Control panel tool and commands

(click on image to view)

Recover and reinstall drivers and apps in Sony Vaio

Turn all beeps off

You can get rid of all the beeps of your machine..
These for the steps :

• Start > Run or press 'Windows R'
  
• Type Regedit in Run.
• Left corner, expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER by double clicking it.
• Then expand Control Panel
• then Sound
• Make the Beep value under the Data tab as NO

that's it!!

Hide any drive in Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7

Hi!! Here is one great way of hiding any drive in pc and that too without using any software!
Here are few steps to be followed.

Step 1: Goto Start > Run or Windows+R

Steps2: Type diskpart in it and press Enter.



After pressing Enter, a window opens.



NOTE: In Windows 7 and Vista, you may be asked for administrative rights.


Step3: In this window, type list volume and press Enter.

In this window, you will get all the drives listed in your system.

Step 4: To hide volume H here, we need to type select volume 2 and press Enter.




Step 5: Type remove letter h and press Enter.

After this, you need to restart your computer.. and pooffff!!! It wont display that drive..

NOTE:: To show show that drive again, you need to follow the first three steps and and type

For XP, type:
assign letter h

For Vista/Windows 7, type:
assign letter=h

That's it!! try it and just hide any drive in seconds and that too without any software..

Remove Nero Scout from My Computer (Windows Explorer).

After installing Nero, we find Nero Scout in the My Computer (Windows Explorer). If you want to remove that follow the step.

• Goto Start.
• Then click Run.
• Just paste the following matter in your run window.
  

regsvr32 /u "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Ahead\Lib\MediaLibraryNSE.dll"

and press Ok.

Its done.. Hope it works with your system..

Reduce computer's startup time.

Most of the times, the computer take lot of time for the startup and to load all the elements. Many of the applications are not really needed everytime you boot your system. Its is better not to load these applications on every startup. To remove all the unwanted elements from the startup list, you have to follow very simple procedure..

• Click Start
• Click Run
• Run Window pops up. In that window just type msconfig and press Ok
• System Configuration Utility window opens.
  
• Click on Startup tab.
• Now uncheck those applications those you know and think you dont need everytime you startup your system.
• Click Apply and then Ok.
• To save the changes, the system will ask for a restart.You can restart your system instantly or you can restart your system later by clicking Exit without restart.

Next time you start your system, you will get a message that there were changes made in startup elements and bla bla bla. You just need to check that box and click ok. This will reduce your system's startup time.

General Short cuts for taskbar

• Hide Taskbar [MOUSE R], [R], [U]
• Restore hidden Taskbar [MOUSE R], [R], [U]
• Remove clock from Tray [MOUSE R], [R], [C]
• Cascade all windows [MOUSE R] on Taskbar, [C]
• Tile all windows horizontally [MOUSE R] on Taskbar, [H]
• Tile all windows vertically [MOUSE R] on Taskbar, [V]
• Undo last Desktop command [MOUSE R], [U]
• Reduce size of icons in Start menu [MOUSE R] on Taskbar, [R], [S]
• Clear contents of Documents menu [MOUSE R] on Taskbar, [R],[CTRL][TAB], [C]

• Add item to Start menu [MOUSE R] on Taskbar, [R],[CTRL][TAB], [A], [ALT][B]

Make it BIG

Many times there are words with very small font size. There is a very easy way to increase the font size..

• Press 'Ctrl' button on your keyboard.
• Then Just scroll your mouse wheel, without leaving 'Ctrl' key, to adjust the font size of your page ( especially, web page you are surfing).

Try it!!

Use keyboard keys to move the mouse pointer.

It may happen sometime that the mouse stops working. In this case, you may need to move the mouse pointer. You can move the mouse pointer using following steps.

• Goto Control Panel.
• Accessibility option.
• Select 'Mouse' tab
• Check the option 'Use mouse keys'.
• You can click on 'settings' option in the same tab to have some extra settings..
• Press OK and it works.

You can use number pad keys like 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 to move your mouse pointer.

Removing the security icon from the taskbar Window XP.

Many of us do not like the security icon flashing in the taskbar. It always reminds you to update your XP and its real distracting!! Lot of my friends hate this icon like anything and don't know how to remove it!! Well, here is the solution for that!!

• START
• CONTROL PANEL
• SECURITY CENTER
• 'Change the way Security Center alerts me' (ON LEFT HAND SIDE).
• UNCHECK ' AUTOMATIC UPDATES' OPTION.

Isn't that easy and koooooool !!!!!!!

Log in directly without clicking user name!!

If you dont want the xp welcome screen with your user name appearing on your screen when computer boots, and if you directly wants to get logged-in, here is the way you can follow:

1. Click 'START'.
2. Click 'RUN'.
3. Type 'CONTROL USERPASSWORDS2'
4. Click 'OK'.
5. Deselect 'Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer'.
6. Click 'APPLY'.
7. Window showing name and password appears. Just type the user name you want to apply the settings and click 'OK'.
8. There you go with it!!

Make your desktop icons transparent

Go to Control Panel > System, > Advanced > Performance area > Settings button Visual Effects tab "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the Desktop"

Change default location for installing applications.

As the size of hardrives increase, more people are using partitions to seperate and store groups of files.

XP uses the C:\Program Files directory as the default base directory into which new programs are installed. However, you can change the default installation drive and/ or directory by using a Registry hack.

Run the Registry Editor (regedit)and go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

Look for the value named ProgramFilesDir. by default,this value will be C:\Program Files. Edit the value to any valid drive or folder and XP will use that new location as the default installation directory for new programs.