UNLOCK THE SUPERSECRECT ADMINISTRATOR ACCOUNT FOR VISTA

Deep inside the bowels of Windows Vista, there’s a secret Administrator account, and it’s different from the normal administrator account you most likely have set up on your PC. This Administrator account is not part of the Administrator group. (Confused yet? You should be.) It’s a kind of superadministrator, akin to the root account in Unix, and by default it’s turned off and hidden. (In describing this tut, i’ll always use the capital “A” for the secret Administrator account, and a lowercase “a” for a normal administrator account.)

In versions of Windows before Windows Vista, the Administrator account wasn’t hidden, and many people used it as their main or only account. This Administrator account had full rights over the computer.
In Windows Vista, Microsoft changed that. In Vista, the Administrator account is not subject to UAC, but normal administrator accounts are. So the Administrator can make any changes to the system and will see no UAC prompts.
Turning on the Administrator account is straightforward. First, open command prompt by typing cmd into the run box on the Start menu, or by right-clicking the command prompt icon that appears at the top of the Start menu, then selecting Run as administrator.
Then enter this command and press Enter:
Net user administrator /active:yes
From now on, the Administrator account will appear as an option on the Welcome screen, along with any user accounts you may have set up. Use it like any other account. Be aware that it won’t have a password yet, so it’s a good idea to set a password for it.
If you want to disable the account and hide it, enter this command at an elevated command prompt and press Enter:
Net user administrator /active:no

ASSIGN A PERMANENT DRIVE LETTERS TO USB DRIVE

If you have multiple pen drives you might have noticed that every time you put in your drive it will be assigned a different drive letter. This can be very annoying, when you trying to open files of pendrive from some software as recent drive letter is changed you have to change address again. So now here is one solution for this problem assign permanent letter to your USB pendrive. Its very simple just follow given steps:

1]- Go to Start and then Run.

2]- Type Compmgmt.msc and hit Enter. Computer Management console will open up.

3]- In the menu on the left select Disk Management under the storage tab. You will now see all of your drives/partitions in the right hand side panel.

4]- Right click the USB drive you want to assign a permanent letter to and select Change Drive Letter and Paths.

5]- Click on Change.

6]- Assign any drive letter you want and click OK

7]- It will give a warning-you can ignore it since there are hardly any programs that depend on USB drive letters. But at the end of the day its your call, whether to go for it or not.

8]- The final step is to select File > Save and save the file in the default directory. Close the Console and you are done.

GTALK AS A FM RECEIVER AND VOIP PHONE

What is Gtalk 2 Voip ?
GTalk2VoIP is a free and publicly open voice gateway
for major Instant Messenger clients. It makes possible voice
interoperability between Google Talk, MSN/Live Messenger, Yahoo!
Messenger and SIP phones without any additional software installation.
How can I hear FM in Gtalk?
Teen Taal 110 a hindi Fm station which aims at delivering new hindi songs can now be heard right away from your google talk.
All you have to do is to follow the steps below:

* Open your Google talk and Sign in
* After Signing In, click the add button and add this id service@gtalk2voip.com
* After adding, add the second Id 110@radio.gtalk2voip.com
* After completion of the steps above, make a call to the second id i.e call to 110@radio.gtalk2voip.com
* Now you will directly be connected to Teen Taal Fm Station. (voice quality is average)
The first step of adding id would make you register the gtalk2voip service!
Other features of Gtalk2Voip:
* Make calls from Google Talk, Yahoo or MSN to any mobile or landline phone (PSTN)
* Make calls to other Google Talk, Yahoo! and MSN/Live Messenger users or SIP phones (SIP URI)
* Create voice conferences with other Google Talk, Yahoo! or MSN/Live Messenger users
* Send or receive voicemail from/to Google Talk, Yahoo! or MSN/Live Messenger users
* Receive calls to your Google Talk, Yahoo! or MSN/Live Messenger
from mobile or landline phones (PSTN) by using DIDs or via SIP Broker
service
* Receive calls from SIP phones, including Gizmo Project, InPhonex, SJPhone and others
* Send SIP/SIMPLE instant messages to SIP phones
How it works?
Some of the services I mentioned above may be chargeable while they
offer free incoming calls from sip phones to your gtalk, incoming call
from PSTN to your gtalk, making calls to other IMs etc.
So now you get a free incoming SIP number, PSTN access number for Gtalk etc which you can add on to build your business widely.
Gtalk 2 voip also provides support for mobile platform with their specially designed application called Talkonaut which helps them to access and enjoy their voip services from their handheld.

VLC PLAYER AND ITS POWER

For most people, VLC is the favorite media player because it plays everything they throw at it without hiccups. No hunting for codec. But VLC can do a lot of other things as well. Find out how many of these listed below you knew, and how many you did not.

1]- Rip DVDs: VLC includes a basic DVD ripper. You probably would never use it when there are better DVD rippers available, but it helps to know that you can in fact, get a decent quality DVD rip with VLC. To rip a movie follow these steps: Go to the Media menu and choose Convert/Save. Click on the Disc tab.

* Here you can adjust the Starting Position and rip only specific titles or chapters.
* Enter file name making sure to end with .MPG, and start ripping.
* Click Save.

2]- Record videos: With the new VLC, you can record videos during playback. The record button is hidden by default. To see it, click on View>Advanced Control. The record button will now appear. Clicking on the button while playing a movie or video will start recording. Clicking again will stop recording.

3]- Play RAR files: Do you know VLC can play videos zipped inside RAR files? They play like normal video files and you can even use the seek bar. If the RAR file is split into several files, no problem. Just load the first part (.part001.rar ) and it will automatically take the rest of the parts and play the whole file.

4]- Play in ASCII mode: VLC media player has an amusing ability, to playback movies in ASCII art. To enable ASCII mode, open VLC media player and click on Tools>Preferences. Open the section “Video” section and under “Output” select “Color ASCII art video output” from the drop down menu. Save it. Now play any video file to enjoy the ASCII art.

5]- Listen to online radio: VLC includes hundreds of Shoutcast radio stations. You just need to enable it through Media>Services Discovery>Shoutcast radio listings. Now, open the Playlist and browse through the stations.

6]- Convert Audio and Video formats: In VLC you can convert video and audio files from one format to another. Several different formats are supported like MP4, WMV, AVI, OGG, MP3 etc. To access the converter:

* Go to Media>Convert/Save.
* Load the file you want to convert using the Add button and click Convert.
* Now choose the output format and output file location.

7]- Download YouTube and other online videos: First grab the URL of the YouTube video page. Now click on Media>Open Network stream. Paste the URL and click Play.
Once VLC starts streaming the video, click Tools>Codec Information and at the bottom of the window you will see a Location box. Copy the URL and paste it on your browser’s address bar. The browser will now download the file which you can save it to your hard disk. Alternatively, you can record the video.

MAKE AN UNDELETEABLE FOLDER IN WINDOWS

It often happens that some of your folders contain very important data and you delete those folders by mistake. So why not make such folders UNDELETEABLE & avoid such mistakes..! [Works with Windows XP|Vista|Seven]

1]- Open CMD ( Type in Run option, the command ‘cmd’ or navigate to All Programs->Accessories-> Command Prompt)

2]- Change the directory to where you want to create the folder.Type ‘cd..’ to exit the current directory. As an example i will be creating the folder in C:, so i will use the ‘cd..’ command twice to navigate to C:

3]- Type md\lpt1\\ and press enter, the folder now will be in your C:

4]- If you try to delete it, it wont delete. This works on all version of windows.

5]- If you want to delete it just go to ‘CMD’, navigate to the directory and type
rd\lpt1\\ and press Enter.

GOD FOLDER IN WINDOWS 7

What is GOD Mode Folder?

It’s a folder packed with shortcuts to just about every settings change and administrative function in Windows 7. Everything you’ll find in the Action Center, Backup and Restore, Autorun, Desktop Gadgets, Devices and Printers — it’s all there. All dumped in one central location for easy access. Learn how to do it:

1]- Create a New Folder anywhere in the drive your Windows is installed(You can create a new folder in My Documents or Desktop..anywhere its your wish).

2]- After creating the New Folder, right click on it and rename it to-
GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

3]- You are done, you now have the GODMODE Folder with you. Enjoy all your powers!!

PS- It works with all versions of Windows 7, Works with Vista 32 bit as well, though I have heard that Vista 64 bit crashes on attempting this. So 64 Bitters with Vista Beware!

WHAT IS A CAPTCHA AND HOW IT WORKS?

CAPTCHA or Captcha (pronounced as cap-ch-uh) which stands for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart” is a type of challenge-response test to ensure that the response is only generated by humans and not by a computer. In simple words, CAPTCHA is the word verification test that you will come across the end of a sign-up form while signing up for Gmail or Yahoo account. The following image shows the typical samples of CAPTCHA.

 

 

Almost every Internet user will have an experience of CAPTCHA in their daily Internet usage, but only a few are aware of what it is and why they are used. So in this post you will find a detailed information on how CAPTCHA works and why they are used.

 

What Purpose does CAPTCHA Exactly Serve?

CAPTCPA is mainly used to prevent automated software (bots) from performing actions on behalf of actual humans. For example while signing up for a new email account, you will come across a CAPTCHA at the end of the sign-up form so as to ensure that the form is filled out only by a legitimate human and not by any of the automated software or a computer bot. The main goal of CAPTCHA is to put forth a test which is simple and straight forward for any human to answer but for a computer, it is almost impossible to solve.

 

What is the Need to Create a Test that Can Tell Computers and Humans Apart?

For many the CAPTCHA may seem to be silly and annoying, but in fact it has the ability to protect systems from malicious attacks where people try to game the system. Attackers can make use of automated softwares to generate a huge quantity of requests thereby causing a high load on the target server which would degrade the quality of service of a given system, whether due to abuse or resource expenditure. This can affect millions of legitimate users and their requests. CAPTCHAs can be deployed to protect systems that are vulnerable to email spam, such as the services from Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail.

 

Who Uses CAPTCHA?

CAPTCHAs are mainly used by websites that offer services like online polls and registration forms. For example, Web-based email services like Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail offer free email accounts for their users. However upon each sign-up process, CAPTCHAs are used to prevent spammers from using a bot to generate hundreds of spam mail accounts.

 

Designing a CAPTCHA System

CAPTCHAs are designed on the fact that computers lack the ability that human beings have when it comes to processing visual data. It is more easily possible for humans to look at an image and pick out the patterns than a computer. This is because computers lack the real intelligence that humans have by default. CAPTCHAs are implemented by presenting users with an image which contains distorted or randomly stretched characters which only humans should be able to identify. Sometimes characters are striked out or presented with a noisy background to make it even more harder for computers to figure out the patterns.
Most, but not all, CAPTCHAs rely on a visual test. Some Websites implement a totally different CAPTCHA system to tell humans and computers apart. For example, a user is presented with 4 images in which 3 contains picture of animals and one contain a flower. The user is asked to select only those images which contain animals in them. This Turing test can easily be solved by any human, but almost impossible for a computer.

 

Breaking the CAPTCHA

The challenge in breaking the CAPTCHA lies in real hard task of teaching a computer how to process information in a way similar to how humans think. Algorithms with artificial intelligence (AI) will have to be designed in order to make the computer think like humans when it comes to recognizing the patterns in images. However there is no universal algorithm that could pass through and break any CAPTCHA system and hence each CAPTCHA algorithm must have to be tackled individually. It might not work 100 percent of the time, but it can work often enough to be worthwhile to spammers.

HOW TO USE WINDOWS 7 WITHOUT ACTIVATION

Most of you might be aware of the fact that it is possible to use Windows 7 and Vista for 120 days without activation. This is actually possible using the slmgr -rearm command which will extend the grace period from 30 days to 120 days. However in this post I will show you a small trick using which it is possible to use Windows 7 without activation for approximately an year! Here is a way to do that.

1. Goto “Start Menu -> All Programs -> Accessories” . Right click on “Command Prompt” and select “Run as Administrator“. If you are not the administrator then you are prompted to enter the password, or else you can proceed to step-2.

2. Now type the following command and hit enter slmgr -rearm

3. You will be prompted to restart the computer. Once restarted the trial period will be once again reset to 30 days. You can use the above command for up to 3 times by which you can extend the trial period to 120 days without activation.
4. Now comes the actual trick by which you can extend the trial period for another 240 days. Open Registry Editor (type regedit in “Run” and hit Enter) and navigate to the following location

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform

5. In right-side pane, change value of SkipRearm to 1. 6. Now you will be able to use the slmgr -rearm command for another 8 times so that you can skip activation process for another 240 days. So you will get 120 + 240 = 360 days of free Windows 7 usage.

120 days using “slmgr -rearm” command before registry edit +                                                                                                                                                                 
240 days using “slmgr -rearm” command after registry edit
 =      360 Days

HOW WINDOWS PRODUCT ACTIVATION (WAP) WORKS

Windows Product Activation or WPA is a license validation procedure introduced by Microsoft Corporation in all versions of it’s Windows operating system. WPA was first introduced in Windows XP and continues to exist in Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7 as well. WPA enforces each end user to activate their copy of Windows so as to prevent unauthorized usage beyond the specific period of time until it is verified as genuine by Microsoft. How WPA really works was a closely guarded secret until GmbH analyzed WPA using a copy of Windows XP RC1 and published a paper on their findings.In this post you will find answers to some of the      most frequently asked questions about Windows Product Activation.

 

Why activation?

Microsoft’s intention behind the activation is to limit the usage of it’s Windows operating system to only one machine for which the retail license is issued. Any other computer which runs on the same license must be disallowed from using the software. Thus WPA demands for activation of the product within 30 days of it’s installation so as to ensure that it is genuine.

 

What does “Genuine Windows” means?

The copy of Windows is said to be genuine only if the product key used during the installation is genuine. It means that a given product key (retail license) must be used to install Windows only on one computer for which the license was purchased. Thus if the same key is used for the installation on another computer, then it is said to be a pirated copy.

 

Exactly what information is transmitted during the activation?

When you activate your copy of Windows you are transmitting an Installation ID code to the Microsoft either by phone or Internet depending on the method you choose to activate. Based on this, the Microsoft’s licensing system can determine whether or not the installed OS is genuine. If it is said to be genuine, then the system will receive the Activation ID which completes the activation process. If the activation is done via telephone then the Activation ID needs to be entered manually to complete the activation process.

 

What information does the Installation ID contain?

This Installation ID is a 50-digit number which is derived from the following two data.
1. Product ID – It is actually derived from the 25-digit product key (the alphanumeric value that is printed on the sticker over the Windows CD/DVD case) that is entered during the installation of the operating system. The Product ID is used to uniquely identify your copy of Windows.
2. Hardware ID – This value is derived based on the hardware configuration of your computer.
The WPA system checks the following 10 categories of the computer hardware to derive the Hardware ID:

• Display Adapter
• SCSI Adapter
• IDE Adapter (effectively the motherboard)
• Network Adapter (NIC) and its MAC Address
• RAM Amount Range (i.e., 0-64mb, 64-128mb, etc.)
• Processor Type
• Processor Serial Number
• Hard Drive Device
• Hard Drive Volume Serial Number (VSN)
• CD-ROM / CD-RW / DVD-ROM

Thus the Installation ID which is a combination of Product ID and Hardware ID is finally derived and sent to Microsoft during the activation process.

 

How is the Installation ID validated?

The Installation ID needs to be validated to confirm the authenticity of the installed copy of Windows. So after the Installation ID is received by Microsoft, it is decoded back so as to obtain the actual product key and the hardware details of the computer involved in the activation process.
The Microsoft’s system will now look to see if this is the first time the product key is being used for the activation. This happens when the user is trying to activate his Windows for the first time after purchase. If this is the case then the Installation ID is validated and the corresponding Activation ID is issued which completes the activation process.
However Microsoft system will now associate this product key with the hardware ID of the computer and stores this information on their servers. In simple words, during the first use of the product key, it is paired together with the Hardware ID and this information is stored up on the Microsoft servers.

 

What if a computer running a pirated copy of Windows attempts to activate?

 The activation fails whenever the copy of Windows installed is not said to be genuine. This usually happens when the product key used for the installation is said to have been used earlier on a different computer. This is determined during the activation process as follows:
During the validation of the Installation ID, the Microsoft’s system checks to see if the same product key was used in any of the previous activation processes. If yes then it looks to see the Hardware ID associated with it. The computer running a pirated copy of Windows will obviously have a different hardware configuration and hence the Hardware ID will mismatch. In this case the activation process will fail.
Thus for a successful activation, either of the following two cases must be satisfied:

1. The product key must have been used for the first time. ie: The product key should not have been used for earlier activations on any other computer.
2. If the product key is said to have been used earlier, then the Hardware ID should match. This happens only if the same computer for which the license was genuinely purchased is attempting for subsequent activation.

 

What about formatting the hard disk?

Each time the hard disk is reformatted and Windows is re-installed, it needs to be re-activated. However the activation process will be completed smoothly since the same computer is attempting for subsequent activation. In this case both the product key and the Hardware ID will match and hence the activation becomes successful.

 

What is I upgrade or make changes to my hardware?

In the above mentioned 10 categories of hardware, at least 7 should be the same. Thus you are allowed to make changes to not more than 3 categories of hardware. If you make too many changes then your activation will fail. In this case, it is necessary to contact the customer service representative via phone and explain about your problem. If he is convinced he may re-issue a new product key for your computer using which you can re-activate your Windows.

 

Some things WPA does not do

• WPA does not send any personal information at all about you to Microsoft. There is still an option to register the product with Microsoft, but that is separate and entirely voluntary.
• If you prefer to activate via phone, you are not required to give any personal information to Microsoft.
• WPA does not provide a means for Microsoft to turn off your machine or damage your data/hardware. (Nor do they even have access to your data). This is a common myth that many people have about Microsoft products.
• WPA is not a “lease” system requiring more payments after two years or any other period. You may use the product as licensed in perpetuity.

I have tried my best to uncover the secret behind the WPA. For further details and more technical information you can read the actual paper by Fully Licensed GmbH at http://www.licenturion.com/xp/fully-licensed-wpa.txt.

THINGS THAT FIREFOX CAN DO FOR YOU.

There are hundreds of things that Firefox can do. Extensions can enhance your Firefox, but browsing through hundreds of extensions can be time consuming and some of them are useless.

What are the most popular and most functional Firefox extenstions ?

1. Block ads on webpages : Adblock Plus
2. Use mouse gestures (powersurfing) : All-in-One Gestures
3. Download manager in a statusbar : Download Statusbar
4. Customize Google pages; remove ads : CustomizeGoogle
5. Discover interesting sites being recommended by others : StumbleUpon
6. Manage tabs (multiple links/duplicate/close etc ) : Tab Mix Plus
7. Look up any word in dictionary : Answers
8. Translate pages : Translator
9. Download videos : Video DownloadHelper
10. Block Flash ads or content : Flashblock
11. Blog about the current page : Performancing for Firefox
12. Clear the cache with one click on the toolbar : Clear Cache Button
13. Surf the web without leaving a trace in my computer : Stealther
14. View an Internet-Explorer-only webpage in Firefox : IE Tab
15. See weather information : ForecastFox
16. Download/upload files using ftp : FireFTP
17. Speed up Firefox : Fasterfox
18. Blog to Blogger service : BlogThis
19. Synchronize Firefox bookmarks on different computers : Bookmarks Synchronizer
20. Bypass mandatory registration of username and password for sites : BugMeNot
21. Be notified when new mail arrives at Gmail account : Gmail Notifier
22. See thumbnails of pages in session history : Reveal
23. Store and sync bookmarks online : Chipmark
24. Chat on the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) : ChatZilla
25. Minimize Firefox to system tray : MinimizeToTray
26. Use Gmail for space : Gmail Space
27. Add/remove/change some features for sites : GreaseMonkey
28. Block phishing sites : NetcraftToolbar
29. Control iTunes using Firefox : FoxyTunes
30. Use a sidebar to control multiple functions : All-in-One Sidebar
31. Open PDF files in a new tab : PDF Download
32. Save all the images/media on a page : Magpie
33. Zoom in/out on an image : Image Zoom
34. Search the bookmarks : Locate in Bookmark Folders
35. Manage user styles for sites : Stylish
36. Edit bookmarks easily : Flat Bookmark Editing
37. Download/open all/selected links on a page : Linky
38. Add a powerful multi-functional preference bar : PrefBar
39. Add more search engines to Firefox search box : Mycroft
40. Create a tiny url : TinyUrl Creator
41. Track time spent browsing / on a project : TimeTracker
42. Add RSS feeds to web-based/desktop readers or reader extensions : LiveLines
43. Search up to 25 custom chosen sites : Roll your Own Search for Firefox
44. See Alexa information, search engine backlinks for a page : SearchStatus
45. Fill web forms with name/address/email etc : Autofill
46. See all tabs in one window : Viamatic foXpose
47. Automatically copy the selected text to clipboard : AutoCopy
48. Change user agent for certain sites : User Agent Switcher
49. Find the meaning of selected word in a dictionary : DictionarySearch
50. Create new different passwords for different sites : PasswordMaker