MORE XP TRICKS

View previously opens Folders after Shutdown or Logoff

If you need to access lot of folders on your home computer or on the network regularly then you can set them re-open automatically, when you will login, shutdown or restart your computer next time. There is no need to open regularly used folders manually, just configure the simple sitting, your computer will automatically reload all the previously opened windows.

By default windows XP disables this option to reload automatically all the previously opened windows, when you login on, shutdown or restart your computer.

Follow the given steps to configure your computer to reload previously opened folders automatically after shutdown.

To edit this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with administrative rights.

First click on Start button then go to Control Panel.

Open the “Appearance and Themes” option in control panel then click on Folder Options.

A small windows dialog box will appear with the title “Folder options”, click on View tab.

Under the Advanced setting section, scroll down to bottom and click the “Restore previous folder windows at logon” option and then click Ok button to save sitting.

Now when you log off, restart or shutdown, your computer will automatically open the previously opened folders from the same location as before.

How to rename Recycle Bin?

You can change the name of Recycle Bin of your system if you wish. It is very easy and interesting but it require some changes in windows registry,

First click on Start button > click on Run option.

Type here regedit.exe and press enter then you will find there REGEDIT editor.

In regedit editor you will open HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT folder, In this folder open the CLSID folder then open the {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} folder >ShellFolder folder at last.

Here simply change the data value from "40 01 00 20" to "70 01 00 20".

After performing all above steps restart your computer then you will find option to rename Recycle name after right clicking on Recycle Bin Icon. Now you can change new name as you wish.

How you Changing the Icon Spacing in XP?

You can manage your desktop icons in windows XP horizontally as well as vertically spacing. You can change the location, size of icons and spacing between icons manually but you can arrange these setting using windows methods.

First Right click on your windows XP desktop then click on Properties option. Here click the Appearance tab then go to Advance button and under Item you will find many options to change the desktop icons, for example choose icon spacing in both ways and then here you can change the size putting number (minimum or maximum) under size. When you finished all setting then click ok button.

How to Disable or Enable Auto run CD?

In windows XP you can enjoy a good feature to run CD or DVD automatically when you loaded it into you CD drives on your computer. This is a defaults feature in windows XP but you can disable and enable it according to your nature of work. In user interface mode there is no option to disable or enable this feature, you must edit the registry of windows and be careful to work registry.

Click Start button then type regedit in Run option then press Enter for next.

Here locate the location to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdrom

Here you can disable or enable automatically running your CD. Change the value of Autorun to 0 for disable and change the value to 1 for enable. At the end restart your computer for this change.

Set Num Lock Key Always On!!!

You can set your Num Lock to stay on by default when you logon your system.

There are two different techniques to set Num Lock stay on by default.

If you can use Registry Editor correctly then click on start button and type Regedt32.exe in Run command. Here Navigate to HKEY_USERS\.Default\Control Panel\Keyboard and change the value for InitialKeyboardIndicators from 0 to

2.You can do same by configuring the script to change the NUM LOCK state. Click Start button and then open Notepad. Copy the giving code and paste in Notepad.

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

WshShell.SendKeys "{NUMLOCK}"

Now save this file with name "num.vbs" must including the quotes. At the end copy this file to user startup folder. The path for this folder is Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup.

Now restart the computer. Num Lock should come on and stay on.

At the end Click OK button to apply the selected scheme.

How you can save Energy using Energy saving feature?

You can save your system energy applying these features.

First Right click on your system desktop and a popup menu will appear.

Select the Properties option from the menu.

Click Screen Saver tab and then select Power button, here you will get Power saving sitting option for your monitor.

Select your power scheme from available option, for example turn off monitor time, turn off hard disk and stand by your system.

At the end Click On OK Button to Apply the selected scheme.

How To Print through Command Prompt???

If you are working at the Command Prompt your can modify and print the text file very easily. There are different ways to print text a file while working at the Command Prompt. Assuming the file you want to print is in your current folder, you can type here with your file name with extension. For example

print filename.txt

and press Enter. Here .txt is the file extension. You must use the extension. Now in the same way you can edit this file before printing with given command

edit filename.txt

and press Enter. This command opens the MS-DOS Editor to edit this file. Edit the file and then press Alt, F, P to print it.

Start Any Application when you logon!!!

You can start your computer applications automatically and control the sequence of the programs when your computer comes up.

Here we consider you want to run three different applications (WordPad, calculator, and notepad) and minimized automatically with sequence at windows startup. However, you can write a batch file to do the job for you. Open any text editor like notepad and type the following command.

Start /min wordpad.exe start /min calc.exe start /min notepad.exe

Now choose the option, Save As to save this file with .bat extension. For example filename.bat.

Now Right- click on Start button and choose open > Double click Programs > here open Startup folder. Now drag your .bat file in the Startup folder and close the dialog box.

Next time When you restart the computer, WordPad, Calc will start first and then Notepad. You won't see the batch file run because you told it to run minimized

How to Increase and Decrease the size of Recycle Bin!!!

You can increase and decrease the size of the Recycle Bin. There are some size limitations with Recycle Bin size, its default size is equivalent to 10 percent of the drive size. But if you delete a larger size file accidentally, you can retrieve this file from Recycle Bin that is why you should set the maximum storage size of the Recycle Bin.

First Right click on the Recycle Bin icon on the Desktop of your computer then go to Properties.

Adjust the slider bar in the center of the screen from 10% to maximum size as you want.

Then click OK button to save your new sitting and exit the Recycle Bin Properties Window.

After change reboot your computer to have Windows fully initiate the necessary changes to your system.

How to find a lost file on your Computer???

Today tip will help you to enjoy the quick and easy way to find lost files on your computer. Here I recommends you, try to search a file with its file extensions (for example for word file, type *.doc, Excel *.xls, Acrobat *.pdf, *.ppt and *.exe for executable files. If you don't know the name of file but know that it contains a string of text then try to search for files containing specific text, type the text you want to find from any file or folder. This is time taking process but creates very precise result. In Look in, click the drive, folder, or network you want to search. To save time, always select the specified drive or location instead of whole computer.

Click Start Button, point to Search, and then click For File or Folders, a Search Results dialog box will appear. In Search for files or folders named, type the file name or folder name you want to find in containing text.

To specify additional search criteria, click Search Options, and then click one or more of the following options to narrow your search:

Select Date to look for files that were created or modified on or between specific dates.

Select Type to look for files of a specific type, such as a text or WordPad document.

Select Size to look for files of a specific size.

Select Advanced Options to specify additional search criteria.

Click Search now.

How to remove the text from the Desktop icon? ??

Desktop is the interface of Windows, which contain the icons, taskbar etc. that allow the user to interact with the computer to perform different operations. Usually the picture of icon represents its purpose so if you want your desktop looking very clean then you can remove the title under the desktop icons. May be you are thinking it is so easy, just go to rename option and set blank name or single spacebar entry but the problem is this, windows will not allow you to set blank name or name with single spacebar entry. Here interesting thing is this; window will allow you to use the ASCII code for a space, which is 0160.

First clear all the text from that icon

Now type the ASCII code, simply hold the Alt key, type the number 0160 from the number pad and release the Alt key then press Enter button to finish the process.

But if you want to remove the text of multiple icons, then repeat the above process with adding one extra ASCII code for second icon, (for example for second icon you type the 0160 twice and for third icon type 0160 three times with Alt key and so on).

Add a picture to a folder

To add a picture to a folder

1.	In Windows Explorer (the program that appears when you open folders such as My Computer, My Documents, My Pictures, or My Music), right-click the folder you want to add a picture to, and then click Properties.
2.	In the Properties dialog box, click the Customize tab. If there is no Customize tab, you cannot add a picture to that folder. You can add pictures to other folders, however.
3.	On the Customize tab, click Choose Picture.
4.	In the Browse dialog box, click the picture you want to use, and then click Open.
5.	Click OK.

When you view the folder using Thumbnails view, Windows displays a thumbnail of the picture you selected.

Auto logon for Windows XP

Would you rather not have to log on after your computer starts? If you’re the only person who uses your computer, you can make life a little easier by skipping the Welcome screen completely and having Microsoft Windows XP take you straight to your desktop.

To automatically log on to Windows XP upon startup

1.	Click Start, and then click Run. Note: Remember your user name at the top of the Start menu, because you’ll need it later.
2.	In the Open box, type control userpasswords2 and click OK.
3.	Clear the Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer check box. Click OK.
4.	Click the User name box, type the user name that was displayed on the Start menu in step 1. If you normally type a password to log on, type your password in both the Password and Confirm Password boxes. Otherwise, leave these boxes blank. Click OK.

Auto logon now allows anyone to start and use your computer without typing a password.

Note: Keep in mind that you should not enable auto logon if you need privacy for any files on your computer. If you need to maintain privacy