If there is a (hidden) recovery partition on the drive you should start a thread asking for advice before trying TestDisk.

The situation with a "lost" hard drive typically arises after Windows has been reinstalled or when a slave/external drive is moved to another computer.
If the drive/partition shows up in Device Manager and Disk management, but NOT in "My Computer", chances are that it is "only" the partition table that is missing or corrupt.

You can use a freeware program called TestDisk to repair the partition table and get access to your data again.
TestDisk will not change or delete any of your data if you follow the instructions below.

This guide is written for Windows, but you can use TestDisk with Linux and Mac as well.


Try this to repair the partition table:

The newest version of Test-Disk, 6.11 is available here

Download the Windows version of TestDisk.
Unzip the downloaded file to your C: drive.
Open C:\testdisk-6.10\win > double click the "testdisk_win" icon.


The program runs in a command window and doesn't have to be installed.

Each of the steps (A, B, C etc) below corresponds to a new TestDisk window.
Use the keyboard's arrow keys to navigate.

• At the first window, select “No Log” and press the <Enter> key.
  
  
• Select which drive to analyse, choose “Proceed” and <Enter>.
  
  
• Select partition type – Intel if it’s a PC then <Enter>.
  
  
• Select “Analyse” then <Enter>. The drive will be analysed.
  
  
• Select “Quick Search” at the next screen, then <Enter>.
  
  
• Press “Y” if the partitions were created under Vista – “N” if not.
  
  
• TestDisk should say “Structure OK”. If so, press <Enter>.
  
  
• Select “Write” and press <Enter>.
  
  
• Press “Y” to confirm.
  
  
• Press <Enter>.
  
  

Probably most of you have seen this trick before.But i think it's really nice.
I'm telling about adding your name beside taskbar clock.

Here is the trick (For windows XP):-
1. Click on Start menu. Then on Control panel.
2. Now click on “Regional and Language Options” icon.
3. In the “Regional Options” tab, click on “Customize” button.
4. After clicking “Customize” button, another window pops up. Now click on the “Time” tab.
5. Besides AM Symbol and PM Symbol, you can add anything that you want to display in the system tray.
6. If there is limitation of characters, you can even delete the AM and/or PM symbol. Apply, OK. Done.. Look at your task bar

Limitation of this trick:
You might have already observed that, you can not insert more than 12 characters(after deleting the AM and PM symbol).

To over come this limitation, we shall enter into registry.(Tested in Windows XP)
1. Click on Start button.
2. Click on Run.
3. Type regedit. Click Ok.
4. Now click the plus mark besides each of these -> HKEY_CURRENT_USER and then Control Panel and then International.



5. Now click on International. And find these s1159 and s2359. Right click and select “Modify Binary Data“, as shown in the above figure.



6. Now follow the above figure and modify the name.
Do not change the numbers. Just modify the text in the right most side. See to that, there is a period (DOT) after each character and 3 dots to specify/display a DOT in the system tray.

Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guide Overview

The purpose of this guide is to teach you how to check whether your system's RAM (Ramdom Access Memory) is working properly. Bad RAM can lead to a whole host of problems, often which do not appear to have a single cause -- appearing as systemwide glitches, blue screens, and other system trouble. MemTest86+ provides a very good detection mechanism for failed RAM, and is about as good a test you get short of actually replacing the module itself.

Tools Needed
Please perform these steps from a separate, working, machine.

1. Download MemTest86+, and unzip it to your desktop.
2. Burn the image file to a CD, as an image file. If you're unsure how to do this, see the How to Burn an ISO File

1. Put your CD in the drive and configure your machine to boot to the CD. This is different on all machines, but it's usually by pressing F12 or F10 as your system boots, and selecting either "CDROM" or your cdrom drive. If you are unable to force a CDRom boot, reply with the make and model of your machine and I should be able to get you exact instructions.
2. If you've done it correctly, MemTest86+ will start to run automaticly, as shown below:
   
   
3. If you want to be reasonably your RAM is OK, then allow MemTest to run until you see this message:
   
   
   On the other hand, if you want to be completely sure your RAM is OK, allow MemTest to run overnight. Memtest will run forever until power is pulled on the machine.
4. Check the MemTest screen for any reported errors. Errors will appear as RED warnings at the bottom of the screen, similar to the following screenshot:
   
   
5. Hard-Reset the machine, removing the MemTest disk in the process.

If you didn't get an error screen, Congratulations!

Here is how you can create a bootable USB drive to install Windows 7 on your system.
1.Download Windows 7 BetaSave the file on your Desktop.

2.Format a 4GB USB thumb drive

• First Install WinRAR, 7zip will work too
• Right click on ISO file and choose “Extract to ” as shown in the above picture.
  
  
  4.Copy BootSect.exe

• Open the extracted folder and open the “boot” folder, inside which we’ll find a file called “bootsect.exe” that we’ll need to use.Copy the file (CTRL+C) and then open up “Computer” or “My Computer” and double-click your C: drive.We’re going to paste (CTRL+V) that “bootsect.exe” file right into C: so we can easily access it in a moment.
  
  
  5.Make the Drive Bootable
• Programs > Accessories and then right-click on Command Prompt and choose “Run as administrator.” 

• Inside cmd, type and enter the followings:
  
  1. cd\
  2. bootsect /nt60 f:
• We’re assuming the drive letter of your USB thumb drive is F:, so replace “f:” in the above phrase with whichever letter is assigned to your particular thumb drive. Hit enter and you should see: 

• The thumb drive auto-load when you boot up your computer.
  
  6.Copy the Windows 7 files to the thumb drive
• Now, copy all the files from the Windows 7 folder to the USB drive.
• Change the first boot device to your USB drive in the BIOS.
• Reboot the computer.You should be able to install Windows 7 from your USB flash drive now.

Unless you really have a lot of time on your hands, I doubt you want to go through the massive folder that contains your European vacation photos and rename them Europe_1.jpg, Europe_2.jpg, and so on down the line. If you're running Windows XP on your computer, you don't have to do this. Simply apply this hack to quickly apply a meaningful label to every picture in the folder. * First, open the folder and select View > Thumbnails. * Click the last picture in the folder you want to rename, hold down the Shift key, and click the first picture; this will select them all. * Right-click the first photo, and select Rename from the drop-down menu. Windows XP will highlight the filename for the first photo, enabling you to give it a descriptive name. After you type in the name, click the white space outside of the photo and watch as Windows applies the name with a sequential number to each picture in the folder.

Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts

Let's kick off with keyboard shortcuts – the first thing every power user must memorize with working with a new operating system.
Alt + P



In Windows Explorer, activate an additional file preview pane to the right side of the window with this new shortcut. This panel is great for previewing images in your photos directory.
Windows + + (plus key)
Windows + - (minus key)





Pressing the Windows and plus or minus keys activates the Magnifier, which lets you zoom in on the entire desktop or open a rectangular magnifying lens to zoom in and out of parts of your screen. You can customize the Magnifier options to follow your mouse pointer or keyboard cursor. Keep in mind that so far, the Magnifier only works when Aero desktop is enabled.
Windows + Up
Windows + Down

If a window is not maximized, pressing Windows + Up will fill it to your screen. Windows + Down will minimize that active window. Unfortunately, pressing Windows + Up again while a window is minimized won’t return it to its former state.
Windows + Shift + Up



Similar to the shortcut above, hitting these three keys while a window is active will stretch it vertically to the maximum desktop height. The width of the window will however stay the same. Pressing Windows + Down will restore it to its previous size.
Windows + Left
Windows + Right





One of the new features of Windows 7 is the ability to automatically make a window fill up half of your screen by dragging to the left or right. This pair of shortcuts performs the same function without your mouse. Once a window is fixed to one side of the screen, you can repeat the shortcut to flip it to the other side. This is useful if you’re extending a desktop across multiple monitors, which prevents you from executing this trick with a mouse.
Windows + Home

This shortcut performs a similar function to hovering over a window’s peek menu thumbnail in the Taskbar. The active window will stay on your desktop while every other open application is minimized. Pressing this shortcut again will restore all the other windows.
Windows + E



Automatically opens up a new Explorer window to show your Libraries folder.
Windows + P



Manage your multiple-monitor more efficiently with this handy shortcut. Windows + P opens up a small overlay that lets you configure a second display or projector. You can switch from a single monitor to dual-display in either mirror or extend desktop mode.
Windows + Shift + Left
Windows + Shift + Right

If you are using two or more displays (and who isn’t, these days?), memorize this shortcut to easily move a window from one screen to the other. The window retains its size and relative position on the new screen, which his useful when working with multiple documents. Utilize that real estate!
Windows + [Number]

Programs (and new instances) pinned to your Taskbar can be launched by hitting Windows and the number corresponding to its placement on the Taskbar. Windows + 1, for example, launches the first application, while Windows + 4 will launch the fourth. We realize that this is actually one key-press more than just clicking the icon with your mouse, but it saves your hand the trouble of leaving the comfort of the keyboard.
Windows + T



Like Alt + Tab (still our all time favorite Windows specific shortcut), Windows + T cycles through your open programs via the Taskbar’s peek menu.
Windows + Space



This combo performs the same function as moving your mouse to the bottom right of the Taskbar. It makes every active window transparent so you can view your desktop. The windows only remain transparent as long as you’re holding down the Windows key.
Ctrl + Shift + Click

Hold down Ctrl and Shift while launching an application from the Taskbar or start menu to launch it with full administrative rights.
Ctrl + Click

Hold down Ctrl while repeatedly clicking a program icon in the Taskbar will toggle between the instances of that application, like multiple Firefox windows (though not browser tabs).

Calibrate Text Rendering and Color

The first thing you need to do after a clean install of Windows 7 on a laptop is to tune and calibrate CleartType text and Display Color. Windows 7 includes two built-in wizards that run you through the entire process, pain free.

Launch ClearType Text Tuning by typing “cttune” in the Start Menu search field and opening the search result. You’ll go through a brief series of steps that asks you to identify the best-looking text rendering method.

For Display Color Calibration – very useful if you’re using Windows 7 with a projector or large-screen LCD – search and launch “dccw” from the Start Menu. It’ll run you through a series of pages where you can adjust the gamma, brightness, contrast, and color of the screen to make images look their best.


Better Font Management and a New Graceful Font

Font management is much improved in Windows 7. Gone is the “Add Fonts” dialog , replaced with additional functionality in the Fonts folder. First, the folder shows font previews in each font file’s icon (viewed with Large or Extra Large icons). Fonts from a single set will no longer show up as different fonts and are now combined as a single family (which can be expanded by double clicking the icon). You can also toggle fonts on and off by right clicking a font icon and selected the “hide” option. This will prevent applications from loading the font (and therefore save memory), but keep the file retained in the Font folder.

A new font called Gabriola also comes bundled with Windows 7, which takes advantage of the new OpenType and DirectWrite (Direct2D) rendering.
The Gaming Grotto is a Less Ghetto

One of our biggest pet peeves of Windows Vista is the Games Folder, which we not-so-affectionately refer to as the Gaming Grotto. Games for Windows titles and other game shortcuts would automatically install to this directory, which we could only access with a Start Menu shortcut. The concept wasn’t bad except for the fact that it prevented us from starting a game up from the Start Menu search bar. We could call up any other program by typing its name in the Start Menu field except the games installed to the Games Folder. Fortunately, this oversight is fixed in Windows 7.


Become More Worldly with Hidden Wallpapers

Windows 7 Beta comes with the Betta fish as its default desktop wallpaper, but it also includes six desktop backgrounds catered to your region (as identified when you first installed the OS). US users, for example, get six 1900x1200 images showing off famous National Parks and beaches. The available wallpapers for other regions are still included in a hidden folder.

To access these international wallpapers, bring up the Start Menu search bar and type “Globalization”. The only result should be a folder located in the main Windows directory. You should only be able to see “ELS and “Sorting” folders here so far. Next, search for “MCT” in the top right search bar. This will display five new unindexed folders, each corresponding to a different global region. Browse these folders for extra themes and wallpapers!


Take Control of UAC

Despite good intentions, User Account Control pop-ups were one of the most annoying aspects of Vista, and a feature that most of us immediately disabled after a clean install. UAC in Windows 7 displays fewer warnings, but you can also fine-tune its notification habits by launching the UAC Settings from the start menu. Just type “UAC” in the Start Menu search field and click the result. We find that setting just above “Never notify” gives a comfortable balance between mindful security and incessant nagging.

Calculate your Mortgage and Other Maths Tricks

Wordpad and Paint aren’t the only upgraded programs in Windows 7. The reliable Calculator applet has been beefed up to do more than just basic arithmetic. In Vista, the Calculator had Standard and Scientific modes. Now, you can toggle between Standard, Scientific, Programmer, and even Statistics modes.



In addition, the Options menu lets you pull out many new automated conversation tools, such has Unit Conversion (ie. Angles, Temperature, Velocity, or Volume) and Date Calculation (calculate the difference between two dates). More templates give you the ability to crunch Gas Mileage, Lease, and even Mortgage estimates based on any variables you input.


Track Your Actions with Problem Steps Recorder

The primary reason for releasing the Windows 7 Beta was for Microsoft’s developers to get feedback from users. (Notice the glaring Send Feedback link at the top of every window?) In addition, the devs have built in a diagnostic tool called Problem Steps Recorder that combines screen captures with mouse tracking to record your actions. You can launch this program from the Start Menu by typing “psr.exe” in the search field.



Hit the Record button and Problem Steps Recorder starts tracking your mouse and keyboard input while taking screenshots that correspond with each new action. Stop recording and your session is saved to an HTML slide show recreating your steps, in which you can add comments and annotations. It’s particularly useful if you need to create a tutorial for a computer-illiterate relative.
Explore from “My Computer”

Windows Explorer’s default landing folder is the Libraries directory, but some of us are more comfortable with using “My Computer” as the default node, especially if we use multiple hard drives and external storage devices.

To change the default node, find Windows Explorer in the Start Menu by typing “explorer” in the Start Menu search field and right click the first result. Select “Properties”. Under the Shortcut tab, the Target location should read: %SystemRoot% and the Target should be: %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe



Paste the following in the Target field: %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}

New instances of Explorer will open up to “My Computer”. You’ll need to unpin and replace the existing Explorer shortcut from the Taskbar to complete the transition. Just right-click the icon, hit, “Unpin this program from the taskbar” to remove it, and then drag Explorer from the Start Menu back into place.
Burn, Baby, Burn

No more messing around with malware-infected free burning software – Windows 7 comes loaded with DVD and CD ISO burning software. Double-click your image file and Windows will start a tiny program window to help burn your disc. It’s a barebones app, but it works!

Reveal All of Your Drives

If you use built-in memory card readers in a 3.5” drive bay or on your Dell Monitor, empty memory card slots will not show up as drives in My Computer. But that doesn’t mean they’re not still there! To reveal hidden memory card slots, open up My Computer. Press Alt to show the toolbar at the top of the screen, and go to Folder Options under Tools. Hit the View tab and uncheck the “Hide empty drives in the Computer folder” option.


Arrange Your Taskbar (System Tray, Too)

The programs that you pin to your Taskbar can be moved around to any order you want, whether they’re just shortcut icons or actually active applications. We recommend moving frequently used programs and folders to the front of the stack, so it’ll be easily to launch them with the aforementioned Windows + [number] shortcut. The Taskbar, if unlocked, can also be dragged to latch to the left, right, or even top of your desktop. Windows 7 improves side-docked Taskbar support with better gradient rendering and shortcut support. It really works well if you’re using a widescreen monitor.

Just as the Taskbar icons can be rearranged at will, the icons in the System Tray (actually called Notification Area) can be dragged and set to any order as well. Hidden Icons can be dragged back into view, and you can hide icons by dropping them into the Hidden Icon well – which is easier than working through the Notification Area Customization menu.
Bring Quick Launch Back from the Dead

The Quick Launch is superfluous with the presence of the updated Taskbar, but you can still bring it back with the following steps:

• Right-click the Taskbar, hover over Toolbars, and select New Toolbar.
• In the Folder selection field at the bottom, enter the following string:
%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch
• Turn off the “lock the Taskbar” setting, and right-click on the divider. Disable “Show Text” and “Show Title” and set the view option to “Small Icons”.
• Drag the divider to rearrange the toolbar order to put Quick Launch where you want it, and then right-click the Taskbar to lock it again.


Cling to Vista’s Taskbar

Let’s start with the bad news: Windows 7 eliminates the option to use the classic grey Windows 2000-style Taskbar. You’re also committed to the modern version of the Start Menu. But the good news is that you can still tweak the Taskbar to make it run like it did in Windows Vista – replacing the program icons with full names of each open app.



Right-click the Taskbar and hit properties. Check the “use small icons” box and select “combine when Taskbar is full” from the dropdown menu under Taskbar buttons. You still get the peekview thumbnail feature of the Taskbar, and inactive program remain as single icons, but opened programs will display their full names. Combine this with the old-school Quick Launch toolbar to complete the Vista illusion.


Banish Programs to the System Tray

All active programs show up as icons on the Taskbar, whether you want them to or not. While this is useful for web browsing or word processing, your taskbar can get cluttered up with icons you would normally expect to be hidden away, like for Steam or a chat client. You can keep active instances of these programs hidden away in the System Tray/Notification Area by right-clicking their shortcuts, navigating to the Compatibility tab, and selecting “Windows Vista” under the Compatibility Mode drop-down menu. This only works for programs that would previously hide away from the Taskbar in Vista.

Accelerate your Start Menu

The Start Menu hasn’t changed much from Vista, but there are some notable improvements. The default power button is thankfully changed to Shut Down the system, as opposed to Hibernation, as it was in Vista. This can be changed to do other actions from the Start Menu Properties menu.

Additional customization brings Videos and Recorded TV as links or menus to the right side of the Start Menu, next to your Documents, Music, and Games. Feel free to mess around the Customization options since you can always return to the default Start Menu settings by clicking the “default” button at the bottom.

1. Useful key shortcuts available:

- Windows key + D - shows the desktop
- Windows key + M - minimizes all open windows
- Windows key + Shift + M - maximizes all open windows
- Windows key + E - Runs Windows Explorer
- Windows key + R - shows the RUN dialog
- Windows key + F - shows Search window
- Windows key + Break - shows System Properties box
- Windows key + TAB - Go through taskbar applications
- Windows key + PAUSE Display the System Properties dialog box
- Windows key + U Open Utility Manager
- ALT + TAB - Cycle through opened applications
- Hold down CTRL while dragging an item to Copy it
- CTRL + ESC Display the Start menu
- ALT + ENTER View the properties for the selected item
- F4 key Display the Address bar list in My Computer or
- NUM LOCK + Asterisk (*) Display all of the subfolders that are under the selected folder

2. Lock Windows to protect computer
You can lock Windows to protect the computer when leaving the station easily by creating a shortcut with the path rundll32.exeuser32.dll, LockWorkStation. The Windows key + L is also a shortcut to this feature.

3. Edit sysoc.inf to list all software
To show all software that can be removed from your computer (including protected Windows services), you can manually edit (using notepad for example) the sysoc.inf file located in Windows\inf\. Just remove the word hide next to the software pack.
*Note* - use this at your own risk. Removing critical components of the system will make Windows instable.

4. Windows XP comes with IPv4 and IPv6
Windows XP comes both IPv4 and IPv6 support. To enable IPv6, you can install the protocols needed with the command "ipv6 install" in the command-prompt. Then type ipv6 /? to see the options. The installation will not remove the IPv4 protocols so your current configuration will still work.

5. Access Task Manager with shortcut
To access the Task Manager easier, you can make a shortcut that points to %windir%\system32\taskmgr.exe.

6. Stop treating ZIP files like Folders
If you don't want your Windows XP to treat ZIP files like folders, you can disable this component by running regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll at the command prompt or Run dialog. If you start missing it, you can enable it by typing regsvr32 zipfldr.dll.

7. Run program as diffrent user
You can run a program as a different user. Right click an application and select Run As command.

8. Switch users leaving applications opened
You can switch users leaving the applications opened too (*NOTE* use this only when needed since it could lead to system instability).
Go to Task Manager - processes and end the process explorer.exe. This will end only your session and not all applications. Then go to Applications tab, click New task and type runas /useromainname\username explorer.exe. A password prompt will appear to login to the desired username. The user's session will start, with all your previously applications running.
I recommend to open first a command-line prompt and type runas /? to see all the options available.

9. Rename multiple files in Windows at once
Rename multiple files in Windows at once. Select them all, right click and select Rename. Enter the desired name. They will be renamed using what you specified, with a number in brackets to distinguish them.

10. Task kill feature in Windows
Windows has a task kill feature similar to Linux. Go to a command prompt and run the command tasklist to see running processes with PID numbers. Then type tskill
to end the specific task. This forces an instant closing of the task.

11. Edit features with GPEDIT.MSC
You can edit many features by running gpedit.msc. You can add log on/log off scripts here and many features.

12. Edit accounts in the command prompt
You can edit accounts by running "control userpasswords2" at the command prompt.

13. Use systeminfo.exe to see System Information
You can use the systeminfo.exe command in the command prompt to see System Information, including all Windows updates and hotfixes.

14. Disable system services for maximum performance
There are system services that you can disable to free up the system's load. To access the interface that permits you to make changes to system's services, type services.msc and the command prompt.
This is a list of services that are *usually* useless and can be safely disabled.
Alerter
Application Layer Gateway Service,
Application Management
Automatic Updates
Background Intelligent Transfer
Clipbook
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Distributed Transaction Coordinater
Error Reporting Service
Fast User Switching Compatibility
IMAPI CD-Burning
Indexing Service
IPSEC Services
Messenger
Net Logon
Net Meeting
Remote Desktop Sharing
Network DDE
Network DDE DSDM
Portable Media Serial Number
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Remote Registry
Secondary Logon
Smartcard
SSDP Discovery Service
Uninterruptible Power Supply
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Upload Manager
Webclient
Wireless Zero Configuration
WMI Performance Adaptor

*NOTE*: Make sure you don't need them since some applications you're using could depend on them. If you make any application to fail by disabling any of the services, go back and enable it again.

15. Repair Windows XP by using the XP installation CD
If your system failes to start due to an error related to missing HAL.DLL, invalid Boot.ini or any other critical system boot files you can repair this by using the XP installation CD. Simply boot from your XP Setup CD and enter the Recovery Console. Then run "attrib -H -R -S" on the C:\Boot.ini file and delete it. Run "Bootcfg /Rebuild" and then Fixboot.

1. Set the Incoming port to higher than 45000, I have found that 47532 is a nice selection.
2. Then make sure you set the max upload speed to at least half of your connection upload speed (this will ensure faster downloading) because high upload speeds are the main cause for slow downloads.
3. Do not use randomized port on every startup, as this will have problems with your firewall and this is highly unnecessary.
4. Choose the correct number of maximum connections, too much connections can slow down your torrent download speed instead of speeding them up. For best results use uTorrent's speed guide found on Options >Speed Guide, and it will suggest you the best settings. For users with a max upload speed of 256 Kbits/s uTorrent suggeests 35 connections per torrent and 60 in total. Check the total speed guide for your type of connection here.
5. Run as few torrents as possible, this means that your connection can handle and deliver maximum speed for the running torrents. I suggest running 2 torrents if you have a 256 Kbits/s upload speed connection and 1 torrent at a time if you have a 128 Kbits/s upload connection.
6. When selecting from similar torrents select from the best seeds/peers ratio as well as swarm speed. Here is a guide on how a perfect torrent should be.
7. If you are using a DSL router then enable port forwarding in your router. If you are using a DSL Modem this is unnecessary.
8. Enable UPnP Port Mapping And NAT-PMP Port Mapping, (found on Options > Preferences > Connection. If you are manually forwarding your port than keep it UNCHECKED, but if you don't know what port forwarding is or you?re not forwarding the port manually than CHECK it.
9. Do not use windows firewall, windows firewall simply hates torrents and you will have a truckload of speed problems with it. Disable it permanantly, and use a secure firewall such as Comodo Firewall or Eset.
10. Manage your upload slots per torrent, usually it should be 2-3 per torrent. More than that will reduce the download speed of your torrents.
11. Increase the Net.max_Halfopen Connections to 50-60 in uTorrent Advanced configaration panel, there is also a patch for windows XP to increase this limit. In Windows XP increase the limit to 100 connections.
12. Enable the following, they greatly improve your download speed.

Do u get irritated when acrobat reader takes time to load when you want to open a pdf document.

Follow these steps to speed up.

1. Go to the installation folder of acrobat reader
(C:\program files\adobe\acrobat\reader\.. whatever)

2. Move all the files and folders from the "plugins" directory to the "Optional" directory. (Don't copy and paste.........Do cut N paste).

Also make sure that acrobat reader is not open else it will lock the files and not allow you to move the files).
Now your acrobat reader will load very fast
and almost as good as notepad..

Requirements:

o Winrar
o Universal Extractor

Download winrar link = http://download.cnet.com/WinRAR/3000-2250_4-10745708.html

Download Universal Extractor link = http://www.softpedia.com/get/Compression-tools/Universal-Extractor.shtml

Procedure:

 1) First take the set up file of the software that you want to make portable. Here I am taking Don of computer as set up file.

2) Now install both Winrar and Universal Extractor.The links are given above.

3) Now put the set up file in a folder say Anoop. Now right click on the set up file and select UniExtract to Subdir.

4) This will extract all the dll files and some folders along with the executable (exe) file. In my case the name of the exe file is donofcomputer.exe but it depends upon the software so in your case it will be different. Just copy the whole name along with the extension i.e donofcomputer.exe

5) Now press Ctrl+A and select all the extracted files and folders and right click on it and select Add to archive.

6) Now when you will click on Add to archive a new window will open, its Winrar application. In the right side in General tab put a tick on Create SFX Archive

7) Now go to Advance tab at the top and click on SFX Options.In the Set Up Program in Run After Extraction enter the name of the file along with the extension that your copied in Step4 i.e donofcomputer.exe

8) Do not press OK yet, there is a job left. In the top bar click on Modes and put a tick on Unpack to temporary folder and also check on Hide All and now press OK to close SFX Options window and press OK again to close Winrar window.

9) When you will click OK second time, Winrar will create a file and this is your portable application.

1) All you need is your friend's IP Address and your Command Prompt.

2) Open Notepad and write this code as it is.....!

@echo off
:A
Cls
echo MESSENGER
set /p n=User:
set /p m=Message:
net send %n% %m%
Pause
Goto A

3) Now save this as "Messenger.Bat".

4) Open Command Prompt.

5) Drag this file (.bat file) over to Command Prompt and press Enter.

6) You would then see Command Prompt Showing Some Thing Like This:
Messenger
User:


7) Now, type the IP Address of the computer you want to contact and press enter


8) Now all you need to do is type your message and press Enter.
Start Chatting.......!

Found this interesting...and 3000+ downloads,so sharing it.

NOW U CAN PLAY ANY LATEST GAME WITHOUT GRAPHICS CARD!!!! JUST INSTALL THIS SOFTWARE IN UR PC AND PLAY GAME WITH IT...
3d analyze is a Graphics Card Emulator that can emulate all the feature of a 3d graphics card like pixelshader 1.1, 1.4, 2.0, bump maps and a lota stuff. If a game stops running on your system just because u dont have a graphics card, dont worry 3d analyze will do it for ya. run 3danalyze select the game exe, select a few options u wanna emulate and there u go the game run perfectly now.

Windows 7 by default has only few themes available for customization. People who are not satisfied with these in build themes can get few more themes for Windows 7 which are actually hidden. These themes are available for certain regional countries such as Australia, Canada, Great Britain, United States and South Africa. These themes can be revealed and used by the following steps.
















 
1. Open Windows Explorer and click Organize

2. Select Folder and Search Options and navigate to the View tab.

3. Select Show hidden files, folders and drivers and uncheck Hide protected operating system files (Recommended). Click Yes, if prompted for confirmation.

4. Click OK and now browse to the folder: Windows\Globalization\MCT

5. There are five folders here with the name with format MCT-XX (where XX is AU, CA, GB, US, or ZA) which represents globalization settings for each region. Go into the folder that you want to activate its theme.
Note that AU, CA and ZA regions have the same themes.

6. Open the Theme folder inside the selected region folder.

7. Double click on the XX.theme file to apply the theme to the Windows 7 desktop system. Once a theme is executed and activated, the theme will be available and saved into Personalization options, so that user can select this theme directly from the personalization settings.

8. Now to go to Folder Options to reverse the first 5 steps to hide the hidden and protected system files and folders again.



Now when you open the themes settings, you can see the hidden themes activated.

1. Opening multiple Instances of the same program

Want to open multiple instances of the same program? Maybe a second command prompt or another application that can be opened in multiple instances? Instead of opening the program again the usual way you can simply press the SHIFT key and left-click on the first instance in the Windows Taskbar to open a second one.

2. Problem Steps Recorder

If you ever had to do phone support you know how hard it can be to understand what the user on the other end of the phone did and wants. The Problem Steps Recorder is a sweet little tool in Windows 7 that can be used by the user to record his steps.



All that the user needs to do is start the recorder by entering psr in the Start Menu box and click on Start Record in the program interface. Screenshots will be taken from user actions. It is possible to add comments at any time if the user feels so. The whole recording will be saved as a zip file containing a slideshow of the actions.

3. Pin Favorite Folders

Want to add a favorite folders to Windows Explorer to be able to access them faster? Just drag and drop the folder to the favorites menu. It will remain there until you delete it with the delete key again.

4. Moving Windows and such

Windows 7 introduces several new keyboard shortcuts for window management. Some useful ones are:

• [Windows Shift Left Arrow] or [Windows Shift Right Arrow] to move windows from one computer monitor to another.
• [Windows Left Arrow] or [Windows Right Arrow] to dock windows to the left or right side
• [Windows Up Arrow] to maximize a window
• [Windows Down Arrow] to restore or minimize windows
• [Windows Home] to minimize all windows but the active one

Windows 7 is the next generation of operating system due from Microsoft and it is still working on a planned release for early 2010 – on target for the three year window after the release of Windows Vista.
This article is a complete walk through on the steps taken when attempting to upgrade your Windows XP Professional SP3 installation to Windows 7 Ultimate edition.

[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] – It is important to note that Windows 7 is only in beta release at the present time. The version of Windows 7 that I am using for this walk through is Windows 7 Ultimate edition, build 6.1.7000.

Because the content is still under development and in beta release it is a preliminary tutorial and is subject to change upon the final release of this new version of Windows.

So, when is an upgrade of your currently installed operating system installation not really an upgrade? Anytime you choose AUTORUN within a non-supported operating system and you choose the "upgrade" option because the setup installation routine will eventually stop you from completing this action.
As a point of reference, the Windows Vista upgrade options from prior installations of Windows XP and Windows 2000  are shown on the Microsoft website on the Get Windows Vista: Upgrade options page and it shows you which installations allow an in-place upgrade and on which ones you'll need to perform a clean install.

[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] – Windows 2000 Professional requires a clean install to get to Windows Vista; there is no supported in-place upgrade path to Windows Vista.
If there was some desire or need, you are able to upgrade Windows 2000 Professional to Windows XP and then from there you could upgrade to Vista (and from there I suppose you could go to Windows 7 if you really wanted to). These multiple steps from OS to OS would allow for an in-place upgrade each time and it would save all of your installed applications and settings (provided they run and are supported on the newer operating systems through each of the successive jumps) but from a support standpoint of the system itself it is not recommended.

From a Windows XP standpoint when it comes to attempting an in-place upgrade, the setup routine will halt because it is not a supported upgrade path.

Having said that, Microsoft did build in the logic to allow the setup to provide the option for the installation to continue from that point as a clean install and we'll outline all of this in our walkthrough.
The prerequisites for an upgrade installation of Windows 7  is that the upgrade system must be running Windows Vista with Service Pack 1.

Additionally, if you're running x64 hardware and you have an x86 version of Vista (32 bit) installed you can only perform an in place upgrade to Windows 7 x86; you cannot make a decision to perform an in-place upgrade to x64 despite the fact that the hardware allows for it. (You can of course perform a clean installation and do this).

Localization matters as well. If you are running a Spanish version of Windows Vista SP1 (as an example - it could be any localization) and decide you want to perform an in-place upgrade you cannot choose an English version of Windows 7 to do this. Nothing prevents you from performing a clean install but an in-place upgrade isn't supported.
[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] – It is probably important to note as well that according to the Microsoft website the currently released version of Windows 7 Beta is time-bombed to stop working on August 1, 2009. Before or at least by that date you'll need to reinstall a prior version of Windows on your system or a subsequent release of the Windows 7 beta if there is another release.
Microsoft has historically released more than a single beta version and / or a release candidate or two before going to manufacturing with their products so there may additional opportunities to upgrade current systems with other Windows 7 betas between now and the actual release to manufacturing (RTM) of the operating system.

At the time of final release of Windows 7, Microsoft is recommending that users that had been working with the beta installation to do a wipe and load (clean installation) and then install the RTM bits.

As I mentioned, there is no supported way to do an in-place upgrade from Windows XP Home or Professional so while this walk through does start off that way we are not going to be allowed to complete the install unless we switch to a Custom Installation which effectively sets us into a clean installation.
To get started you would place the Windows 7 media in the DVD drive and then wait for autorun to execute on its own or you could start it yourself.

The Install Windows dialog box will appear as shown below.

You can take the time to review the "What to know before installing Windows" note by selecting the option near the bottom or you can go ahead with the installation. An even better review of information as it changes can be found on the Beta download: FAQ
Once you kick off the installation setup will begin copying the temporary files as seen in image 2 below and once that completes you'll be presented with the "Get important updates for installation" options.


You can choose one option or the other; unless you have some specific reason to do otherwise, it is almost always the best bet to go ahead and get the latest updates for installation (as recommended by the setup wizard).

[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] – For obvious reasons, if you're not connected to the internet you'd want to choose not to get the updates at the time of install. If you choose the "Go online" option and your connection is not present setup will force you off of that option.
It will allow setup to continue without updating.

If you do not want to take part in the Windows improvement program you'll need to clear the "I want to help make Windows installation better" check box as it is selected by default.

We are going to choose the "Get important updates for installation" option for our walk through.
Setup will search online for installation updates (if any) as shown in the screenshots below and will reboot the system when this part of the installation is complete.


[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] – When the system restarts you want to make sure you are not doing anything with the keyboard if your system is set to check the DVD drive for a boot device; otherwise you'll hit a key and then begin booting from the DVD which starts the setup process all over.

Once the system gets back up from rebooting you'll reach the "Please read the license terms" screen (and I have yet to find anyone in ten plus years of being in information technology that actually has done this).

You need to accept the license terms to proceed to the next phase.

If you should accidentally do this you can fix it by power cycling the system and letting the routine restart from where it left off which it will do if you do not hit the keys on the keyboard on the next cycle.
The following screen is where you have the option to perform your installation type as shown below.

You would select Custom (advanced) to perform a clean installation or to set up the system in a dual or multi-boot configurations. As mentioned, we are going to attempt to perform an upgrade by selecting that option.


As you can see from the results shown above we have been kicked out of the upgrade option. In order to perform the upgrade installation to this version of Windows 7 (beta) the running operating system must be Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 installed or later.

When you close this window you'll be brought back to the previous "Which type of installation do you want" screen where you can choose Custom (advanced).

When the routine continues from here you'll be presented the "Where do you want to install Windows" options which will show you the available partitions where Windows can be installed.

[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] – If you are expecting to see another partition and it is not available you can try refreshing the screen but it is more likely that setup needs to load a driver for that device and it is not present.

To load a drive for a missing controller or other device you would choose the Load Drive option shown at the bottom left of image #9 below.

For our walkthrough the partition we are looking for (the one with the Windows XP installation already present) is available and we're going to choose that one to use.

When we make the selection we are presented with a dialog box that indicates that setup detects that the partition might already have a previous Windows installation and lets you know that if you continue these files will be moved to a folder called Windows.old as shown below.

[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] – The Windows Vista installation routine also moves previously installed version of Windows found into the Windows.old folder.

Setup prior to Vista would delete these old operating system files and then go through the rest of the regular installation (with a couple of exceptions) in the same directory.

By leveraging Windows.old you at least can access information stored there if needed in the future.
Once the setup routine continues forward from here it will copy the Windows files and then begin expanding them. Once the Expanding files option gets to about 30% (it was 27% on my system) it will stop and reboot before continuing.
During this reboot cycle you'll notice the first Windows 7 splash screens as shown below.


Once setup comes back online it will finish expanding all of the files (and it'll reboot again) before it formally restarts in Windows 7 (and not the setup environment).



Now that Windows 7 proper is running you can begin the final stage of setting up the system. On the first screen (the last screenshot above) you are prompted to choose a country or region setting, the time and currency settings and the keyboard layout you'll be using.

On the next screen you'll type in a user name to use on the system and that entry will give you a computer name suggestion based on what you entered. You can choose to keep that computer name or change it and choose NEXT.

The next screen is "Set a password for your user account" where you enter your password information and a hint in case you need it to help you remember what your password was.

[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] – I don't want to get on my security soapbox too much in this article but you really should be using passphrases on your systems because hacking "Andrew2004" is a lot easier than "My_son_Andrew_was_born_in_2oo4!"
Additionally, the password hint is suppose to be a better helper for users than a sticky note on a monitor or under the keyboard but it will be displayed on the screen at log on to help when a password is forgotten so it shouldn't be THE password nor should it be so obvious a hint that someone that shouldn't be able to access the system can by guessing.

The step of entering in a product key for activation is going to be dependent on which type of installation media that you have but we are using this media for the install and this would be the screen where you'd provide this information.

After the key is entered and you choose NEXT you'll land on the "Help protect your computer and improve Windows automatically" page which is where you'll initially configure the Windows Update settings. If you feel like you need additional information on what to do there is a link presented that allows you to review some more details.

The next screen is the "Review your time and date settings" page which allows you to change the time zone settings. You are also able to change the time and date as well (in case the information pulled from the system has not populated correctly).

Additionally, the "Automatically adjust clock for Daylight Saving Time" checkbox is selected by default so if you're in an area where it is not observed you'll need to clear the option. (This can be done after installation is complete as well).

On the next screen you are presented with the "Select your computer's current location" page where you choose to identify the network settings as Home, Work, or Public which will automatically configure network resource settings, firewall settings, network discovery and other parameters based on the profile you choose.

[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] – If you choose Home you'll see the configuration being made and it will be displayed as shown in image 20 below.
Part of this configuration setup prepares your system to participate in a HomeGroup (and I've written another more detailed article on this topic).
Once the network location has been set the option to join the HomeGroup will be present; you do not need to do this if you do not wish to configure the network for this type of use or to join an existing HomeGroup and the option to choose SKIP is presented (and we'll use that for the walkthrough).



After you make that selection Windows 7 will finalize your settings and the operating system will so the user desktop and you will be good to go with the Windows 7 installation completed and the system ready for regular use.



This concludes my walk through tutorial of "Upgrading" Windows XP Professional SP3 to Windows 7 Ultimate (beta build 7000). I hope you found it informative.

Windows 7 Backup and Restore is the long awaited backup replacement for Vista’s Backup Status and Configuration tool which lacked many important features. When using the Backup and Restore tool, an important aspect of the backup job is the proper selection of backup target.

While Backup and Restore can use several types of hardware for the backup destination, where you save your backup depends on the hardware that you have available, the information you are saving on your backup, and how you want to interact with the backup wizard.



BTW, when you insert a new hard drive (such as an external USB drive) and Windows 7 recognizes it, it will prompt you if you wish to use it as the target for your backups. This can be changed later, but if you do select it, the Backup Files will begin.




When you choose a destination to save your backup to, the wizard searches your computer and displays a list of all destinations that you can use. The following list describes the types of backup destinations that Backup and Restore supports:

• Internal hard disk – In the past years, hard disks became relatively inexpensive. This makes them the best option for backup media targets.  If you have a problem with your operating system and cannot boot your computer up anymore, you can use the hard disk in another computer and you will still have access to the backups. 

• External hard disks - An external hard drive can easily be attached to your computer using a USB or Firewire port. Like internal hard disks, external hard disks can hold a lot of information based upon their size. Unlike internal hard disks, external hard disks can be stored in a separate physical location from your computer. This can help protect your backup.External disks are as delicate as internal ones so be careful when moving them from one location to another, and protect them from strong magnetic fields. In addition, USB-attached disks tend to have a slower data transfer rate than internal disks, which, in turn, might cause longer backup times.

• Writeable CDs or DVDs – If you have a CD or DVD burners installed in your computer, you can use it for your backup target. Being cheap to buy and offering cheap media, these make a good choice for mobilizing your backup media to locations that are separate from your computer, such as a fireproof safe.

• However, note that you can't save a system image on a CD or DVD, and, depending on how much data you have, it might take several CDs or DVDs to hold your backup and you would need to store and keep track of all of them. In addition, CDs and even the larger DVD medias can store only a fraction of the amount of data that can be stored on a hard disk.

• USB flash drives – Becoming cheaper from day to day, you can use external USB flash drives to store your backups. Like CDs and DVDs, you can store a flash drive in a location that is separate from your computer, such as a fireproof safe.To save a backup on a flash drive, it must be larger than 1 GB. Here too, like CDs and DVDs, current technology limits USB flash drive sizes and you can store only a fraction of the amount of data that can be stored on a hard disk. However unlike hard disks, USB flash drives have no moving parts, making them ideal for moving around.

• Network locations - A shared folder or mapped drive on the network can be a convenient place to save your backups and they can be added as more storage space is required.However, the network location must be available at the time the backup is scheduled to occur and the user name and password that you provided when you set up your backup needs to still be valid for the network location, and other people who have access to the network location might be able to access your backup. Needless to say, a network location cannot be moved around. However being a “network” location, this means that it does not necessarily need to be close next to the computer you’re backing up, and with some limitations, it can be located in a separate physical site.

• The destination is a tape drive. Backup and Restore cannot save backups to tapes.
• The destination is the disk that you are trying to back up. You can't back up a disk to itself.
• The destination is a CD-ROM drive or a DVD-ROM drive. You must use a CD or DVD burner, also known as a CD-R/CD-RW or DVD-R/DVD-RW drive.
• The destination is not formatted as NTFS, FAT, or Universal Disk Format (UDF).
• The destination is either the system disk or the boot disk.
• The destination is a network location on a computer running Windows XP Home Edition.
• The destination is a recovery partition created by your computer manufacturer that contains files and tools that you can use to return your computer to the manufacturer's settings if it stops working correctly.
• The destination is locked by BitLocker Drive Encryption.

Navigate to C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Messenger\ and set the properties of msnmsgr.exe to Vista compatibility mode. This will place the Messenger icon back in your system tray and remove the 2 annoying tabs on the taskbar.
If you're wondering about the fish in the Windows 7 fish then it's a Betta Fish and also has 7 bubbles to signify Windows 7.