Help Troubleshoot the Blue Screen of Death by Preventing Automatic Reboot

One of the most frustrating things about troubleshooting random blue screen errors is that the computer reboots before you have a chance to write down the error messages so you can Google them later. Here’s how to fix that.
This is especially annoying if you keep getting blue screen errors because of some device conflict—I remember watching one of my friends trying to time it so he could snap a picture with his camera before it rebooted…

Disable Automatic Reboot after Blue Screen Errors

The quick and easy solution is to just turn off the automatic reboot option and force the blue screen to stay there, so that’s what we’ll show today.
Right-click on the Computer icon and choose Properties. Windows 7 or Vista users will be taken to the system properties screen, so click on Advanced system settings.

The Advanced tab should already be selected, so you’ll want to click the Settings button under “Startup and Recovery”.

Here we go… just uncheck the option for Automatically restart under the System failure section.

Next time you get a BSOD you’ll be able to see it and able to write down the error message. You’ll have to manually reboot the computer if this happens, of course.

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How to reset Windows admin password without knowing the old password

Here is a simple tutorial on resetting the admin account password of any Windows Operating System.  All you will require for this is one Ubuntu live CD.

1. Insert Ubuntu Live CD and boot from it.
2. Open terminal and install chntpw in Ubuntu. To do so use the following commands.
   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install chntpw
3. Now mount your Windows volume. In my case it was dev/sda1. Replace it with yours.
   sudo mkdir /media/WINDOWS
   sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/WINDOWS
4. Now navigate to the Windows configuration folder.
   cd /media/WINDOWS/WINDOWS/system32/config/
5. To reset the administrator password enter
   sudo chntpw SAM
6. After completing this command you will see 5 different choices. Select the 1st one and press Enter and done.
   

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How to show a banner at each startup in Windows

There is a hidden feature in Windows and not many users know anything about it. You can setup a banner with a message in it. Each time your Windows boots up the same banner will pop up. The message can be anything from a welcome message to some important information. You can use it in the way you want. Follow the simple steps given below to setup a banner for your Windows system :

• First of all, go to “start” –> “run”.
• Type “regedit” and hit Enter.
• A new window will open named “registry editor”. In the left panal of the “registry editor”, go to the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\ system
• Now right click on the right panel, choose “new”,Select “string value”. A new “string value” will be created.
• Right click on it and choose “rename”. Type “LegalNoticeCaption” .
• Right click on that “string value” and choose “modify”. On the “value data:” area, type the text or value that you want to see in the title bar of the banner.
• Now create yet another new “string value” in the right panel and “rename” it to “LegalNoticeText”.
• Right click on that “string value” and choose “modify”. On the “value data:” part, type the message you want to display each time windows boots.
• Now, close the “registry editor”.
• Restart your computer.

Now, after the “boot screen” and just before the “welcome screen” a new banner will pop up which contains your message and an “OK” button. The users have to click on the “OK” button to proceed.

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How to Speedup Slow Startup Times in Windows 7

Its an excellent article on speeding up boot-times in windows 7 by Sandro Villinger. Most of such articles do not go further than msconfig.exe, but this is not like that. Like this article talks about “MainPathBootTime” Smile. Windows 7 is a fast beast, especially when it comes to its startup process which was optimized dramatically compared to Windows Vista. No wonder, as Microsoft has a dedicated team focusing strictly on startup performance. 


On a system with one- to two-year-old hardware, Windows 7 usually takes only 20 to 40 seconds to boot up. Even the performance-wise challenged netbooks rarely need more than a minute to be ready for work! Certainly, boot times vary significantly from one computer to another. This is nothing new. But if Windows 7 clients need way longer – and we’re talking way over one or two minutes – then you’re looking at a resource hog. 

So what could be causing the problem?
* You just installed a new driver, which hasn’t been WHQL-certified and delays the boot up process. It could be a simple driver bug!
* You installed a piece of resource-intense software that initializes a process or a service during startup.
* You updated existing software or Windows 7 itself. Yes, it’s not unheard of that some updates cause a significant boot delay.

Or its may be a combination of all three causes. In any case, something is clearly taking up too much resources during startup time. To get to the bottom of the mystery, you need to follow a couple of step-by-step instructions to find and resolve the issue. Ready? Here’s how!

Find Out Exactly How Long Windows 7 Needs to Start Up:
Let’s start off by finding out the exact time the Windows 7 client needs to start up. And guess what, no stopwatch is required! Windows 7’s very own Event Viewer does the trick. In the following four steps you learn to measure both the raw boot time and the real life boot time (and what both mean).
Read rest on Original source.

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Add or Remove Context Menu Items in Windows 7 and Vista

ShellNewHandler is an Open-Source Tool to enable or disable ShellNew entries, aka New File context menu entries from Windows Explorer in Vista and Windows 7. You only need to check or uncheck items to enable a desktop right-click context menu item. No need to install this tiny application. 


When you working on windows context menu is a very important and useful tool. It provides us with many shortcuts enabling to perform our work faster and easier. You can create many new files like jpg, bmp, word or excel directly with a single click serves in saving a lot of time. Sometimes we do not require all the options available in the new option. These extra options can be disabled or removed with ShellNewHandler. 

Using this freeware application ShellNewHandler you can easily add or remove items from the context menu new option. It is extremely simple and easy to use. It consists of one single main window providing item options. These can be checked or unchecked as user requirements. 


Primary designed for Windows Vista. Works  also on Windows 7. Should work on Windows XP too. Simple check the items in ListView to enable  an context menu entry and uncheck to disable it.

NOTE:  The process requires to run the tool with  Administrator privileges on Windows Vista  and Windows 7.

Download ShellNewHandler:
ShellNewHandler (10.9 KB)

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Disable Auto Reboot on Windows Updates

When you updates via Windows Update manually or scheduled Automatic Updates automatically, system will auto-restart or auto-reboot in order to apply all the updates. Its almost same in Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP, after installing downloaded. Though Windows 7 has added option to allow users to postpone or delay the restart, the computer will still automatically restart sometime later, if the updates required system to be rebooted to finish the installation.
After the installing of updates completed which requires to restart Windows, system will notify users that it needs to restart, and if there is no response from user in 5 minutes, Windows will automatically reboot the computer, even though user is logged on, and has programs running or documents opened. This result to lost any unsaved data, such as files, documents, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, and downloads or processes such as backup or defragmentation that not yet finished will be terminated.

We can prevent Windows from automatically restart. Just use the this trick to disable the auto restart after installing Windows Updates feature.

~Goto Start button and open Run, and type gpedit.msc to open Group Policy Editor.
~In Local Group Policy Editor, navigate to Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Update.
~Double click on No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates installations.
~Select Enabled radio button and click OK.
~Close GPEDIT (Local Group Policy Editor).

You can also add this directly in registry, in case of Windows 7, Vista and XP Home edition which does not have a Group Policy Editor.

~In Run type regedit to open Registry Editor.
~Navigate to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU

If the key does not exist, create new key and name accordingly.
~Change the NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers DWORD (32-bit) Value to 1 to disallow auto-reboot. By default, the value is 0 which allow auto-reboot.
If the value does not exist, create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value and name accordingly.
~Close Registry Editor.

After all above settings, Automatic Updates will wait for the computer to be restarted by any user, instead of causing the computer to restart automatically to complete a scheduled installation

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double click on drive shows open with..!!

1.Double click on My computer on Desktop ,
- choose Tool and select “Folder options”
- click on “View” tap select “Show Hidden files and folders” and un hake “Hide Extention….”
- and “Hide protected operating system file” (this selections are important to find the files you need to delete)
- then click “OK”
2. Open Windows Task Manager (ctrl-alt-del) and select the “Processes” tap
- Click on “Image name” to sort File
- find “wscript.exe” and click on “End Process”
- close the “Task Manager”
3. Then click on Start and select “Search” and search for “autorun.inf” (Search the computer)
-  then delete all the files that contains the text MS32DLL.dll.vbs (the virus) by pressing: SHIFT + DELETE. (There of course should not be Autorun.inf in the C rooth).
4. Also delete the virus from the system (C:\WINDOWS\ MS32DLL.dll.vbs) by pressing: SHIFT + DELETE
5. Next step is to edit the Registery . take backup of your registry before editin it.
- first, click on “Start” and select “Run” and type in “Regedit” and press “Enter”.
- select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE –> Software –>Microsoft –>Windows –> Current Version –> Run.
- find there “MS32DLL” and delete that entry.
6. Then select HKEY_CURRENT_USER –> Software –> Microsoft –> Internet Explorer –> Main. There you find “Window Title “Hacked by Godzilla”" and you should delete that entry. You can close the registry now.
7. next click on Start –> Run and type in “gpedit.msc” and press “Enter”. then you will open “Group Policy”.
- there select User Configuration –> Administrative Templates –> System –> and there you will double click on “Turn Off Autoplay”
- in the window there you should select “Enabled” and select “All drives” . Now you can close the Group Policy.
8. Next click on Start –> Run and type “msconfig” and press “Enter”.
- you will open “System Configuration Utility”.
- click on “Startup” tap
- find the file MS32DLL, choose Enable All, then unhake “MS32DLL”
- click Apply then OK to close
- then exit the “System Configuration Utility” and select “Exit Without Restart” when prompt.
9. After this you double click on My Computer and select “Tools” and “Folder Options” and “View” tap to change back there.
- select “Hide Extention…” and “Hide protected operating system file” and “Don’t show hidden files and folders”.
- Then empty the “Recycle bin” and “Restart” your computer.
or visit http://www.techsupportforum.com/sectools/sUBs/Flash_Disinfector.exe
download and execute to get rid of the issue.

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10 reasons why PCs crash U must Know

Fatal error: The system has become unstable or is busy,” it says. “Enter to return to Windows or press Control-Alt-Delete to restart your computer.If you do this you will lose any unsaved information in all open applications.”

You have just been struck by the Blue Screen of Death. Anyone who uses Mcft Windows will be familiar with this. What can you do? More importantly, how can you prevent it happening?

1 Hardware conflict

The number one reason why Windows crashes is hardware conflict. Each hardware device communicates to other devices through an interrupt request channel (IRQ). These are supposed to be unique for each device.
For example, a printer usually connects internally on IRQ 7. The keyboard usually uses IRQ 1 and the floppy disk drive IRQ 6. Each device will try to hog a single IRQ for itself.
If there are a lot of devices, or if they are not installed properly, two of them may end up sharing the same IRQ number. When the user tries to use both devices at the same time, a crash can happen. The way to check if your computer has a hardware conflict is through the following route:
* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager.
Often if a device has a problem a yellow ‘!’ appears next to its description in the Device Manager. Highlight Computer (in the Device Manager) and press Properties to see the IRQ numbers used by your computer. If the IRQ number appears twice, two devices may be using it.
Sometimes a device might share an IRQ with something described as ‘IRQ holder for PCI steering’. This can be ignored. The best way to fix this problem is to remove the problem device and reinstall it.
Sometimes you may have to find more recent drivers on the internet to make the device function properly. A good resource is www.driverguide.com. If the device is a soundcard, or a modem, it can often be fixed by moving it to a different slot on the motherboard (be careful about opening your computer, as you may void the warranty).
When working inside a computer you should switch it off, unplug the mains lead and touch an unpainted metal surface to discharge any static electricity.
To be fair to Mcft, the problem with IRQ numbers is not of its making. It is a legacy problem going back to the first PC designs using the IBM 8086 chip. Initially there were only eight IRQs. Today there are 16 IRQs in a PC. It is easy to run out of them. There are plans to increase the number of IRQs in future designs.

2 Bad Ram

Ram (random-access memory) problems might bring on the blue screen of death with a message saying Fatal Exception Error. A fatal error indicates a serious hardware problem. Sometimes it may mean a part is damaged and will need replacing.
But a fatal error caused by Ram might be caused by a mismatch of chips. For example, mixing 70-nanosecond (70ns) Ram with 60ns Ram will usually force the computer to run all the Ram at the slower speed. This will often crash the machine if the Ram is overworked.
One way around this problem is to enter the BIOS settings and increase the wait state of the Ram. This can make it more stable. Another way to troubleshoot a suspected Ram problem is to rearrange the Ram chips on the motherboard, or take some of them out. Then try to repeat the circumstances that caused the crash. When handling Ram try not to touch the gold connections, as they can be easily damaged.
Parity error messages also refer to Ram. Modern Ram chips are either parity (ECC) or non parity (non-ECC). It is best not to mix the two types, as this can be a cause of trouble.
EMM386 error messages refer to memory problems but may not be connected to bad Ram. This may be due to free memory problems often linked to old Dos-based programmes.

3 BIOS settings

Every motherboard is supplied with a range of chipset settings that are decided in the factory. A common way to access these settings is to press the F2 or delete button during the first few seconds of a boot-up.
Once inside the BIOS, great care should be taken. It is a good idea to write down on a piece of paper all the settings that appear on the screen. That way, if you change something and the computer becomes more unstable, you will know what settings to revert to.
A common BIOS error concerns the CAS latency. This refers to the Ram. Older EDO (extended data out) Ram has a CAS latency of 3. Newer SDRam has a CAS latency of 2. Setting the wrong figure can cause the Ram to lock up and freeze the computer’s display.
Mcft Windows is better at allocating IRQ numbers than any BIOS. If possible set the IRQ numbers to Auto in the BIOS. This will allow Windows to allocate the IRQ numbers (make sure the BIOS setting for Plug and Play OS is switched to ‘yes’ to allow Windows to do this.).

4. Hard disk drives

After a few weeks, the information on a hard disk drive starts to become piecemeal or fragmented. It is a good idea to defragment the hard disk every week or so, to prevent the disk from causing a screen freeze. Go to
* Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-Disk Defragmenter
This will start the procedure. You will be unable to write data to the hard drive (to save it) while the disk is defragmenting, so it is a good idea to schedule the procedure for a period of inactivity using the Task Scheduler.
The Task Scheduler should be one of the small icons on the bottom right of the Windows opening page (the desktop).
Some lockups and screen freezes caused by hard disk problems can be solved by reducing the read-ahead optimisation. This can be adjusted by going to
* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System Icon-Performance-File System-Hard Disk.
Hard disks will slow down and crash if they are too full. Do some housekeeping on your hard drive every few months and free some space on it. Open the Windows folder on the C drive and find the Temporary Internet Files folder. Deleting the contents (not the folder) can free a lot of space.
Empty the Recycle Bin every week to free more space. Hard disk drives should be scanned every week for errors or bad sectors. Go to
* Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-ScanDisk
Otherwise assign the Task Scheduler to perform this operation at night when the computer is not in use.

5 Fatal OE exceptions and VXD errors

Fatal OE exception errors and VXD errors are often caused by video card problems.
These can often be resolved easily by reducing the resolution of the video display. Go to
* Start-Settings-Control Panel-Display-Settings
Here you should slide the screen area bar to the left. Take a look at the colour settings on the left of that window. For most desktops, high colour 16-bit depth is adequate.
If the screen freezes or you experience system lockups it might be due to the video card. Make sure it does not have a hardware conflict. Go to
* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager
Here, select the + beside Display Adapter. A line of text describing your video card should appear. Select it (make it blue) and press properties. Then select Resources and select each line in the window. Look for a message that says No Conflicts.
If you have video card hardware conflict, you will see it here. Be careful at this point and make a note of everything you do in case you make things worse.
The way to resolve a hardware conflict is to uncheck the Use Automatic Settings box and hit the Change Settings button. You are searching for a setting that will display a No Conflicts message.
Another useful way to resolve video problems is to go to
* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Performance-Graphics
Here you should move the Hardware Acceleration slider to the left. As ever, the most common cause of problems relating to graphics cards is old or faulty drivers (a driver is a small piece of software used by a computer to communicate with a device).
Look up your video card’s manufacturer on the internet and search for the most recent drivers for it.

6 Viruses

Often the first sign of a virus infection is instability. Some viruses erase the boot sector of a hard drive, making it impossible to start. This is why it is a good idea to create a Windows start-up disk. Go to
* Start-Settings-Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs
Here, look for the Start Up Disk tab. Virus protection requires constant vigilance.
A virus scanner requires a list of virus signatures in order to be able to identify viruses. These signatures are stored in a DAT file. DAT files should be updated weekly from the website of your antivirus software manufacturer.
An excellent antivirus programme is McAfee VirusScan by Network Associates ( www.nai.com). Another is Norton AntiVirus 2000, made by Symantec ( www.symantec.com).

7 Printers

The action of sending a document to print creates a bigger file, often called a postscript file.
Printers have only a small amount of memory, called a buffer. This can be easily overloaded. Printing a document also uses a considerable amount of CPU power. This will also slow down the computer’s performance.
If the printer is trying to print unusual characters, these might not be recognised, and can crash the computer. Sometimes printers will not recover from a crash because of confusion in the buffer. A good way to clear the buffer is to unplug the printer for ten seconds. Booting up from a powerless state, also called a cold boot, will restore the printer’s default settings and you may be able to carry on.

8 Software

A common cause of computer crash is faulty or badly-installed software. Often the problem can be cured by uninstalling the software and then reinstalling it. Use Norton Uninstall or Uninstall Shield to remove an application from your system properly. This will also remove references to the programme in the System Registry and leaves the way clear for a completely fresh copy.
The System Registry can be corrupted by old references to obsolete software that you thought was uninstalled. Use Reg Cleaner by Jouni Vuorio to clean up the System Registry and remove obsolete entries. It works on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE (Second Edition), Windows Millennium Edition (ME), NT4 and Windows 2000.
Read the instructions and use it carefully so you don’t do permanent damage to the Registry. If the Registry is damaged you will have to reinstall your operating system. Reg Cleaner can be obtained from www.jv16.org
Often a Windows problem can be resolved by entering Safe Mode. This can be done during start-up. When you see the message “Starting Windows” press F4. This should take you into Safe Mode.
Safe Mode loads a minimum of drivers. It allows you to find and fix problems that prevent Windows from loading properly.
Sometimes installing Windows is difficult because of unsuitable BIOS settings. If you keep getting SUWIN error messages (Windows setup) during the Windows installation, then try entering the BIOS and disabling the CPU internal cache. Try to disable the Level 2 (L2) cache if that doesn’t work.
Remember to restore all the BIOS settings back to their former settings following installation.

9 Overheating

Central processing units (CPUs) are usually equipped with fans to keep them cool. If the fan fails or if the CPU gets old it may start to overheat and generate a particular kind of error called a kernel error. This is a common problem in chips that have been overclocked to operate at higher speeds than they are supposed to.
One remedy is to get a bigger better fan and install it on top of the CPU.
CPU problems can often be fixed by disabling the CPU internal cache in the BIOS. This will make the machine run more slowly, but it should also be more stable.

10 Power supply problems

With all the new construction going on around the country the steady supply of electricity has become disrupted. A power surge or spike can crash a computer as easily as a power cut.
If this has become a nuisance for you then consider buying a uninterrupted power supply (UPS). This will give you a clean power supply when there is electricity, and it will give you a few minutes to perform a controlled shutdown in case of a power cut.
It is a good investment if your data are critical, because a power cut will cause any unsaved data to be lost.

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How to remove programs not listed in “Add/Remove Programs”

This problem can occur if the program you installed creates a registry key name that is longer than 60 characters in length. Add/Remove Programs only lists program names it locates up to the point it encounters this situation.Follow the steps given to solve the problem.

• Go to C:\Windows\Inf folder. In the right pane, scroll down to sysoc.inf. Open it with notepad. It will look like…

[Components]
NtComponents=ntoc.dll,NtOcSetupProc,,4
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7

• The word “HIDE” in an entry hides that application from your Add/Remove Programs dialog box. To add ms messenger to the Add/Remove menu, delete the word HIDE from its entry. Don’t delete the “,”(comma) after it.
• Save the file and restart your machine and now you can see that app listed in the add/remove programs list.

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How To Remove W32.sillyFDC Virus|W32.sillyFDC Virus removal

Systems Affected: Windows 98, Windows 95, Windows XP, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows 2000

Effect on the system:When W32.SillyFDC is executed, it may copy itself to the following folder locations:

• %System%
• %Windir%
• %Temp%
• %UserProfile%
• %ProgramFiles%
• %SystemDrive%
• %CommonProgramFiles%
• %CurrentFolder%

Using any of the following file names with a .com or .exe extension:

• CALC
• calc
• mscalc.exe
• startupfolder
• config_
• startupfolder.com
• config_.com
  

It then scans the compromised computer to create copies of itself in various folders. It will use the existing folder name as its new file name. For example, ABC folder will have a copy of the virus inside the folder as ABC.exe.
The worm may copy itself in drives A:\ through Z:\.
Next, it may add a value to the following registry subkeys so that it runs every time Windows starts.:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows\”load”
The worm may attempt to copy itself to removable drives and mapped drives, as well as creating the following file so that the worm runs every time the removable drive is attached to a computer:
[REMOVABLE DRIVE]:\Autorun.inf
How to remove??:
1.First disable the system restore temporarily.
To disable the system restore Right click on My computer and select properties. On the System Restore tab, check Turn off System Restore on all drives.And then click apply and ok.
2.Restart the system in safe mode.
To start your pc in safe mode restart your pc and pree F8 while boot up. You will see something like this on your screen.



Select safe mode from the list.
3.Kill the malicious tasks using task manager.
Press Ctlr+Alt+Del and select Process tab. Kill the following tasks if there.

• password_viewer.exe

• CALC

• calc

• mscalc.exe

• startupfolder

• config_startupfolder.com

• config_.com.

4.Delete the autorun files:
I will recommend you to scan your system using any good antivirus. But if you don’t have any antivirus installed then follow the steps given below.
Open cmd. Type c:
This will take you to the root of c drive. Now type attrib -s -h -r autorun.inf
and then run edit autorun.inf. This will open the autorun.inf file in dos mode.It will look like
***********************************
[autorun]
open=file.exe
shell\Open\Command=file.exe
shell\open\Default=1
shell\Explore\Command=file.exe
shell\Autoplay\command=file.exe
************************************
Now see  the path of the file which is executed using this file.  Now navigate to the desired file using dos.
Now type attrib -s -h -r filename.exe
Delete filename.exe
Note: Chnage the filename.exe with the file name which was there in autorun.inf file.
5.Delete temporary files, temporary internet files and clear recycle bin.:
To do this go to Start > All Programs > Accessories >System Tools, click Disc Cleanup.
Check the following: Downloaded Program Files, Temporary Internet Files, Offline Webpage, Recycle Bin and Temporary Files.
6.View hidden system files and folders:
To do this go to Tools->Folder Options->View
Select Show hidden files and Folders and uncheck “Hide Protectted System Files”
Click apply and ok.
7.Now search for the remaining virus files:
e.g

• CALC
• calc (DO NOT DELETE THE ONE WHICH IS IN WINDOWS/SYSTEM32)
• mscalc.exe
• startupfolder
• config_
• startupfolder.com
• config_.com
• password_viewer.exe

and delete them.
8.Repair registry:
Go to Registry Editor and navigate to following keys.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows\”load”
and in the right side pan select and delete the values associated with the virus.
Install or update your antivirus as soon as possible.

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Copy Windows Error Messages to the Clipboard

Tired of re-typing long error messages just to search the solution for it using google?? Here is the tip to make your life easy. Whenever you get some error just press ctrl+c to copy the error message to your clipboard. Now paste this in the notepad and then select the desired error message and then search in google.

 

error message

You can try this now only. Go to run and type any invalid drive name e.g q: and press enter. You will see some error message on your screen. Now pree ctrl+c and then open notepad and press ctrl+v. There you see  the whole error message in the notepad. Now copy the error message part and paste it in your search bar.

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[HOW TO]Convert FAT 32 partition to NTFS in Windows XPWhat is FAT32?? File Allocation Table system to maintain files on hard disk. Developed by microsoft. Old windows systems like DOS, 98 and Xp supports FAT32 systems. What is NTFS?? Network Technology File System again developed by Microsoft. New OS’s like Vista and Windows 7 supports NTFS systems only. Why convert to NTFS?? * FAT32 limits maximum file size to 4GB whereas there is no such limit in NTFS. * NTFS systems are more secure when compared to FAT32. * Probability of recovering accidentally deleted file is more in NTFS system then FAT32. * Maximum fault tolerance How to Convert?? 1. Go to start->Run type cmd and press Enter. 2. Type VOL C: and note down the information for volume c. (Change drive letter to the drive you want to convert) 3. Now type CONVERT C:/FS:NTFS. (Instead of C: enter any drive name you want.) Converting FAT32 to NTFS Converting FAT32 to NTFS Remember, do not switch off your PC directly when the process is going on. 4.Now check your drive by repeating step 2.

What is FAT32??
File Allocation Table system to maintain files on hard disk. Developed by microsoft. Old windows systems like DOS, 98 and Xp supports FAT32 systems.
What is NTFS??
Network Technology File System again developed by Microsoft. New OS’s like Vista and Windows 7 supports NTFS systems only.
Why convert to NTFS??

• FAT32 limits maximum file size to 4GB whereas there is no such limit in NTFS.
• NTFS systems are more secure when compared to FAT32.
• Probability of recovering accidentally deleted file is more in NTFS system then FAT32.
• Maximum fault tolerance

How to Convert??

1. Go to start->Run type cmd and press Enter.
2. Type VOL C: and note down the information for volume c. (Change drive letter to the drive you want to convert)
3. Now type CONVERT C:/FS:NTFS.  (Instead of C: enter any drive name you want.)

Converting FAT32 to NTFS

Remember, do not switch off your PC directly when the process is going on.
4.Now check your drive by repeating step 2.

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[HOW TO]Install windows 7 from USB drive/Pen drive.

 

 

REQUIREMENTS:

• 1GB RAM and 16GB Hard disk space
• 1GHZ processor.
• Windows 7 iso file.
• Pen drive/ usb drive with 4GB space.

You can download windows 7 iso file from the direct download links given below.
 just get a windows 7 DVD from somewhere if you can.

I assume that you have managed to get the Windows 7 DVD somehow by now. If you have the Windows 7 DVD in your hand then read on.

Follow the steps given below to install Windows 7 from USB drive.

1. Insert your USB thumb drive.
2. Open command prompt. If you are using vista open it with admin rights.
3. Type diskpart and press enter.
4. Type list disk.
5. You will see all the disks connected to your system. If you don’t have any other disk than your Hard disk and pen drive then your pen drive will be Disk . You can guess your pen drive by it’s size also.
6. If it’s disk 1 then type Select disk 1.
7. Now before moving ahead take backup of your important data from pen drive as we will have to format the pen drive.
8. Now go back to CMD and type CLEAN.This will remove partition or volume formatting from the current in-focus disk by zeroing sectors
9. Type CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY and press Enter. This will create a primary partition of length size and a starting address offset on the current drive.
10. Type SELECT PARTITION 1 and press Enter.
    
11. Type ACTIVE. this will mark the currently selected device as active.
12. Now type FORMAT FS=NTFS and press Enter.This process may take some time. Wait for this process to end.This will format your USB drive.
13. Type ASSIGN and press Enter. Then type EXIT .
14. Now insert your Windows 7 DVD in the DVD drive. I will assume that your DVD drive is at D and USB drive is G. Look in your MY computer to know the drive letters for your PC.
15. If you have iso file of Windows 7 then you can use this trick to use iso file without burning.
16. Now open new windows of CMD and navigate to your dvd drive using cmd. If your drive name is d then type D:
17. Now type CD boot and press enter. Then type bootsect /nt60 H: (H is your usb drive letter).
18. Now copy all files to your pen drive.
19. Now the most important step: Reboot your PC and press F2 when the system restarts. This will take you in to BIOS Menu. Under the advanced bios options set the Primary boot device to your Pen drive. Now you are all set to install Windows 7 from USB drive.

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[HOW TO] Remove Total Security 2009 virus/adware

Total Security or TotalSecurity or Total Security 2009 is a fake anti-spyware program. Which when installed on your PC shows some fake virus scan reports saying you have 25-30 trojans and you will have to download some stupid antivirus to remove them. It also blocks all websites on your computer. Your PC will slow down and will hang often. Some known symptoms of this virus are as below.

• Your PC is slower than usual.
• You get too many unnecessary pop-up windows.
• Your PC shows some anti-virus running which you never installed.
• Some of your settings are changed without your knowledge.

It is very easy to remove this program from your system. To remove this spyware from your computer follow the steps given below.

• Open task manager and stop this processes. TotalSecurity 2009.exe, tsc.exe, Sc2C21UvvM.exe.
• Delete following files. Winsource.dll, tsc.exe Sc2C21UvvM.exe winsource.dll TSC.lnk Help.lnk Registration.lnk Uninstall TSC.lnk and also delete the directory at C:\Program Files\TSC.
• Remove registry entries of this files. To do this open registry editor and press F3.Then search for tsc.exe. Delete all the entries of that file from registry. Now search for TotalSecurity and Total Security and delete those entries too.Also look for winsource.dll file in registry and delete related entries from registry.

The virus should be removed from your system by doing this.
Now download and install free edition of AVG  to stay protected in future. Here is the download link.

Download AVG free edition

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[HOW TO]Remove AntiVirGear/AntiVir Gear virus/adware

AntiVIrGear or AntiVir Gear is a adware+spyware program which pretends to be an Anti Spyware Software but actually the program itself is a Spyware. It gets installed in your PC automatically via some trojan or virus.
There is one free and easy to use tool available to remove AntiVirGear from your computer.It’s SmitFraudFix.exe. The download link for this tool is available at the end of this article. To use this tool first boot your PC in safe mode. Then run the SmitFraudFix.exe.When it comes to menu screen select the second option.

When the AntiVirGear is removed from your computer a disk cleanup process will start. It will clean all temp files and other unnecessary crap. Once the disk cleanup is finished it will ask you whether you want to clean registry or not. Press Y and hit enter. After that your computer will reboot. When rebooted your computer will be free from AntiVirGear.
If you need any help to remove any kind of virus or spyware you can contact me at computertricks[at]etricks.in or post your queries in comments here.
Enjoy

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How to remove recycler.exe virus from Pen Drive

Recycler.exe virus mainly spreads through Pen drives and other removable media devices. Each time you insert your Pen Drive in any infected computer it copies itself to the Pen Drive. It also opens a backdoor and secretly downloads some potentially unwanted and malicious files to your computer.

How to Remove recycler.exe virus from pen drive??

• Download Flash Disinfector and save it on your desktop.
• Run the app, it will ask you to insert Pen Drive.Insert your Pen Drive and click OK.
• It will remove autorun.inf file from your Pen Drive. Now open your pendrive and delete unwanted files(recycle.exe, recycler.exe etc.) from it.

Download Flash Disinfector

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[HOW TO]Retrieve data from partially working Hard Disk

Many times the hard disk in your computer stops functioning properly after some years. Some part of it may become unreadable. Or you may delete some important data from your hard disk accidentally.
In such cases you can use this useful tool for retrieving your lost data. Recuva is a freeware which can recover objects/files on your computer which are deleted accidentally or by some virus or malware. It can also recover data from your partially corrupted hard disk.


The tool is very easy to use. It’s fully automatic , simply select the directory from which you want to retrieve the data. Rest of the work will be done by Recuva. It will show you all the data which is recoverable and then you can select the data which you want to retrieve.

Download Recuva (3.6 MB)

Enjoy

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Fix your Computer Problems with XP Quick Fix

If your PC is infected by any virus or other malicious program you often get messages like “Access is Denied”  when you try to open “Task Manager” or “Registry Editor” even after removing the virus from your system. Now you can overcome such errors with this easy to use program. XP Quick Fix is a small application which can fix almost 30 different problems in your PC.

Fix your computer problems

See what the developer says about this tool.

There are a lot of excellent free Windows comprehensive repairing and fixing tools around the internet.
But there are times when you want just one quick fix for example when you are under a virus attack and you just want to enable the Task Manager or the Registry Editor so you can fight the virus back, or when some new installation changed your XP behavior and My Documents opens on every start up.
This is the right time to draw XP Quick Fix with 25 common Windows XP problems fixes, portable, small and fast, a must have on every computer and with a small extra, a command line utility to fix 5 common problems directly from command line!

XP Quick Fix can be really very useful. It’s a truly astounding app. Now you don’t need to look here and there for finding the solutions to your XP problems.

Link: Download XP Quick Fix

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[How to] Remove/Recover BIOS password

There are many different ways to remove the BIOS password. You may have forgotten the password of your BIOS or you never knew it, whatever may be the case is. Sometimes it becomes necessary to access the BIOS to change system settings.
The simplest way to remove the BIOS password is to remove the CMOS battery for few seconds.A computer uses this battery to remember its settings and date & time when your computer is turned off. The CMOS battery is the reason why you always get the correct date and time whenever you restart your PC.
When you remove it from your CPU the computer will forget all the settings which includes BIOS password too. So to reset/ remove your BIOS password you just have to remove this battery once and then put it back after few seconds.
If you don’t know how to do this or if you are not familiar with computer hardware & stuff then you can try using this software -  PC CMOS Cleaner .

PC CMOS Cleaner is an easy-to-use tool to recover, delete, decode and display the superior passwords stored in BIOS whatever the brand is. Most types of BIOS are supported. It’s an bootable CD that runs on x86 and x86_64 computers. No need to pay expensive fees to experts. It’s a useful tool for users to get their lost BIOS password back, or clean passwords from an old computer bought from others.The download file is an iso file so first you have to burn it on a cd and then boot from that cd to recover your BIOS password.

Download PC CMOS Cleaner

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Detect and remove autorun.inf from Pen Drive

Sponsered Links

Autorun.inf is the file which determines which program will execute automatically when you open or connect your pen drive. Majority of the virus programs use this file to spread themselves. So if not needed this file should be removed from the pen drive. But it is not an easy task to remove the virus affected autorun.inf from the pen drive.
So for novice users I will recommend to use Autorun eater. Autorun eater automatically detects the autorun.inf file and if it is actually infected by a virus then it can also tell you the files associated with it.

This can be really helpful because most of the time people don’t know what to delete after deleting the autorun.inf.
To add some more value to this software the developer has added some more tools  to fix common windows problems like disabled task manager , registry editor  or hidden folder settings.

DOWNLOAD AUTORUN EATER v2.5

You can read more about this tool at the original developers blog
http://oldmcdonald.wordpress.com/

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