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Collection of Useful
XP Hacks and Tips
Contents
How to create the
password reset disk
How to use the password
reset disk
Remove the XP
Administrator password
Re-activate XP without
calling Microsoft
Change your Windows
Product Key
Retrieve your Product
Key with Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder
Hide Users on XP
Welcome Screen
How to login as
administrator if you dont see it available on welcome screen
Add the Administrator
account to the XP Welcome Screen
Display a Message on
Startup
How to remove recycle
bin from your desktop
Make your folders
invisible
You can start up
without the need to enter a user name or password
XP comes with a free
Network Activity Light
You can rename loads of
files at once in Windows Explorer
Boot CD To Reset Your
Password
Increase Internet Speed
In Windows
New Tweaking Utility I
found
Altering the Windows
registration information
Creating Program
Aliases in Windows
As administrator you
can manage all users accounts from the command line
Use the ultimate
configuration tool (Professional_Edition_only)
Hide ur
folders..Disguise them to Recycle Bin
How to create the
password reset disk
The steps to perform this task differ
depending on whether your computer is a member of a network domain
or is part of a workgroup (or is a stand-alone computer).
If you're using Windows XP in a
workgroup (and not in a domain), you have the option to create a
password reset disk.
-
To create the password reset disk
go to the Start menu, Control Panel, User Accounts.
-
Click your account name.
-
Under Related Tasks located on the
left side of the window, click Prevent a forgotten password.
-
In the Forgotten Password Wizard,
follow the instructions as they appear on the screen.
-
When the wizard starts, click Next.
-
Select the drive that contains the
media you want to create the information on (you can use a
diskette or a Zip disk),
-
and click Next.
-
Type your current password, and
click Next.
-
Click Finish.
The password reset disk contains only
one file called userkey.psw, which is an encrypted version of your
password. If you change your password, the password reset disk is
useless, you must repeat this procedure.
If you made a password reset disk for
your local user account through the Forgotten Password Wizard, you
can use it to access the computer, even if you have forgotten your
password. The following steps will only work if you are in a
workgroup environment, using the Welcome screen.
-
At the Welcome screen, click your
user name, and then type your password. If you have forgotten
your password,
-
the Did you forget your password
message is displayed.
-
Click use your password reset disk
to start the Password Reset Wizard.
-
Follow the instructions in the
Password Reset Wizard to create a new password.
-
Log on with the new password, and
then store your password reset disk in a safe place in case you
need it to reset
-
your password in the future. You do
not need to make a new password reset disk
Remove the XP Administrator password
- Requires a boot disk
1> Get to the command prompt and go to
C:\winnt\sytem32\config\
2> Type in the following commands:
attrib -a -r -h
copy sam.* a:\
del Sam.*
Reboot the computer. there should be no administrator password.
Tip: Most installs of XP do
not have a password set for the admin account. Therefore, boot up
into safe mode and select
the "administrator"
account to log in as. Do not enter a
password and you should get in.
Re-activate XP without calling
Microsoft
If you use System Restore to revert
your XP system to a point before it was activated, this method
will let you
reactivate it.
-
Start your Windows installation
in Minimal Safe mode.
-
Navigate to the \%systemroot%\system32
folder.
-
Rename wpa.dbl to
wpa.noact.
-
Rename wpa.bak to
wpa.dbl.
-
Reboot your system as normal
Change your Windows Product Key
-
Log in as the local Administrator.
-
Navigate to the registry key:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\wpaevents
-
In the right pane, right-click
OOBETimer, and then click Modify.
-
Change at least one digit of this
value to deactivate Windows.
-
Click OK and close
regedit.
-
Click Start > Run and
type in: "%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a" and
click OK.
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Click Yes, I
want to telephone a customer service representative to activate
Windows, and then click Next.
-
Click Change Product Key.
-
Enter your valid Corporate Product
Key.
-
Press Update and close the
window.
-
If you are returned to the previous
window, click Remind me later.
-
Reboot your computer.
Verify the change:
-
After the computer restarts, click
Start > Run?
-
Type in: "%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe
/a" and click OK.
-
The dialog box should confirm 'your
copy of windows is already activated'.
Tip:
Retrieve your Product Key with Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder
http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml
Hide Users on XP Welcome Screen
You may decide that you want to
hide some users so they don't show up with their own icons
on the XP logon
screen. Such hidden users can
still logon by pressing Control-Alt-Del twice to reach the
standard W2K/NT style logon box.
To hide users open the registry with Regedit.exe and
navigate to the key:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\Current Version\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList
For each user you want to hide
create a new REG_DWORD value named after the Username
and set the value
to 0x00000000 (0). Restart
Windows for the change to take effect.
How to login as administrator if you
don't see it available on welcome screen:
You can get to administrator screen by simply pressing
CTRL+ALT+DELETE twice at the main screen.
Add
the Administrator account to the XP Welcome Screen
By default XP hides the
Administrator account from view on the Welcome logon screen. You
can still logon to the
Administrator account by pressing
Control-Alt-Delete twice, of course. However, if you'd like for
the Administrator
account to show up on the Welcome
screen first use the registry editor to find the key:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\Current Version\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList
Create a new DWORD Value named
Administrator with a value of 1. Then restart the computer for
this change to
take place.
Display a Message on Startup
1>Start regedit
2>Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
3>Modify the key
legalnoticecaption with what you
want to name the window.
4>Modify the key legalnoticetext
with what you want the window to
say. Restart
How to remove recycle bin from
your desktop
1>Open Regedit by going to START
- RUN and type Regedit and hit
enter.
2>Then you should navigate to
following entry in registry
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\
{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
3>
and delete it. This action
should remove recycle bin from
your desktop
1)Right Click on the desktop. Make a new folder
2)Now rename the folder with a space (U have to hold ALT key and type 0160).
3)Now u have a folder with out a name.
4)Right click on the folder>properties>customize. Click on change icon.
5)Scroll a bit, u should find some empty spaces, Click on any one of them.
click ok
You can start up without the need to enter a user name or password
1>Select Run... from the start menu and type 'control userpasswords2', which will open the user accounts application.
2>On the Users tab, clear the box for Users Must Enter A User Name And Password To Use This Computer, and click on OK. An Automatically Log On dialog box will appear; enter the user name and password for the account you want to use.
Tip: XP comes with a free Network Activity Light, just in case you can't see the LEDs twinkle on your network card.
Right click on My Network Places on the desktop, then select Properties. Right click on the description for your LAN or dial-up connection, select Properties, then check the Show icon in notification area when connected box. You'll now see a tiny network icon on the right of your task bar that glimmers nicely during network traffic.
Tip: You can rename loads of files at once in Windows Explorer. Highlight a set of files in a window, then right click on one and rename it. All the other files will be renamed to that name, with individual numbers in brackets to distinguish them. Also, in a folder you can arrange icons in alphabetized groups by View, Arrange Icon By... Show In Groups.
Tip: Boot CD To Reset Your Password: http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/
Increase Internet Speed In Windows
By default Microsoft reserves 20% of your bandwidth for their own purposes (updates, error reporting, etc.).
However, you can easily disable this feature and reclaim 20% of your bandwidth that otherwise sits idle.
Note: This method only works on Windows XP Professional.
1) Click START> Run
2) Type gpedit.msc in the Run dialog box. This will open up the Group Policy Editor.
3) Next go to Local Computer Policy> Computer Configuration> Administrative Templates> Network> QOS Packet Scheduler
4) Double Click on Limit Reservable Bandwidth
5) On the Settings tab click ENABLE Reservable Bandwidth
6) Set the Bandwidth Limit percentage to ZERO.
Now you will get that extra 20% of bandwidth that Microsoft has taken away from you!
For a complete revamp of your setting try: TCP/IP Optimzer
Tip:
New Tweaking Utility I found:
XenTweak
And of course the old standby:
TweakUi Powertoy
Altering the Windows
registration information
When you install
Windows XP, the installation
procedure prompts you to enter
your user name and a company
name.
Then, this information displays
on the General tab of the System
Properties dialog box under the
Registered To heading.
Unfortunately, Windows XP
doesn't provide you with a tool
for changing this registration
information. However, you can
alter the registration
information by editing the
registry. Follow these seven
steps to alter the information:
-
Launch the Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
-
Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\Current Version.
-
Locate and double-click the
RegisteredOwner value.
-
When you see the Edit DWORD
Value dialog box, change the
Value Data setting to
whatever user name you
-
want, and click OK.
-
Locate and double-click the
RegisteredOrganization
value.
-
When you see the Edit DWORD
Value dialog box, change the
Value Data setting to
whatever company name you
-
want, and click OK.
-
Close the Registry Editor
and restart Windows XP in
order for the changes to
take effect.
Creating Program Aliases in
Windows
A
hidden feature in the Windows
registry allows you to create
program aliases. Allowing you to
create, for example, an alias
called JBLOGGS.EXE that when
executed actually runs another
program, e.g. NOTEPAD.EXE
Open your registry and find the
key below, below it should be a
number of sub-keys. To create a
new alias create a sub-key, and
call it the name of the alias
you wish to create (e.g. "JBLOGGS.EXE").
Modify the (default) value of
the sub-key to equal the fully
qualified path and filename of
the application you want to be
launched when you execute the
alias (e.g. "c:\windows\notepad.exe").
Exit your registry and to test
use the Start -> Run command
type in the name of your alias
(i.e. "JBLOGGS.EXE") and the
aliased program should be
launched, in this case Notepad.
System Key:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App
Paths]
Data Type:
REG_SZ (String Value)
Value
Data: Filename
(e.g. c:\windows\notepad.exe)
As administrator you can manage
all user's accounts from the
command line
Start - Run -
control
userpasswords2
Use the ultimate configuration
tool (Professional Edition only)
One of the most full featured
Windows XP configuration tools
available is hidden right there
in your system, but most people
don't even know it exists. It's
called the Local
Group Policy Editor, or
gpedit for short.
1 Select Start and then Run.
2 Then type the following:
gpedit.msc
After you hit ENTER, you'll be
greeted by gpedit, which lets
you modify virtually every
feature in Windows XP without
having to resort to regedit. Dig
around and enjoy!
Rename any folder with extension {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
eg, if u've a folder games press F2,
then type, "games.{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}"
c the magic.... then 2 get to original form, remove the extension using
"ren games.{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} games" in dos or as a bat file
n u are done..
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