1. Run An Internet Filter In IE 7.

Many parents out there, are worried about their kids once they have an Internet Connection at home. From sex, to violence its all available on the internet and worst still most of it is FREE at first!  This is the lure.  The cost comes later in many forms!
 

This is a concern raising the daily stress level of many parents. I have a few tips on how you can control your kids web activities.

Start with restricting our innocent life from gaining access to such websites.
If you are using Internet Explorer

(IE) 5.0 and above, its a great place to start.
IE has a feature to restrict such websites displaying sex, violence, and many other things, only that 90% of the parents are not aware of this great facility provided by Microsoft.
Steps to a stress free kids life.

1. Open IE.
2. Go to the Tools menu and click on Internet Options.
3. Select the Content Tab.
4. Click on Enable.
5. On the dialogue box, you can choose a rating standard. for each area, you can choose a level to which one can gain access. for sex, nudity, language and violence. select your choice, you can choose to allow a little bit of everything to not allowing anything of such content.
6. Click on advanced tab after you are done with the selection of levels.
7. Enter a password and keep it to yourself. make sure your smart kids cannot guess what it is.
8. Click OK, and close all windows.
9. Test It For Yourself! Go to a sex website, and the content advisor will block it, asking for a password.
10. If That Happens Then All Is Well For Now!

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2. How to use the Recovery Console command prompt in Windows XP.

When you use the Recovery Console, you are working at a special command prompt instead of the ordinary Windows command prompt. The Recovery Console has its own command interpreter. To enter this command interpreter, you are prompted by Recovery Console to type the local Administrator password.

When the Recovery Console starts, you can press F6 to install a third-party SCSI or RAID driver, in case you need such a driver to access the hard disk. This prompt works the same as it does during installation of the operating system.

The Recovery Console takes several seconds to start. When the Recovery Console menu appears, a numbered list of the Windows installations on the computer appears. (Generally, only c:\Windows exists.) Press a number before you press ENTER, even when only one entry appears. If you press ENTER without selecting a number, the computer restarts and begins the process again.

When you see the prompt for %SystemRoot% (generally C:\Windows), you can start using the available commands for the Recovery Console.

Command actions

The following list describes the available commands for the Recovery Console:

• Attrib changes attributes on one file or subdirectory.

• Batch executes commands that you specify in the text file, Inputfile. Outputfile holds the output of the commands. If you omit the Outputfile parameter, output appears on the screen.

• Bootcfg modifies the Boot.ini file for boot configuration and recovery.

• CD (Chdir) operates only in the system directories of the current Windows installation, removable media, the root directory of any hard disk partition, or the local installation sources.

• Chkdsk The /p switch runs Chkdsk even if the drive is not flagged as dirty. The /r switch locates bad sectors and recovers readable information. This switch implies /p. Chkdsk requires Autochk. Chkdsk automatically looks for Autochk.exe in the startup folder. If Chkdsk cannot find the file in the startup folder, it looks for the Windows 2000 Setup CD-ROM. If Chkdsk cannot find the installation CD-ROM, Chkdsk prompts the user for the location of Autochk.exe.

• Cls clears the screen.

• Copy copies one file to a target location. By default, the target cannot be removable media, and you cannot use wildcard characters. Copying a compressed file from the Windows 2000 Setup CD-ROM automatically decompresses the file.

• Del (Delete) deletes one file. Operates within the system directories of the current Windows installation, removable media, the root directory of any hard disk partition, or the local installation sources. By default, you cannot use wildcard characters.

• Dir displays a list of all files, including hidden and system files.

• Disable disables a Windows system service or driver. The variable service_or_driver is the name of the service or driver that you want to disable. When you use this command to disable a service, the command displays the service's original startup type before it changes the type to SERVICE_DISABLED. Note the original startup type so that you can use the enable command to restart the service.

• Diskpart manages partitions on hard disk volumes. The /add option creates a new partition. The /delete option deletes an existing partition. The variable device is the device name for a new partition (such as \device\harddisk0). The variable drive is the drive letter for a partition that you are deleting (for example, D). Partition is the partition-based name for a partition that you are deleting, (for example: \device\harddisk0\partition1) and can be used instead of the drive variable. The variable size is the size, in megabytes, of a new partition.

• Enable enables a Windows system service or driver. The variable service_or_driver is the name of the service or driver that you want to enable, and start_type is the startup type for an enabled service. The startup type uses one of the following formats:

SERVICE_BOOT_START

SERVICE_SYSTEM_START

SERVICE_AUTO_START

SERVICE_DEMAND_START

• Exit quits the Recovery Console, and then restarts the computer.

• Expand expands a compressed file. The variable source is the file that you want to expand. By default, you cannot use wildcard characters. The variable destination is the directory for the new file. By default, the destination cannot be removable media and cannot be read-only. You can use the attrib command to remove the read-only attribute from the destination directory. The option /f:filespec is required if the source contains more than one file. This option permits wildcard characters. The /y switch disables the overwrite confirmation prompt. The /d switch specifies that the files will not be expanded and displays a directory of the files in the source.

• Fixboot writes a new startup sector on the system partition.

• Fixmbr repairs the startup partition's master boot code. The variable device is an optional name that specifies the device that requires a new Master Boot Record. Omit this variable when the target is the startup device.

• Format formats a disk. The /q switch performs a quick format. The /fs switch specifies the file system.

• Help If you do not use the command variable to specify a command, help lists all the commands that the Recovery Console supports.

• Listsvc displays all available services and drivers on the computer.

• Logon displays detected installations of Windows and requests the local Administrator password for those installations. Use this command to move to another installation or subdirectory.

• Map displays currently active device mappings. Include the arc option to specify the use of Advanced RISC Computing (ARC) paths (the format for Boot.ini) instead of Windows device paths.

• MD (Mkdir) operates only within the system directories of the current Windows installation, removable media, the root directory of any hard disk partition, or the local installation sources.

• More/Type displays the specified text file on screen.

• Rd (Rmdir) operates only within the system directories of the current Windows installation, removable media, the root directory of any hard disk partition, or the local installation sources.

• Ren (Rename) operates only within the system directories of the current Windows installation, removable media, the root directory of any hard disk partition, or the local installation sources. You cannot specify a new drive or path as the target.

• Set displays and sets the Recovery Console environment variables.

• Systemroot sets the current directory to %SystemRoot%.

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3. Customize Windows XP’s General tab

It’s easy to customize Windows XP’s General tab in the System Properties dialog box with your support contact information and your company’s logo just by using Notepad.

Here’s how:

1. Launch Notepad and type the following text, replacing the dummy information shown here with your own:

[General]

Manufacturer=Internet Fixes

Model=5678912

[Support Information]

Line1=Call 555-1212 for technical support

Line2=Call 555-1212 for technical support

Line3=Call 555-1212 for technical support

Line4=Call 555-1212 for technical support

2. Save the file in the C:\Windows\System32 folder as Oeminfo.ini.

3. To add your logo to the General tab, create a 256-color BMP file that is 96 by 96 pixels in size.

4. Save the file in the C:\Windows\System32 folder as Oemlogo.bmp.  

After you create the files, you can check the results immediately by pressing [Windows][Break]. This will quickly bring up the System Properties dialog box.

Note: This tip applies to Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional.

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Windows XP has a Prefetcher component, which shortens the amount of time it takes to start Windows and programs. When trouble shooting either Windows or program start-up issues, it might be helpful to disable the prefetcher, because it runs as a background service while other applications are running or loading.

To disable the prefetcher:

1. Start the Registry Editor

2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ SessionManager \ Memory Management \ PrefetchParameters

3. Double-click the EnablePrefetcher value (remember the value that EnablePrefetcher is set to!)

4. Change the Value data to 0 to disable the prefetcher

5. Close the registry editor and reboot the computer for the changes to take effect

When done troubleshooting, you can re-enable the prefetcher by changing the Value data to its original value.

Values for EnablePrefetcher are:

0 – no prefetch

1 – prefetch applications only

2 – prefetch boot only

3 – prefetch both applications & boot (default)

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5. Problems locating the folder containing Outlook Express dbx files.

You can locate the folder containing these files by opening Outlook Express and clicking on Tools > Options. Next, click on the Maintenance Tab and then on the "Store Folder" button. You will be presented with a "Store Location" window displaying the path to the folder containing the database files.

Another way would be to Click on Start > Search > Files and Folders.  When the search window opens type in *.dbx in the file to search for and then select the C: drive to search.  This will show you all the dbx files you have.

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6. Vista Problem Program Installs.

When installing programs in Vista, particularly older ones, then use "Run as Administrator". If you put a CD in and it autoruns you must cancel that then browse to the setup program on the CD, right click on it and chose Run as administrator.

If that still doesn't work then use the compatibility option to set the program to run with XP SP2 compatibility.

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The Fix:
A: Hit the Ctrl Alt Del keys to bring up the Task Manager. Select the Process Tab, choose Exlporer.exe and click End Process. Ignore the message.
 

B: Stay in the Task Manager but this time Select File, New Task (Run) and type explorer and click OK.
What Happened: Windows Explorer is no where near perfect and can cause intermediate freezing for no apparent reason. The fix reloads explorer and by doing so rids itself of the problem.
 

A More Permanent Fix: If this behavior continues consider using a third Party Explorer Replacement such as Explorer2 lite, FileWorks XP or Explorer XP.

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8. Computer Continues To Freeze.

The Fix: The usual suspects are the Temp, Internet Cache and a failing Hard Drive
 

A: By Open and use Window's own cleanup tool you can get rid of all the suspects. The Tool is called Disk CleanUp and is one of many Windows System Tools. Access these via the Start Menu under All Programs>Accessories. After the cleanup is finished run the Check Disk Utility. Have your Windows Installation CD Handy.
 

B: Open My Computer, Right Click the appropriate Drive, choose properties then choose the Tools tab.
 

C: Click Check Now in the Error- Checking area.
 

D: Check both Automatically Fix File System Errors and Scan For and Attempt Recover Of Bad Sectors options then Click OK.
 

E: Run both your anti virus and anti spy ware scanners
 

F: Fix any ActiveX problems by opening the Control Panel; choose Internet Options then under the General Tab/Settings/View Objects right click to delete any items marked "Damaged" in the status column.
 

G: Last but not least run the good old System File Checker by clicking Start then Run and type in cmd and hit the enter key. In the new Command Line box at the prompt type "sfc /scannow" (without the quotes). Make coffee as this scan may take a while. After all that and you are still having problems then you have gone as far as a typical user can go. Now is the time to ask the questions or seek further help.

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9. Copying all of the files on C: to a folder called BACKUP on D.

I’ll assume that you’re copying all of the files on C: to a folder called BACKUP on D:. (Remember: Because I'm copying all the files on C: to D:, D: will need to be larger than C:.) To do so, your batch file would include the following commands:

D:

CD\

MD BACKUP

A:

XCOPY C:\*.* D:\BACKUP /E /V /C /I /H /Y 

This batch file switches to the D: drive and makes a directory called BACKUP. The batch file then switches to the A: drive so that it can run the XCOPY command (which you should have on your boot disk). The XCOPY command then copies all of the files on the C: drive to the D: drive. The switches that I’ve used with XCOPY do the following:

/E copies all subdirectories including the empty ones.

/V verifies each file after it’s been copied.

/C continues the copy process should an error occur.

/I tells XCOPY that if a specific destination doesn’t exist, assume that the destination must be a folder.

/H copies all hidden and system files.

/Y suppresses to prompt that asks you to confirm whether or not you want to overwrite a file. 

Once you've copied all the files on C: to the BACKUP folder on D:, you can burn this information to a CD.

Restoring the image

After you’ve created the image CD, the next trick is to use the image CD to fix a failing PC or to configure a new PC. To do so, boot the PC from your boot disk and then use a batch file like this one. This batch file assumes that Windows will be installed on C: and that E: is the CD-ROM drive:

E:

XCOPY *.* C:\ /E /V /C /I /H /Y /R

There are only two differences in this XCOPY command and the one that I used to create the image. The first difference is the source and destination paths. The second difference is the addition of the /R switch. The /R switch tells XCOPY to overwrite any files that might already exist that are flagged as read only.

Once you've copied all the files from your image CD to the PC hard drive, you should be able to boot the PC normally.

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10. Start with a fresh Windows XP system every day.

To help you automate this type of operation, Microsoft Windows XP comes with a command-line utility called Shutdown.exe, which can restart your system. To make this happen automatically, you can configure it to run at a specified time with the Scheduled Tasks tool. Here’s how:

1. Go to Control Panel | Scheduled Tasks.

2. Double-click Add Scheduled Task to launch the Scheduled Task Wizard.

3. Click Next and then click the Browse button.

4. Access the Windows\System32 folder, select Shutdown.exe, and click Open.

5. Follow the wizard through the next two screens to give the task a name and choose a schedule.

6. Enter your user account name and password and click Next.

7. Select the Open Advanced Properties check box and click Finish.

8. In the task’s Properties dialog box, add the /r parameter to the end of the command line in the Run text box and click OK. (Be sure to include a space between the last character in the command name and the first character in the parameter list.)

9. Enter your user account name and password and click OK.

When the Shutdown utility runs, you’ll momentarily see a small dialog box on your screen before the system restarts.

Note: This tip applies to both Windows XP Home and Professional editions.

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12. Making The Windows XP Favorites Menu More Useful In Windows Explorer!

Similar to Internet Explorer, the Favorites menu in Windows XP appears in Windows Explorer. This makes it easy for you to access the Internet from within Windows Explorer. However, it really serves no other purpose in Windows Explorer—even though it has the potential to do so much more.

You can make hard disk and network navigation much easier and more efficient if you use the Favorites menu as a place to keep shortcuts to deeply nested folders on your hard disk, as well as to network drives that you access frequently. Doing so just takes a bit of rethinking about how you use and organize the Favorites menu.

Here's how:
1. Press [Windows]R to access the Run dialog box, type Favorites in the Open text box, and click OK to open the Favorites folder in Windows Explorer.
2. Use the "Make A New Folder" command in the File And Folder Tasks pane to create three new folders naming them Internet, Local Folders , and Network Folders.
3. Move all of your Internet links, except the folder titled Links into the newly created Internet folder.
4. Navigate to some of the deeply nested folders on your hard disk that you access frequently and use the Add To Favorites command on the Favorites menu to create links in the Local Folders folder.
5. Navigate to some of the network shares that you access frequently and use the Add To Favorites command to create links in the Network Folders folder.

Now, when you're in Windows Explorer you can use the Local Folders and Network Folders shortcuts on the Favorites menu to make quick work of your regular hard disk and network navigation.

Note: This tip applies to both Windows XP Professional and Home.

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14. Assign A Drive Letter To A Network Computer Or Folder!

1. Open My Computer.
2. On the Tools menu, click Map Network Drive.
3. In Drive, select a drive letter.
4. In Folder, type the server and share name of the computer or folder you want.

Example:
\\servername\sharename.
-or-
Click Browse to find the computer or folder.

Side Notes:
- To open My Computer, double-click the My Computer icon on the desktop.
- To reconnect to the mapped drive every time you log on, select the Reconnect at logon check box.
- Mapped drives are available only when the host computer is available.
- Network drives are assigned letters from Z to A, and local drives (your hard drive and removable storage devices) are assigned letters from A to Z.
- You can assign a computer or shared folder to a different drive letter by disconnecting from the drive and then reassigning it to a new drive letter.
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- To change the background design, the color, or the position of the background design on your screen, click the Desktop tab in the Display Properties dialog box.
 

- To change the icons on your desktop, click the Desktop tab in the Display Properties dialog box, and then click Customize Desktop.
 

- To change the screen saver, click the Screen Saver tab in the Display Properties dialog box.
 

- To change the color scheme, the window and button styles, or the font size, click the Appearance tab in the Display Properties dialog box.
 

- To change the color, the size, and the font settings of individual window elements, click the Appearance tab in the Display Properties dialog box, and then click Advanced.
 

- To change your mouse pointer scheme or the appearance of individual pointers, click the Pointers tab in the Mouse Properties dialog box. (Click Start, click Control Panel, click Printers and Other Hardware, and then click Mouse.)
 

- To change a sound scheme or to apply a sound to individual program events, click the Sounds tab in the Sounds and Audio Devices Properties dialog box. (Click Start, click Control Panel, click Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices, and then click Sounds and Audio Devices.)

4. When you finish making the changes that you want, click the Themes tab in the Display Properties dialog box, and then click Apply.

The changes that you make to the theme are saved as Previous theme name (Modified), where "Previous theme name" is the name of the previous theme. This name is displayed in the Theme list, and it is the default name of the theme when you modify it but before you save it with a new name.
 

5. Click Save As.
6. In the Save As dialog box, type a name for your new theme, and then click Save.
7. Click OK.

Your new theme is displayed in the Theme list and is applied to your desktop.

New themes are saved in the My Documents folder with the .theme file name extension. For example, you might name your file InternetFixes.theme. To open the My Documents folder, click Start, and then click My Documents.

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