Step 1- Open up notepad, the native text editor in Windows. Type in the exact line below:[{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}]
Specify the picture to use: Now, in the next line we will specify the picture that we want to use as the background for the folder. We will do this by typing the following line:iconarea_image=C:\My Pictures\flower.bmp
Let me elaborate the above-mentioned process. The image to be used as the folder background is specified through iconarea_image. So you can type in the exact path to any image of your liking after the “=” sign as shown above.
Step 2- Now we will save the contents in a file called desktop.ini in the folder that we are customizing (in this case the folder is C:\infofolder). From the File>Save option save the file as desktop.ini and put the file name in double quotes as shown in the picture below to maintain the .ini extension
Step 3- Now we will have to give the folder system attribute. This can be done very easily through the command prompt. Open up the command prompt through Start>All programs>Accessories>command prompt. Type the following and press enter (remember we are using infofolder as an example, so the path name may vary accordingly for you) :Attrib +s “C:\myfolder”.Additionally you can hide the desktop.ini file.That’s it, done !! The folder will now display the picture of your choice in the background.
You can lock your XP workstation with two clicks of the mouse. Create a new shortcut on your desktop using a right mouse click, and enter 'rundll32.exe user32.dll, LockWorkStation' in the location field. Give the shortcut a name you like. That's it -- just double click on it and your computer will be locked. And if that's not easy enough, Windows key + L will do the same.
By sharing a folder in Windows XP Pro, it usually means that you want network users to be able to find and access the folder in the My Network Places tool. If you want to share a folder with only certain users, you can use the Net command line tool to essentially hide your computer and shared network folders.
Follow these steps to create the hidden share:
Open a command prompt.
Type this command: net config server /hidden:yes.
Share the folder as you normally would.
If your computer is already sharing network folders, it may take up to 30 minutes for this command to take effect and hide the computer name.
Users who have access to the hidden shared folder can get to it by using the UNC name or by mapping the hidden share to a local drive letter. To unhide the computer, typenet config server /hidden:no.
Note: This tip is for Windows XP Professional only.
Create a new Registry import file named context_defrag.inf in Notepad (be sure to save with it with the Save as type set to All Files and not Text Documents) and place the following text inside:
; context_defrag.INF; Adds Defrag to the right click context menu in Windows XP[version]signature="$CHICAGO$"[DefaultInstall]AddReg=
AddMe[AddMe]HKCR,"Drive\Shell\Defrag\command",,,"DEFRAG.EXE %1"
Then, right-click and choose Install. This will add a context menu to XP that allows you to automatically defrag drives, using the command line version of the built-in defragmentation utility. To use it, navigate to a drive in My Computer, right-click, and choose Defrag. A command line window will appear, and that drive will be defragged. When it's complete, the window just disappears.
UPDATE: To remove this functionality, Open regedit.exe and navigate to the following location:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\
Then delete the Defrag folder and close Regedit.
For some people, pushing CTRL, ALT and Delete (CTRL+ALT+DEL) at the same time can be an inconvenience, if not a complete impossibility. With Windows XP, there are two ways to get around this.First option: Configure the system so that you do not need to press CTRL+ALT+DEL at all during logon (assuming you're not using the Welcome screen, in which case this key combo is not required). Here's how:
- Open Control Panel then User Accounts.- Navigate to the Advanced tab.- Uncheck the Require users to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete checkbox under Secure Logon.Second option: Configure XP's accessibility options so that "sticky keys" will be activated at the secure desktop: That way, you may "press" ALT, CTRL, and DEL sequentially rather than simultaneously. You can turn that on via the Accessibility control panel. (Control Panel then Accessibility Options):- Bring up the Accessibility Control panel and navigate to the Keyboard tab.- Check Use Sticky keys - Navigate to the General Tab.- Check Apply all settings to logon desktop.
Unfortunately, the Disk Cleanup tool misses certain temp files. Here's a little batch file to complete the task: Open Notepad or your favorite text editor and type del /s /q C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\Temp\*.*", replacing 'Username' with the name of the user account and adjusting the drive letter as needed. Save the file with a name like deltemp.bat (be sure to use the .bat extension) and store it with your other batch files (if you don't have other batch files, your Desktop or any other easy-to-access folder will do). Then add the file to your Startup folder (Start, All Programs, Startup) so that it deletes the files every time you log in to Windows.
When you create a Gmail account, you actually get two email addresses - one is the regular @gmail.com while the second email address has @googlemail.com in the domain.
That means if your email address in Gmail is something like billgates@gmail.com, all email messages that are sent to billgates@googlemail.com will also be delivered to your own Gmail account. That’s two for the price of one.
