Windows logo key is a little used treasure

The Windows key or Windows logo key (in short WinKey, or rarely Flag key, Start key or Menu Key) which was originally introduced for the Windows 95 operating system , located in the bottom row of most computer keyboards is a little-used treasure. Don't' ignore it. It is the shortcut anchor for the lot of things.

Windows: Display the Start menu
Windows + D: Minimize or restore all windows
Windows + E: Display Windows Explorer
Windows + F: Display Search for files
Windows + Ctrl + F: Display Search for computer
Windows + F1: Display Help and Support Center

Windows + R: Display Run dialog box
Windows + break: Display System Properties dialog box
Windows + shift + M: Undo minimize all windows
Windows + L: Lock the workstation
Windows + U: Open Utility Manager
Windows + Q: Quick switching of users (Powertoys only)
Windows + Q: Hold Windows Key, then tap Q to scroll thru the different users on your PC

Other than this it can also perform the following functions

Under Unix and Unix-like operating systems it is often used as the Meta key or Compose key. Desktop environments such as KDE and GNOME for GNU/Linux support it, though it may be necessary to configure its functionalities after installation. Free operating systems often refer to the key as "Super".

Apple's Mac OS X uses the Windows key as a replacement for the Command key if a third-party keyboard is used that does not include the latter.This sometimes leads to placement issues for users used to Apple keyboards however, as the Command key is usually placed where the Alt key is on most keyboards (next to the Space bar).

When using a keyboard on the Xbox 360 console, pressing the Windows key performs the same action as the Guide button on the Xbox 360 controller or remote controls, opening the Xbox Guide in game play. Additionally, holding down the Windows key and pressing M opens a pop up conversation window over game play if an Instant Message conversation is in progress.

Read more!

Reduce the noisy vibrations of your hard drive

Most of the time we can hear the noisy vibrations from our system and most part of this is from our hard drive.As most of us are aware of working method of hard drive so it is not hard to guess how hard drive vibrations contribute to the system noise.

Though this sound can be neglected as its intensity is not much but still some of us might feel this sound irritating.So if you are interested in reducing the amount of this sound then you can follow this simple procedure.This is not an official method but it works.


Above shown method uses elastic band which acts as suspender and vibration absorber to the hard drive and reduce the vibration in the case to which hard drive is attached.In this case the hard drive still have vibrations but it does not pass them to the case attached with it, hence leading towards the less noisy sound from the system.This reduces the amount of noisy sound from the system drastically.

Read more!

Know the version of USB in your system

If you want to figure out the version of USB in your system then there are two widely known ways of figuring out the USB version standard available on your PC. Well some of you might not be convinced that why should they search for this kind of stuff.So for these people only do you have ever seen a message like "this USB device can perform faster if you connect it to a Hi-Speed USB 2.0 port ..." .

This is because of the different versions of the USB,version 1.0 and version 2.0 (ver 3.0 in process) both have different data transfer rates along with some other differences.Main thing is data transfer rates which is 1.5 Mbit/s (Low-Speed) and 12 Mbit/s (Full-Speed)for USB 1.0 and 480 Mbit/s (now called Hi-Speed) for USB 2.0.

So to figure out the version of USB,One of the most commonly used way is to figure it out using the MSInfo32 exe. In order to launch this exe, follow the below mentioned steps

1. Click Start->Run
2. Type in MSInfo32.exe at the input box.
3. Browse to the USB Section and you should see two USB 2.0 Root Hub Entries, if your system includes the faster version.


Alternatively, you could figure this out using Control Panel as well.

1. Launch Device Manager using the Control Panel (Control Panel -> System-> Hardware)
2. Expand USB Section.


3. If you have an ‘Enhanced’ USB host controller listed then your system supports USB 2.0. Just one or two ‘Enhanced’ controllers means your computer system is using USB 2.0

Read more!

Now eject cd drives automatically with a keyboard shortcut

If you want to eject your CD just by pressing keyboard shortcut then for you Eject CD is a useful, free and easy to use software. It helps you easily eject and insert the cd/dvd-rom drivers just by using the keyboard shortcuts or your mouse.

So, you just need to download and install it and set the keyboard shortcut for your cd drive eject, after then you will see a blue coloured icon in the taskbar.

how to use :

1. Double click on the taskbar icon.
2. A window will open up
3. Select the cd / dvd drive and click the yellow coloured Key icon to assign the shortcut key to eject the cd / dvd drive automatically.
4. That’s it done.

download [eject Cd]

Read more!

How to allow user to format pen drive in windows

Whenever you are working on a shared computer in college or office then there are chances that only administrators are allowed to format and eject removable hard disks in Windows XP which could become a problem if you normally use a normal user account in Windows to increase system security or have to work on a system where you only have user access rights.

A Registry key controls which users may format or eject removable hard disks in Windows. The key can be changed by administrators to give additional user groups the right to format or eject the hard drives.

Open the Registry by pressing Windows R, typing regedit and hitting enter. Navigate to the Registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon and look for the string allocatedasd. The default value is 0 which means that only administrators may format or eject removable hard disks. If you want to change this you can set it to 1 to give the right to Power Users or to 2 to give the right to normal users as well.

Dasd sounds like a random string but it actually means Direct Access Storage Device. If you use Windows XP Professional you can also start gpedit.msc instead and navigate through Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options and double-click the entry Devices: Allowed to format and eject removable media and change the setting from Administrators to the one that suits your needs.

Read more!

Know more about your CPU by a freeware CPU-Z

If you want to know more about your CPU then there is a small freeware utility that will do that task for you.CPU-Z is a freeware that gathers information on some of the main devices of your system.

It contains following features.

1. CPU

a. Name and number.
b. Core stepping and process.
c. Package.
d. Core voltage.
e. Internal and external clocks, clock multiplier.
f. Supported instructions sets.
g. Cache information.

2. Mainboard

a. Vendor, model and revision.
b. BIOS model and date.
c. Chipset (northbridge and southbridge) and sensor.
d. Graphic interface.

3. Memory
a. Frequency and timings.
b. Module(s) specification using SPD (Serial Presence Detect)
c. Vendor
d. serial number
e. timings table.

4. System
a.Windows and DirectX version.

Download [CPU-Z]

Read more!

My system engulfed my memory ! Really

Few days ago one of my friends told me that he has a 160 GB hard drive but his system is showing only 148 GB memory space in windows xp.He asked me was this because of the virus? Most of us knows that this was not because of the virus.

After installation of windows xp/vista when we calculate the hard drive partition space then we found this is some what less than the actual hard drive memory space.This is not a less in amount this is usually in GBs and increases as the size of your hard drive increases.

The mystery of the missing gigabytes will continue to baffle computer users until hard drive makers get in sync with the rest of the computer world. You're not missing any gigabytes—it's just a mix-up in units of measurement. Disk capacity is measured using decimal kilobytes, megabytes, and gigabytes.

In decimal units, 1KB = 1,000 bytes, 1MB = 1,000,000 bytes, and 1GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes. But for file sizes, memory, and just about everything else, we use binary kilobytes, megabytes, and gigabytes. In binary units 1KB = 1,024 bytes, 1MB = 1,048,576 bytes, and 1GB = 1,073,741,824 bytes. Looking at it another way, the decimal values are 103, 106, and 109 bytes, whereas the binary values are 210, 220, and 230 bytes.

To convert your disk's 160 decimal GB to the units used by the rest of Windows, you have to divide by 1.073741824. The result is about 149GB—close enough to what you calculated. Sorry, there's no missing 10GB for you to recover!

As for the extra partitions, they're part of a system recovery solution installed by Dell. If your system becomes damaged and won't boot Windows, you can invoke system recovery by pressing a keystroke while the system is booting. Be warned, though, that doing so will blow your system back to its just-out-of-box condition, minus any updates, programs, photos, documents, and so on that you may have added.

Read more!

How to clear your RAM without restarting your system

When you continuously use system for hours then at a stage system speed start retarding, This is because of the RAM.Actually when system runs then program occupies the memory location on the RAM according to use and when program closes, respective memory locations are to be freed so that other application can use this memory.This goes on but when system continuously runs for a long time then these memory locations are not freed and occupied perfectly and hence few memory locations remain occupied.This causes the system to slow down.

RAM is to be cleared for efficient functioning of the system.For doing this you can either restart the system or can use this simple trick to free the RAM for windows 2000 or later.

1. Right click anywhere on your desktop.
2.Point over “New”, then select “Shortcut”.
3.Copy the below line (as it is):

%windir%\system32\rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks

4.Paste it there & click “Next”.
5.Give it a name like Clear RAM
6.That’s it, run it every time your computer goes slow.

You can also enhance it looks by providing it a Icon by right click--> properties->change icon.

Read more!

Disable Hardware that you do not use while working on Notebook

Most notebooks have several hardware components installed that are not used by the user. A notebook with WLAN and network card for instance and a user that only uses the WLAN to connect to a network and the Internet. Every component installed is using battery and it is a wise step to disable those components that are not used - ever.

The Wlan - Network Card example was just one possibility. Many notebooks have a card reader, DVD drive, webcams and V.90 Modems among other components. My notebook for example offers both Wlan and LAN access and I have disabled the network card which had the positive side effect that it reduced the boot time of my notebook.

I disabled the card reader and the internal modem as well because I never use those components. The DVD drive is disabled as well most of the time because I rarely use it. I don’t have the necessary test equipment to test the battery usage before and after disabling the components but I can verify that the boot process into Windows is faster than before.

Read more!

Hard drive not working ! might be short circuited

Few days ago one of my friends told me that when he plug in his old hard drive in the system then his system does not start up.We thought that it might be a problem of SMPS if it is not transmitting the power but it was fine coz the fan starts and then shuts down.

Then we come to know that it was because of the short circuit in the hard drive.Actually the feed back system in the computer shuts down the system when it detects the short circuit to prevent the further damage to the system.

If the same situation occurs to you unfortunately then this does not mean that you are going to loose the data because of this problem .You still have a chance because short circuit mainly occurs in the logic card of the hard disk which can be easily changed.Its so easy that you can change it by itself.

It does not void any warranty* because you dont have to remove any chit or something which company attach there to detect any kind of third party operation performed over the device.

* -: Doesn't void doesn't mean that company allows this but it means that company have no way of finding it.If you have any kind of doubt over this then first confirm it by any mean you have or you prefer.I have no responsibility of any kind of error or damage caused because of this but why i told you this is because it worked well with me.

NEXT UPDATE:- complete procedure of changing a logic card

Read more!