadvantages:

1) No need to solder 1) You still have to swap
2) Portable 2) It'll wear out your PSX
3) Even children can use it! 3) Lost your GE, and you are fucked.
4) MultiDisc Games are more Difficult
Play
3) The Swap Trick Trick

The Swap Trick is the original way PSX Copies were played on a PlayStation.
It has been succeded to the Modchip & Game Enhancer. It is still used for those
who are too cheap (or dumb) to buy a Modchip or a GE. Please note, Swapping
will eventually damage your PlayStation. Since you are stopping the disc before it
does stop by itself, you are wearing out the motor, and you may scratch the lens
of the PlayStation, or your CDs.

I've decided to expand more on the Swap Trick. There is information people
need to know before they decided to do the Swap, or buy a GE. This is how the Swap
Trick works, in a nutshell. You need 2 CDs, an original Black Bottom CD & the
copy you want to play. You use the original Black CD as the source of the Country
Code & Bad Block Check. This is then read by the PlayStation thinking it's
a legit copy. You then swap the copy in to play. The "swapping" is done a few
times because the PlayStation double checks the Country Code & Bad Blocks a few
times during the boot sequence....

NOW.. This is what Game Enhacer people DON'T TELL YOU. This is yet another
reason why Swapping SUCKs. The PlayStation reads the TOC from the original CD.
The table of contents (TOC) is the layout of the CD. This is the reason why
alot of you don't get audio on your games. By reading the TOC of a diff. CD, then
playing another, confuses the PlayStation. It would be like if you picked up
a book, read the cover, read the TOC, but then put it down, picked up another book
skipped the cover & TOC and started to read. You'd be a bit confused, but you
would still know what is going on. This is lame...

Those PlayStation games with AUDIO tracks get really fuckign confused. Some
refuse to work, why other tweak out. If the original CD doesn't have audio
tracks on the TOC, while the copy does, the game may call for TRACK 4 AUDIO
but the TOC goes "ugh.. no.. that isn't here dude". So the game may lock,
but typically it doesn't, it just doesn't play the song. THIS IS THE REASON
WHY MODCHIPS ARE SUPERIOR TO GAME ENHANCERS & SWAPPING. This is why the
people that make GEs advertise the ModChip/GE combo. Not only does it make
them 2x of money, but it avoids this problem. I can offer you a 'quick fix'
for this though....

Find a Source CD that has lots of AUDIO. it can be a DEMO, TombRaider
anything. This will greatly help with games that need to call on audio.
NOTE however, this isn't a 100% fix, you may/will have problems here and there
but not as bad.

2.22

There are rumours floating on the net that there are other ways to play
copies on your PSX. Let me list them, and defeat them now

A) The 'modified' Firmware for a CDR.
This is perhaps the most believed of all the 'phony' ways to play copies
The rumours are like this. With a modified firmware for your CDR, you can
get your CDR to burn the 'bad sectors' on the CD, thus you don't need
the modchip. Well, although this should work 'in theory', there is
no modified firmware on the Internet. This is the bottom line. No
one in their right mind wants to fuck with their $350+ CDR, when they
can buy a $5 modchip and just install it like everyone else.

B) A NEW PlayStation CD Copying Software.
This is full of shit. The PlayStation Copy Protection isn't software
based, it is hardware based. There are bad sectors on the CDs which
need to be detected to bypass the copies. There is no such software,
because CDRs are designed to fix the bad sectors. This is a hoax, there
is no such thing, if it is, it doesn't work.

C) The PSX Boot Disc
This is a misunderstood idea. The PlayStation Boot Disc is not intended
to defeat the PSX Copy protection. The PSX BOOT Disc is for those people
who have Development PlayStation and create their own programs. This Boot
Disc allows them to boot their programs and play on their PSX, nothing more.

D) Reading a PSX Disc in CD+G Format w/ Subcodes
This was the most gayiest piece of shit. Someone said that you can copy a PSX
CD, in CD+G format, w/ all Subcodes and it'll work. This is full of shit. CD+G
format is the format for Karaoke CDs. Nothing more. Subcodes have to do with
audio CDs, and the sectors between them. This was a practicle joke, nothing more.

2.3 Software Needed to Copy the CDs 2.4

This is yet another common question asked. Here is a list of known CDR
Software that copies PSX CDs the best.

1) CDRWin
2) Prassi
3) NERO
4) Gear/Gear Replicator

CDRWin is the best all around PSX Copying program. It is the best in CD Duplication
period. You can download a copy @ http://www.goldenhawk.com. Be warned, if you
use illegal Serial Numbers, the program will burn bad CDs. Just use the Shareware
version until you get it to work on your system.

*INSTRUCTIONS*

Due to people not having THE BALLS TO FUCKING LEARN CDRWIN. I'll have to explain
it to you. Before you join and irc and start to bitch, remember, I had a CDR
when blanks were $10 a piece, and I coastered alot, I really wish someone was there
to hold my hand, like I did with you now. So now that CDs are $1, quite your
bitching, if you fuck one up.. oh fucking well.

1) Leaving all the fucking SETTINGS ALONE!! DON'T TOUCH CACHE or ANTHING
2) Fuck with the settings @ your own risk. Once you know what you are doing
fuck with it.
3) The ONLY thing you need to change is the RETRY count. Put as many '9's as
you can in that box.
4) Put your PSX CD in your reader + your Blank in your burner. (Or your PSX CD
in your burner, then wait, then take it out to put a blank in). Click on Backup
Disk, then like click okay. Leave all the options. Pretty easy huh?

Prassi is another popular software package. It is excellent for copy PSX CDs.
You can get it off the net, search for it. That is why search engines exist.

NERO is a good PSX Copying program. Many people don't like it, because they can't multi
task as well if they burn CDs. Try it if you have to. http://www.adhead.de
is where it is.

Gear/Gear Replicator is a last resort. This is a powerful program, but it's a bitch
to understand. http://www.elecktrson.com

*NOTE- I will *NOT* add help or walkthrus for *ANY* of the CDR Software. If
someone out there is BORED, and would like to do it for any of the above programs
(a better CDRWin would be nice too). Talk to me on iRC + i'll add it and give
you credit.

3.0 TroubleShooting

3.1 I can't copy game XXXX?!?!?

Bitch.. calmdown, it isn't the end of the world, so shut up and listen. If
you can't copy a game. Try reading the CD slower. There are options in all
good CDR copying programs to set the reading speed slower. Some games (especially
rentals) need to be set slower, i once had to read games @ 1x to do it right.
Take your time . . .and as it burns, go take a shit, go out with friends or something.

3.2 I still can't copy it what do I do?

Try using your CDR to read the Disc, and/or clean the ORIGINAL CD, with alcohol &
tissue paper. (Wait till it dries first dumbasses). This helps.

3.3 Teach me some 'tricks of the trade'!

Sure n/p. When you burn PSX CDs. Here are some tips. Reading slower is good.
In addition, burning slower, is always best. If you find problems burning @ 4x
or 8x, then burn slower. If you have to go down to 1x all the time. Well, thats
what you gotta do. You aren't supposed to copy PSX CDs.. so that is your trade off.
Use good quality CDs so you can burn @ higher speeds. Also, the PlayStation itself
needs to be a higher model to read higher burns.

Always, always, make the Image of the PSX CD to your HD, then burn it back to the CD.
This is the default option in CDRwin. It shouldn't be a big deal. Those who say
"But I can burn CD2CD fine!!" Well good fucking for you, you know what you are doing
CD 2 CD is unreliable. It is best to do CD2CD w/ a SCSi reader & a SCSi CDR.
A CD2CD burn can die for any reason, typically, the source CD is fucked, and causes
a buffer underrun. So always make an image. Go buy a 32x CDROM.. they are like $50
for an IDE, or like $100 for a SCSi. You can make an image in under 5min. So you aren't
saving much time going CD2CD.

4.0 CDR Drives & CDR Media

4.1 CDR Drives

What is a good CDR to buy? I only got $125! Save your money. Bottom line,
all big software companies say "... a lower priced IDE drive simply will not
give you the benefits and quality of a higher end SCSI drive.." Thus, save
your money, don't buy that extra burrito at taco bell. There are GOOD IDE
drives out there. Just make sure your CDR Supporst Disc-At-Once recording,
and you'll be fine. The following is a list of the most popular CDRs:

ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍËÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
º Name / Manufacturer º Our Comments º
ÌÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÊÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ¹
º Plextor º SCSi MODEL ONLY º Excellent CDR/The Best/Top of the Lineº
º Yamaha º SCSi/IDE MODELs º Same as Plextor/The xxxx Sucks Though º
º º * !! NOTE YAMAHA 400 SERIES SUCK !! * º
º Memorex º IDE MODEL ONLY º Decent CDR/Will Get the Job Done º
º Panasonic º SCSI/IDE MODELs º Good CDRs & at a Good Price º
º Rioch º SCSi/IDE MODELs º Good Bit Pricy though º
º Sony º SCSi/IDE MODELs º WOREST! DOESN'T SUPPORT DAO!!! º
º Philips º SCSi/IDE MODELs º Lameass CDRs Breakdown/Overheat Avoidº
º HP º SCSi/IDE MODEls º Okay/De out/Small LifeSpan º
º Smart & F.º SCSi/IDE MODEls º Variable-> Made by Yamaha/JVC They º
º º º Are simply a resold product some rockº
º º º some sux ass. º
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÊÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÊÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ¼

4.2 CDR Media

What is good CDR Media to use? There are various types of CDR Brands that work
on PlayStation. Some work better than others. Here is a list of typically
brands of Media. Remember, it is up to you to find the best media that works
with your setup. Try to use Blue bottom CDs, and stay away from Gold & Green
bottoms. Note-> Media will vary with different PlayStation models & even
certain PlayStations. They will also vary according to the CDR itself.

ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍËÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍËÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
º Name º Recording Speeds º Our Comments º
ÌÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÊÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÊÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ¹
º *TDK º 8x, 4x, 2x, 1x º Excellent CDRs/Good 4 all PSX & Speedsº
º *Verbatim º 8x, 4x, 2x, 1x º Excellent CDRs/Good 4 all PSX & Speedsº
º Maxell º 2x, 1x º Okay CDR/Burn Slow/CDR Not Recommendedº
º Sony º 2x, 1x º Okay CDR/Burn Slow/Not Recommended º
º Memorex º 2x, 1x º Medicoare, burn slow for good results º
º Rioch º 8/4/2/1->Blue 0x/Goldº Gold Ones Suck/Blue Excellent but $$ º
º Hi-Val º 8x, 4x, 2x, 1x º Good CDRs, have good results º
º Ritek º 2x, 1x º Crappy, but work good @ 2x burning º
º Fuji º 2x, 1x (Maybe 4x) º Seems to be a good medium for PSX º
º Mitsumi º 4x, 2x, 1x º Good CDRs, have good results with themº
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÊÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÊÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ¼

5.0 General Questions

5.1 Can a PlayStation read a CDRW Disc?

It depends on the PlayStation. My 5501 does, yet my older 5501 doesn't.
My friends 5501 does only with certain RW Discs. Thus, some do, some don't,
try it for yourself, you can always erase it.

5.2 Can you send me PlayStation games?

No, fuck off.

5.3 How do you know so much?

I'm GOD!. J/k. I did my own research on this subject, so I know my shit now.
Alot of people fucked w/ me, but now I know my shit. If you think i'm full of shit
give me proof, and you will be da man. (or da woman).

5.4 How do I make an image of a PSX CD? So I can like send it on the Internet?

Bitch.. you should do that.. it's illegal.... but for the 'educational' use. Here
is how to do it.

CDRwin is the most widely accepted 'trading' program for Images, be them PSX/PC/Mac
so use it. Load CDRWin, and tell it to make a Image to the CD, but NOT burn it.
The recording options should be shut off now. When it's done. You got an image to
send to someone. Name it something you can understand. Like for Resident Evil
call it like "RESEVIL1.BIN" always end it with .BIN PLEASE!

5.5 Coolness!! How do i break it up into RAR junks now though?

Here are two ways, for the Windoez declined + the DOS Inclined.

WinRAR -> Hightlight the .CUE & .BIN of the Image you want to compress.
Click on add to archive. Set your compression (Best is better,
it takes more time, but you have less files, so it sends on the 'Net
quicker). Set your Directory Size to 64k. This helps with compression,
but since Directory Size helps only @ times, set it to the lowest so it'll
compress faster. Click on Multimedia Compression + Solid Compression. This
Will really help. Name the RAR, and click 'ok' Now wait...

RAR -> Set these options and save them. "Solid, Multimedia, Best"
At the DOS Prompt type "RAR a -y -m5 -v20000

5.6 What is this .SFV file? What is this .NFO file?

The NFO file, is from the group that released it. Type typical groups are:
Carnage, ConsoleX, DVNPSX, Kalisto, Paradox, & WackyISO. These tell you if
the game is JAPAN/USA/EUROPE & if it's NTSC/PAL. In addition, it gives you
comments about the game, the # of Discs # of rars etc.

The SFV file is special... This file contains the text for the CRC Check
for the rars of the PSX CD. You should run SFV on the rars to make sure
they all work before you unrar. Then you know if they are good. To use
this, you need SFV32.EXE. If you are nice, and not a dick, (or a bitch if
you are female), then someone will send it to you. It's pretty simple,
just click on 'valitate' and highlight the files you need to check. Make sure
the .SFV is in the same dir as the rars.

5.7 I've copied other games before, but i can't copy xxx!!??

Try everything that is listed here. If you still can't do it it's because
A) Your Source CD is fux0red!
B) Your CDROM Reader is fucked
C) Your CDR Sux
D) You are a 'fucking moron' hehe

My answer, *EVERY* PlayStation game is copyable. Try it with another Source
CD. If you still can't do it, go fucking buy it and stop being a crying bitch
just cuz you can't copy Pac-Man

5.8 Copying CD to CD

CD to CD copying is copying from your source CD on the Fly to your Blank Disc.
I'd recommend you *NOT* to do this. Especially if you are new to this. For those
who are just striaght up dumb (or those few of you who know what they are doing)
Go for it. I advise you use a SCSi CDROM + a SCSi CDR however. CDRWin will
also do CD2CD burns. There isn't an advantage anymore for CD2CD really. If
you have a good CDROM reader, you can make an image in under 5min, which
isn't saving you much time. In CDRWin you can set it so it deletes the image file
after the burn is done. Copying the CD to an Image file on the HD, then back
to a CD is the most efficient and best way in the game. Many, many variables
can coaster your CD. A bad CDROM reader or CDR, a scratched or bad source CD
etc..etc can cause you to coaster on a CD 2 CD burn.

6.0 Emulation & Emulators

6.1 Emulators in General & Types

An Emulator is a program (some times hardware) which mimics a specific
machine on another. A PlayStation Emulator will play PlayStation games
on a computer. Here is a quick list of popular emulators that run on a
PC:

Emulator Program - What Console it Emulates

MASSAGE - Sega Master System & GameGear Emulator
Genecyst / KGen - Sega Genesis
NO$GMB / iNES - GameBoy Emulator
NESticle / FWNES - Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
SNES9x / ZSNES - Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
UltraHLE - Nintendo 64
PSEmu Pro/ Bleem - Sony PlayStation

6.2 Bleem

Bleem is an upcoming *COMMERCIAL* Sony PlayStation Emulator for the PC.
It is not yet released, but there is a 'leaked' beta floating around
the Internet. It can commonly be found on WebSites/FTPs/iRC

Bleem is a good emulator, you can't save your game, or play Sound Effects
Yet. The FINAL Commercial version will have this supported, *BUT*
you will have to pay for it and it will not work on Copied PlayStation
CDs.

Bleem's URL is http://www.bleem.com

6.3 PSEmu Pro

PSEmu Pro is one of the first ever Sony PlayStation Emulators for the PC
It has come along way, and it's a good emulator. It, like Bleem plays
a wide variety of games. PSEmu Pro supports 3D Acceleration, saving and
many other features. I suggest you get both Bleem & PSEmu Pro if you want
to toy with PSX Emulation. You should also know that one of PSEmu's greatst
feaures is it's plugin support. Which allows various devices to be updated
by other users. There is 3D Accerlation, and various Input Plugins. There
is also a Plugin which allows you to run BIN/CUE from DAO/CDRWin!!

6.4 Virtual Game Station

Virtual Game Station is a Sony PlayStation Emulator for the Macintosh.
The Mac G3 is the preferred sytem to run it on. Unless you got a MacnCrap
computer, don't bother. VGS is similar to Bleem in that it's *COMMERCIAL*
and that it needs ORIGINAL CDs to play games.

NOTE- These emulators aren't perfect, and not all games run on them. So before
you think you can both not pay for games, and not pay for the system, you are
wrong, besides, it's best on a PSX. Dual Shock/GameShark/Commslink Etc.. kick
ass.

7.0 PlayStation VCD Addon

This is an addon periphal for the PlayStation. It plugs in the back of your
PSX. It plugs into the serial and Audio/Video connector in the back, which in
turn gets plugged into the TV. This little addon allows you to play VCD (Video
CDs) on your PlayStation. This DOES NOT.. I REPEAT DOES NOT, play DVDs.

8.0 Various WebSites

8.1 General Information
- PlayStation Copy Protection
- PlayStation Copying
- PlayStation in General

http://users.mdn.net/breakdow/psx.htm
http://www.siscom.net/~terrax/
http://dataconcepts.com/cic/start.html

8.2 Ordering ModChips & Game Enhancers (GE)

- Modchips -

http://www.modchips.com
http://www.psxmodchips.com
http://www.psxceed.cx/~phantax

- Game Enhancers -

http://www.dminion.com
http://www.game-enhancer.com

8.3 Ordering Blank CDR Media

http://www.cdrexpress.com

8.4 CDR Cover/Labels

http://www.wukong.net

============================================================================
Copyright and Usage Conditions:

Anyone who wishes to post this FAQ on a Web page or some other Internet
or non Internet resource may do so providing the FAQ is left in its
ORIGINAL form and the work is not credited as your own. You may do
whatever the fuck you want to do with this FAQ. Just remember, I wrote
it, so go ahead & cut n paste it to death. Mine was out first, so people
know you just copied it.

Disclaimer:

This F.A.Q. is intenended for those people who want to BACKUP their Play-
Station games, so they do not Damage their originals. If you don't own
the original CD, it's against the law . . .

============================================================================

9.0 PlayStation SWAP FAQ

<---Snip Taken from the PSX Swaping FAQ -->

============================================================================

Please check the table below to determine what Swap Method is best for
your particular machine. NB: the Double method will work on ALL models
of the PlayStation but is NOT very easy to do so I have only listed it
if your machine ONLY supports this method and no other.

Model Number Country of Origin Swap Trick?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SCPH-1000 [Initial batch] JAPAN Yes, all
SCPH-1000 [Second batch] JAPAN Yes, black
SCPH-3000 [Initial batch] JAPAN Yes, black
SCPH-3000 [Second batch] JAPAN Yes, double
SCPH-3500 [Third batch] JAPAN Not known
SCPH-1001 [Initial batch] USA Yes, all
SCPH-1001 [S/N 592xxx or higher] * USA Yes, double
SCPH-1002 [Initial batch] PAL Yes, all
SCPH-1002 [Second batch] PAL Yes, double
SCPH-2000 [Development machine] N/A N/A

* S/N = serial number, importantly linked to date of manufacture.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

============================================================================

There are five methods which allow you to use almost ANY PlayStation CD
in ANY PlayStation, regardless of origin. I have yet to hear of any
hardware damage using these methods although this doesn't mean that it
hasn't happened. Please understand NOT all PlayStations are created the
same.

The five methods are detailed below (one very easy, three quite easy and
one difficult.) Various terms are used below, please be sure you know
exactly what they mean before attempting any of the swap methods:

LOCAL:

A CD which is intended for your region, most likely bought at a local
store. The pack-in demo CD is a "local" disc.

FOREIGN:

Any CD which contains territory information other than that of the host
machine. Japanese, European and Australian CDs are all foreign if you
have a US machine.

NTSC and PAL:

It is important to note that running a PAL (Australia, Europe) on your
NTSC machine (US, Japan) or vice versa can cause display problems.
Take this into consideration when buying/using imports. See below for
possible solutions.

ROM:

The Read Only Memory section of your PlayStation where the different
country protection routines are stored.

AUDIO MENU:

Designed for listening to audio CDs or the audio tracks stored on PS
CD-ROMs but also provides a handy backdoor for swap trick-ers.

LID SENSOR:

A small button shaped object located near the CD tray at the rear on the
right hand side. Indicates to the PlayStation whether the lid is open or
closed and essential for any swap trick.

BLACK and WHITE SCREENS:

The White screen is the initial screen that appears on bootup and the
Black screen is the first thing to appear when you boot a valid CD-ROM.

============================================================================

METHOD ONE: The Audio Menu [Safe and very easy]
------------------------------------------------

Works on : Very early Japanese, European and American machines.
Success : 80%
Problems : Music is often corrupted. The TOC (Table of Contents)
from the boot CD is always used which is less than ideal.

o Power up your PlayStation WITHOUT a game or demo CD in it.

o Select the CD Audio menu.

o Get a local CD that matches the country of the machine you
have. (ie a Japanese game for a Japanese PlayStation etc.)

o Find some tape, Blu-Tak or something similar. Several people I know
have found the corner from a cornflake packet works well .

o Open the lid and look at the top right of the bottom section,
near where the hinge is. See the small circle in the groove?
Good. This is the lid sensor.

o Insert your local CD.

o Put the tape, Blu-Tak or whatever over the sensor and *gently*
push it down. The CD will now spin for a few seconds.

o When the CD has finished spinning take it out and replace it
with the foreign game you wish to play.

o Now shut the lid and exit the CD Audio menu. The game should
now work fine (see above for exceptions.)

o When you have finished playing, open the lid and remove the
tape, Blu-Tak etc from the sensor. This will stop the CD.

Notes:

i Try and get a local CD with as many tracks on it as you can.
The local CD must have at least as many tracks as the foreign CD
or you won't get all the music. Depending on the boot CD the
foreign game may give poor results or even crash.

Unfortunately the number of music tracks is NOT the only deciding
factor (the length of the data track is another) and you may find
that you are unable to get your foreign game to work satisfactorily
with the choice of boot CDs you have. See the other methods, they
may give better results.

ii Owners of Japanese SCPH-1000 (later batch), SCPH-3000 machines and
later European/US models will find that this method does NOT
work. Sony has removed this particular loophole in the latest ROM
revision.

iii You can ONLY run PAL games on NTSC machines if you have an RGB
cable (not s-video, composite or ANYTHING else.) This also
applies to NTSC games on a PAL machine. In Europe this problem
is easily solved by investing in an import spec RGB/SCART cable
as sold for use with Japanese/US PlayStations. In North America,
Australia etc you will need to look into the options available to
you (an old or expensive monitor, probably.) I understand a cable
for 1084 monitors will shortly be available in the US.

METHOD TWO: The OLD Black Method [Fairly safe and easy]
--------------------------------------------------------

Works on : All early machines, see above for meaning of "early".
Success : 85%
Problems : Most games will work albeit sometimes with music glitches
or unexpected crashes.

o Follow the Audio method with a local CD in your machine. The lid
should be up and the lid sensor held down.

o When the black PlayStation screen appears (after the white Sony one)
QUICKLY lift the original game out and replace with the foreign one.
You have a few seconds to do this and it soon becomes second nature.

o If you must have the music working 100% or have a really stubborn
foreign game then try the NEW Black method detailed below.

METHOD THREE: The NEW Black Method [Fairly safe but tricky]
------------------------------------------------------------

Works on : The same machines that can do the OLD Black trick.
Success : 100%
Problems : Not supported by all models.

o This method is a variant on the White Audio menu method but involves
an extra step where you basically "piggy back" the OLD Black method
onto the White Audio menu hybrid.

o Try and get a local CD with lots of music tracks as this gives you a
little extra time to perform the first swap.

o Go to the Audio menu and press down the sensor, remove the local CD
just before the audio tracks pop up and replace with the foreign CD.
The foreign CD's tracks should appear and NOT those of the local CD.

o Replace the boot CD and exit the CD Audio menu.

o At the Black screen, replace the import CD as in the original method.

Note:

The territory information that normally appears before the TM at the
Black screen will be corrupted, this is normal.

METHOD FOUR: The White Method(s) [Fairly safe but tricky]
----------------------------------------------------------

Works on : The same very early models that can do the Audio method.
Success : 100%
Problems : Not supported by all models.

o Switch on your machine and count 1..2..3..4 and THEN swap discs. You
need to do this *JUST* before the white Sony screen appears. The
timing is tough, you want the PS to read the country code but NOT the
TOC so don't expect to get it right every time.

o Another variation is to use a hybrid Audio Menu swap trick: remove the
boot CD and replace it with the "foreign" game just after the original
country code is read and before the TOC. Many people find this method
easier then the original White method.

Note:

If you have performed the swap correctly then the import CD audio tracks
will be shown NOT those of the local CD.

METHOD FIVE: The Double Swap Method [Fairly safe but pretty tricky]
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Works on : All PlayStations to date, including the latest models.
Success : 100%
Problems : Do not kid yourself, this method IS difficult. The end

result is well worth it (especially if you have no other
options.)

============================================================================

I M P O R T A N T

I can NO LONGER accept any more questions on this method, everything you
need to know is here. Please, please do not e-mail me asking for help.

============================================================================

Note:

1x and 2x refer to the CD motor speed (single speed and double speed),
watch a few of your games boot up with the lid open and you can easily
see and hear the "gear changes". To get full music timing is highly
critical otherwise the original TOC is used.

o Insert your local CD.

o Remove the local CD when the motor changes to 2x and replace it
with your foreign CD.

[If you did this right, you *SHOULD* see the black PS screen now.]

o Watch and listen to the CD motor. It will slow down and then
speed back up to 2x.

o After a few seconds, the CD motor will slow down again. Replace
with your local CD once again.

o After another half second or so, the local CD will speed up again.
Finally replace your foreign CD.

<---Snip Taken from the PSX Swaping FAQ -->

How to increase of modems

2007-11-21T02:10:00.000+05:30

Regarding the file "24to96.zip", which "explains" how to increase the speed

of a 2400 baud modem to 9600:

THIS FILE IS EITHER A HOAX OR ABSOLUTELY THE WORST TECHNICAL DOCUMENT EVER

WRITTEN. DON'T TRY IT!!!!!!

In my opinion, it originated as a hoax, but since I know of two cases where

it has resulted in the destruction of perfectly good 2400 bps modems, I

thought I would write up this "rebuttal", and encourage all to ignore the

24to96 file, as well as remove it from the BBS's it has shown up on.

The problem with this type of "joke" is, unless the reader is fairly

technical and knows something about chips and especially about modems, it

almost sounds as though it would work! That has been true in the two cases

I know of. The instructions sounded plausible to a couple of newcomers to

electronics, and caused them to open up their modems, and when they found a

slight match between their modems construction and the 24to96 instructions,

they jumped in and hacked away. The fact that these files were retrieved

from BBS's with solid reputations for policing the quality and authenticity

of the files gave the experimenter's confidence they would not have felt had

they retrieved the data from the National Enquirer! In addition, overly

enthusiastic uploaders have added testimonials to the explanation of the file

(maybe to enhance the joke?) such as "I've tried this and it really works!".

If they have, they should contact me, and we will start up another company to

build 9600 modems this new and revolutionary way which will surely blow all

competitors away, since the chips listed are 1/6th the cost of the next

cheapest 9600 bps chip set.

Lest you wonder why I think I know so much about this, my credentials:

degree: BS Electronics Engineering/Mathematics, AAA ranked University

20+ years engineering experience

7 years modem design experience

have designed 40+ modems using the chips in the 24to96 file

founder of three modem companies now in business

[haven't bragged that much in 20 years!]

Specific problems in "24to96" (other than horrible english and grammar):

(1) The INTEL part numbers called out are not INTEL part numbers. They are

probably manufacturer's part numbers for a particular Hayes clone modem, but,

they could just as easily be spare tires for a volvo motorcycle!

(2) The SC11005 chip called out in the instructions is also not an INTEL

number; it is a SIERRA number. Specifically, it is a SIERRA V.22 bis modem

filter (don't recall all the exact specs).

(3) They instruct you to remove the SIERRA SC11005 chip and replace it with

an SC11020. In the first place, the SC11020 is essentially a custom

microprocessor (not a filter of any sort), in the second place, the SC11020

has about twice as many pins as the SC11005! Not to mention it uses

different power supply connections and voltages and may possible blow up if

you could get it rigged in just right. An experienced technician would

notice that right off, but again, some have just enough experience to feel

they can do this, but do not realize what is going on until they have already

hacked the SC11005 (or some other part) out of the modem (if they even FOUND

one in the first place!).

(4) To the best of my knowledge, there is no way to upgrade a V.22bis modem

to any kind of 9600 bps modem no matter what you do. It is not a matter of

"bandwidth".

(5) I tried unsuccessfully for 4 years to buy chips from US Robotics. Why

would they sell cheap upgrades instead of expensive HST modems?

(6) "Optional Lap-M error correction".

This is the only part of the instructions that won't hurt your modem,

though it is definitely NOT V.42 anything. You may recognize this as the

"noise filter" circuit explained in a number of BBS files over the past

couple of years.

Since Lap-M error correction is a SOFTWARE function, it goes without

saying that you cannot add Lap-M error correction to a modem simply by adding

a series RC network between tip and ring on the phone jack!

To add Lap-M error correction requires the addition of software requiring

thousands of man hours to write and debug, and a microprocessor capable of

executing the software in real time. At 9600 bps this is no small

requirement!

(7) A 9600 bps modem requires support circuitry at least 10 times better

(higher quality, lower distortion, better echo-canceling, etc.) than 2400 bps

modems. Dropping a 9600 bps modem chip set into a 2400 design would barely

function and would probably fail miserably in actual use, provided of course

such a thing were even possible.

**************************************************

Now, if you had already figured out this file was a joke, Congratulations!

You are officially designated a technical sophisticrat! But, remember, most

modem users are not technical and will not be able to see through this as

easily as you did. If two people who knew me and could call for help have

ruined modems over this irresponsible document, how many others did also, and

could not call for help? (BTW, another guy mentioned to me he was going to

try it and I talked him out of it--that makes three I know of). This is a

reckless joke, and I consider it a "HARDWARE VIRUS" document; those who

originate and promote such things are no better than those who write and

spread viruses.

If you had not seen through this document, I am glad you took the time to

download and read this. Please, NO MATTER HOW MUCH SENSE THIS ALL MAKES TO

YOU, DO NOT TRY TO DISASSEMBLE AND UPGRADE YOUR MODEM USING THESE

INSTRUCTIONS! In fact, even if you managed to add V.42bis to your modem

somehow, unless you purchase a license from IBM, UniSys and British Telecom

to use it, IT WOULD BE PIRATED SOFTWARE AND YOU WOULD BE A SOFTWARE PIRATE.

V.42/bis is owned and licensed by IBM, UniSys and British Telecom; their

license fees are substantial and are included in the cost of a V.42/bis

capable modem.

If you still want to try it, at least find a friend or solicit the help of a

student or ??? They won't be able to do the upgrade either, but maybe THEY

can convince you this is baloney!

I don't usually "go public" this directly. When I first read this file I

thought it was intended to be serious. When I read it again I knew it was

obviously a joke. When people started taking it seriously and suffering from

it I became angry. I ought to actually publish instructions for upgrading

from 2400 bps to 9600 bps. I think it would parallel the recipe I once

learned for cooking common lake Carp (a "trash" fish in the U.S.):

Clean the Carp

Lay it out flat on a redwood shingle

Generously season with salt, pepper and dill

Place in a 400 degree oven and cook for 3 hours

To eat, throw away the carp and eat the shingle!

The modem instructions would be:

Remove all interior components from your 2400 bps modem

Retain the case, power switch and lights

Put the 9600 bps sub-section you purchased into the case

Screw it down and connect up the switch and the lights

Throw out the 2400 bps modem

Well, that's about it. I've done my bit for the modem world, saved it from

a terrible fate, right?

Well, maybe not...............

Larry Holmes

How to Connect a PC to a VideoCrypt Decoder

2007-11-21T02:07:00.000+05:30

How to connect a PC to a Videocrypt decoder
-------------------------------------------

1994-04-11

The easiest way to connect your PC to a decoder is to use the card slot
as an interface and connect it with a voltage converter (MAX232) and a
TTL open collector driver (74LS07) to the RS-232 serial port. This way,
you don't even have to open the decoder.

WARNING: In order to build the adapter described below, you will at
least require some digital electronics experience. If
you don't understand, how the described circuitry works,
better don't use it! Errors might in the worst case damage
both your PC and your TV system.

The chip cards used by the Videocrypt pay-TV decoders follow exactly
the specification ISO 7816 (you might find this international standard
in a local library, if you are interested). Also, the protocol is the
asynchronous half-duplex T=0 protocol with active low reset and inverse
convention as defined in the standard.

According to ISO, a chip card is 85.60 mm long, 53.98 mm high, 0.76 mm
thick and the edges are rounded with a radius of 3.18 mm. It has eight
defined contact areas (C1 - C8 in the diagram below), each of which is
at least 2 mm wide and 1.7 mm heigh:

______________________________________
/ \
| |
| |
| C1 C5 |
| C2 C6 |
| C3 C7 |
| C4 C8 |
| |
| |
| |
\________________________________________/

These contacts have the following purpose:

C1 VCC Supply voltage (+5 V, max. 200 mA)
C2 RST Reset signal
C3 CLK Clock signal
C4 - reserved
C5 GND Ground
C6 VPP Programming voltage
C7 I/O Data input/output
C8 - reserved

The following table gives the precise location of the contact areas.
These areas are only minimum areas, the actual contacts might be larger
but must of course be properly isolated from each other.

In the following table,

A represents the maximum distance between the card's left
edge and the contact area's left edge,
B represents the minimum distance between the card's left
edge and the contact area's right edge,
C represents the maximum distance between the card's top
edge and the contact area's upper edge,
D represents the minimum distance between the card's top
edge and the contact area's lower edge.

A B C D
-----------------------------------------
C1 10.25 12.25 19.23 20.93
C2 10.25 12.25 21.77 23.47
C3 10.25 12.25 24.31 26.01
C4 10.25 12.25 26.85 28.55
C5 17.87 19.87 19.23 20.93
C6 17.87 19.87 21.77 23.47
C7 17.87 19.87 24.31 26.01
C8 17.87 19.87 26.85 28.55

Older card systems had these contacts located higher (distance from the
top between 9.07 mm and 18.39 mm, distance from the left identical). As
some decoders support both contact area alternatives, make sure that
this old contact area is properly isolated or you'll produce a short
circuit when inserting your card. You might have noticed, that the
contacts are arranged in the usual 0.1 inch (= 2.54 mm) system (i.e.
like the pins of a 8-pin DIL chip).

You can produce your card adapter by making a PCB with contact areas at
the above listed locations. The PCB must have precisely the thickness
and width of a real card, but it may be longer, so that you can locate
the interface electronics on the part which remains outside the slot.
Cards are inserted in most decoders with the contacts on the bottom
side, but check this on your system. Normal PCBs are about 1.3 mm think
and won't fit into the slot. Either you get a PCB which is about 0.8 mm
thick or you make it thinner, e.g. by using a sander machine. Perhaps
you find also ready to use test cards with connectors instead of
producing your own or you simply open the decoder and clamp contacts to
the resistors near the card slot (not recommended: there are unisolated
230 V parts inside the decoder, this may kill you if you are not very
carefull!!!).

The adapter will only need the card contacts I/O, GND, RST and VCC. On
the RS-232 side, only the following contacts will be used:

Sub-D 25-pin Sub-D 9-pin
---------------------------------------------------------
TxD 2 3 transmit data
RxD 3 2 receive data
CTS 5 8 clear to send
DSR 6 6 data set ready
GND 7 5 ground
DCD 8 1 carrier detect (here: reset)
DTR 20 4 data terminal ready

The pins DTR, DSR and CTS are not actually needed, they are just
connected together in the adapter, so that defined levels are available
on them because some software might need this.

The following components are necessary for the adapter

1 PCB or test card
1 IC Maxim MAX232
1 IC 74LS07 (or only a 7407)
4 capacitors 22 uF
1 female Sub-D connector (9 or 25-pin)

The MAX232 converts the RS-232 levels (about +10 and -10 V) to TTL
voltage (0 and +5 V) and vice versa without requiring anything else
than +5 V power supply. This chip contains two TTL->RS-232 and two
RS-232->TTL drivers and needs four external 22 uF capacitors in order
to generate the RS-232 voltage internally. The adapter electronic gets
its power supply from the decoder's VCC line or you can use an external
5 V supply if you wish.

The card slot's RST line is connected using one of the TTL->RS-232
drivers in the MAX232 to DCD, so that the software and the decoder can
easily resynchronize in case of a protocol error.

The I/O line is a bidirectional half-duplex asynchronous TTL level
serial port that is operated in a Videocrypt system with 9600 bits/s.
We can connect this line to a MAX232 TTL input driver (which is
connected to RxD and sends bytes to the PC) in order to receive data
from the decoder. The TxD line's signal is converted in the MAX232 to
TTL level and is connected with an open collector TTL driver to I/O.
This open collector driver (one of six in the 74LS07) has a high
impedance output during idle state and 1 and is connected to GND during
a 0 on it's input. As there is already a pull-up resistor to +5 V on
I/O in the decoder, this circuitry guarantees, that the adapter is in
high impedance state if the TxD line is idle and delivers the correct
voltage if the PC sends bytes and the decoder is in reception mode. As
we don't connect totem-pole or tristate outputs to I/O, a short circuit
should be impossible in the adapter.

The following diagram describes the whole interface:

+-------------+
+-----------|1 V 16|----o +5V (VCC)
+| +| |
=== +5V o-||-|2 MAX232 15|----o GND (card & RS-232)
| | |
+-----------|3 +---14|----o DCD +-<-o DTR
+ | | | |
+---||---|4 | +-13|- +->-o DSR
| | | v | |
+--------|5 | +-12|- +->-o CTS
+ | | |
GND o-||-|6 +-<-11|----o RST
| |
RxD o----|7 ---<--- 10|-------------------+----o I/O
| | |\ |
TxD o----|8 --->--- 9|--------------| |--+
+-------------+ 1|/ 2
74LS07

(also connected to 74LS07:
pin 7=GND, pin 14=VCC)

Pay attention to the polarity of the capacitors (marked with a + in the
diagram next to each capacitor)!

As a side effect of this simple interface design, every byte sent by
the PC is at the same time also received by the PC. Consequently, you
can test the circuit with a terminal emulator by switching of local
echo: if you still see every typed immediately character on the screen,
the interface should be all right. Software must be capable of dealing
with this echo from the interface. As specified in the ISO standard,
the decoder activates VCC only shortly before a reset and deactivates
VCC if an answer-to-reset packet isn't received in time after the reset
signal. If no external 5 V supply is used, the software might have to
wait a few milliseconds after the reset before starting with the
answer-to-reset, in order to allow the capacitors to load up and
provide a stable operation of the MAX232.

A few final hints:

If you have a larger distance between the PC an the decoder, then
locate the adapter electronic near the decoder, because the RS-232
interface is much more suitable for long cables than the TTL signals.
Cables of 12 m length have sucessfully been used and you shouldn't have
problems with RS-232 cables up to 15-30 m length. (If you need much
longer cables, you should use RS-422 line drivers, e.g. the Am26LS31
and Am26LS32 from AMD, which allow over 1 kilometer cable length.)

You can also use this adapter circuit to allow a PC to listen to the
data traffic between a decoder and a real card. Just connect the real
card and the adapter parallel to the decoder and don't let the PC
software transmit anything. Suitable card slots are available for
little money from various manufacturers (e.g. Amphenol). Videocrypt
uses the inverse convention data format, i.e., you have to reverse and
invert the bits in each byte in the PC software in order to get the
correct byte value. For more details about the protocol, check ISO
7816-3.

There are many alternative ways to build this interface. E.g. instead
of a MAX232, an LT1081 from Linear Technology could be applied or the
74LS07 could be replaced by two open collector inverters in the 74LS05
and a 2.2k pull-up resistor between them, etc.

Normally, both the RS-232 and the decoder slot should not be harmed by
short circuits, but be careful. Also try to avoid electrostatic voltage
(e.g. generated by walking on a suitable carpet) near the interface,
because discharges cause easily decoder or PC crashes and could
theoretically even harm the hardware (the MAX232 is a CMOS chip as are
some of the chips in the decoder). And please doublecheck everything I
have written here, because I don't want to be responsible if anything
goes wrong just because I wrote something wrong. DON'T USE THIS DESIGN
IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND IT.

How to burn iso

2007-11-21T02:06:00.001+05:30

Quick BIN/CUE burning FAQ.

Utils needed:

notepad

winimage(http://members.aol.com/gvollant/winima50.zip)

pdsfvwin32(http://205.134.182.35/files/pdsfvwin32.zip)

FIREBURNER(http://www.fireburner.com/downloads/FireBurner106.zip)

winrar(ftp://ftp.download.com/pub/win95/utilities/wrar270.exe)

Table of contents.

1. Testing the distribution files

1a. using pdsfvwin32.

2. Decompressing

3. Checking the contents.

4. Testing the bin.

5. Binchunking.

6. Burning.

in this faq, i will be using AVP gold iso cd1 as an example.

1. Testing the distribution files

CRC errors are a big problem and checking the files before extraction is quite important.

The most common utils used are winsfv32 or the new one, pdsfvwin32.

personally i prefer using pdsfvwin32 since it's easier to use.

a. using pdsfvwin32.

right after you fire up pdsfvwin, you can see four buttons:"create sfv file", "verify single file(s)",

"CHECK WHOLE RELEASE", "exit". You guessed it-we will be using "CHECK WHOLE RELEASE" button.

Now, click "check whole release". A big window pops up. now click "browse for SFV file..."

and point it to the place where you got your files. After you select SFV sheet, click "check sevected sfv file now!"

The process takes around 3 minutes to complete-notice how much faster it is compared to testing inside your

compression program. Also it insures that the files are exactly the same as they came out from the release group.

After the process completes, you get the following kind of output:

-------------------------------------------------------------

No SFV file selected currently ...

Selected SFV file C:\downloads\CD1\flt-apg1.sfv

Processing file C:\downloads\CD1\flt-apg1.sfv

Processing FLT-APG1.001...

... local CRC32 = 0x66FCF642...