Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Memory Performance Tweak

Operating systems: Windows XP Pro, Windows XP Home

These Settings will fine tune your systems memory management -at least 256MB of RAM recommended

go to start run regedit -and then to the following key

Code:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/Session Manager/Memory Management

1.DisablePagingExecutive -double click it and in the decimal put a 1 - this allows XP to keep data in memory now instead of paging sections of ram to harddrive yeilds faster performance.

2.LargeSystemCache- double click it and change the decimal to 1 -this allows XP Kernal to Run in memory improves system performance alot

3.create a new dword and name it IOPageLockLimit - double click it and set the value in hex - 4000, if you have 128MB of ram, or set it to 10000 if you have 256MB,.... or it to 40000 if you have more than 512MB of ram -this tweak will speed up your disckcache

Reboot and watch your system fly.

Enable or disable boot defrag

Filed under: operating systems windows xp Pro, windows xp Home

A great new feature in m*cro$oft Windows XP is the ability to do a boot defragment. This places all boot files next to each other on the disk to allow for faster booting. By default this option in enables but on some builds it is not so below is how to turn it on.

Start Regedit.
Navigate to
Code:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/microsoft/Dfrg/BootOptimizeFunction

Select Enable from the list on the right.Right on it and select Modify.Change the value to Y to enable and N to disable.

Reboot your computer.

Launch apps with desired priority setting

Filed under: operating systems windows xp Pro, windows xp Home

This tweak will launch most executables with the priority setting you want it to have.

Let’s say you have a game installed called HIGH NEEDS and the executable is called HN.exe

Here’s what to do:

-Create a new textfile in the game-app wathever-directory (let’s say C:HN), but instead of giving it the .txt extension you name it HN.bat

-Right-click this file and choose ‘Edit’, you’ll see it’ll open notepad. Put this line in:cmd /c start /High NH.exe

-Save (make sure you save it as .bat, not as .txt) and close.

Now create a shortcut to this file and place it on your desktop. Every time you doubleclick this shortcut HIGH NEEDS will open with priority set to ‘high’. (ofcourse you can also create a batchfile on your desktop, containing the full path of the app you want to start but the nice thing of creating a shortcut is you can give it an icon).

These are all the settings: Realtime, High, AboveNormal, Normal, BelowNormal, Low.

*Realtime is not recommended unless you have a dual-CPU system!

How to remove trojan.w32.looksky {removal instructions}

Trojan.w32.looksky is another name for the Smitfraud/zlob trojan. SmitFraudFix removes trojan.w32.looksky, but you should also check your system for other malware, and use ATF cleaner to clean your temp files when finished.

Instructions to remove Trojan.w32.looksky using SmitFraudFix

SmitFraudFix only works with Windows XP or 2000

Download SmitfraudFix:Use this URL to download the latest version (the file contains both English and French versions):http://siri.geekstogo.com/SmitfraudFix.exe

Use:

* Search:
o Double-click SmitfraudFix.exe
o Select 1 and hit Enter to create a report of the infected files. The report can be found at the root of the system drive, usually at C:\rapport.txt

Clean:
* Reboot your computer in Safe Mode (before the Windows icon appears, tap the F8 key continually)
* Double-click SmitfraudFix.exe
* Select 2 and hit Enter to delete infect files.
* You will be prompted: Do you want to clean the registry ? answer Y (yes) and hit Enter in order to remove the Desktop background and clean registry keys associated with the infection.
* The tool will now check if wininet.dll is infected. You may be prompted to replace the infected file (if found): Replace infected file ? answer Y (yes) and hit Enter to restore a clean file.
* A reboot may be needed to finish the cleaning process. The report can be found at the root of the system drive, usually at C:\rapport.txt

* Optional:
o To restore Trusted and Restricted site zone, select 3 and hit Enter.
o You will be prompted: Restore Trusted Zone ? answer Y (yes) and hit Enter to delete trusted zone.


Note:

process.exe is detected by some antivirus programs (AntiVir, Dr.Web, Kaspersky) as a "RiskTool". It is not a virus, but a program used to stop system processes. Antivirus programs cannot distinguish between "good" and "malicious" use of such programs, therefore they may alert the user.
Here: http://www.beyondlogic.org/consulting/processutil/processutil.htm

SPEED UP YOUR ACROBAT READER (ALMOST LIKE NOTEPAD)

1. Go to the installation folder of acrobat reader
(C:\program files\adobe\acrobat\reader\.. whatever)

2. Move all the files and folders from the "plugins" directory to the "Optional" directory. (I repeat.. cut and paste the files NOT copy & paste).

Also make sure that acrobat reader is not open else it will lock the files and not allow you to move the files).

Now your acrobat reader will load very fast and almost as good as notepad !!

Hide a file in an image

1. Gather the file you wish to bind, and the image file, and place them in a folder. For the sake of this demonstration, I will be using C:\New Folder
-The image will hereby be referred to in all examples as fluffy.jpg
-The file will hereby be referred to in all examples as New Text Document.txt

2. Add the file/files you will be injecting into the image into a WinRar .rar or .zip. From here on this will be referred to as (secret.rar)

3. Open command prompt by going to Start > Run > cmd

4. In Command Prompt, navigate to the folder where your two files are by typingcd location [ex: cd C:\New Folder]

5. Type [copy /b fluffy.jpg + secret.rar fluffy.jpg] (remove the brackets)

Congrats, as far as anyone viewing is concerned, this file looks like a JPEG, acts like a JPEG, and is a JPEG, yet it now contains your file.

In order to view/extract your file, there are two options that you can take
a) Change the file extension from fluffy.jpg to fluffy.rar, then open and your file is there
b) Leave the file extension as is, right click, open with WinRar and your file is there

ENJOY

Create A Hidden User Account

This tweak allows an account that is normally displayed on the Welcome screen to be hidden from view. To log on using the account it's necessary to use the Log On To Windows dialog box similar to the one in Windows 2000.

[Start] [Run] [Regedit]
Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\
Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList
Modify/Create the Value Data Type(s) and Value Name(s) as detailed below.
Data Type: REG_DWORD [Dword Value] // Value Name: Type Name of Account to be Hidden
Setting for Value Data: [0 = Account is Hidden / 1 = Enabled]
Exit Registry and Reboot

While the account is hidden on the Welcome screen, note that the account profile will be visible in C:\Documents and Settings or wherever user profiles are stored as well as in Local Users and Groups