Thursday 17 February 2011

How to Use Custom Windows Visual Styles


STEP BY STEP

Customizing the appearance of your Windows installation can be frustrating, because both Windows XPand Vista are limited to the Microsoft's default themes out of the box. However, with a bit of tweaking under the hood, your Windows setup can try on a wider range of looks than come pre-installed. Let's take a look at how to patch your Windows installation to allow customized styles, and a few places to find new and interesting styles online.

Vocabulary and Methods

When talking about the physical appearance of Windows there are two terms that are distinct but often used incorrectly in place of each other. Visual styles, which have the .msstylesfile extension, are the files which supply all the information about how the interfaces within Windows should look. The toolbar skin, start button skin, borders, buttons, etc. are all stored in the visual style. Themes contain a visual style along with additional settings such as icons, wallpaper, etc. Later, when browsing for goodies, keep in mind that a theme pack will have further customization than a visual style pack. Throughout the tutorial you'll need to be able to access the menu within Windows where you can change your themes and visual styles. The following screenshots are from Windows XP but the essential menus are nearly identical in function in Vista, too. For reference, here is how to access both: XP: Right-click Desktop -> Properties -> Themes Tab (or Appearance Tab for Styles) Vista: Right-click Desktop - > Personalize -> Themes


First, Back Up Your Current Theme For Safe Keeping And Create A Restore Point

Although you'll most likely find a new style that you really enjoy, on the off chance that you don't, make a backup of your current theme for you to restore later if necessary. Backing up only takes a moment and will allow you put things back exactly as they were before you started customizing, right down to the wallpaper. From within the Themes tab click Save As and name your theme whatever you'd like. Save it in a safe place. Although the probability of something going catastrophically wrong is slim, it wouldn't hurt to create a system restore point to undo the carnage if need be. Press WINKEY-R to bring up the run dialogue box and type in the following:C:\Windows\System32\restore\rstrui.exe to launch System Restore. Give the restore point an easy to remember name like "Pre-Style Patch", Windows will append the name with the current date.


Second, Patch Your Windows Install

Patching your system for themes allows you to use non-Microsoft approved visual styles. At the very root you're simply replacing the Uxtheme.dll with a modified version that doesn't verify if the style has been signed by Microsoft. It used to be that patching your Windows installation was a hassle, a small one, but a hassle nonetheless. Now both Windows XP and Vista have patching programs available that make it no more hassle than clicking a button and rebooting. There are various programs that can do what the free patches do with some additional functionality thrown in, but they are hardly worth the $20 and up fees they command. For Windows XP, download the Uxtheme Multi-Patcher. Run the file, click through the prompts and reboot. ForWindows Vista, download VistaGlazzYou must download the VistaGlazz Beta 1.1 if you have installed Vista SP1, version 1.0 will screw up Vista SP1. Run the file, click through the prompts and reboot. Both patching programs will allow you to reverse the process should anything go wrong by simply running the program again. (However, I've been patching Windows installs for years without a hitch.)

Finally, Download and Install Custom, Third Party Styles

The best way to verify if your patch job has been successful is to browse some of the great repositories of visual styles and select a few to try out. Below are some samples of the most popular styles at DeviantArt.com. Before you begin downloading through, a quick overview of where the files go is in order. If a style pack is zipped up properly then installing it is as simple as unzipping the files into theC:\Windows\Resources\Themesdirectory. Check when you open the zip file if the files have nested directories. If you install a visual style or theme and something is amiss, check the following list to ensure the files ended up in the right place:
  • .Theme files must be in the /Themes/ folder, not within any subfolders.
  • .MSStyles files must be in their own sub-folders. If the style name isNewStyle.msstyles, then sub folder in /Themes/ must be/Themes/NewStyle/
  • If your style pack came with a shellstyle.dll, that also goes within it's own subfolder, i.e. /Themes/NewStyle/shell/
  • If you have any problem with loading a style or theme, go back and double check for spelling and capitalization. The names are case sensitive. If a file has a combination of upper and lower case letters, the folder name you place it in must be spelled exactly the same.
 Now let's take a look at some popular third-party visual styles in action. Luna Element 5.0.5 by tornado5
Pristine OS 1.2 by MohsinNaqiSentinel Beta - 1 by chaninjaFor more visual styles, check out the following resources:
If you have a little bit more time and would like to grab a theme hot off the press, check out the active forums where style designers throw up their newest work: 

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Wednesday 16 February 2011

Blackberry Locator – How To Locate Any Blackbery Phone


Blackberry Locator – How To Locate Any Blackbery Phone

What Blackberry Locator Software Program Should You Use

Before I really tell you what program is good or bad, I want to say something important first. Many programs which offer services like this are scams. Why? Well, simply because most of them contain viruses, they don't work at all and some are even fake!

However, there's a way for you to avoid these programs. You do that by checking out the feedback given by actual users. This way, you'll make sure that you don't end up with a scam.

Now, to get back to the question on what program really is the best, I can only recommend my readers to get Spybubble. Why? Simply because it's the most advanced, safest to use, easiest to use and an actually working Blackberry locator software program that I've seen around.

How Can This Blackberry Locator Help You?

As stated above, I told you that this Blackberry Locator really is the best of it's kind. That's exactly how it can help you. This program will track down any phone that you want so you can find out exactly where he or she is heading to.

Also, this program is easy to use – You simply install the program onto your computer, enter a couple of details and you're ready to begin. It's really that easy.

This is what Spybubble can do for you:

* Record phone events.
* Spy on SMS text messages. (Spy on received and sent messages.)
* Spy on web browser activities.
* Call logs (inbound and outbound).
* Location tracking by GPS so you can see exactly where the owner is.
* Full contact access.
* Works from all over the world.
* unlimited spying & 100% undetectable.

Why don't you take a look at this software program? Visit: Spybubble

So, if you're looking for an easy to use, working and a safe Blackberry locator, then it's highly recommended that you get Spybubble – Which helps you to track down any person's phone while you sit behind your computer.

Do you want to find out exactly where either your employee, partner or child is going to? Visit: Blackberry Locator

Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/software-articles/blackberry-locator-how-to-locate-any-blackbery-phone-2905138.html#ixzz4OeeOjYbf 
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

How to PRINT SCREEN on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 Computer

How to PRINT SCREEN on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 Computer

Why doesn't that Print Screen key do anything?

To make Print Screen work, you must save an image of what's displayed on-screen to the clipboard and then paste it into a document where it can be printed.

Windows Help: Print Screen

To do this, follow this procedure:

1. Maximize the window you'd like to capture.
2. To copy/capture the current window, hold down ALT + Print Scrn at the same time. To capture the entire screen, just press Print Scrn.
3. Open a new document in MS Word, MS Photo Editor, or Adobe PhotoShop.
4. Paste the screen shot by holding down CTRL and V at the same time.
5. Print the document when you're finished pasting screen shots.

Windows Tip: Shutdown Your Computer With The Command Prompt

Windows Tip: Shutdown Your Computer With The Command Prompt

his is one of my favorite tricks, shutting down my Windows XP machine with one simple line of code!
This might not seem necessary since the power button is tucked neatly inside the Start Menu, but this trick has a few more uses. Not only can you use this on your machine, but on network machines as well – as long as you have administrative access! You can also restart machines, set comments (the reason for the shutdown), specify time and more!

List Of Shutdown Command Switches

No SwitchesDisplay information about the shutdown command, same as typing “-?”
-iDisplay a GUI. It must be the first switch
-lLog off the user (This cannot be used on a remote machine: “-m” switch)
-sShutdown the computer
-rRestart the computer
-aCancels a system shutdown already in progress
-fForces running applications to close without warning
-m \\computernameInstruct a remote computer to shutdown (can be used with the restart & abort switches)
-t xxSet a given time for shutdown, in seconds
-c “comment”Shutdown comment (maximum of 127 characters)
-d [u] [p]:xx:yyThe reason code for the shutdown:
u is the user code
p is a planned shutdown code
xx is the major reason code (positive integer less than 256)
yy is the minor reason code (positive integer less than 65536)

How To Use Shutdown Switches

You don’t have to use them all, but the switches you do use must be in the following order:
shutdown [-i | -l | -s | -r | -a] [-f] [-m \\computername] [-t xx] [-c "comment"] [-d up:xx:yy]

How To:

Open the command prompt: Windows Key + R then type the command below and hit OK:
cmd
This will open the command prompt. Now we can play!
Note: You could type the shutdown command directly into the Run dialog. I don’t advise this. If there is a typo or error, you won’t know. There is no information given!

Shutdown Local Machine

This only takes a couple of keystrokes. Type the code below and hit OK:
shutdown -s
“shutdown” tells the computer what command we want to execute and the “-s” switch tells it what to do, which is to shutdown!

Specify Time

shutdown -s -t 60
Now we have added the “-t” switch and a variable, which in this case is “60″. This number is the number of seconds before the computer is shutdown. A dialog will open and display a count down timer!

Give Us Some Info!

shutdown -s -t 120 -c "You better finish, because I shut you down foo!"
The “-c” switch will allow you to give the user some information for the reason of the shutdown.

Shutdown A Remote Computer

shutdown -s -m \\desktop -t 45
I really like this one! The “-m” switch will allow you to shutdown a remote machine, in this case, a computer named “desktop”. For this to work, you must have administrative access to the computer! To see of you do, hit Windows Key + R then type the computer’s name, i.e.:
\\desktop
If you can connect to it, you will be asked to log into the machine with a user name and password. Once confirmed, a window will open displaying the directories available to you. Now you know you can shut it down remotely.

Cancel Shutdown

Let’s say that you need to cancel a shutdown in progress. Go to the computer in question, hit Windows Key + R then type command below:
shutdown -a
This will abort the shutdown, assuming there is a counter and it hasn’t reached zero yet!

Using command prompt "attrib" to check for Viruses or Malware

Using command prompt "attrib" to check for Viruses or Mal ware



he Command Prompt will appear showing us where is our location in the directory.
command prompt showing the current location in the directory

Using attrib

To use attrib
  1. Go to the root directory first by typing cd\(because this is always the target of Malware / Virus)
2. Type attrib and press Enter key
after typing attrib, all the attributes of all the files (excluding folders) will be shown
  • Spanish Galleon Andalucia
    The Spanish Galleon Andalucia visited the beautiful island of bohol from October 23-26,2010. -3 months ago
  • Uchiha Sasuke Team Hebi
    Hebi (means snake) is a group of specialized shinobi created by Uchiha Sasuke having one goal in mind, and that is to kill his brother Uchiha Itachi. - 3 months ago
  • Microsoft Innovation with Microsoft Surface codename milan
    Microsoft Surface (code name: Milan) is a multi-touch product from Microsoft, designed as a combination of software and hardware technology, which the user sends or more uses of digital content is being... - 4 months ago
In this example, I have two files that are considered as malware.
Note that there are two files which I outlined in red (SilentSoftech.exe and autorun.inf). Since you cannot see this file nor delete it (because the attributes that was set on these files are +s +h +r)
  1. +s - meaning it is a system file (which also means that you cannot delete it just by using the delete command)
  2. +h - means it is hidden (so you cannot delete it)

  3. +r - means it is a read only file ( which also means that you cannot delete it just by using the delete command)

Now we need to set the attributes of autorun.inf to -s -h -r (so that we can manually delete it)
  1. Type attrib -s -h -r autorun.inf ( be sure to include -s -h -r because you cannot change the attributes using only -s or -h or -r alone)
  2. Type attrib again to check if your changes have been commited
  3. If the autorun.inf file has no more attributes, you can now delete it by typingdel autorun.inf
  4. Since SilentSoftech.exe is a malware you can remove its attributes by doing step 1 and step 3(just change the filename) ex. attrib -s -h -r silentsoftech.exe

There you have it!!!!
NOTE : when autorun.inf keeps coming back even if you already deleted it, be sure to check your Task Manager by pressing CTRL + ALT + DELETE ( a virus is still running as a process thats why you cannot delete it.KILL the process first by selecting it and clicking End Process.
NOTE: You can also apply the attrib -s -h -r command to all the partition of your computer, drive D: drive E: drive F: (all of your drives). For example. for drive D, just type "D:" (minus the double quote) then you can see that your current drive is D.. type there the command "attrib -s -h -r *.exe" for exe files and "attrib -s -h -r *.inf" and then delete the file by "del autorun.inf".
Hope this helps!!!!! 
a) I typed the attrib command with the -s -h -r setting b) the result after I pressed enter - autorun.inf has no attributes left