This copy of Windows is not genuine

Microsoft is now becoming more advanced in its attack on pirated versions of Windows XP or Microsoft Office. The company is including a Windows Genuine Advantage security patch in the updates of Windows XP. This new patch produces pop-ups on the login screen and on the desktop explaining that this version of Windows XP is not genuine and the owner may be the victim of software counterfeiting.

To help determine whether the copy of Windows installed on your computer is genuine, please visit

http://www.microsoft.com/genuine. The Windows Validation Assistant performs a check on a user's computer to determine if the Windows operating system installed on his/her computer was installed using a valid product key.

Depending on the result of the validation, a success or failure page is displayed.

If Windows XP-based computers that were installed by using a Volume Licence product key might

be marked as non-genuine, then follow this URL: and if

your Windows licence is OEM XP version, then refer to this URL:

http://forums.microsoft.com/Genuine/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=638811&SiteID=25

If your version of Windows XP is not genuine and does not pass the validation schemes, you will

not be able to download security patches from Windows Update, or install the latest version of

Internet Explorer 7 and other software.

Even though some of the cracks and workarounds (to bypass or remove WGA or Windows Genuine Advantage) are available on the Internet, it is strongly recommended to buy a legal version of Windows XP or Windows XP (Home or Pro) Edition licence kit. The Windows Genuine Advantage Kit for Windows XP will include a new 25-character Product Key and a Windows Product Key Update tool that will allow customers to convert their counterfeit copy to genuine Windows XP.

If you have a Legal copy of Windows XP but your computer still fails validation, please follow these steps:

Your computer may not be properly configured to allow the validation process to get completed. Login your system as administrator or a member of administrator group. First check the following link, Microsoft Genuine Advantage - Diagnostic Site

http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/diag/.

This will check your computer's configuration and fix any problems that may exist. After checking for problems, you can click on the link to validate Windows. You may directly download and run the WGA Diagnostic Tool:http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=52012

Another reason for validation failing may be the Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool has been disabled.

Please follow the steps below to make sure the ActiveX is enabled:

Open Internet Explorer - Click Tools - Internet Options - Programs tab - Manage Add-ons button. Find the Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool and click on it. Verify the Add-on is enabled, if it is not, then please Click Enable and Ok twice to exit back to Internet Explorer. Close Internet Explorer and reopen it. Now try to validate Windows again.

For more information, please refer Windows Genuine Advantage Problems and Solutions at these URLs:

http://www.pchell.com/support/windowsgenuineadvantage.shtml and

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/win_genuineadvantage

Windows XP installation problem

When you are installing windows xp you might get some error message like this..
The error message is: " STOP: 0x00000050 PAGE_fault_in_non_paged_area"



During Windows XP installation, this error message may occur when one or more of RAM memory modules that are installed on your computer are faulty. To get rid of this problem, you will have to remove one of your RAMs and restart your Windows XP setup.

Please note that the recommended RAM to run Windows XP is 128 MB. The minimum is 64 MB, and the maximum is 4 GB. In your case, the installed memory is 256 MB. It may be two RAM modules installed, each of 128 MB, in your system. So first remove one of the RAM modules and then run the setup program. If you again receive the error message, please replace the RAM module you just removed, and restart the setup process again. Or try to install the RAM in a different memory slot. You have to do this exercise until you isolate the specific memory module that is not working correctly.

Another option to identify the faulty RAM is to make use of some third party memory testing tools. Following are some memory testing tools.

Memtest86 at this URL: http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/Memtest86/memtest86.html (Size 50 KB),

Windows Memory Diagnostic at this URL: http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp (size 640 KB),

For more information, please refer MS KB article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315335

Connecting computers without HUB

f you have more than two computers to be networked, you can install two Ethernet cards...

If both computers have Ethernet adapters, and you're not using a hub, switch, or router to connect the PCs, you can use an Ethernet cross-over cable. It is possible to connect the PCs through crossover cable. (To know more about cross-over cable, you can look up this URL: http://www.conniq.com/Glossary_C.htm).

These are the steps to be followed:

1. Please connect the computers together with a crossover cable to the ethernet card

2. Set the IP address on the computers. Go to Start {gt} Settings {gt}Control Panel {gt} Network Connections.

3. Look for your Local Area Connection ethernet adapter, right-click and choose properties.

4. Select Internet Protocol TCP/IP and choose properties.

5. Assign the IP address for all the network cards with the same subnet mask.

6. Choose OK then OK/close again.

7. Check the Connection by pinging the other IP address. If you get the reply, then the connectivity is OK. To share your files, please right-click on any folder and choose 'Sharing' to make them shared.

Stock Tickers- Solve Problem with activeX

Windows XP comes with IE 6, which includes quite a lot of security features. One such feature is that it will not allow automatic installation of ActiveX and Applets components because these components are really powerful.

Once installed, they can even access your data in the disks.

So in XP, when you browse any pages that have ActiveX controls or Applets, an information bar will appear in yellow below your browser's toolbars asking you if you want to install this control.

You have to right-click on this and click on install, only then will the control get installed.

So the next time you go to a site and find any component missing or not getting displayed, which can be a ticker or any display component, please look below your IE toolbars to see if it displays any information bar and then right-click on it and select install.

For sites like moneycontrol.com which uses flash extensively, you need to install Macromedia flash player. Normally you will be prompted to install it, otherwise you need to install it yourself. You can get it at http://www.macromedia.com/downloads/

Data Transfer Made Easy - Nokia Cable

You need to install the DKU-5 cable driver. You can download it at http://nds2.nokia.com/phones/files/software/Nokia_DKU-5_1_24.exe,

Next, please install the Nokia PC suit 6.7 as recommended by Nokia for 6225 CDMA. Nokia has also provided a step-by-step procedure for identifying and installing the correct handset software and driver for different operating systems (OS).You can access it at http://www.nokia-asia.com/nokia/0,8764,78350,00.html.

If you have already installed DKU-5 Cable with any default driver, you need to un-install it and then install the new driver. Once the drive and PC Suit installation is over, you need to configure the "Nokia connection manager" to use the DKU-5 cable to connect to your device. To do this, please double-click on the Nokia connection manager icon in the control panel and in the "Connections available" list, select the cable option, and click ok.

Block Porn - Parental controls Install

You can install a software tool to block such sites. Some such free software is available at http://www.snapfiles.com/freeware/misctools/fwparents.html

You can install any one of these. There are also priced products such as CyberPatrol, which has very effective controls. Here is the link for it: http://www.cyberpatrol.com/Default.aspx?id=30 and also Cybersitter at http://www.cybersitter.com/

BSNL is comparatively cheaper but if you want to have a filtered Internet connection, you need to opt for Sify or Bharti, which offer these kind of services at extra cost.

Selective copying of mp3 songs - Audio Tools

Yes it is possible to copy specific parts of songs. You can also increase or

decrease the KBPS of that song. There are many tools available on the Internet, for instance "WavePad Audio Editor 1.11" WavePad is sound editing software for Windows. This program lets you make and edit voice and other audio recordings. You can cut, copy, and paste parts of recording and, if required, add effects such as echo, amplification and noise reduction. WavePad is a freeware tool and can be downloaded from ftp://ftp.audiochannel.net/software/wp.zip

Speedup Firefox with Lightning Speed.

Speedup Firefox 33%

Speedup your pc - PART-1

SPEED UP BOOT BY DISABLING UNUSED PORTS.!!

You may have tried many tweaks like modifying windowsXP start-up applications, prefetches, unload DLLs
method,etc. And yes those methods do work for me.
I have just accidentally found out another way to give you an extra boost in windowsXP's boot
performance. This is done by disabling your unused devices in
Device Manager. for example, if you don't have input devices that are connected to one of your USBs or
COM ports, disabling them will give you an extra perfromance boost in booting. Go to Control Panel ->
System -> Hardware tab -> device manager Disable devices that you don't use for your PC and then restart.
Do Dis !!
1.Start Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
2.Locate the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\MemoryManagement
\PrefetchParameters
3.Make sure you backup the keys by exporting them to a .reg file.
4.On the EnablePrefetcher value, change the setting from 3 to 5 (decimal).
5.Close the registry editor
6.Restart your computer

Stop the following windows xp services to boost your pc performance...
This service enables Windows XP to check the Web automatically for updates. If you don't want to use
Automatic Updates, you can disable the service. You can always check for updates manually at the
Windows Update Web site.
Computer Browser: If your computer is not on a network, you don't need this service. If you are on a
network, leave it alone.
DHCP Client: If you are not on a network, you do not need this service. If you are on a small workgroup,
you can still increase boot time by configuring manual IP addresses (which I explore later in this chapter).
DNS Client: If you are not on a network, you do not need this service. If you are, leave it alone.
Error Reporting and Event Log: You don't have to use these services but they can be very helpful, so I
would leave them configured as automatic.
Fax: If you don't use your computer for fax services, you can disable this one.
Help and Support: If you never use the Windows XP Help and Support Center (found on the Start menu),
you can disable this service.
IMAPI CD-Burning COM: This service enables you to burn CDs on your computer. If you never burn CDs,
you can disable the service.
Indexing Service: Your computer keeps an index of files but if you rarely search for files, the service is just
a resource hog. You can stop it and turn the service to manual.
Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing: If you do not use these features, you can disable them.
Infrared Monitor: If you do not use infrared devices, you can disable this service.
Messenger: This service sends alert messages on a local area network (it is not the same as Windows
Messenger). If you are not on a network, you can disable this service.
Print Spooler: If you do not do any printing from the computer, you can disable this service. If you print,
make sure you leave it as automatic.
Remote Registry: This service allows remote users to modify the Registry on your computer. If you are not
on a network, you can disable this service.
System Restore Service: This service allows you to use System Restore. If you have turned off System
Restore anyway, you do not need to turn off the service. If you do, you turn off System Restore.
Themes: If you do not use themes, you can disable this service.
Windows Image Acquisition: If you do not use scanners or digital cameras, you can disable this service.
Wireless Zero Configuration: If do not use wireless networking devices, you can disable this service.
You may have a number of other automatic services, depending on software and other configurations on
your computer. So it's a good idea to look through the services and learn more about them. If you
double-click a service, a Properties dialog box appears

5 top Security Registry tweaks

1. Disable hidden administrative shares

Even if you haven’t shared any of your files or folders, an administrator (or anyone who knows a valid username and password for an account you’ve given administrative privileges) can remotely access your data by using the hidden administrative shares that XP creates by default. There is an administrative share for every drive on your system, but it doesn’t show up in the network browse list (My Network Places) because it has been marked as hidden by appending a dollar sign ($) to the end of the drive letter. You can delete these shares, but XP will just grow them back the next time you reboot. To prevent this, disable administrative shares by performing the following registry edit:
1. In your registry editor, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanager\parameters.
2. In an empty portion of the right details pane, right-click and select New | DWORD Value.
3. Rename the new value AutoShareWks.
4. Double-click the new value and enter 0 in the Value Data field.

2. Don’t show the last logon name
If you’ve elected to use the standard logon dialog box instead of the Welcome screen, or if the XP computer is joined to a domain, XP tries to be helpful by displaying the account name of the last user who logged onto the computer; you only have to type in the password. However, this is a security issue because it gives a hacker half of the information needed to log on. Why make it easier? Of course, you should already have renamed the administrator account and disabled the guest account so a hacker won’t have those account names to use. The next step is to disable the display of the last logged-on user. Here’s how:
1. In your registry editor, navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System.
2. In an empty portion of the right details pane, right-click and select New | DWORD Value.
3. Rename the new value dontdisplaylastusername.
4. Double-click the new value and enter 1 in the Value Data field.

3. Control what applications a user can run If you’re sharing an XP computer with someone else and you’re the administrator, you can restrict the other user(s) to running only applications you specify. This can be particularly useful when sharing the computer with a young family member or if your computer must be used by guests. Here’s the procedure:
1. In your registry editor, logged on with the account you want to restrict, navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
2. In an empty portion of the right details pane, right-click and select New | DWORD Value.
3. Rename the new value to RestrictRun.
4. Double-click the new value and enter 1 in the Value Data field. (You can modify this to allow all applications to run by changing the value to 0).
5. Create a new subkey named RestrictRun.
6. Create a new string value for each application you want to allow. Name each string value as a consecutive number.
7. Set the Value Data for each string value as the name of an application you want to allow (this should be the executable program name, such as explore.exe for Windows Explorer).
8. Reboot the computer to apply the change.
Warning
Don’t apply this policy to yourself or you may not be able to run the programs you need to in order to administer the computer—and if you can’t run the registry editor, you won’t be able to change the policy.

4.Disable saved password for dialup networking.

It’s handy for users not to have to enter their passwords each time they start a dialup networking session, but it can also be a security risk to have Windows save the password, since anyone else can start a session, too. To disable the saved password function for DUN, do the following:
1. In your registry editor, navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RasMan\Parameters.
2. If the entry DisableSavePassword doesn’t already exist, right-click in an empty portion of the right details pane and select New | DWORD Value.
3. Rename the new value to DisableSavePassword.
4. Double-click the new value (or if it already existed, just double-click it now) and enter 1 in the Value Data field to prevent Windows from saving the DUN password. If you want to enable saving of passwords later, you can do so by setting the value to 0.

5.Prevent access to specific drives
You can prevent users from viewing and accessing the files and folders on specific drives using Windows Explorer, My Computer, or the Run command. They will not be able to map a network drive or use the DIR command to get a list of directories on the drive. This is a good way to add a layer of protection to a drive on which you store sensitive data. (You should also use access controls/permissions and encrypt the data if it’s extremely sensitive.)
1. In your registry editor, logged on with the user account you want to restrict, navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
2. Right-click in an empty portion of the right details pane and select New | DWORD Value.
3. Rename the new value NoViewOnDrive.
4. Double-click the value and set the view to Decimal. In the Value Data field, add the following number(s) to hide the corresponding drive(s): A: 1, B: 2, C: 4, D:8, E:16, F: 32, G: 64, H:128, I: 256, J: 512, K: 1024, L: 2048, and so on, multiplying by 2 to get the next numbers for the rest of the alphabet

Tweak Microsoft Outlook to Empty Your Inbox Faster

Microsoft Outlook is the company-issued email client at your place of employment, so like it or not, it's up to you to figure out how to manage your inbox, calendar, and task list every day using it. To make things worse, if you're in IT lockdown without administrator rights to your PC, you can't install special add-ons or software to help your cause. Luckily there are install-free ways to customize Outlook, add keyboard shortcuts, and get your inbox down to zero messages painlessly with a few tweaks to your setup.

Read The full story at LifeHacker