create batch file for shutdown and restart

This will show you how to create batch file to shutdown or restart your pc, also you can schedule it by any given time, follow these steps.


Create batch file for shutdown (with shutdown message box)

• First create new text document
• Now inside text document type c:\windows\system32\shutdown -s -f -t 300 (the value 300 is 5 min, (60 x 5) if you want you can raise or reduce the value or put 00 for immediate shutdown)
• Now save the file as with the extension of .bat (ex- shutdown.bat)
  
• Important - make sure you uncheck "hide extensions for known file types" in folder option before naming the batch file. otherwise it wont create batch file,it will create only text file named as shutdown.bat.txt

Create batch file for restart

• First create new text document
• Now inside text document type shutdown -r -f -t 300 (if you want restart immediately without countdown set value to 00)
• Now save the file as with the extension of .bat (ex- restart.bat)

Create schedule for shutdown

• Open schedule task folder (start > run > type tasks > press enter)
• Double click add schedule task
• Click next
• Click browse button
• Specify the shutdown.bat file we created
  
• In the name field type anything, and select the action under "perform this task"
• Now proceed with the schedule task, and click finish at the end.

Note - to immediately cancel shutdown or restart job, type shutdown.exe -a in run command and press enter.

customize "send to" items in windows xp

You know you can customize "send to" menu and you can add more new destination in Send To lists. this can be done in a simple way, follow these steps.

• Click start, click run
• Type sendto and press enter
• This will open window with default Send To lists (Compressed (zipped) Folder, Desktop (create shortcut), Mail Recipient, My Documents)
• Now drag-and-drop any program, folders and drives, shortcuts to this folder
• For example - we take Microsoft word program, go to the program installation folder, find winword and drag-and-drop it to the send to folder
• Now to verify new location, right click on a text or a wordpad document, point to send to, click winword
• This will open the selected file with the Microsoft word
  

disable automatic update and service

If you want to disable automatic updates for windows you can do it by in control panel or system properties, but you know that even if you turn off updates in here automatic update service will continue to run in background. in order to disable this service follow these steps.

• Click start , click run
• Type services.msc and press enter
• Now find the automatic update service and double click to open it
• Now stop the service by pressing stop button under "service status"
• Then under "startup type" select disable
• Click apply and ok

From now on "windows update" and "windows update service" will be stop

add more columns to task manager

You can add more column to process page of task manager, this ensures to view more running processes. in this example we gonna show you how to add "virtual memory size" to task manager process page.

• Press alt + ctrl + del to open task manager
• Now click on process tab
• Click on the view menu and click select column
• In the "select column" window select virtual memory size by checking the box
• Click ok
• Now you can see the new column named VM Size , in here you can identify how processes used virtual memory size for each process
  

reduce the time of operating system selection menu

If your pc in a dual boot mode (such as xp and vista) you notice that every time you restart or switch on pc operating system selection menu is displayed, the default timeout is 30 seconds, if you want you can reduce default timeout. follow these steps.

• Right click on my computer and click properties
• Click on advanced tab
• Under "startup and recovery" click settings tab
• Now reduce the timeout by clicking the down arrow head in "time to display list of operating systems"
• After done click ok
• Then click apply and ok
• Reboot the pc and you can see the changes for default timeout

Also you can change the default highlighted operating system to most you preferred, for example if you use windows xp and vista, the xp will be on the top and vista will be second choice, but it always highlighted default operating system as vista, if no selection been made before timeout, pc loads windows vista. you can change the default highlighted operating system, to do this follow these steps.

• Right click on my computer and click properties
• Click on advanced tab
• Under "startup and recovery" click settings tab
• In here under "default operating system" the first displayed operating system is the default highlighted operating system, to change the order click down arrow head and select the other operating system you prefer, after done click ok
• Reboot the pc to see the changes
  

to view hidden and super hidden files

To view hidden files in you need to deselect some options in folder option. note that most viruses hide itself for further infections and more damaged to your pc, when you enabled view hidden files option, you can safely delete those viruses, some viruses run itself as a active process, there for you may not be able to delete viruses easily. use runscanner utility to kill virus process. to view hidden files

• Start > run
• Type control.exe folders and press enter
• In the folder option window, click on view tab
• Under "advanced settings" select show hidden files and folders also deselect hide protected operating system files (recommend)
• Click apply and ok

After doing this you can see hidden file and folders, for example just go to the root of C: drive, notice that no of hidden files were in the root of drive (such as "ntldr, ntdetect) read this about how to enable hidden files using registry file.

configure schedule smart disk cleanup in xp

This tip will show you how to create smart disk cleanup, to do this we need to create one batch file, please note that this will clear prefetch files also. follow these steps.

• Create new text document
• Type or copy the following inside text document
• c:\windows\system32\cleanmgr.exe /dc /sageset: 1
  c:
  cd \
  cd c:\windows\prefetch
  del *.* /q
• Now save the text file and change the extension of the file from .txt to .bat (ex - cleanup.bat)
• Now open the bat file you created, this will open disk cleanup settings window
• In here select the options (by clicking check box) you want to configure for disk cleanup
• Click ok
• Now open the bat file again for editing (right click the file and click edit)
• Change the first line to c:\windows\system32\cleanmgr.exe /dc /sagerun: 1
• Save the file
• Execute file for disk cleanup

You can also add schedule task for smart disk cleanup

• Open schedule task folder (start > run > type tasks > press enter)
• Double click add schedule task
• Click next
• Click browse button
• Specify the disk cleanup bat file we created
  
• In the name field type anything, and select the action under "perform this task"
• Now proceed with the schedule task, and click finish at the end.
  

disable personalized menus in xp

Note - this one is for those who using classic start menu

When you click on start menu and point to programs you notice that some of your programs not displayed in right away. you have to click down arrow head to see rest of the program. this is happen because of personalized menu options, this is unnecessary and you can you can disable it. follow these steps.

• Right click on your taskbar and click Properties
• Click start menu tab
• Now click customize button at the "classic start menu"
• Now scroll down to the bottom
• Now deselect "use personalized menus"
• Click ok
  
• Then "apply" and "ok" to finish

Note - no need to reboot your pc, you'll see the difference right away

disable new program alert in xp

If you install new program to windows xp, it notify you by displaying new program alert, this is funny and sometimes unnecessary. because you already know that you install new program, then why some alert message, lets disable it (if you want)

Note - this can be done only if you use standard xp start menu, there is nothing to configure in classic menu.

• Right click on taskbar and click properties
• Go to the start menu tab and click customize
  
• Click on the advanced tab
• Deselect "Highlight newly installed programs"
  

clear recent documents using group policy

Instead of editing registry to clear recent documents, you can use group policy to do that. after configuring this you can clear recent documents ever appearing in the start menu, follow these steps.

• Click start and click run
• Type gpedit.msc and press enter to open group policy editor
• Now in the left side navigate to User Configuration - Administrative Templates - Start Menu and Taskbar
• In the right side find "Do not keep history of recently opened documents" and double click to open it
• Now click on "Enabled"
• Then click apply and ok
  

add manufacture logo and informations in system properties window

In windows XP, you can set Computer Manufacturer Logo and other information's in system properties.follow these steps to change the default system Properties.

• First open new notepad
• Then type the following
• [General]
  Manufacturer="http://nstech-blog.blogspot.com"
  Model="Free Tips and Tricks!"
  [Support Information]
  Line1="Free technical information's,system optimize and more."
  Line2="Visit daily for new tips"
• Note - you can set more Lines as you like
  
• After editing notepad save it in the location of c:/windows/system32 and named the file as OEMINFO.INI
• Now select the picture you want to set as your logo (make sure picture size is 150X150 pixels and BMP format) save it in c:/windows/system32 folder with file name of OEMLOGO.BMP
• Now close all opened windows and restart your pc to changes go into affect
• To check newly created Manufacturer Logo and other information's, right click on my computer and click properties.
• Now in the general tab, verify the system properties with new settings
• Now click on Support Information for more detail

shutdown, restart or logoff pc's from single location

Windows xp has this amazing feature allows you to shutdown, restart or log-off pc's from single location.this tip is very useful for you, if you are a Network Administrator. after configuring this you don't have to shutdown or restart pc's one by one. to perform this make sure computers are connected directly or to network. follow these steps.

• Click start, click run
• Type shutdown -i and press enter
• This will open "Remote Shutdown Dialog" window
• Now click on "Add" button to add computer
• In the "add computers" dialog box type the name or IP address of the computer
• Click ok
• Now in the "Remote Shutdown Dialog" window, select the action under "What do you want these computers to do" (you can also set warning message for users and set the duration of of warning message in seconds)
• Now select the option that describes the reason to shutdown or restart the computer (also you can add comment)
  
• Click ok after you done, then users will see a "System Shutdown Windows" with time and comments that you set.
  

how to disable error reporting

If you want you can disable error reporting feature in windows xp , this only appear when critical errors occurred , instead of sending error reports you might want to disable it , here is how to do it.

• Right click on my computer and click properties
  
• Click on advanced tab
• Under "startup and recovery" click error reporting button
• Now click on the "disable error reporting" and click ok
• Click apply and ok

Note - if you want you can disable error reporting service also

• Click start and run
• Type msconfig and click ok
• In the system configuration utility window click services tab
• Find the "error reporting service"
• Deselect it by removing check mark
• Click apply and ok
• Restart pc for changes go into effect
  

how to disable low disk space message

This notification is useful, because it notify the user if one or more disk partitions running out of disk space. perform this task if you really wanted to disable low disk space warning, we leave the choice to you.

• Open registry editor
• Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
• Now right click on the key and add new DWORD value
• Name it as "NoLowDiskSpaceChecks"
  
• Open the key and put 1 in the value data field
• Restart pc for changes to take effect
  

remove password when returning from hibernation

you can disable password feature, when every time you returning from hibernation. follow these steps.

• Go to the control panel
• Double click power options
• Click on advanced tab
• Now deselect "Prompt for password when computer resumes from standby"
• Click apply and ok
  

how to change virtual memory location (page file)

If you want you can change the path of virtual memory (page file) location. this is useful when you running out disk space of C: drive (by default page file created in windows partition) imagine you have 2Gb of physical ram, then system automatically allocate disk space, 1.5 of physical ram for a page file, that's a heavy disk cost, in this case you can save disk space in C: drive by changing the page file location. follow these steps.

• Right click on my computer and click properties
• Go to advanced tab
• In there click on the settings button under "performance"
• In performance option window, click advanced tab
• Now click change button under "virtual memory"
• In the virtual memory window, click the partition that has more disk space (ex-D: drive)
• Now in the custom size area set minimum and maximum value for a page file. (for example - 2 Gb of system ram, minimum can set as 2046 and maximum can set as 4092)
• After setting the value click set button. now you are successfully change the page file location to D: drive,
• only thing thing to do is clear page file from C: drive
• In the virtual memory window, click C: drive
• Now click on the No paging file and click set button
• Click ok, then apply and ok
• Again click apply and ok
• Now restart the pc to changes go into effect

Note - after restarting the pc you will notice that there is more space available in C: drive, to gain more space in C: drive read this

disable "drivers not digitally singed" message

In windows xp, when you plug new device (bluetooth device, card reader) and try to install its drivers, sometimes you may see "driver not digitally singed" warning message. however you can continue installing drivers ignoring the warning message. hardware manufacturers provide more stable drivers for your device, there for you dont want to see warning messages evertime you plug a device. in this post we are going to show you how to disable "driver not digitally singed" warning message. you can learn more information's in here about digitally singed drivers.

• Right click on my computer
• Click properties
• Click hardware tab
• In there click the button driver signing under "drivers" section
• In the opened driver singing option window, click "Ignore - install the software anyway and don't ask for my approval"
• Click ok
  
• Then apply and ok
  

disable "turn off computer" from start menu

You can prevent users from shutting down public computer, with some edit of registry you can disable "turn off computer" option. here is how to do it.

• Open registry editor
• Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
• In the right side create new DWORD value and named it as Noclose
• Now double click the key and put 1 in the value data field
• Now close the registry editor and restart your computer after any changes to go into effect

Note - if you want to enable "turn off computer" option again, simply put 0 in the value data field of Noclose key, or delete the key.

create shortcut to lock workstation

Here is how to create shortcut

• Right click on desktop point to new and click shortcut
• In the location filed type %windir%\System32\rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation
• Click next
• Give it a name and click finish

Now when you double click shortcut, your workstation will be locked

Note - another method is, press window key and L key simultaneously to lock workstation instantly, i know this one is quick rather than creating shortcut, but shortcut is useful to lock a computer remotely

remove shutdown button from the logon screen

If you want you can remove shutdown button from logon screen, you can do this in 2 way, use a more easy way to you, follow these steps.

From registry

• Open registry editor
• Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system
• In the right side open "shutdownwithoutlogon" key
• Edit "value data" to 0
• That it, you are done

Or you can edit "Local security policy"

• Start > run
• Type secpol.msc and press enter to open Local security policy
• Expand Local Policies, and then click Security Options
• In the right side double click "Shutdown: Allow system to be shut down without having to log on" policy
• In local security settings tab select disable and click apply and ok.