Windows tips and Tricks

I have personally tried and tested most of the tweaks discussed in this guide. However, I request fellow readers to be cautious while trying it out with your system. Always take a backup copy of all important data/registry before attempting to change the system/registry settings. Remember, prevention is always better than cure.

How to recover the files from pen drive or removable disk which are affected due virus attack?

Nowadays USB pen drives are used by most of the people to transfer and save the data. A very important problem in the USB pen drives is virus infection. Since the pen drives are being  used in different systems to transfer files, in spite of the antivirus softwares used, the viruses are affecting the files stored in the pen drive easily.

If your files are affected by the virus, your files will go hidden and it will not be visible when you open the pen drive. It will display an empty folder without files. But when you check the "properties" of the pen drive, you can see that your pen drive contains the files by the size of the memory used. If you do not have any important documents in the pen drive, you can format it and use it again. But, if you have any important files in the pen drive, you would want to recover the files at any cost. 

You don't need to install any software to recover the data from your pen drive. You can easily recover the files by following the below steps without using any recovery software.

1. Insert the pen drive in your computer 
2. Go to Start => Run => type "cmd" without quotes and press enter. 
3. Now check which drive is your pen drive using my computer(If you open My computer, you can see the label of the pen drive)
4. Suppose if the pen drive is E: drive, then you type "E:" in the command prompt and press Enter.  
5. type "attrib -h -s -r /s /d *.*" in the prompt with spaces in the appropriate places. 
6. Check once whether you have typed correctly and then press Enter

Wait for few seconds and now check your pen drive. You will be able to see the files again in your pen drive. Happy Recovery!!!

வைரஸ் தாக்கிய ‘பென்ட்ரைவ்’ இலிருந்து பைல்களை மீட்க சிம்பிள் வழி!

தற்பொழுது தகவல்களை சேமிக்க பெரும்பாலானவர்களால் பயன்படுத்தப்படுவது USB பென்டிரைவ்கள். இதில் முக்கியமான பிரச்சினை வைரஸ் பிரச்சினை. வெவ்வேறான கணனிகளில் உபயோகிப்பதால் வைரஸ்கள் சுலபமாக பென்டிரைவில் புகுந்து உள்ளே இருக்கும்பைல்களை பாதிக்கிறது.

இப்படி பாதிக்கும் பொழுது உங்கள் பென்ட்ரைவில் உள்ள பைல்கள் மறைக்கப்பட்டுவிடும் கணனியில் பென்டிரைவை ஓப்பன் செய்தால் எந்த பைல்களும் இருக்காது. வெற்றிடமாக இருக்கும். ஆனால் properties சென்று பார்த்தால் பைல்கள் இருப்பது போன்றே அளவு காட்டும். காரணம் நம் தகவல்களை வைரஸ்கள் மறைத்து வைத்துவிட்டது. பென்டிரைவில் முக்கியமான தவல்கள் ஏதும் இல்லை எனில் Format செய்து பென்டிரைவை திரும்ப பெறலாம். ஆனால் ஏதேனும் முக்கிய மான தகவல்கள் இருந்தால் எப்படி அந்த பைல்களை பத்திரமாக மீண்டும் கொண்டு வருவது என பார்ப்போம்.
இதற்க்கு நீங்கள் எந்த மென்பொருளையும் உங்கள் கணினியில் Instal செய்து உபயோகிக்க வேண்டியதில்லை.உங்கள் கணனியிலேயே சுலபமாக செய்து விடலாம். கீழே உள்ள வழிமுறையின் படி கவனமாக செய்து அந்த பைல்களை மீட்டு எடுங்கள்.

1) முதலில் பென்டிரைவை உங்கள் கணினியில் சொருகி கொள்ளுங்கள்.
2) Start ==> Run ==> CMD==> Enter கொடுக்கவும்.

 3) இப்பொழுது பென்ட்ரைவ் எந்த ட்ரைவில் உள்ளது என பாருங்கள். My Computer செல்வதன் மூலம் கண்டறியலாம்.
4) உதாரணமாக E: டிரைவில் பென்ட்ரைவ் இருக்கிறது எனவைத்து கொள்வோம் அதற்கு நீங்கள் E: என கொடுத்து Enter அழுத்தவும்.

 

 5) attrib -h -s -r /s /d *.*என டைப் செய்யுங்கள் ஒவ்வொருபகுதிக்கும் Space சரியாககொடுக்கவும்.

◦நீங்கள் சரியாக கொடுத்துஉள்ளீர்கள் என உறுதி செய்து கொண்டு Enter அழுத்துங்கள்.

◦சில வினாடிகள் பொறுத்திருங்கள். இப்பொழுது உங்கள் பென்ட்ரைவ் சோதித்து பாருங்கள் உங்களுடைய பைல்கள் அனைத்தும் திரும்பவும் வந்திருக்கும்

How to make web links open in Firefox 15 by default?

If you have more than one web browser, Windows needs to know which browser to use by default. This article will show you how to make Firefox your default browser.

1. At the top of the Firefox window, click on the Firefox button (Tools menu in Windows XP) and then click Options
2. Select the Advanced panel, then click the General tab, and then click Check Now.
3. Select Yes to set Firefox as your default browser.
   • If Firefox still isn't the default browser, see Setting Firefox as the default browser does not work - What to do.

Note: MSN Messenger and other applications may open Internet Explorer regardless of which browser is the default. Also, Internet service providers like PeoplePC Online, Juno and NetZero may provide connection software that automatically launches Internet Explorer.

To set another browser as the default, use the settings in the browser you wish to be your default.

Automatically Turn On Num Lock, Scroll Lock, and Caps Lock

When you start your PC, Num Lock, Scroll Lock, and Caps Lock don't automatically toggle on. You can automatically turn each of them on or off whenever your PC starts, for all accounts on the PC. As a practical matter, most people probably want to have only Num Lock automatically turned on, but this Registry hack allows you to force any combination of keys on or off. Run the Registry Editor and go to

HKEY_USERS\.Default\Control Panel\Keyboard. 

Find the String value InitialKeyboardIndicators. By default, it is set to 0, which means that Num Lock, Scroll Lock, and Caps Lock are all turned off. Set it to any of the following values, depending on the combination of keys you want turned on or off:

0-Turns off Num Lock, Caps Lock, and Scroll Lock
1-Turns on Caps Lock
2-Turns on Num Lock
3-Turns on Caps Lock and Num Lock
4-Turns on Scroll Lock
5-Turns on Caps Lock and Scroll Lock
6-Turns on Num Lock and Scroll Lock
7-Turns on Caps Lock, Num Lock, and Scroll Lock

Exit the Registry. When you restart, the new setting will take effect.

How to clean Recent Docs Menu and the RUN

The Recent Docs menu can be easily disabled by editing the Registry. To do this go to the following Key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.

Now in the right pane, create a new DWORD value by the name: NoRecentDocsMenu and set it's value to 1.

Restart Explorer to save the changes. You can also clear the RUN MRU history. All the listings are stored in thekey:

HKEY_USERS\.Default\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ RunMRU.

You can delete individual listings or the entire listing. To delete History of Find listings go to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ Microsoft \ Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Doc Find Spec MRUand delete.

How to hide All Icons in the Notification Area

The system tray, also called the notification area, is the small area on the far right side of the taskbar, in which utilities and programs that run in the background, such as antivirus software, show their icons. I don’t find it a particularly intelligent use of screen real estate, so I prefer not to see the icons there.
To hide them, run the Registry Editor and go to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Policies/Explorer.

Among other things, this key controls the display of objects throughout XP.

Create a new DWORD called NoTrayItemsDisplay. Assign it a value of 1. (A value of 0 will keep the icons displayed.) Exit the Registry and reboot.

While you’re at the HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Policies/Explorer key, you can also delete the My Recent Documents icon on the Start menu. Create a new DWORD called NoRecentDocsMenu. Assign it a value of 1. (A value of 0 will keep the icon displayed.) Exit the Registry and reboot.

Pop Up a Message at Start Up of Windows

To pop a banner which can contain any message you want to display just before a user is going to log on, go to the key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System.

Now create a new string Value in the right pane named LegalNoticeCaption and enter the value that you want to see in the Menu Bar. Now create yet another new string value and name it LegalNoticeText. Modify it and insert the message you want to display each time Windows boots. This can be effectively used to display the company's private policy each time the user logs on to his NT box.

how to configure Your BIOS for Faster Startups

You can speed up your startup procedures by changing the BIOS with the built-in setup utility. How you run this utility varies from PC to PC, but you typically get to it by pressing the Delete, F1, or F10 keys during startup. You'll come to a menu with a variety of choices. Here are the choices to make for faster system startups:

Quick Power On Self Test (POST)
When you choose this option, your system runs an abbreviated POST rather than the normal, lengthy one.

Boot Up Floppy Seek
Disable this option. When it's enabled, your system spends a few extra seconds looking for your floppy drives relatively pointless procedure, especially considering how infrequently you use your floppy drive.

Boot Delay
Some systems let you delay booting after you turn on your PC so that your hard drive gets a chance to start spinning before bootup. Most likely, you don't need to have this boot delay, so turn it off. If you run into problems, however, you can turn it back on.

Disabling Recent Documents History in Windows

The bad thing about Recent Documents History is that Windows XP has to calculate what should be put there each time you boot Windows, which can slow things down.

1. Open the Registry Editor (select Start/Run, type regedit, and click OK).

2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.

3. Create a NoRecentDocsHistory D_WORD key. Double-click the value to open it once it is created.

        To create DWORD, you need to right click on the right pane then select New -> DWORD value




4. Set the Data Value to 1 to enable the restriction.

        To set the value, double click the created DWORD then enter the value as shown in the image below




5. Click OK and close the Registry Editor. You'll need to restart the computer for the change to take effect.