Increase Hard Disk speed in Windows

If you like to increase/optimize your Hard Disk I/O - read/write speed without buying expensive software utilities to do that job or changing the HD, just follow next steps. With doing these steps you will increase Hard disk speed (depends of manufacture and specification, but its worth to try). The most speed improvement is visible with IDE drives; however there are reports that this tweak also does good for SCSI disks.

In any case, it won't harm your system, so try it yourself and let me know what you find!

Steps:

1. Run SYSEDIT.EXE from the start & then Run command.
2. Expand the system.ini file window.
3. Scroll down almost to the end of the file untill you find a line called [386enh].
4. Press Enter to make one blank line, and in that line type
5. Irq14=4096 (note: This line IS CASE SENSITIVE)
6. Click on the File menu, then choose Save.
7. Close SYSEDIT and reboot your computer.
8. Restart windows!

The speed improvement will be noticed just after the system reboots, any system info. software can be used to check the improvement.

Virtual Memory too low Warning Trouble in win xp and vista

When there is less physical memory than needed, then some virtual memory (virtual RAM) is created on the disk. When there is a limit set to the size of virtual memory usage and there is not enough of it present there is a warning that frequently comes“Virtual Memory too low”.

Solution 1 :

This problem occurs when physical RAM + Virtual RAM (usually created on hard disk)together are not sufficient to take care of the currently needed RAM size, or this situation is about to arise. This usually happens when some fixed upper limit for Virtual Memory has been set. To solve this problem, you can either upgrade you physical RAMon your computer (recommended), or you can set the Virtual Memory to system managed size or you can do both. Setting Virtual Memory to system managed sizemeans windows will set it to higher size whenever needed automatically,for this,


Right click on My computer --> goto properties, goto advanced tab, click onperformance settings, now click on advanced, now click on advanced, now click on change button for Virtual memory.


On this screen select the System managed size, press OK. After this re-start your computer. This will solve the virtual memory too low problem.

Solution 2:
Recommended solution is to upgrade your physical memory (RAM) according to requirements of the kind of applications that you run on your computer. If you upgradeRAM or not, the following procedure will help prevent this warning by increasing the virtual memory limit.

• Right click on My computer icon and click properties.
• This will show system properties window. Click on a advanced tab and click on the settings button under heading performance.
• This will open performance options window. Click on advanced tab and click on change button under heading virtual memory.
• Check if the space available is set to some custom value or double the RAM size ?
• If it is not double the RAM memory size , then select the size option set the virtual memory size double the RAM Size and press set button and press OK button.
• Restart the computer.

Shortcut keys for Windows Media Player

Shortcut keys are keystrokes that provide a quick way to perform an action. Using shortcut keys you can access the functions of an application quite easily and quickly. In Windows Media Player too, you can use the combination of different keyboard keys to accomplish routine task. The use of these keys increases your working speed and even saves time as you don’t need your mouse to select menus and button options.

Shortcut keys Action

1. Video Playback

ALT+1 Adjust zoom to 50 percent
ALT+2 Adjust zoom to 100 percent
ALT+3 Adjust zoom to 200 percent
ALT+ENTER Display the video in full mode

2. Accessing the menus

ALT+F Go to media player File Menu
ALT+T Go to media player Tools Menu
ALT+V Go to media player View Menu
ALT+P Go to media player Play Menu
ALT+F4 Use to close media player

3. Switching between display mode

CTRL+1 Display media player in full mode
CTRL+2 Display media player in skin mode

4. Player controls

ENTER or SPACEBAR Use to play an item
CTRL+B Use to play the previous item in media player
CTRL+F Use to play the next item in media player
CTRL+E Use to Eject CD or DVD from CD or DVD drive
CTRL+P Use to Play or Pause the item in media player
CTRL+T Use to Repeat the items in media player
CTRL+SHIFT+B Use to Rewind a file in media player
CTRL+SHIFT+F Use to Fast Forward a file in media player
CTRL+SHIFT+S Use to play items slower than a normal speed
CTRL+SHIFT+ G Use to play items faster than a normal speed
CTRL+SHIFT+ N Use to play items at normal speed in media player
F8 Use to mute the volume in media player
F9 Use to decrease the volume in media player
F10 Use to increase the volume in media player

Initially, you’ll have to look up for some of these shortcuts but once you get well versed with them, you’ll be a lot quicker at controlling the Media Player.

Download Multiple Free Files From Rapidshare

Rapidshare allows to download only a single file at a time with free account. If you want to download multiple files at the same time, you need to buy a premium account but now you can download multiple files from Rapidshare free account without paying anything with RapidShare Download Accelerator.




With RapidShare Download Accelerator, you can add all the files you'd like to download, and it will do all the annoying work for you. Now you can just sit back and watch your files download without paying a dime.

Links : Download Rapidshare Download Accelerator

How to Completely Erase a Hard Disk Drive

A new year has begun and perhaps you have decided to perform a system upgrade or get rid of your old computer system and purchase a new one. But before you sell or donate your old computer, it is very much necessary to completely erase your Hard Disk Drive. Yes, every one of us are aware of this fact and so, we delete the contents of the hard disk either by using the DELETE key on our keyboard or by Formatting the hard disk.

Deleting and Formatting – Just Not Secure Enough

But the fact is, the data will still be on the hard disk even after deleting it or formatting the hard disk. Using the delete key on your keyboard will only remove the shortcuts to the files making them invisible to users. Deleted files still reside on the hard drive and a quick Google search will show many options for system recovery software will allow anyone to reinstate that data.
Formatting the hard drive is a bit more secure way to erase the hard disk. Formatting a disk will not erase the data on the disk, only the address tables. It makes it much more difficult to recover the files. However a computer specialist would be able to recover most or all the data that was on the disk before the reformat. For those who accidentally reformat a hard disk, being able to recover most or all the data that was on the disk is a good thing. However, if you’re preparing a system for retirement to charity or any other organization, this obviously makes you more vulnerable to data theft.

Erasing the Hard Disk through DISK WIPING

So it is necessary for us to use a 100% secure way to erase the hard disk. The secure way of erasing the hard disk is called Disk Wiping. Disk wiping is a secure method of ensuring that data, including company and individually licensed software on your computer and storage devices is irrecoverably deleted before recycling or donating the equipment. Because previously stored data can be brought back with the right software and applications, the disk wiping process will actually overwrite your entire hard drive with data, several times. Once you format you’ll find it all but impossible to retrieve the data which was on the drive before the overwrite. The more times the disk is overwritten and formatted the more secure the disk wipe is.
There are a variety of disk wiping products available that you can purchase, or freely downloaded online to perform more secure disk wipes. One of my favorite disk wiping software is
WipeDrive/ WipeDrive Professional
You have to use this tool by burning the iso image file onto a CD or by using a floppy disk. After burning this tool you have to boot your PC and follow the screen instructions to completely erase the hard disk.
by saeed ishaque

How to Repair Registry of Windows PC

Registry Repair Tips

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This article explains how to inspect and repair registry errors to improve the performance of your PC. If you are a Windows user then you will most probably be aware of the fact that the registry gets corrupted over time resulting in an overall decreased performance of your computer. At times registry errors can also make your PC to freeze down and hang up every now and then causing a serious annoyance to the user. At this point, the registry needs a serious repair to bring your PC back to it’s life. Well before I tell you how to repair the registry lets see what causes registry to get corrupted. Registry errors may occur due to installing too many applications/softwares from time to time without verifying the publishers. This may create invalid entries in the registry hive leading to errors. With the Internet boom and the era of freeware with free downloads, people often install programs from untrusted sources which results in serious damage to the registry. Since the registry is a crucial component of the Windows operating system, damage to this registry can cause system performance to drop down considerably.

How to Repair the Registry?

The best and the easiest way to repair your registry is by using a Registry Repair Tool (Registry Cleaner) which will automatically scan the registry to find invalid entries and will repair it by removing the errors with in no time. A registry cleaner is the simple and safest solution to repair registry and bring your PC back to it’s life without the need to re-install the Windows. We recommend the following registry cleaner to repair the Windows registry

Perfect Optimizer

Perfect Optimizer is one of the best and award winning registry cleaner that repairs registry to avoid PC errors such as unwanted shutdown, freezing, crashing and more. Perfect optimizer will

• Repair registry and increases your PC performance by upto 70%
• Repair registry to fix DLL errors and invalid shortcuts
• Free up virtual memory to avoid error messages
• Performs Defragmentation and Compression of the registry
• Repair registry to fix blue screen errors, system crashes, startup errors and more…

Visit Perfect Optimizer Homepage for more information on this program.

Can I Manually Repair the Registry?

Windows registry has a very complex structure with hundreds of thousands of entries embedded in it. A corrupt registry may contain thousands of invalid entries and errors in it and hence it is impractical and almost impossible to manually inspect, find and repair those errors. Also manual registry repair involves serious risk and can lead to a total system break down if done improperly. Except you are a highly experienced Windows user or a Windows expert, users are not encouraged to tamper with the registry.
Hence using a registry repair tool is the safest and easiest way to repair the registry and improve the overall performance of your PC. Registry repair tools will not only repair the registry but also maintains it’s health in a good condition so as to avoid any future damage to it. It is recommended that you periodically (daily or weekly) perform registry scans using these tools to repair the errors as and when they come up and keep your PC’s health at it’s best. Repair the registry and make your PC blazing fast like never before!

5 Facebook Desktop Applications

1. Facebook Desktop

Facebook Desktop is a windows program that, with a small memory footprint, provides updates to a the users facebook profile, such as messages, pokes, wall posts, and friend requests.

Features:

* Automatic login. Stay logged in until you log out!
* Notifies you of new messages
* Notifies you of new wall posts
* Notifies you of new pokes
* Notifies your of new friend requests

You need to have .NET Framework 2.0 to run this application (Click here to download)

2. Facedesk

Facedesk is an (adobe air) application that, when installed, becomes a stand-alone application to do all your Facebook surfing with. No need to open it up in a web browser, or have it clutter your workspace.

Start facedesk, and just alt-tab (on Windows or Linux) to shift between this application and the other ones you are running.

3. Fosimo

Fosimo is another easy to use Facebook Desktop program that allows to:
* Chat with friends.
* View friends online presence.
* View friends profiles.
* Change Facebook status.
* Upload photos without surfing through Facebook.

Be updated instantly with your Facebook friends status updates.
+ New friend requests.
+ Unread messages.
+ New event invites.
+ New group invites.

4. Fbquick

FBquick is probably the smallest desktop facebook status and updates notifier, which makes it easy to:

- Receive instant profile notifications on your desktop
- Stay connected with your friends, groups, and events
- Monitor your Facebook profile without a web browser
- Enjoy all the fun facebook has to offer plus more!

5. FishBowl

FishBowl is most user friendly and a complete Facebook desktop client. Its Seamlessly integrates with Facebook’s web so you are always just a click away. You can simply drag & drop photos into Fishbowl to have these published to Facebook. Or wattch a full screen slideshow to see your albums. Fully supported with Microsoft Windows 7 features such as the new taskbar so you can monitor Facebook activity and friends at a glance.

Computer Tricks - Shortcut Keys

A few great shortcut keys that are great computer tricks are:

• Hold the windows key and press M
  This will minimise all windows in one key press! This is the same as pressing the 'Show Desktop' icon but without having to click on it. It should be noted that Windows key + D also works for this!
  
• Hold the windows key and press L
  This will lock your workstation instantly. This means that if you are in a public place or a shared machine and go for a toilet break but do not wish for anyone to sneak a peak at what you are doing, or at worst steal your
  files, then this will take you back to the login screen instantly.Very handy indeed!
  
• Hold alt then press F4
  This is quite a common one but should be mentioned here anyway. This key press will close your current window. If your screen is getting cluttered you can go on a 'close rampage' by holding down the F4 key as well! Good times!
• Hold ctrl then press F4
  The junior brother of alt F4. Instead of closing the whole window this will close internal windows within the current program. For example if you have multiple windows open in one instance of Microsoft Word this will close them one at a time. The best part is this works for the tab browsing that has come in to play in recent browsers. The key press closes the active tab you are viewing! This is one of the best computer tricks I find when browsing as it is really effective for FireFox for closing tabs.
  
• Hold alt and press tab
  This will cycle between programs on your computer. This feature isn't that useful until you install this nice little Microsoft tool which will show a thumbnail of the program your about the switch to. If you don't wish to activate the selected program keep holding down alt and press tab again to cycle to the next one!
• Hold the windows key and press break
  A lesser known shortcut but still useful! This one will open the Syst
  em Properties dialog window which displays your RAM etc.
  

• Hold the windows key and press E
  This will open 'My Computer' in explorer style mode. This is very handy if you want to access your files and disk drives from anywhere without having to find the icon on the desktop or start menu.
• Custom Shortcut Keys!
  Another lesser known trick is setting up your own custom key presses. This works for a per-program basis. To setup a shortcut key to your favorite program first you need to right click on the shortcut icon you commonly use and then press on properties. Click on the Shortcut' tab and there will be a text field called 'Shortcut key'. Simply click in that and enter the key press you wish to use. Press OK and that key press is permanently associated with that program. This is very handy for many things such as opening word or opening your favorite game!