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Wednesday, December 10, 2008
IP Addresses Explained
Thursday, November 27, 2008
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Monday, November 24, 2008
Computer Network
Networking Introduction
In this basic network tutorial you will find basic introduction to data communication and general overview of the communication devices, tcp/ip suite, communication cabling, basic topologies, and wireless communication technology. Computer networking means sharing of data and resources between two or more computers with a medium such as Ethernet cable, leased lines, router and even air. Networking is a most widely used field of the computer technology. A computer network is comprised of two or more wired or wireless connected computers. A simple computer network is made up of two connected computers. All the computers in a network can access, share the data and resources with each other. A computer network is generally categorized into the three main types such as LAN (Local area network), MAN (Metropolitan area network) and WAN (Wide area network). A number of the standards are involved into the certain steps of the data communication and on these standards certain communication devices have been developed.
In the computer age, no organization can work perfectly without a computer network. The concept and working of the whole internet is due to the computer networking. A computer network is a basic need for any organization to share data and resources on the small to big level such as banks, insurance companies, universities, colleges, multinational companies, corporate offices and small businesses etc. The network is made up of different components, protocols, devices, topologies and mediums such as cables, routers, leased lines and air. Following is the basic overview of each of the basic networking components.
TCP/IP Suite
TCP/IP is a suite of the protocols. Many protocols are the part of this protocols suite such as TCP (transmission control protocol), IP (internet protocol), FTP (File transfer protocol), HTTP (hyper text transfer protocol), DNS (Domain name service), DHCP (Dynamic host configuration protocols), PPTP (Point to point tunneling protocol) and many other communication protocols. The communication on the internet is carried out by the TCP and IP protocol. In LAN and WAN networking TCP/IP protocols play major role in the communication. An IP protocol ensures the error free delivery of the data to its destination by a device known as router.
Additionally, every communication device on the internet and on the local network requires a unique identifier, which is known as a IP address. An IP address is 32 bits, four octets address that is having a decimal value from 0 to 255. There are three major classes of the IP address such as Class A, Class B and Class C. A typical IP address looks like this form 100.100.1.50 that is four octets that are separated by the periods.
Topologies
Topology means the physical design and layout of the network or how the network devices, computers and components are arranged. There are some basic topologies of a computer network such as star, mesh, ring, bus, hybrid and tree. The most commonly used topology of a computer network is a star topology. In the star topology, all the computers are connected to a central device known as a hub or switch. Data in a network passes through the central devices and then directed towards the destination computers. The failure of one computer does not affect the working of the other computers however, the failure of the hub or switch results in halting all the network communication i.e no communication can occur without the hub or switch.
Network Devices
There are a large number of devices that are involved in the whole communication process. These devices include hub, switch, router, gateway and NIC cards. These communication devices play an important role in the overall data communication process. The communication on the internet is carried out by a device known as a Router. The main function of the router is to route the data (traffic) to its destination. Router has the IP addresses of the sending and receiving computers also router has the capability of finding the best shortest path to the destination and hence provides the faster secure delivery of the data. Different communication devices with different features are being developed by a large number of the vendors such Cisco, Intel, Nortel, DLink, Paradyne, Dell, 3COM, Alcatel, Fibronics, Triticom, Nextgen, Motorola and many others.
Cabling
A computer network can be formed wireless or cabled. In a cabled network, there are a certain types of the cables required depending on the type of the network. The most commonly used cables are the UTP/STP (unshielded twisted pair/shielded twisted pair) Ethernet cables also known as CAT5 cables. In the CAT5 cables, there are eight cables and four pairs. Each cable is twisted with its corresponding cable and thus forms a pair. From these eight cables, there are two major types of cables are formed known as straight over cable and cross over cable. A straight over cable is used to connect a computer with a hub or switch and a cross over cable is used to connect the computers with each other and to connect the communication devices with each other such as routers, switches and hubs.
Types of Networking
There are two basic types of the computer networking such as peer to peer and client/server communication. In the peer to peer communication, there is no central server and all the computers fall in the same workgroup and no central domain is exist. Such type of networking can be seen in the home or small offices where no computer server or domain controller is required. In the client/server networking model, a centralized server acts as a domain controller and it controls all the client computers in the network. All the client computers depend on the server (domain controller) for logon access, data, internet access, printer, scanner, CD-ROM, critical updates of the distributed applications and all the other data and shared resources. If the server gets corrupted or destroyed, the access of the client machines to the server stops and communication can exist from the client to the server or vice versa.Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Delete An "undeletable" File
Close all open programs.
Click Start, Run and enter TASKMGR.EXEGo to the Processes tab and End Process on Explorer.exe.
Leave Task Manager open.
Go back to the Command Prompt window and change to the directory the AVI (or other undeletable file) is located in.
At the command prompt type DEL
Go back to Task Manager, click File, New Task and enter EXPLORER.EXE to restart the GUI shell.
Close Task Manager.
Or you can try this
Open Notepad.exe
Click File>Save As..>
locate the folder where ur undeletable file is
Choose 'All files' from the file type box
click once on the file u wanna delete so its name appears in the 'filename' box
put a " at the start and end of the filename(the filename should have the extension of the undeletable file so it will overwrite it)
click save,
It should ask u to overwrite the existing file, choose yes and u can delete it as normal
Here's a manual way of doing it. I'll take this off once you put into your first post zain.
1. Start
2. Run
3. Type: command
4. To move into a directory type: cd c:\*** (The stars stand for your folder)
5. If you cannot access the folder because it has spaces for example Program Files or Kazaa Lite folder you have to do the following. instead of typing in the full folder name only take the first 6 letters then put a ~ and then 1 without spaces. Example: cd c:\progra~1\kazaal~1
6. Once your in the folder the non-deletable file it in type in dir - a list will come up with everything inside.
7. Now to delete the file type in del ***.bmp, txt, jpg, avi, etc... And if the file name has spaces you would use the special 1st 6 letters followed by a ~ and a 1 rule. Example: if your file name was bad file.bmp you would type once in the specific folder thorugh command, del badfil~1.bmp and your file should be gone. Make sure to type in the correct extension.
Monday, November 3, 2008
How can I install Windows Server 2003 on my server?
As a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 support professional, one of your tasks may be to install the operating system.
Step #1: Plan your installation
When you run the Windows Server 2003 Setup program, you must provide information about how to install and configure the operating system. Thorough planning can make your installation of Windows Server 2003 more efficient by helping you to avoid potential problems during installation. An understanding of the configuration options will also help to ensure that you have properly configured your system.
I won't go into that part right now (I might later this month, no promises...) but here are some of the most important things you should take into consideration when planning for your Windows Server 2003 installation:
· Check System Requirements
· Check Hardware and Software Compatibility
· Determine Disk Partitioning Options
· Choose the Appropriate File System: FAT, FAT32, NTFS
· Decide on a Workgroup or Domain Installation
· Complete a Pre-Installation Checklist
After you made sure you can go on, start the installation process.
Step #2: Beginning the installation process
You can install Windows Server 2003 in several methods - all are valid and good, it all depends upon your needs and your limitations.
For example, you can install directly from a CD by booting your computer with the CD, or you can also copy the I386 folder from a CD and run the setup process by going into the I386 folder and using the WINNT or WINNT32 command (depending upon your existing operating system).
It doesn't matter how you run the setup process, but the moment it runs - all setup methods look alike.
Step #3: The text-based portion of the Setup program
The setup process begins loading a blue-looking text screen (not GUI). In that phase you will be asked to accept the EULA and choose a partition on which to install 2003, and if that partition is new, you'll be asked to format it by using either FAT, FAT32 or NTFS.
1. Start the computer from the CD.
2. You can press F6 if you need to install additional SCSI adapters or other mass-storage devices. If you do you will be asked to supply a floppy disk with the drivers and you CANNOT browse it (or a CD for that matter). Make sure you have one handy.
3. If you want, you can press F2 to run the ASR sequence. For that you need a good backup created by the Windows Server 2003 backup program, and the ASR floppy disk. If you plan to install a new copy of 2003 - don't do anything.
4. Setup will load all the needed files and drivers.
5. Select To Setup Windows Server 2003 Now. If you want, and if you have a previous installation of the OS, you can try to fix it by pressing R. If not, just press ENTER.
6. Read and accept the licensing agreement and press F8 if you accept it.
7. Select or create the partition on which you will install Windows Server 2003. Depending upon your existing disk configuration choose one of the following:
· If the hard disk is unpartitioned, you can create and size the partition on which you will install Windows Server 2003.
· If the hard disk is already partitioned, but has enough unpartitioned disk space, you can create an additional partition in the unpartitioned space.
· If the hard disk already has a partition that is large enough, you can install Windows Server 2003 on that partition. If the partition has an existing operating system, you will overwrite that operating system if you accept the default installation path. However, files other than the operating system files, such as program files and data files, will not be overwritten.
· If the hard disk has an existing partition, you can delete it to create more unpartitioned space for the new partition. Deleting an existing partition erases all data on that partition.
If you select a new partition during Setup, create and size only the partition on which you will install Windows Server 2003. After installation, use Disk Management to partition the remaining space on the hard disk.
8. Select a file system for the installation partition. After you create the partition on which you will install Windows Server 2003, you can use Setup to select the file system with which to format the partition. Windows Server 2003 supports the NTFS file system in addition to the file allocation table (FAT) and FAT32 file systems. Windows Server 2003, Windows XP Professional, Windows 2000, and Windows NT are the only Microsoft operating systems that you can use to gain access to data on a local hard disk that is formatted with NTFS. If you plan to gain access to files that are on a local Windows Server 2003 partition with the Microsoft Windows 95 or Windows 98 operating systems, you should format the partition with a FAT or FAT32 file system. We will use NTFS.
9. Setup will then begin copying necessary files from the installation point (CD, local I386 or network share).
10. Note: If you began the installation process from an MS-DOS floppy, make sure you have and run SMARTDRV from the floppy, otherwise the copying process will probably last more than an hour, perhaps even more. With SMARTDRV (or if setup was run by booting from CD) the copying will probably last a few minutes, no more than 5 max.
11. The computer will restart in graphical mode, and the installation will continue.
Step #4: The GUI-based portion of the Setup program
The setup process reboots and loads a GUI mode phase.
It will then begin to load device drivers based upon what it finds on your computer. You don't need to do anything at this stage.
1. Click Customize to change regional settings, if necessary.
· Current System Locale - Affects how programs display dates, times, currency, and numbers. Choose the locale that matches your location, for example, French (
· Current Keyboard Layout - Accommodates the special characters and symbols used in different languages. Your keyboard layout determines which characters appear when you press keys on the keyboard.
If you don't need to make any changes just press Next.
If you do need to make changes press Customize and add your System Locale etc.
Note for Hebrew users: Unlike W2K, it is SAFE and it is OK for you to install Hebrew language support at this phase.
To install Hebrew support:
After pressing Customize go to the Languages tab and select the "Install files for complex script and right-to-left languages".
A warning message will appear. Press Ok.
Warning: You must now press Apply!!!
Setup will copy the necessary files from the installation point.
You can now go to the Regional Options tab and select
Note: Read the Install Hebrew on Windows Server 2003 page for more info.
2. Type your name and organization.
3. Type the product key.
4. Enter the appropriate license type and number of purchased licenses.
5. Type the computer name and a password for the local Administrator account. The local Administrator account resides in the SAM of the computer, not in Active Directory. If you will be installing in a domain, you need either a pre-assigned computer name for which a domain account has been created, or the right to create a computer account within the domain.
6. If you enter a password that is blank or does not match the required complexity settings you will get a warning message.
7. Select the date, time, and time zone settings.
6. Setup will now install the networking components.
After a few seconds you will receive the Networking Settings window. BTW, if you have a NIC that is not in the HCL (see the What's the HCL? page) and Windows Server 2003 cannot detect it, or if you don't have a NIC at all, setup will skip this step and you will immediately go to the final phase of the setup process.
Press Next to accept the Typical settings option if you have one of the following situations:
· You have a functional DHCP on your network.
· You have a computer running Internet Connection Sharing (ICS).
· You're in a workgroup environment and do not plan to have any other servers or Active Directory at all, and all other workgroup members are configured in the same manner.
Otherwise select Custom Settings and press Next to customize your network settings.
7. Highlight the TCP/IP selection and press Properties.
In the General tab enter the required information. You must specify the IP address of the computer, and if you don't know what the Subnet Mask entry should be - you can simply place your mouse pointer over the empty area in the Subnet Mask box and click it. The OS will automatically select the value it thinks is good for the IP address you provided.
If you don't know what these values mean, or if you don't know what to write in them, press cancel and select the Typical Settings option. You can easily change these values later.
9. In the Workgroup or Domain window enter the name of your workgroup or domain.
· A workgroup is a small group of computers on a network that enables users to work together and does not support centralized administration.
· A domain is a logical grouping of computers on a network that has a central security database for storing security information. Centralized security and administration are important for computers in a domain because they enable an administrator to easily manage computers that are geographically distant from each other. A domain is administered as a unit with common rules and procedures. Each domain has a unique name, and each computer within a domain has a unique name.
If you're a stand-alone computer, or if you don't know what to enter, or if you don't have the sufficient rights to join a domain - leave the default entry selected and press Next.
If you want to join a domain (NT 4.0 domain of W2K/2003 Active Directory domain) enter the domain's name in the "Yes, make this computer a member of the following domain" box.
To successfully join a domain you need the following:
· The person performing the installation must have a user account in Active Directory. This account does not need to be the domain Administrator account.
and
· The computer must have an existing computer account in the Active Directory database of the domain that the computer is joining, and the computer must be named exactly as its domain account is named.
or
· The person performing the installation must have appropriate permission to create a domain account for the computer during installation.
Also, you need to have connectivity to the domain's domain controllers (only to the PDC if on an NT 4.0 domain) and a fully functional DNS server (only in AD domains). Read the Joining a Domain in Windows XP Pro and Requirements when Joining a Domain pages for more on this issue.
Enter the Active Directory domain name (in the form of xxx.yyy, for example: DPETRI.NET) or the NetBIOS name of the NT 4.0 domain (in the form of xxx, for example: DPETRI). Press Next.
Note: If you provide a wrong domain name or do not have the correct connectivity to the domain's DNS server you will get an error message.
A username/password window will appear. Enter the name and password of the domain's administrator (or your own if you're the administrator on the target domain).
Note: Providing a wrong username or password will cause this phase to fail.
10. Next the setup process will finish copying files and configuring the setup. You do not need to do anything.
11. After the copying and configuring phase is finished, if Windows Server 2003 finds that you have a badly configured screen resolution it will advise you to change it and ask you if you see the new settings right.
BTW, the minimum supported screen resolution in 2003 is 800X600.
12. Setup finishes and boots Windows Server 2003.
15. That's it! you're done!
Related articles
All About Hard Drives
A hard drive is a dirt free environment inside an airtight case, which is critical for avoiding damage to the parts inside. A number of discs, called platters, spin on a spindle. There can be from one to five platters in a single drive, although most drives just have one. For each platter there is a little arm with a read/write head on the end. There is one arm for each platter, and they reach out over the platter, much like a record player and the head changes the data on the surface. These heads never touch the platter, but float ever so slightly above them.
All drives have this basic design, but utilize other technologies to get the most from the drives. Notably there is often very little difference between competitors when using comparable Drives with the same specifications, from two different manufacturers, will not very much in performance.
Drives come in a few different sizes. The standard desktop hard drive is one inch in height, while models for laptops are 9.5mm or 12.5mm, with the latter becoming too big for current laptop designs. There are also proprietary sizes available.
reduces the number of moving parts, namely the arms and heads, resulting in less chance of drive failure. Multiple platters allows for greater storage capacity. Laptop drives can have up to two platters. Desktop have 3.5 inch platter, those for enterprise computers or workstations look like 3.5 inch drives, but have 2.5 inch platters inside. Mobile drives have 2.5 and 1.8 inch platters, while some micro-drives use 1 or 0.8 inch platters.
Spindle speed, which is how fast the platters spin in the drive, makes a huge difference to the performance of the drive. Think about it, the faster it can spin, the faster the information that is being looked for will pass beneath the read/write heads, it's just quicker. Server and drives usually spin at 15,000 or 10,000 RPM. The WD Raptor is the exception for desktop computers, also spinning at 10,000 RPM, but usually they spin at 7,200 RPM. However the price of a Raptor is very high and you pay more for its 150 GB model than for a 500 GB drive.
Notebook drives spin at 4,200 RPM, which is slowly being replaced by 5,400 RPM models. Smaller mobile drives operate at 4,200 RPM, while the micro-drives operate even slower.
The cache stores frequently used data so that it can send data straight from there, rather than needing a read from the surface of the platters. This gives great speed improvements for frequently accessed data. Drives with a cache will faster performance. Up to 16 MB is offered on some drives, but 8 MB has been found to be the most worthwhile, as 16 MB provides little extra performance over 8 MB.
Friday, October 31, 2008
IP v6
What is IPv6?
IPv6 is short for "Internet Protocol Version 6". IPv6 is the "next generation" protocol designed by the IETF to replace the current version Internet Protocol, IP Version 4 ("IPv4").
Most of today's internet uses IPv4, which is now nearly twenty years old. IPv4 has been remarkably resilient in spite of its age, but it is beginning to have problems. Most importantly, there is a growing shortage of IPv4 addresses, which are needed by all new machines added to the Internet.
IPv6 fixes a number of problems in IPv4, such as the limited number of available IPv4 addresses. It also adds many improvements to IPv4 in areas such as routing and network autoconfiguration. IPv6 is expected to gradually replace IPv4, with the two coexisting for a number of years during a transition period.
Some introductory information about the protocol can be found in our IPv6 FAQ. For those interested in the technical details, we have a list of IPv6 related specifications.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Lots of Windows Tips & Trics
You can lock your XP workstation with two clicks of the mouse. Create a new shortcut on your desktop using a right mouse click, and enter 'rundll32.exe user32.dll, LockWorkStation' in the location field. Give the shortcut a name you like. That's it -- just double click on it and your computer will be locked. And if that's not easy enough, Windows key + L will do the same.
Remove Windows XP system software
XP hides some system software you might want to remove, such as Windows Messenger, but you can tickle it and make it disgorge everything. Using Notepad or Edit, edit the text file /windows/inf/sysoc.inf, search for the word 'hide' and remove it. You can then go to the Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Windows Components and there will be your prey, exposed and vulnerable.
For those skilled in the art of DOS batch files, XP has a number of interesting new commands. These include 'eventcreate' and 'eventtriggers' for creating and watching system events, 'typeperf' for monitoring performance of various subsystems, and 'schtasks' for handling scheduled tasks. As usual, typing the command name followed by /? will give a list of options -- they're all far too baroque to go into here.
Windows XP supports IPv6
XP has IP version 6 support -- the next generation of IP. Unfortunately this is more than your ISP has, so you can only experiment with this on your LAN. Type 'ipv6 install' into Run... (it's OK, it won't ruin your existing network setup) and then 'ipv6 /?' at the command line to find out more. If you don't know what IPv6 is, don't worry and don't bother.
Kill tasks from the command line
You can at last get rid of tasks on the computer from the command line by using 'taskkill /pid' and the task number, or just 'tskill' and the process number. Find that out by typing 'tasklist', which will also tell you a lot about what's going on in your system.
Enable ClearType by default
XP has ClearType -- Microsoft's anti-aliasing font display technology-- but doesn't have it enabled by default. It's well worth trying, especially if you were there for DOS and all those years of staring at a screen have given you the eyes of an astigmatic bat. To enable ClearType, right click on the desktop, select Properties, Appearance, Effects, select ClearType from the second drop-down menu and enable the selection. Expect best results on laptop displays. If you want to use ClearType on the Welcome login screen as well, set the registry entry
HKEY_USERS/.DEFAULT/ControlPanel/Desktop/FontSmoothingType to 2.
Run program as different user
You can run a program as a different user without logging out and back in again. Right click the icon, select Run As... and enter the user name and password you want to use. This only applies for that run. The trick is particularly useful if you need to have administrative permissions to install a program, which many require. Note that you can have some fun by running programs multiple times on the same system as different users, but this can have unforeseen effects.
Speed up the Start Menu
The Start Menu can be leisurely when it decides to appear, but you can speed things along by changing the registry entry HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Desktop/MenuShowDelay from the default 400 to something a little snappier. Like 0.
Rename multiple files at once
You can rename loads of files at once in Windows Explorer. Highlight a set of files in a window, then right click on one and rename it. All the other files will be renamed to that name, with individual numbers in brackets to distinguish them. Also, in a folder you can arrange icons in alphabetized groups by View, Arrange Icon By... Show In-Groups.
Show cover art in Media Player
Windows Media Player will display the cover art for albums as it plays the tracks -- if it found the picture on the Internet when you copied the tracks from the CD. If it didn't, or if you have lots of pre-WMP music files, you can put your own copy of the cover art in the same directory as the tracks. Just call it folder.jpg and Windows Media Player will pick it up and display it.
Display Hibernate Option on the Shut Down dialog
For some reason, Hibernate isn't available from the default Shut Down dialog. But you can enable it simply enough, by holding down the SHIFT key while the dialog is visible. Now you see it, now you don't!
Enable ClearType on the Welcome Screen!
As laptop users and other LCD owners are quickly realizing, Microsoft's ClearType technology in Windows XP really makes a big difference for readability. But the this feature is enabled on a per-user basis in Windows XP, so you can't see the effect on the Welcome screen; it only appears after you logon.
But you can fix that. Fire up the Registry Editor and look for the following keys:
(default user) HKEY_USERS \ .Default \ Control Panel \ Desktop \
FontSmoothing (String Value)
HKEY_USERS \ .Default \ Control Panel \ Desktop \
FontSmoothingType (Hexadecimal DWORD Value)
Make sure both of these values are set to 2 and you'll have ClearType enabled on the Welcome screen and on each new user by default.
Change User Picture
Click on the Icon at the top of the start menu. Select desired picture from resulting screen Windows 2000 style logon. To revert back to the Win2k style logon so you can log on as the administrator and other options, press ctrl+alt+delete twice at the logon screen. Change the location of the My Music or My Pictures folders:
In Windows 2000, Microsoft added the ability to right-click the My Documents folder and choose a new location for that folder in the shell. With Windows XP, Microsoft has elevated the My Music and My Pictures folders to the same "special shell folder" status of My Documents, but they never added a similar (and simple) method for changing those folder's locations. However, it is actually pretty easy to change the location of these folders, using the following method.
Open a My Computer window and navigate to the location where you'd like My Music (or My Pictures) to reside. Then, open the My Documents folder in a different window. Drag the My Music (or My Pictures) folder to the other window, and Windows XP will update all of the references to that folder to the new location, including the Start menu.
Protect Your Files From Unauthorized Users
Other users with permission to delete a file (users with Modify or Full Control permission) can't use your encrypted files-but they can make them difficult for you to use. Any such user can rename your files, which can make them difficult to find, and can also delete your files. (Even if the user merely deletes them to the Recycle Bin and doesn't remove them altogether, the deleted files are unavailable to you because you don't have access to any other user's Recycle Bin.) Therefore, if you're concerned about protecting your files from other authorized users as well as from a thief who steals your computer, you should modify the NTFS permissions to prevent any type of modification by other users.
Shutdown Your System in a Hurry
If you need to shut down in a hurry-or if a frozen application prevents you from shutting down in the normal ways-you can use the following procedure. Be aware, however, that you won't get an opportunity to save open documents. To perform an emergency shutdown, press Ctrl+Alt+Del to display Task Manager. Open the Shut down menu and hold down the Ctrl key as you click the Turn Off command. Poof! If your computer is part of a domain, the procedure is similar. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del and then hold down Ctrl when you click Shut Down. In this situation, you'll get a warning message pointing out-quite correctly-that this should be used only as a last resort.
Provide Personal Support
It never fails: when friends, co-workers, or family members discover that you're a Windows expert, you get pressed into service as an unpaid support technician. If the party asking for help is running any edition of Windows XP and has an active Internet connection, your job is much easier. Have the other person send you a Remote Assistance request; when you accept the request, you connect directly to their computer and can edit Registry settings, fix file associations, set System options, and perform just about any other troubleshooting or repair task, just as if you were sitting at the other person's desk.
Quickly Fix Connectivity Problems
Are you having trouble connecting to other computers on your local area network? If your network uses a hardware firewall that assigns IP addresses to each machine and you're certain you've configured all other components correctly, check to see whether the Internet Connection Firewall is enabled. That component can effectively block communication between PCs on the network.
The Ultimate Appearance Tweak
Microsoft said: "You can connect up to 10 monitors to your Windows XP-based computer and display numerous programs or windows at one time. You can use your mouse to move items from one monitor to another. You can open a different file on each monitor. Or several. Or you can stretch one item across several monitors; so for example, you can see more columns in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, or the entire layout of a Web page, without scrolling." Consider it. Monitors and PCI video cards are pretty cheap now. Windows recognizes the addition & allows easy adjustments on the 'Display Properties/Settings' menu.
Save Streaming Media
It's cool to listen to MP3s (or watch movies) over the Internet. Often, saving this media, however, seems impossible. Hey, if it plays on your computer, it's on your hard drive. Once the file is fully loaded and with folder view set to show hidden and systems folders, searches for the media (.mp3 or .mpg). There it is!
Securing the Paging File
If you're truly concerned about the possibility of your computer falling into the wrong hands, you should be sure that you don't leave any tracks in the paging file. By default, when you shut down your system, the paging file remains intact. People who've access to your computer could conceivably look through the unencrypted paging file to find information they shouldn't have.
Assign a Keyboard Shortcut
Click in the Shortcut Key field and press a keyboard combination that you want to use for launching or switching to this program. The shortcut key you assign must consist of one character key (a letter, number, or symbol) plus at least two of the following three keys: Ctrl, Alt, and Shift. (If you press a character key only, Windows automatically adds Ctrl+Alt.)
Shortcut keys work only when assigned to a program shortcut on the Start menu, the Programs menu, or the Desktop. The shortcuts you define will not work if it conflicts with a combination used in the program whose window has the focus.
Please remember, we cannot accept responsibility with what you decide to do with these tips. These tips act as a guide to tweaking and changing Windows XP from the default settings. If you are unsure about how to make these changes then don't meddle !