Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Tip#5 - How to ScreenShot

5.1

Screenshots (SS,Screenies) are one of the tools to show people your desktop / what you see. Here's how to capture one.

1. Press "Print Screen" on your keyboard (above the Insert Key) Laptop users may need to Press the "Fn" Key.
2. Open MS paint or any compatible program.
3. Press CTRL + V (paste)
4. Save your picture as a JPG or PNG

Extra Tip : You can paste directly into some Instant messengers eg: Windows Live Messenger

Monday, July 28, 2008

Tip#4 - Use your own Visual Styles

4.1

Windows Luna aka "the default theme" is present on every XP machine. Sadly windows only allows signed themes to be use on XP but here is a way to circumvent this disability.

1. Download UXTender for SP3 Uxtheme for SP2
Note:You must use the correct patcher or it will not work.
2. Execute it and Click "Patch"
3. Restart your computer
4. Click on any compatible windows themes/Visual Styles SAMPLE

To check what service pack you are on
1. Open "Control Panel"
2. Click "System", it should be displayed on the "General" tab.

How does it works:
UXTheme.dll in XP is what controls XP themes. A part of the code checks for signed themes. This patch removes the part that checks for it.

You can get additional themes here Or just Google it.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Tip#3 - Remove Security Center Notifications

Don't want to turn on Automatic Updates but don't want the stubborn and annoying notifications? Here is a trick how to remove it.

1. Open "Control Panel"
2. Open "Windows Security Center"
3. Click "Change the way Security Center Alerts me"
3.1 
4. Untick the checkboxes that you don't want windows to notify you
3.2

Tip#2 - Prevent USB drive infection

First let’s look at how these viruses work. All Trojans needs a trigger to activate it. In this case, its the autorun function in Windows.

Ok now we look at how we could prevent you form spreading to others.

Step 1: Remove the current "autorun.inf"(only if the drive is infected) link
Step 2: Create a new folder, named “AUTORUN.INF”
Step 3: You are done, if the folder disappears, means the drive is infected.You will need to remove it here

Tip1.1

Q: How it works
A: In order to reduce the spread we must deactivate the trigger or replace the trigger, Autorun.inf.

Q: Why do we use a folder instead of a file?
A: For some odd reason, if you use windows API and replace it, it doesn't work. This is also the same when you use command prompt to copy the folder. This will prevent some variants from infecting the usb drive.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Tip #1 - Remove USB Drive Virus

There is a lot of viruses that spread though the usb drives. There is no surefire way of preventing it from infecting the computer. But there are ways to lower your chance of getting it and spreading it to others.

How to remove it
1. Open Run
2. Type "cmd", a black screen should appear, this is called the command prompt.
3. Key in "ATTRIB -A -H -S -R f:\autorun.inf" , replace the "f" letter with your removable drive(USB drive)letter. Press Enter
4. Key in "DEL /Q g:\autorun.inf". Press Enter
5. Follow Tip 2

Note : This only removes the trigger, it doesn't remove the virus