Windows has an inbuilt tool which allows you to control startup programs.

1. Go to Start
2. Click on Run
3. Type msconfig
4. Press Enter

Once you have the program opened, go to the Startup tab at the top (the last tab). Here you’ll find a list of programs that are set to start with Windows. The ones that are checked are currently the ones that start with Windows. Un-tick any programs in the list you do not wish to have run when Windows boots.

If you are not sure what a program is in the list, you should probably leave it checked.

You can have shortcuts on the Desktop for shutdown, restart, logoff, standby etc.

Right-click on the Desktop and create a new shortcut by selecting New > Shortcut.

Then in the Type the location of the item box, enter shutdown.exe -s -t 00

where 00 is the delay in seconds (you can increase it). You will then be asked to select a name (call it “Shutdown”, for example).

After creating the shortcut, you can change the icon assigned to it by right-clicking on the shortcut and selecting Properties. The window that comes up next has a Change Icon option.

For a Restart shortcut, use shutdown.exe -r -t 00

For logoff shortcut, type shutdown -l -t 00

For Fast User Switching shortcut, use Rundll32.exe User32.dll, LockWorkStation

For Standby/Hibernation shortcut use Rundll32.exe PowrProf.dll, SetSuspendState

Yesterday I tried to use the extremely useful screen capture by ‘Print Screen Key’ to try to capture a wmv running file on my Windows media player 11. But whenever I tried to use the print screen, a blank image was captured from the windows media player. So grabing a screenshot from Window Media Player is not so easy as it seems.

Then I thought maybe the running video was posing a problem with capturing a frame. So I paused the movie and tried the print screen technique. But still got a blank screen.

Then I tried to capture paused and running movies in full screen (Full screen shortcut – using Alt+Enter). But again no luck.

So I decided to tweak some advanced options of Window media player.

So here is the free and simple way to capture Images from Windows Media Player

• Open Window Media Player
• Then go to Tools | Options
• In Options, select the Performance Tab
• Way below you click on the Advanced Button
• Uncheck “Use Overlays’
• Click Ok
• And you are ready.

Now run your movie in any size or screen resolution. Use the standard ‘Print Screen Key’ Method and you have captured a snapshot from your favourite movie on windows media player without using any special multimedia software. Enjoy!

Help! BitTorrent is slow… This is probably one of the most frequently asked questions I get about BitTorrent. Unfortunately there’s not some kind of magic trick that makes your torrents go through the roof. But you could take some simple steps to optimize your speeds.

1. Cap your upload

Limit your upload speed to approximately 80 percent of your maximum upload rate. You can check your upload speed over here (never trust your isp). Once you know your maximum upload speed, change the max upload (to 80%) speed in your torrent client’s preferences.

Don’t get me wrong, everyone should share as much as possible, but if your upload rate reached it’s max, your download rate suffers significantly.

2. Hack the max TCP connections

If you’re on XP sp2, your TCP connections are limited to a maximum of 10. This seriously hurts your downloading speed because it wont let you connect to a high amount of ip numbers. It is supposed to slow down viruses because their spreading strategy is to connect to a high amount of ip numbers, but it also cripples your torrent downloads.
A nice way to fix this is to download this patch, it allows you to set the maximum allowed connections to any number you want. Any number between 50 and 100 is ok (more on this).

3. Check seeds and peers

A simple tip, but o so important. Always look for torrents with the best seed/peer ratio. The more seeds (compared to peers) the better (in general). So 50 seeds and 50 peers is better than 500 seeds and 1000 peers. So, be selective.

4. Change the default port.

By default, BitTorrent uses a port 6881-6999. BitTorrent accounts for a lot of the total internet traffic (1/3), so isp’s like to limit the connection offered on the these ports. So, you should change these to another range. Good clients allow you to do this, just choose anything you like. If you’re behind a router, make sure you have the ports forwarded or UPnP enabled.

5. Disable Windows Firewall

It sucks. Windows Firewall hates P2P and often leads a life of it’s own. So disable it and get yourself a decent firewall, Kerio or Zone Alarm for example. Configure it for your needs and off you go.

If you’re working on a long Word document, navigating through it can be a hassle. This makes it difficult if you need to return to a specific location for further editing.

But Word 2007 lets you bookmark specific parts of your document. Then, you can easily return to the location.

Adding Bookmarks in a Word 2007 document

To insert a bookmark in Word 2007, follow these steps:

1. Select the portion of your document you’d like to bookmark

2. On the ribbon, click the Insert tab

3. Click Bookmark in the Links section

4. Type a name under Bookmark name. Bookmark names must begin with a letter and cannot contain spaces

5. Click Add

Opening Bookmarks in a document

Once you insert bookmarks in your Word 2007 documents, you can open them easily. This makes navigating through long documents a breeze.

1. Click the Insert tab on the ribbon

2. Click Bookmark in the Links section

3. Select the name of the bookmark you would like to open

4. Click Go To

Deleting Bookmarks

After you’re done editing your document, you’ll probably want to delete any bookmarks you’ve created. Or, you may wish to delete the bookmarks after you’re done editing the bookmarked locations.

1. Click the Insert tab on the Office ribbon

2. In the Links section, click Bookmark

3. Select the bookmark you’d like to delete

4. Click Delete

Wanna type a url in the address bar and you know you have to reach out to your mouse and click in the bar to type the address, whereas some of you know just the right keys you can use for the same purpose without playing with the little rodent on your table. So here I present some of the most time-saver keyboard shortcuts for Firefox browser. You try them once, you use them forever!

Navigation

• Select location bar: Ctrl/Cmd+L or Alt+D
• Select search bar: Ctrl/Cmd+K
• Back: Backspace or Alt/Cmd+Left
• Forward: Alt/Option+Right or Shift+Backspace
• Change search engine: Ctrl/Cmd+Down (Next) +Up (Previous)

Searching pages

• Find as you type text: /
• Find as you type link: ‘
• Regular old find: Ctrl/Cmd+F

Completing web address

• To add .com, type the main phrase in the address bar and press Ctrl + Enter
• To add .net, press Shift + Enter
• To add .org, press Ctrl+Shift+Enter

To open an address in a new Tab, just press Alt with the above shortcuts. For example, to open Google.com in a new Tab, you have to type google in the address bar and then press Alt+Ctrl+Enter. This will open google.com in a new tab.

The same applies to search function also. You can type your search query in the firefox search box and then press Alt+Enter to open the results in a new tab.

I have tried to include only the handy shortcuts that you would use most commonly while browsing. You might want to check out the full list of Firefox keyboard shortcuts.

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If you have a lot of icons on your desktop or in another folder highlight one of the icons and press the first letter. For example if you were looking for an icon named “test” highlight any icon and then press the “t” key.

Unless and until you have run into issues and fixing XP (underwhich case you have to go to Safe Mode to login as Administrator), you can get to administrator screen by simply pressing CTRL+ALT+DELETE twice at the welcome screen.

If you’ve been wondering why your XP desktop icons have a background color, you’ll be glad to know you can flip a checkbox and have them go back to a normal transparent background.

See the two below:

To set the transparent background on the icons, we’ll need to open System Properties in Control Panel (or right-click on My Computer and select Properties).

In this dialog, click the Advanced tab, and then the Settings button under the Performance section.

Now scroll down to the button where you’ll find a checkbox for “Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop”. Make sure you check this box if you want transparent backgrounds on the icons.

Why this option isn’t just labeled “Enable Transparent Icons On the Desktop”, I just can’t say.

if checking it doesn’t fix your problem there is another step you must do. Follow this procedure:

Control Panel > Display > Desktop > Customize Desktop > Web > Uncheck everything here > OK > Apply

Thanks Matt

Here are 5 Windows XP tricks which I bet you did not ever use, did you?

1. Why maximize your windows when you can go full screen?

When you need a really big window, don’t just maximize it: go full screen! To view a window full screen, hold down the Ctrl key and double-click the window’s title bar—or when the window is active, press the F11 key at the top of your keyboard—to get the biggest window possible.

2. Add the Links toolbar to My Computer

But what the hell shall it do here? Links toolbar is meant for internet links, right?

Not actually. Go to View  –>  Toolbars  –> click on Links 

The Links toolbar will show up. Now drag any application, document, image, just anything to the toolbar, and it will be added there. Click it from anywhere (even from the Internet Explorer) to launch the item.

Note: Make sure that Lock the Toolbars is not checked. Click on it to deselect it if it is.

3. Arrange windows on your desktop

I am sure you come across this option several times a day but always ignore it. In fact, this can be really useful at times.

You can display any two windows side by side on the desktop by first clicking a window’s button on the Taskbar. Next, press and hold the Ctrl key and right-click the second window that you want to open, then click Tile Vertically. This works great when you want to view two Microsoft Word or Microsoft Internet Explorer windows at the same time.

4. Organize your files into groups

Organize your files by grouping them. Try this: Open a folder containing several different subfolders and file types. Right-click any empty space on the window’s contents pane, click Arrange Icons By, and then click Show in Groups.

The files will show up grouped alphabetically; very easy to find one.

5. Make your own icons

Who told you that you needed special software to create icons for windows. Here I tell you how to create icons using Microsoft Paint (yes, the one bundled with Windows). Let’s do it: Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, and then click Paint. On the Image menu, click Attributes. Type 32 for both the Width and Height of the document, and make sure that Pixels is selected under Units. Click OK to create a new 32×32-pixel document: the size of an icon.

Now add type, color, or do whatever you’d like to your image. I like to shrink photos (headshots work best) to 32×32 and simply paste them into my Paint document. When you’re finished, open the File menu and click Save As. Use the dialog box to choose where you want to save your file, then give it a name followed by “.ico” (without the quotes), and click Save. (The extension “.ico” tells Windows that it’s an icon file.) You just created an icon! Now you can change any shortcut or folder to your own icon—just browse to it on your hard drive.