windows tips n tricks

**black_death** · January 5th, 2003, 05:41 AM

windows tips n tricks:
Share your tricks with other AO3rz
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*Hide contents of the control panel:

1) Search the drive you installed windows on for *.cpl
2) Copy one of those files for instance sysdm.cpl
3) paste the file to the location you wish for example c:
4) Remove the file you copy/pasted in the last step from its' initial location (by default it
Is located in c:\windows\system\ or c:\winnt\system32\)
5) Done

Note: if you want to change things back to normal simply copy/paste the file to where it was stored by default ( c:\windows\system\ or c:\winnt\system32\)

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*Creating virtual drives:

1)Search your root drive(where windows was installed) for subst.exe

Note:subst is a hidden command that most windows users are not aware of,It substitutes a folder path as a virtual drive!

for instance it substitutes c:\mydocuments\security as k:

2)This is the help provided by microsoft for this command:

-------------------------------------

Associates a path with a drive letter.

SUBST [drive1: [drive2:]path]
SUBST drive1: /D

drive1: Specifies a virtual drive to which you want to assign a path
[drive2:] path Specifies a physical drive and path you want to assign to
a virtual drive.
/D Deletes a substituted (virtual) drive.

Type SUBST with no parameters to display a list of current virtual drives.

-------------------------------------

3)Example:

c:\subst w: e:\security\
this adds w: to the "MYCOMPUTER" folder

c:\subst w: /d
This removes the virtual drive w

4)

Note:If you specify a letter for the virtual drive that is already used the command will
exit with an error:

c:\subst c: e:\security\
Invalid parameter - C:

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**invader** · January 5th, 2003, 06:31 AM

black_death, whatever the f*** is happening to your post count, thanks for the info anyway.

***Tim_axe*** · January 5th, 2003, 09:21 AM

An HTML trick for your folder customizations. (Password Protection Script)

I may have mentioned this in another post (something about IE and viewing the contents of your C: drive), but I might as well spread it over here where it is more likely to get to people who want to use it. I also shortened the code. Go to the bottom of this post for some discussion on the weaknesses of using this script.

I hope you have a fair understanding of HTML / JavaScript, otherwise you may be lost...

1) Go to a folder you want to password protect
2) Go to View > Customize This Folder...
3) Click Next, And Select a Template To EDIT that resembles the layout you would like to use.
4) In Win2k, find the function Load(). For Win98, find Init(). I may have these function names wrong, so if in doubt, find the <BODY> tag. Find the function called during "onload()".
5) Put your password protecting code at the top of the previously said function. Don't overwrite the default code under it, or else you won't be able to load the folder correctly. If you do, UNDO, or cancel. You can always restart by REMOVING CUSTOMIZATIONS, and then starting at step 1 again.

Example Code:

var FolderPassword = "mypass";
if ( FolderPassword != prompt("Password:") ) {
alert("Incorrect Password!");
return 1;
}

6) Save the edited file.
7) Finish. Now, when you load this folder, it will prompt you for a password. If it is incorrect, then it will end the function early (return 1;) and will not get to the code to display the contents of the folder.

Don't count on this as the best line of security - there are many simple ways around it. Windows 98 for example, allows you to switch out of "View As WebPage" mode really easily. For Windows2k, as far as I know, it takes more work, but the user can simply Remove Customizations, and have a default folder view. Also - your password is stored in plaintext inside the FolderPassword variable. You can also still access this folder without requiring a password - such as through Command Prompt, or with the Open File dialogue.

I have only tested this on Windows 2000, and am not 100% sure if it will work on previous versions of windows, or on XP - but it should work.

black_death - thanks for bringing that command to my attention. I would have never known of it otherwise. With this, I can finally stop going through a whole ton of subdirectories.

-Tim_axe

**Trust_Not_123** · January 5th, 2003, 10:09 AM

if anyone is running winXP, then customizer xp will do all of these options by selecting a check box.

**black_death** · January 5th, 2003, 11:43 AM

How to switch between users in windows2000/NT/XP:

Windows (2k/NT/XP) do not have a command for switching between users so if
You want to quickly switch between users in windows2000/NT this might help
A little bit.

First of all create a shortcut to cmd.exe (command.exe):
Right click somewhere on the desktop and choose new and then shortcut.

Right click>>new>>shortcut

The wizard will ask you for the location of the program just input cmd.exe
Give it a name and press finish.

Hold the shift key and right click on the shortcut you created in the last
Step, choose run as...
Run cmd as the user you want to switch to, right click on the task bar and
Choose task manager (you can also press alt+ctrl+Del and run task manager
From the box that appears).
Find explorer.exe in the processes tab and press end task. Windows will close
Most of the programs but cmd is still there, in cmd window input explorer.exe
And hit enter.
that is it you have switched to another user like a b c.

**black_death** · January 5th, 2003, 04:46 PM

do things as other users without the need of logoff/logon or using the "runas" command:(2k/NT/XP)

1)create a new shortcut to [root drive]:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE
2)right click the shortcut and select properties
3)choose the shortcut tab in the box that appears
4)select the check box that says "run as different user" apply the settings and click ok
5) double click the shortcut
6)input username/password of the user you want to run different tasks as and click ok.
(this opens ie as that user)
7)anything that is done in this window will appear as if it was done by the user in step6.
8)just type the path you want in the address bar of ie and press enter.

**i386** · February 12th, 2003, 12:55 PM

Ok now some of my triks :
(1) To change start button's text:
Backup the file explorer.exe first, and then edit it in dos
mode (click start click shutdown clcik restart in dos mode)
for windows 98. Note : If you don't have windows 98 you can
either boot from a floppy, cd or do this from another operating
system's dos. At the Dos change to the directory where is the
explorer file usually c:\windows and type the following command
Edit /70 explorer.exe
Then Search for Text (start) it will be written like this
( S t a r t ) Then press the insert key on your keyboard and
take the cursor to word (S) And type your desired word and
press the right arrow key and then type next word and repeat
this procedure till the last word..... Note : You can't write
more than 5 letters but if you want to write less than 5 letters
then when you have finished your work take the cursors on the
last word(s) which you want to remove and then press space bar.
If you can't search for the word (start) here is the description
of lines and columns of some windows !
Windows 2000 (Line 3236 Col 56)
Windows Xp (Line 3814 Col 25)
Windows 98 (Line 2390 Col 49)

(2) Sorcut without arrow :
First
creat a blank icon using paint.( How : Open paint brush
and then click image attributes type 32 in both boxes and
click o.k then save the file as blank.ico ) Then open
registry editor by typing regedit in run box and go to
Hkey_Local_Machine\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion
\explorer\shell icons right click anywhere in the right pane
and from the new menu select string value type "29" (without
quotes) as the name of the value and then double click on it
and now fill it with the path of that icon for exp "c:\my
dcouments\balnk.ico" with quotes. Now you've done but you'll
see nothing happens actually you need to refresh icons (How :
right click on desktop select properties and then go to
appearance tab and from the drop down item list select icon
and then reduce there size by 32 to 30 and then back to 32 now
you've finished. No shortcut arrow haan!
(Note : for windows 98, Me, 2000 and may be Nt, 95 but not for windows xp)

(3) Just for fun(1) :
Try this naughty trick on your friends PC. Close all
the open applications. While you are on the Desktop,
press Print Sceen key. Open Paint and then paste the
captured image. Save it as BMP, right - click on the
desktop and change the wallpaper to the newly saved image.
Go to the "Web" tab of the Display propeties dialog and
turn on Active Desktop. Make sure that the "Hide icons
when desktop is viewed as Web-page" is turned on. From
now on, your friend wont be clicking an application icon
on the desktop, just a picture of it. See their face when thet happened!

(4) Just for fun(2) :
Open MS DOS Promt and then go to the C:\Windows\Desktop
directory. Normally you only need to type CD DESKTOP and
press enter. Type (for exemple): MD 2002 VIRUS .Use the
space bar between MD and 2002, but between 2002 and VIRUS,
hold down ALT key and enter the number 255 on your numeric
keypad. This will create the space character that cannot be
removed from Windows shell (Explorer). Thats it. Now wait
until you see your friends face when they cannot remove that
"Virus" folder from desktop.
Just in case your friend panic and ask you for help to
remove that "Virus", here are the steps: repeate the
above steps but use the RMDIR (Remove Directory) command
instead of MD ( Mke Directory )

(5) Restart link on your Desktop:
To create the Restart link on your Desktop do this:
Right click on Desktop and create link for
C:\Windows\RUNDLL.EXE user.exe,exitwindowsexec.
Use the space between RUNDLL.exe and user.exe,exitwindowsexec.
Now you can restart you PC not from start menu...

(6) Shut Down link on your Desktop:
To create the Shut Down link on your Desktop do this:
Right click on Desktop and create link for
C:\Windows\RUNDLL.EXE user.exe,exitwindows.
Use the space between RUNDLL.exe and user.exe,exitwindows.
Now you can Shut Down you PC not from start menu...

(7) This is a system cheat.
now follow this steps
first create new shortcut.
C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL32.EXE
& at the end of the line add this
' user,exitwindows'
so it will look like this
C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL32.EXE user,exitwindows
when you run this file your computer will be
shutdown without asking you.

(8) Windows cheat:
every time when you are asked for restarting your
computer or when you want to reboot or restart your
computer(opearating system must be windows:any version)
just keep 'shift' key pressed & click on restart option
& then press 'ok'.
only windows will be restarted.
you won't get any startup options.
but you must keep pressed 'shift' key.

So .. i belive this is it ... One more thing you can customize your windows very simple just follow this link : http://wincustomize.com some interesting stuff !

Cya

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