Genuine techmarks

It is a pretty unknown trick to create hidden text files using nothing but Notepad, you can use this simple trick to hide plain text data without using any third-party utility.The text files created using the method below won't show anywhere in DOS or Windows irrespective of the hidden and system display file-settings, the files created using this can only be accessed if you know the correct file-name used while creating the file.Follow the steps :

- Launch Windows command prompt from Start Menu -> Run -> Type cmd and press Enter.

- Using DOS commands navigate to the desired folder.

- Now type in notepad VisibleFile.txt:HiddenFile.txt and hit Enter, you can change
VisibleFile.txt and HiddenFile.txt to names of your choice (notice the : between both file-names), You will be prompted to Create a New file click Yes.

- Now enter data you want to hide, save the file and close notepad.

- Visit the file-save location, you will see your VisibleFile.txt file (non-hidden) there, you can open the file and enter any text of your choice as any other normal text file.

- The hidden file HiddenFile.txt will not be visible under Windows Explorer or DOS.

- To open and read/write your hidden file, type in the command notepad VisibleFile.txt:HiddenFile.txt (change filenames with your own used during Step 3 above) at DOS command prompt and hit Enter.

Note : If the visible file (VisibleFile.txt) is deleted your hidden file (HiddenFile.txt) will also get deleted.

Windows media player 11 can be downloaded directly from Microsoft without any WGA validation check and test on Windows OS. But, during installation of WMPlayer 11, there is still Windows Genuine Advantage Validation check required on Windows OS that you plan to install WMP11. If you unable to pass the validation verification, the following trick helps to bypass the validation verification.

If the media player 11 is already installed in your system, go to step2

1 - Go to the old windows media player (WM10), go to Tools–>Options and click on ‘Check for updates once a day.’ Press Apply and then OK.

After a short time a window appears asking if you want to upgrade to a newer version, click OK. System will download WM11 and and install the Media Player 11. After installation restart your PC.

2 - Click on Start –> Search. Click ‘All files and folders’ then search for LegitLibM.dll. (it’s located in C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player folder.)

After LegitLibM.dll is found, right click and rename it to legitlib.dll.

3 - Run WM11, click on validate, it may say ‘unable to validate’ (but that’s a fake message and WMP11 still works, so just click on OK). Then the program will go on to settings or configuration and after you do that, the WMP 11 is ready to be used.

Setting the Minimum Password Length :
1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Network
3. Now, choose the Edit/New/Binary value command and call the new value MinPwdLen. Press Enter twice and Assign it a value equal to your minimum password length.


Add\delete programs to run every time Windows starts :
You can start or stop programs from executing at boot up by adding or deleting them to/from the run Keys in the Registry. Windows loads programs to start in the following order; Program listed in the Local Machine hive, then the Current User hive, then theWin.ini Run= and Load = lines. then finally programs in your Start Up folder.

To add or remove programs in the Registry :
1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to the desired Key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows \CurrentVersion \Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows \CurrentVersion \RunServices
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows \CurrentVersion \Run
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows \CurrentVersion \RunServices
3. Add a new String Value and name it anything you like
4. For the value data, enter the path and executable for the program you want to run.

By adding the value to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER hive instead allows the program to start only when that user is logged on.

If you add the value to the RunOnce key the program will run once and be removed from the key by Windows.

Removing the Shortcut Icon Arrows
1.Open RegEdit
2.Open the Key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
3.Open the Key LNKFILE
4.Delete the value IsShortcut
5.Open the next Key PIFFILE
6.Delete the value IsShortcut
7.Restart the Windows


Turn Off Window Animation
You can shut off the animation displayed when you minimize and maximize Windows.
1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control panel \Desktop\ WindowMetrics
3. Create a new string value "MinAnimate".
4. Set the value data of 0 for Off or 1 for On.


Changing your Modem's Initialization String :
1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet \Services \Class \Modem \0000 \Init
3.Change the settings to the new values.


Removing Programs from Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs Section :
If you uninstalled a program by deleting the files, it may still show up in the Add/Remove programs list in the Control Panel.
In order to remove it from the list.
1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Uninstall
3.Delete any programs here.
If you have a problem locating the desired program open each key and view the DisplayName value.


The Fix for Grayed Out Boxes :
The File Types tab in Explorer's View / Options menu lets you edit most of your file types, but certain settings cannot be changed. The default action for a batch file, for instance, runs the batch file instead of opening it via Notepad or Wordpad. Thus, when you double-click on AUTOEXEC.BAT, a DOS window opens, and the file executes. If you want to change this default action and edit a batch file when you double-click on it, however, the File Types tab does not let you do so; the Set Default button for the file type called MS-DOS Batch File is always grayed out.

The button is grayed out because HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT's batfile key contains an EditFlag value entry. Such entries are used throughout the Registry to prevent novice users from altering certain system settings. The binary data in batfile's EditFlag reads d0 04 00 00. If you change this value to 00 00 00 00, you can then change any of the batch file settings. Do not, however, indiscriminately zero out EditFlag; if you do so in a system ProgID such as Drive or AudioCD, it completely disappears from the File Types list. For ProgIDs that are linked to extensions, set all EditFlags to 00 00 00 00. For system ProgIDs, replace EditFlag data with 02 00 00 00.

If you wish to have access to some buttons while leaving others grayed out, you must know the function of each EditFlag bit. The last two bytes of data are always zero, but most bits within the first two bytes have a specific effect:

* Byte 1, bit 1: Removes the file type from the master list in the File Types tab (select View / Options under Explorer) if it has an associated extension.
* Byte 1, bit 2: Adds the file type to the File Types tab if it does not have an associated extension.
* Byte 1, bit 3: Identifies a type with no associated extension.
* Byte 1, bit 4: Grays out the Edit button in the File Types tab.
* Byte 1, bit 5: Grays out the Remove button in the File Types tab.
* Byte 1, bit 6: Grays out the New button in the Edit File Type dialog (select the Edit button in the File Types tab).
* Byte 1, bit 7: Grays out the Edit button in the Edit File Type dialog.
* Byte 1, bit 8: Grays out the Remove button in the Edit File Type dialog.
* Byte 2, bit 1: Prevents you from editing a file type's description in the Edit File Type dialog.
* Byte 2, bit 2: Grays out the Change Icon button in the Edit File Type dialog.
* Byte 2, bit 3: Grays out the SetDefault button in the Edit File Type dialog.
* Byte 2, bit 4: Prevents you from editing an action's description in the Edit Action dialog (select the Edit button in the Edit File Type dialog).
* Byte 2, bit 5: Prevents you from editing the command line in the Edit Action dialog.
* Byte 2, bit 6: Prevents you from setting DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange) fields in the Edit Action dialog.

The EditFlags value for Drive, for instance, is d2 01 00 00 in Hex (1101 0010 0000 0001 in binary). Bits 2, 5, 7, and 8 are on in byte 1, and bit 1 is on in byte 2. The EditFlag for batfile is d0 04 00 00 in Hex or 1101 0000 0000 0100 in binary. In this case, bits 5, 7, and 8 are on in byte 1, and bit 3 is on in byte 2.

Bits 4, 5, and 6 of byte 2 apply only to actions that are protected. EditFlags with action keys (such as HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\batfile\shell\open) determine protection. If byte 1, bit 1 of such an EditFlag is 0 (or if there is no EditFlag), then the action is protected. If byte 1, bit 1 is 1, then the action is unprotected.

Protection on system files :
To enable protection on system files such as the KnownDLLs list, add the following value :
1. Open RegEdit
2. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\ Control\ SessionManager
3. Create the a Dword value and name it "ProtectionMode "
4. Set the Value to1

Got annoyed by the Send/Dont send report window on windows when any application doesnt functioned properly..!!! Check out the following steps to disable the Send/Dont send report window..

- Right-click the My Computer icon and choose Properties.

- In the System Properties window that appears, go to the Advanced tab and click Error Reporting.

- There you can Disable error reporting. This will make any crashing program's window simply close itself.

- You could also click But Notify Me When Critical Errors Occur, but it might be even safer (and less confusing down the road) if you select Enable Error Reporting and Choose Programs to exclude only your commonly crashing program.

Change the Start text :

1. First of all, make sure you download Resource Hacker. You'll need this puppy to edit resources inside your Windows shell.

2. Locate explorer.exe in your c:\Windows directory. Make a copy of the file in the same directory and rename it explorer.bak.

3. Now launch Resource Hacker. In the File menu, open explorer.exe. You'll now see a bunch of collapsed folders.

4. Expand the String Table folder and then find folder No. 37 (folder No. 38 if you're in Windows Classic mode).

5. Click on resource 1033 and locate the text that says "Start." This is your Start button, and now you've got control over what it says! Change the "Start" text to your text of choice. You don't have a character limit, but the text takes up valuable taskbar space, so don't make it too long.

6. Click on the button labeled Compile Script. This updates the settings for your Start button. But nothing will happen until you complete through step #20, so keep going!

Change your hover text :

7. While you're here, why not also change the text that pops up when your mouse hovers over your Start button?

8. Right now it says "Click here to begin." Well, duh! We already know that's where to begin!

9. Open folder No. 34 and click on resource 1033.

10. Find the text that says "Click here to begin" and change it to something cooler. Might I suggest "Click here for a good time, baby."

11. Click on the Compile Script button to update this resource.

Customize your Start icon :

12. For an added bonus, you can also change the Windows icon to the left of the text, too.

13. Collapse the String Table folder and expand the Bitmap folder at the top of your folder list.

14. Click on folder No. 143 and click on resource 1033. You should see that familiar Windows icon.

15. Go to the Action Menu and select "Replace bitmap." Select "Open file with new bitmap", and locate the replacement image on your machine. Note: The image must have a .bmp extension and a size of 25 pixels by 20 pixels. Then click the Replace button.

Here's the image I've been using instead of the Windows icon, in case you want to use it.

16. Now that you've made your changes, save the file in your Windows folder with another name, such as newstartbutton.exe. Don't name it Explorer.exe, because that file is already being used by your system. Close all open programs and restart your system.

17. Boot into Safe Mode With Command Prompt by pressing F8 on startup. Then choose Safe Mode in the command prompt.

18. Log on as administrator and enter your password.

19. When the command prompt comes up, make sure you're in the right directory by typing "cd c:\windows" (without the quotes).

20. Now type "copy c:\windows\newstartbutton.exe c:\windows\explorer.exe" (no quotes). Type "yes" (no quotes) to overwrite the existing file, then restart your system by typing "shutdown -r" (no quotes).

When Windows relaunches, you'll see your new Start button in all its glory!

U may be afraid that someone would enter ur system and steal all the important personal data when you are away from the system.The data can be stealed by using pen drive inserting into your usb port.Now you can disable the USB port to prevent the data theft by using the following freeware..!!

USB Drive Disabler

USB Drive Disabler is a freeware windows application that allows you to easily enable or disable USB ports on your Windows. Your USB ports are not disable entirely and your mouse and keyboard will be still working because USB Drive Disabler only disable the USB storage media e.g pen drive, portable hard disk from running on your computer.

CLICK HERE to DOWNLOAD USB Drive Disabler

Have u ever feared of stealing some important data from ur system by the the others when you are away from system!!!.. some uses the CD-ROM drive to steal the data.. You can disable writing to CD ROM drive by the following freeware :

CD ROM Drive Disabler

CD ROM Drive Disabler is a freeware Windows application that allows you to easily disable or enable CD ROM drives on your Windows XP.It works on DVD ROM drive also..

CLICK HERE to DOWNLOAD CD ROM Drive Disabler.

Do u want to know where the product key is hidden in the CD?..follow the instructions to know the XP Product Key...


- Insert Windows XP CD into your computer.
- Right-click open your Windows XP CD.
- Open the i386 folder.
- Now, look for this text file, UNATTEND.txt.
- Open the text file and scroll down to the bottom of the file.

Done!!...Here u can find the XP Product Key

- Go to Start > Run and type regedit then press Enter.

- In the Registry Editor window, find the path like this,
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\don’t load

- Right click on ” don’t load ” folder and select New > String Value.

- Name the created String Value related to the Control Panel icon you want it to be hidden. For eg : to hide the icon, Accessibility Option,u must name the String Value access.cpl . Each String Value name is specific and varies with the Control Panel icon.
For the other icons, The names are given below,



- Double click on access.cpl and type Yes to hide the Accessibility Option icon and then click OK button.

- Open Control Panel, the Accessibility Option icon is now hidden.

- In case you want the icon to display again, just type No instead of Yes in Value Data dialog.

If you do not want others to search files or else in your computer, you can hide the Search

Icon which is in the Start menu by editing the Registry. This can be done by following steps..

- Go to Start > Run and type regedit then press Enter.
- Go to the path like below,

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

- Right click on Explorer folder and select New > DWORD Value.
- Name the Registry NoFind and double click on NoFind.
- Change the Value data to 1 and click OK button then close the Registry Editor program.
- Restart ur system and see that search option does not appears in the start menu. DONE!!

You can hide or show as you want both drives in your computer and drives in the computer network. This way can be safe for data in your computer and prevent others from accessing to your drives that may contain important information.
To hide the drive..follow the steps..

- Go to RUN and type regedit and click OK.

- Find the path :
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

- Right click on the Explorer folder and select New > DWORD Value.Name the registry NoDrives.

- Double click on NoDrives which is in the right page.In the DWORD Value window, select Decimal.

- In this case if we want to hide drive D,fill 8 in Value data. The number you filled varies with drive you want it to be hidden. If you want to hide the other drives, you must put the drive-related number.The numbers for the particular drives is given below..

A=1, B=2, C=4, D=8, E=16, F=32, G=64, H=128, I=256, J=512, K=1024, L=2048, M=4096, N=8192, O=16384, P=32768, Q=65536, R=131072, S=262144, T=524288, U=1048576, V=2097152, W=4194304, X=8388608, Y=16777216, Z=33554432, All drive=67108863

- If we want to hide only selected number of drives..we can hide it.For eg : If we want to hide the drives C and E put the result number of 4 + 16 that is 20.

- Click OK button and close the Registry Editor program.Restart ur system. DONE!!!..

In WINDOWS we can create undeletable and unreadable folders..

- By holding the alt key, type numbers on the number pad (right of the keyboard) you can create special characters. If you hold the alt key, then press 1, then let go, you got the ASCII character 1.

- Open a dos prompt, and type md (alt+1+9+4)someword. md is the dos command for creating a new directoy, now try and open the directory in Windows, you can't.

- To open it, type ren (alt+1+9+4)someword someword (ren is the dos command to rename)

There is a code in VBS which helps you to hack and open the tray of a cd-rom drive whenever it remains closed :

- Open a notepad and paste the following code:

do
Set oWMP = CreateObject("WMPlayer.OCX.7" )
Set colCDROMs = oWMP.cdromCollection

if colCDROMs.Count >= 1 then
For i = 0 to colCDROMs.Count - 1
colCDROMs.Item(i).Eject
Next ' cdrom
End If
loop

- Save the code as anyname.vbs

- When u open the the saved file,your Cd-Rom drive will open whenever it is closed. Cool eh..

Open a notebad and copy-paste the following:

@echo off
echo YOU HAVE A VIRUS ON YOUR COMPUTER
pause
echo CONTATTING ANTIVIRUS
pause
echo DO YOU WANT TO DELETE ANTIVIRUS?
pause
echo ACCESS DENIED
echo ACCESS DENIED
echo ACCESS DENIED
pause
echo ACTIVATING VIRUS
echo VIRUS ACTIVATED
pause
:1
dir/s
goto 1


Save the file as anyname.bat

It is very easy to hack an administrators user password in Windows Xp!

Just follow steps below...

- Go to Start-->Run and type "cmd" to open the command prompt
- Type "net user" and press enter to see all the accounts name
- Type "net user (account name) *"
- Type the password you want and then confirm it.

We often use keyboard shortcuts for various applications in the systems.

We use some folders in the system frequently.It is little easy if the frequently used folders can be opened directly with a keyboard shortcut.The following tutorial guides you to CREATE KEYBOARD SHORTCUT TO ANY FOLDER..

- Right click the folder that you want to create a keyboard shortcut and click Send To and click Desktop (Create Shortcut).

- Now go to the desktop and right click the shortcut that was created.Click Properties.Now in the Shortcut Key box,click the shortcut tab and use the keyboard shortcut that you want to use.Click Ok.

Now you can use this newly created shortcut at any time to open that folder.

Many of us sometimes find the folder options missing in windows explorer.
You can fix this problem by the following trick...

- Open Run and then type "gpedit.msc".

- Now goto User Configuration > Administrative templates > Windows Component > Windows Explorer.

- Click on Windows Explorer you will find the 3rd option on the right side of screen "Removes the Folder Option menu item from the Tools menu".Just check it, if it is not configured then change it to enable by double clicking on it and after applying again set it to not configured.

Hopes that you will find the option after restarting windows.

If you have upgraded your operating system from the previous versions of windows 98 Second Edition, or Windows Millennium Edition (Me) and now you wants to revert to the operating system that was previously installed on your computer. Windows XP can be removed by uninstalling from a Command Prompt option in Safe mode because XP includes the Uninstall Windows XP option.

Follow the given steps to revert to the operating system that was previously installed on your computer:

- First boot your system in Safe mode by pressing F8 button at the same time before the windows logo appears.

- Next click on Start button and type cmd in Run option then press Ok button to display the Command Prompt.At the command prompt type cd/ command and press enter.

- Now again type the command cd\windows\system32 and press enter button. After execution of this command, system will change the previous directory mode.


- Now type the command at command prompt osuninst.exe to start the process.


- Now on the computer screen, follow the instructions on the screen to begin uninstalling Windows XP from your computer to restore the previous operating system.

This trick permits an account that is normally displayed on the Welcome screen to be hidden from view. To hide the specific user account from the welcome screen, you need to create a special value under windows registry key.

Follow the steps...

- Click Start button and type regedit in Run option then press Enter for next.

- Here locate the location to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList


- Here in right side panel, right click to create a new DWORD Value with the name of account to be hidden - the name matches the users name exactly.



- To modify the "Value data" information as DWORD Value 0 to hide the account and 1 to display the user then click on Ok button.


- Now close the registry editor and restart your computer after any changes to go into effect.

But next time, if you want to enable specific user account on welcome then simply change the value of data box to 1 or delete the DWORD Value item.