Some Registry Tweaks, Unrevealed Windows Tips and Secrets

Important Note: Before you read on, you need to keep one thing in mind. Whenever you make changes to the Windows Registry you need to Refresh it before the changes take place. Simply press F5 to refresh the registry and enable the changes. If this does not work Restart your system
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Exiting Windows the Cool and Quick Way
Normally it takes a hell lot of time just Shutting down Windows, you have to move your mouse to the Start Button, click on it, move it again over Shut Down, click, then move it over the necessary option and click, then move the cursor over the OK button and once again (you guessed it) click.This whole process can be shortened by creating shortcuts on the Desktop which will shut down Windows at the click of a button. Start by creating a new shortcut( right click and select New> Shortcut). Then in the command line box, type (without the quotes.)
'C:\windows\rundll.exe user.exe,exitwindowsexec'


This Shortcut on clicking will restart Windows immediately without any Warning. To create a Shortcut to Restarting Windows, type the following in the Command Line box:
'c:\windows\rundll.exe user.exe,exitwindows'


This Shortcut on clicking will shut down Windows immediately without any Warning.
Ban Shutdowns : A trick to Play on Lamers
This is a neat trick you can play on that lamer that has a huge ego, in this section I teach you, how to disable the Shut Down option in the Shut Down Dialog Box. This trick involves editing the registry, so please make backups. Launch regedit.exe and go to :
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\Explorer


In the right pane look for the NoClose Key. If it is not already there then create it by right clicking in the right pane and selecting New > String Value.(Name it NoCloseKey ) Now once you see the NoCloseKey in the right pane, right click on it and select Modify. Then Type 1 in the Value Data Box.


Doing the above on a Win98 system disables the Shut Down option in the Shut Down Dialog Box. But on a Win95 machine if the value of NoCloseKey is set to 1 then click on the Start > Shut Down button displays the following error message:


This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator.
You can enable the shut down option by changing the value of NoCloseKey to 0 or simply deleting the particular entry i.e. deleting NoCloseKey.
Instead of performing the above difficult to remember process, simply save the following with an extension of .reg and add it's contents to the registry by double clicking on it.
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoClose"="1"


Disabling Display of Drives in My Computer
This is yet another trick you can play on your geek friend. To disable the display of local or networked drives when you click My Computer go to :
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\Explorer


Now in the right pane create a new DWORD item and name it NoDrives. Now modify it's value and set it to 3FFFFFF (Hexadecimal) Now press F5 to refresh. When you click on My Computer, no drives will be shown. To enable display of drives in My Computer, simply delete this DWORD item. It's .reg file is as follows:
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoDrives"=dword:03ffffff
Take Over the Screen Saver


To activate and deactivate the screen saver whenever you want, goto the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\ScreenSavers

Now add a new string value and name it Mouse Corners. Edit this new value to -Y-N. Press F5 to refresh the registry. Voila! Now you can activate your screensaver by simply placing the mouse cursor at the top right corner of the screen and if you take the mouse to the bottom left corner of the screen, the screensaver will deactivate.

Pop a banner each time Windows Boots
To pop a banner which can contain any message you want to display just before a user is going to log on, go to the key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\WinLogon

Now create a new string Value in the right pane named LegalNoticeCaption and enter the value that you want to see in the Menu Bar. Now create yet another new string value and name it: LegalNoticeText. Modify it and insert the message you want to display each time Windows boots. This can be effectively used to display the company's private policy each time the user logs on to his NT box. It's .reg file would be:
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Winlogon]
"LegalNoticeCaption"="Caption here."


Delete the Tips of the Day to save 5KB
Windows 95 had these tips of the day which appeared on a system running a newly installed Windows OS. These tips of the day are stored in the Windows Registry and consume 5K of space. For those of you who are really concerned about how much free space your hard disk has, I have the perfect trick.
To save 5K go to the following key in Regedit:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Explorer\

Tips
Now simply delete these tricks by selecting and pressing the DEL key.
Change the Default Locations
To change the default drive or path where Windows will look for it's installation files, go to the key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Setup\SourcePath
Now you can edit as you wish.


Secure your Desktop Icons and Settings
You can save your desktop settings and secure it from your nerdy friend by playing with the registry. Simply launch the Registry Editor go to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\Explorer


In the right pane create a new DWORD Value named NoSaveSettings and modify it's value to 1. Refresh and restart for the settings to get saved.
CLSID Folders Explained


Don't you just hate those stubborn stupid icons that refuse to leave the desktop, like the Network Neighborhood icon. I am sure you want to know how you can delete them. You may say, that is really simple, simply right click on the concerned icon and select Delete. Well not exactly, you see when you right click on these special folders( see entire list below)neither the rename nor the delete option does not appear. To delete these folders, there are two methods, the first one is using the System Policy Editor(Poledit in the Windows installation CD)and the second is using the Registry.

Before we go on, you need to understand what CLSID values are. These folders, like the Control Panel, Inbox, The Microsoft Network, Dial Up Networking etc are system folders. Each system folder has a unique CLSID key or the Class ID which is a 16-byte value which identifies an individual object that points to a corresponding key in the registry.

To delete these system Folders from the desktop simply go to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Explorer\Desktop\Namespace{xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx}

To delete an icon simply delete the 16 byte CLSID value within "NameSpace". The following are the CLSID values of the most commonly used icons:

My Briefcase:{85BBD920-42AO-1069-A2E4-08002B30309D}
Desktop: {00021400-0000-0000-C000-0000000000046}
Control Panel:{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}
Dial-Up-Networking:{992CFFA0-F557-101A-88EC-00DD01CCC48}
Fonts: {BD84B380-8CA2-1069-AB1D-08000948534}
Inbox :{00020D76-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
My Computer :{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
Network Neighborhood:{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-O8002B30309D}
Printers :{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-O8002B30309D}
Recycle Bin :{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
The Microsoft Network:{00028B00-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
History: {FF393560-C2A7-11CF-BFF4-444553540000}
Winzip :{E0D79300-84BE-11CE-9641-444553540000}

For example, to delete the Recycle Bin, first note down it's CLSID value, which is: 645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E. Now go to the Namespace key in the registry and delete the corresponding key.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

Similarly to delete the History folder, delete the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{FBF23B42-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8}
Sometimes, you may need to play a trick on your brother or friend, well this one teaches you how to hide all icons from the Desktop. Go to the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\Explorer


In the right pane create a new DWORD value by the name: NoDesktop and set its value to: 1. Reboot and you will find no icons on the desktop.
Till now you simply learnt how to delete the special system folders by deleting a registry key, but the hack would have been better if there was a way of adding the DELETE and RENAME option to the right click context menus of these special folders. You can actually change the right click context menu of any system folder and add any of the following options: RENAME, DELETE, CUT, COPY, PASTE and lots more.
This hack too requires you to know the CLSID value of the system folder whose menu you want to customize. In this section, I have taken up Recycle Bin as the folder whose context menu I am going to edit.
Firstly launch the registry editor and open the following registry key:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\ShellFolder.

In Case you want to edit some other folder like say the FONTS folder, then you will open the following key:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{CLSID VALUE HERE}\ShellFolder.
In the right pane there will be a DWORD value names attributes. Now consider the following options:



1. To add the Rename option to the menu, change the value of Attributes to
50 01 00 20
2. To add the Delete option to the menu, change the value of Attributes to
60 01 00 20
3. To add both the Rename & Delete options to the menu, change the value of Attributes to 70,01,00,20
4. Add Copy to the menu, change Attributes to 41 01 00 20
5. Add Cut to the menu, change Attributes to 42 01 00 20
6. Add Copy & Cut to the menu, change Attributes to 43 01 00 20
7. Add Paste to the menu, change Attributes to 44 01 00 20
8. Add Copy & Paste to the menu, change Attributes to 45 01 00 20
9. Add Cut & Paste to the menu, change Attributes to 46 01 00 20
10.Add all Cut, Copy & Paste to the menu, change Attributes to 47 01 00 20


We want to add only the Rename option to the right click context menu of the Recycle Bin, so change the value of attributes to: 50 01 00 20. Press F5 to refresh and then after rebooting you will find that when you right click on the Recycle Bin a RENAME option pops up too.
To reset the default Windows options change the value of Attributes back to
40 01 00 20


The Registry File which one can create for the above process would be something like the below:
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\Shell-Folder]
"Attributes"=hex:50,01,00,20



To access say the Modem Properties in the Control Panel Folder, the normal procedure is: Click on Start, Click on Settings> Control Panel and then wait for the Control Panel window to pop up and then ultimately click on the Modems icon.


Wouldn't it be lovely if you could shorten the process to: Click on Start> Control Panel>Modems. Yes you can add the Control Panel and also all other Special System Folders directly to the first level Start Menu. Firstly collect the CLSID value of the folder you want to add to the start menu. I want to add Control Panel hence the CLSID value is: 21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D


Now right click on the Start Button and select Open. Now create a new folder and name it: Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

NOTE: Do not forget the period after the 'l' in Panel. Similarly all system folders can be added to the Start Menu.(accept My Briefcase, I think)

Deleting System Options from the Start menu
You can actually remove the Find and Run options from the start menu by performing a simple registry hack. Again like always Launch the registry editor and scroll down to the below key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\Explorer

Right-click on the right pane and select New, DWORD Value. Name it NoFind.(To remove the RUN option name it NoRun). Double-click the newly create DWORD to edit it's value and enter 1 as its value. This will disable the FIND option of the Start Menu and will also disable the default Shortcut key(F3 for Find.)

To restore the Run or find command modify the value of the DWORD to 0 or simply Delete the DWORD value.

Fed Up of the boring Old Yellow Folder Icons?[Drive Icons Included]
NOTE: This trick hasn't been tried on Win98.
You can easily change the boring yellow folder icons to your own personalized icons. Simply create a text file and copy the following lines into it:
[.ShellClassInfo]
ICONFILE=Drive:\Path\Icon_name.extension

Save this text file by the name, desktop.ini in the folder, whose icon you want to change. Now to prevent this file from getting deleted change it's attributes to Hidden and Read Only by using the ATTRIB command.
To change the icon of a drive, create a text file containing the following lines:
[Autorun]
ICON=Drive:\Path\Icon_name.extension

Save this file in the root of the drive whose icon you want to change and name it autorun.inf For Example, if you want to change the icon of a floppy, SAVE THE icon in a:\icon_name.ico One can also create a kewl icon for the Hard Disk and create a text file [autorun.inf] and store it in "c:\".


Securing NT
By default, NT 4.0 displays the last person who logged onto the system. This can be considered to be a security threat, especially in the case of those who choose their password to be same as their Username. To disable this bug which actually is a feature, go to the following key in the registry editor:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Cu rrentVersion\Winlogon

Click and select the ReportBookOK item and create a new string value called DontDisplayLastUserName. Modify it and set it's value to 1.
As a system administrator, you can ensure that the passwords chosen by the users are not too lame or too easy to guess. NT has this lovely utility called the User Manager which allows the administrator to set the age limit of the password which forces the users to change the password after a certain number of days. You can also set the minimum length of passwords and prevent users to use passwords which already have been used earlier and also enable account lockouts which will deactivate an account after a specified number of failed login attempts.
When you log on to Win NT, you should disable Password Caching, this ensures Single NT Domain login and also prevents secondary Windows Logon screen.

Simply copy the following lines to a plain text ASCII editor like: Notepad and save it with an extension, .reg
----------------DISABLE.reg-----------------
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Policies\Network]
"DisablePwdCaching"=dword:00000001
----------------DISABLE.reg-----------------
To Enable Password Caching use the following .reg file:
--------------Enable.reg-----------------
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Policies\Network]
"DisablePwdCaching"=dword:00000000
--------------Enable.reg-----------------



Cleaning Recent Docs Menu and the RUN MRU
The Recent Docs menu can be easily disabled by editing the Registry. To do this go to the following Key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\Explorer
Now in the right pane, create a new DWORD value by the name: NoRecentDocsMenu and set it's value to 1. Restart Explorer to save the changes.
You can also clear the RUN MRU history. All the listings are stored in the key:
HKEY_USERS\.Default\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Cur rentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU
You can delete individual listings or the entire listing. To delete History of Find listings go to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Explorer\Doc Find Spec MRU
and delete.


Customizing the Right Click Context Menu of the Start Menu
When you right click on the start menu, only 3 options pop up: Open, Explore, and Find. You can add your own programs to this pop up menu( which comes up when we right click on it.) Open Regedit and go to the following registry key:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Shell


Right click on the shell and create a new Sub Key (You can create a new SubKey by right clicking on the Shell Key and selecting New > Key.). Type in the name of the application you want to add to the start menu. I want to add Notepad to the Start Menu and hence I name this new sub key, Notepad. Now right click on the new registry key that you just created and create yet another new key named Command. Enter the full path of the application, in this case Notepad in the default value of Command in the right
pane. So I Modify the value of the default string value and enter the full pathname of Notepad:
c:\wndows\notepad.exe.


Now press F5 to refresh. Now if you right click on the Start Button you will find a new addition to the Pop Up Menu called Notepad. Clicking on it will launch Notepad.
We can not only add but also remove the existing options in this pop up box.
To delete the Find option, go to the following registry key:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Shell\Find
Delete Find. DO NOT delete Open else you will not be able to open any folders in the Start Menu like Programs, Accessories etc.
BMP Thumbnail As Icon


You can actually change the default BMP icon to a thumbnail version of the actual BMP file. To do this simply go to HKCU\Paint.Picture\Default. In the right pane change the value of default to %1. Please note however that this will slow down the display rate in explorer if there are too many BMP thumbnails to display. You can use other icons too, simply enter the pathname.To restore back to the normal change the vale of default back to: C:\Progra~1\Access~1\MSPAINT.EXE,1.
Customizing The Shortcut Arrow

All shortcuts have a tiny black arrow attached to it's icon to distinguish from normal files. This arrow can sometimes be pretty annoying and as a Hacker should know how to change each and everything, here goes another trick. Launch the Registry Editor and go to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\explorer\Shell Icons.


Now, on the right pane is a list of icons ( we found out that on some systems, Windows 98 especially, the right pane is blank. Don't worry, just add the value as required ). Find the value 29. If it isn't there, just add it. The value of this string should be C:\Windows\system\shell32.dll, 29 ( which means the 30th icon in shell32.dll - the first one begins with 0 ). Now, we need blank icon to do this. Just create one with white as the whole icon. Go here to learn how to create an icon. Once done just change the value to C:\xxx.ico, 0 where "xxx" is the full path of the icon file and "0" is the icon in it.


Now for some fun. If the blank icon is a bit boring, change it again. You will find that under shell32.dll there is a gear icon, a shared folder ( the hand ) and much more. Experiment for yourself!
Use Perl to Get List or Services Running on your NT box
Use the following Perl Script to get a list of Services running on your NT system
--------------script.pl-----------------
#!c:\per\bin\perl.exe
use Win32::Service;
my ($key, %service, %status, $part);
Win32::Service::GetServices(' ',\%services);
foreach $key (sort keys %services) {
print "Print Name\t: $key, $services{$key}\n";
Win32::Service::GetStatus( ' ',$services{$key};
\%status);
foreach $part (keys %status) {
print "\t$part : $status{$part}\n" if($part eq "CurrentState");
}
}
-------------script.pl-------------------


Internet Explorer Tricks and Tips
Resizable Full Screen Toolbar
The Full Screen option increases the viewable area and makes surfing more enjoyable but sometimes we need the Toolbar but also need to have extra viewing area. Now this hack teaches you how to change the size of the Internet Explorer toolbar. This registry hack is a bit complicated as it involves Binary values, so to make it simple, I have included the following registry file which will enable the resizable option of the Internet Explorer toolbar which was present in the beta version of IE.
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar]
"Theater"=hex:0c,00,00,00,4c,00,00,00,74,00,00,00, 18,00,00,00,1b,00,00,00,5c,\
00,00,00,01,00,00,00,e0,00,00,00,a0,0f,00,00,05,00 ,00,00,22,00,00,00,26,00,\
00,00,02,00,00,00,21,00,00,00,a0,0f,00,00,04,00,00 ,00,01,00,00,00,a0,0f,00,\
00,03,00,00,00,08,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
*******************


HACKING TRUTH: Internet Explorer 5 displays the friendly version of HTTP errors like NOT FOUND etc . They are aimed at making things easier for newbies. If you would rather prefer to see the proper error pages for the web server you're using, go to Tools, Internet Options and select the Advanced tab. Then scroll down and uncheck the Show friendly http errors

Making the Internet Explorer & the Explorer Toolbars Fancy
The Internet Explorer toolbar looks pretty simple. Want to make it fancy and kewl? Why not add a background image to it. To do this kewl hack launch the Windows Registry Editor and go to the following key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ Internet Explorer\Toolbar\.
Now in the right pane create a new String Value and name it BackBitmap and modify it's value to the path of the Bitmap you want to dress it up with by rightclicking on it and choosing Modify. When you reboot the Internet Explorer and the Windows Explorer toolbars will have a new look.
Change Internet Explorer's Caption
Don't like the caption of Internet Explorer caption? Want to change it? Open the registry editor and go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main.
In the right pane create a new String Value names Window Title (Note the space between Window and Title). Right click on this newly created String Value and select Modify. Type in the new caption you want to be displayed. Restart for the settings to take place.
Now let's move on to some Outlook Express Tricks.
Colorful Background
Don't like the boring background colors of Outlook Express? To change it launch the Windows Registry Editor and scroll down to the
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Mail And News key.
On the left pane, click on ColorCycle or select Edit and Modify in the menu. Now change the value to 1. Close and restart. Now, launch Outlook Express and whenever you open up a New Message, hold down ctrl-shift and tap the z key to scroll to change the background color. Repeat the keystroke to cycle through the colors.
Internet Explorer 5 Hidden Features



Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 has several hidden features which can be controlled using the Windows Registry. Open your registry and scroll down to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Inte rnet Explorer\Restrictions
Create a new DWORD value named x(See complete list of values of x below) and modify it's value to 1 to enable it and to 0 to disable it.

NoBrowserClose : Disable the option of closing Internet Explorer.
NoBrowserContextMenu : Disable right-click context menu.
NoBrowserOptions : Disable the Tools / Internet Options menu.
NoBrowserSaveAs : Disable the ability to Save As.
NoFavorites : Disable the Favorites.
NoFileNew : Disable the File / New command.
NoFileOpen : Disable the File / Open command.
NoFindFiles : Disable the Find Files command.
NoSelectDownloadDir : Disable the option of selecting a download directory.
NoTheaterMode : Disable the Full Screen view option.



Almost all system administrators make certain changes and make the system restricted. System Administrators can hide the RUN option, the FIND command, the entire Control Panel, drives in My Computer like D: A: etc. They can even restrict activities of a hacker my disabling or hiding, even the tiniest options or tools.
Most commonly these restrictions are imposed locally and are controlled by the Windows Registry. But sometimes the smart system administrators control the activities of the hacker by imposing restrictions remotely through the main server.
Poledit or Policy Editor is a small kewl tool which is being commonly used by system administrators to alter the settings of a system. This utility is not installed by default by Windows. You need to install in manually from the Windows 98 Installation Kit from the Resource Kit folder. user.dat file that we saw earlier.



The Policy Editor tool imposes restrictions on the user's system by editing the user.dat file which in turn means that it edits the Windows Registry to change the settings. It can be used to control or restrict access to each and every folder and option you could ever think of. It has the power to even restrict access to individual folders, files, the Control Panel, MS DOS, the drives available etc. Sometimes this software does make life really hard for a Hacker. So how can we remove the restrictions imposed by the Policy Editor? Well read ahead to learn more.
You see the Policy Editor is not the only way to restrict a user's activities. As we already know that the Policy Editor edits the Windows Registry(user.dat) file to impose such restrictions. So this in turn would mean that we can directly make changes to the Windows Registry using a .reg file or directly to remove or add restrictions.


Launch Regedit and go to the following Registry Key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/CurrentVersion/Policies
Under this key, there will definitely be a key named explorer. Now under this explorer key we can create new DWORD values and modify it's value to 1 in order to impose the restriction. If you want to remove the Restriction, then you can simply delete the respective DWORD values or instead change their values to 0. The following is a list of DWORD values that can be created under the Explorer Key-:


NoDeletePrinter: Disables Deletion of already installed Printers
NoAddPrinter: Disables Addition of new Printers
NoRun : Disables or hides the Run Command
NoSetFolders: Removes Folders from the Settings option on Start Menu (Control Panel, Printers, Taskbar)
NoSetTaskbar: Removes Taskbar system folder from the Settings option on Start Menu
NoFind: Removes the Find Tool (Start >Find)
NoDrives: Hides and does not display any Drives in My Computer
NoNetHood: Hides or removes the Network Neighborhood icon from the desktop
NoDesktop: Hides all items including, file, folders and system folders from the Desktop
NoClose: Disables Shutdown and prevents the user from normally shutting down Windows.
NoSaveSettings: Means to say, 'Don't save settings on exit'
DisableRegistryTools: Disable Registry Editing Tools (If you disable this option, the Windows Registry Editor(regedit.exe) too
will not work.)
NoRecentDocsHistory: Removes Recent Document system folder from the Start Menu (IE 4 and above)
ClearRecentDocsOnExit: Clears the Recent Documents system folder on Exit.
Nolnternetlcon: Removes the Internet (system folder) icon from the Desktop


Under the same key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/CurrentVersion/Policies you can create new subkeys other than the already existing Explorer key. Now create a new key and name it System. Under this new key, system we can create the following new DWORD values(1 for enabling the particular option and 0 for disabling the particular option):


NODispCPL: Hides Control Panel
NoDispBackgroundPage: Hides Background page.
NoDispScrsavPage: Hides Screen Saver Page
NoDispAppearancePage: Hides Appearance Page
NoDispSettingsPage: Hides Settings Page
NoSecCPL: Disables Password Control Panel
NoPwdPage: Hides Password Change Page
NoAdminPaqe: Hides Remote Administration Page
NoProfilePage: Hides User Profiles Page
NoDevMgrPage: Hides Device Manager Page
NoConfigPage: Hides Hardware Profiles Page
NoFileSysPage: Hides File System Button
NoVirtMemPage: Hides Virtual Memory Button

Similarly, if we create a new subkey named Network, we can add the following DWORD values under it(1 for enabling the particular option and 0 for disabling the particular option):


NoNetSetupSecurityPage: Hides Network Security Page
NoNelSetup: Hides or disables the Network option in the Control Panel
NoNetSetupIDPage: Hides the Identification Page
NoNetSetupSecurityPage: Hides the Access Control Page
NoFileSharingControl: Disables File Sharing Controls
NoPrintSharing: Disables Print Sharing Controls

Similarly, if we create a new subkey named WinOldApp, we can add the following DWORD values under it(1 for enabling the particular option and 0 for disabling the particular option):

Disabled: Disable MS-DOS Prompt
NoRealMode: Disable Single-Mode MS-DOS.

So you see if you have access to the Windows Registry, then you can easily create new DWORD values and set heir value to 1 for enabling the particular option and 0 for disabling the particular option. But Sometimes, access to the Windows Registry is blocked. So what do you do? Go to the Windows

Directory and delete either user.dat or system.dat (These 2 files constitute the Windows Registry.) and reboot. As soon as Windows logs in, it will display a Warning Message informing you about an error in the Windows Registry. Simply ignore this Warning Message and Press CTRL+DEL+ALT to get out of this warning message.(Do not press OK) You will find that all restrictions have been removed.

The most kind of restriction found quite commonly is the Specific Folder Restriction, in which users are not allowed access to specific folders, the most common being the Windows folder, or sometimes even access to My

Computer is blocked. In effect, you simply cannot seem to access the important kewl files which are needed by you to do remove restrictions. What do you? Well use the RUN command. (START >RUN). But unfortunately a system administrator who is intelligent enough to block access to specific folder, would definitely have blocked access to the RUN command. Again we are stuck.

Windows is supposed to be the most User Friendly Operating System on earth. (At least Microsoft Says so.)
It gives the User an option to do the same thing in various ways. You see the RUN command is only the most convenient option of launching applications, but not the only way. In Windows you can create shortcuts to almost anything from a file, folder to a Web URL. So say your system administrator has blocked access to the c:\windows\system folder and you need to access it. What do you do? Simply create a Shortcut to it. To do this right click anywhere on the desktop and select New > Shortcut. A new window titled Create Shortcut pops up. Type in the path of the restricted folder you wish to access, in this case c:\windows\system. Click Next, Enter the friendly name of the Shortcut and then click Finish. Now you can access the restricted folder by simply double clicking on the shortcut icon. Well that shows how protected and secure *ahem Windows *ahem is.

TRUTH: Sometimes when you try to delete a file or a folder, Windows displays an error message saying that the file is protected. This simply means that the file is write protected, or in other words the R option is +. Get it? Anyway, you can stop Windows from displaying this error message and straightaway delete this file by changing its attributes to Non Read Only. This can be done by Right Clicking on the file, selecting Properties and then
unselecting the Read Only Option.
***************


There is yet another way of accessing restricted folders. Use see, DOS has a lovely command known as START. Its general syntax is:
START application_path
It does do what it seems to do, start applications. So in you have access to DOS then you can type in the START command to get access to the restricted folder. Now mostly access to DOS too would be blocked. So again you can use the shortcut trick to launch, c:\command.com or c:\windows\command.com. (Command.com is the file which launches MS DOS).


Accessing Restricted Drives.
The problem with most system administrators is that they think that the users or Hackers too are stupid. Almost all system administrators use the Registry Trick (Explained Earlier) to hide all drives in My Computer. So in order to unhide or display all drives, simply delete that particular key.(Refer to beginning of Untold Secrets Section.)
Some systems have the floppy disk disabled through the BIOS. On those systems if the BIOS is protected, you may need to crack the BIOS password. (For that Refer to the Windows Hacking Chapter). Sometimes making drives readable (Removing R +) and then creating Shortcuts to them also helps us to get access to them.


Further Changing your Operating System's Looks by editing .htt files
If you have installed Windows Desktop Update and have the view as Web Page option enabled, you can customise the way the folder looks by selecting View > Customise this folder. Here you can change the background and other things about that particular folder. Well that is pretty lame, right? We hackers already know things as lame as that. Read on for some kewl stuff.
Well, you could also change the default that is stored in a Hidden HTML Template file (I think so..) which is nothing but a HTML document with a .htt extension. This .htt file is found at: %systemroot%\web\folder.htt.
The %systemroot% stands for the drive in which Windows is Installed, which is normally C:


You can edit these .htt files almost just like you edit normal .HTM or .HTML files. Simply open them in an ASCII editor like Notepad. The following is a list of .htt files on your system which control various folders and which can be edited to customise the way various folders look.
controlp.htt Control Panel
printers.htt Printers
mycomp.htt My Computer
safemode.htt Safe Mode
All these files are found in the web folder in %systemfolder%. The folder.htt file has a line:


'Here's a good place to add a few lines of your own"
which is the place where you can add your own A HREF links. These links would then appear in the folder whose folder.htt file you edited. All this might sound really easy and simple, but you see these .htt files do not contain normal HTML code, instead they contain a mixture of HTML and web bots. Hence they can be difficult for newbies to understand

Hope you enjoy these hidden tips and secrets. My advice to you is "dont play with the registry until you a little about it" As i mentioned earlier, to access the registry Start>>Run>>Type regedit.exe. F5 might not work in XP to refresh. Simply go to view in the dropdown menu to refresh Enjoy

Some Must Do Security Settings

Start > Run > Type – services.msc



Security Settings



1. Messenger – Home/Pro = Disable

Have you ever been surfing the net and all of the sudden you get a pop-up with a “Messenger Service” listing in the title bar? If so, disable this service.



2. NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing – Home/Pro = Disable

This creates the ability for someone to remotely access your computer through NetMeeting. This is not good! If you don’t use NetMeeting or not that often, disable this service.



3. Protected Storage – Home/Pro = Disable

This service will store your passwords as well as enable the auto-complete function within Internet Explorer (auto-complete is where you type – for e.g. – tweakxp and then hit Ctrl + Enter to allow IE to fill in the WWW and .Com for you).



4. Remote Desktop Help Session Manager – Home/Pro = Disable

This service provides support for Remote Assistance sessions. Again, if this service is not something you use or use rarely, disable until required.



4. Remote Registry Service – Pro = Disable

If you don’t require the assistance of someone to remotely have access to editing your registry settings, then disable this service. Your systems registry isn’t something you want to surrender easily to a remote computer.



6. Routing and Remote Access – Home/Pro = Disable

This service enables remote computers dial-in routing to your computer. That surely doesn’t sound like something I would want set to “automatic”.



7. Security Accounts Manager – Home/Pro = Disable

This service works just as Protected Storage collecting secure user information. For XP Pro users, you will not be able to run the Group Policy Editor with this service disabled (the Group Policy Editor is unavailable for XP Home users).



As with anything that may be questionable, create a system restore or backup your system with an image utility such as DriveImage 2002. As a precautionary measure, you may as well, take note of the default state of the service before you adjust it. It wouldn’t take up too much storage place for a simple Note Pad file holding the defaults for 7 services.

Remove shortcut arrow from desktop icons

Here's how you can remove those shortcut arrows from your desktop icons in Windows XP.

Start regedit.
Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTlnkfile
Delete the IsShortcut registry value.
You may need to restart Windows XP.

Renaming the Recycle Bin

Open up your favorite plain text editor (notepad, for example) and copy the following text into a new file:






Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\ShellFolder]
"Attributes"=hex:50,01,00,20
"CallForAttributes"=dword:00000000


Now save this text file as a .reg file, such as "Rename Recycle Bin.reg" and put it wherever you like. Double click on the file, and when it asks you if you want to import it into the registry, choose Yes. You'll notice a new option in the right-click menu to Rename the Recycle Bin. You can also rename it by highlighing the Bin and hitting F2, or by highlighting it and clicking on the file name (just like renaming any other file.

If you want to turn off this new feature, make another .reg file with the same content as above, but change the first number in the "Attributes"=hex: line from 50 to 40 and import that file into the registry

Quickest way I find is to go into Control Panel, double click 'Network'.
In the box 'The following network components are installed' select 'Microsoft Family Logon' and delete it. Reboot and your pesky logon box should be no more.
You may need to go back into Network and install a new client to enable you to access the internet etc. This is normally Client for Microsoft Networks. If the logon box re-appears after doing this, simply don't put a password in (just click OK - don't hit cancel) and it should disappear for ever.

Disable Paging Of Core Files and Speed Up Performance


Improve System Performance in Windows NT/2000 on systems with large amounts of RAM. This tweak can be used to force the Windows system core files to be kept in memory and not paged to disk. Open the registry and find this key:

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

For the Value name: "DisablePagingExecutive" , Data Type: REG_DWORD, change the value to 1 to enable the tweak and stop the core process from being paged, or set it to 0 for the default

Close port 135 by disabling DCOM in Dcomcnfg.exe


Click on Start> Run> and enter: C:\WinNT\System32\Dcomcnfg.exe, then click on the Applications tab. Many programs "support" Distributed Communication (DCOM) but hardly ever use it. This includes such programs as Windows Media and Wordpad, which are designed to be used across a network. As you scan this tab, look for third-party applications that might actually require network support, as opposed to those that simply support it. To determine if these programs really require DCOM, you must disable it, run those programs, and see what happens. NOTE that it is probably only necessary to look at third-party programs here; Microsoft programs designed to run on a non-networked, stand-a-lone computer (Office, etc.) are usually written to support but not require DCOM. To disable DCOM, go to the Default Properties tab and uncheck the box labeled "Enable Distributed COM on this computer".

Reboot, and try running the third-party programs NOTEd as above. Chances are good that everything will still run correctly. If not, go back and enable DCOM again. As you re-enable it, also go to the Default Protocols tab and remove all protocols except "Connection-oriented TCP/IP". This won't make your system much safer, but it will reduce the number of connection methods you have to keep an eye on.

If you do not have to re-enable DCOM again, then on the Default Protocols tab remove all protocols. You won't need them, and that should stop the OS from listening on Port 135

Turn off Indexing Service


Indexing Service creates indexes of the contents and properties of documents on local and network drives. It's quite similar to "Find Fast" that ships with Microsoft Office. Indexing Service runs continuously. Turning this off may increase performance. Go to: My Computer> right click on a Drive icon> select Properties. Remove the check mark from "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching". Click Apply. Be sure to select "Apply changes to <driveletter>:\, subfolders and files" before clicking OK in the new window.

Lock Desktop Shortcuts in place and Taskbar size/position


This Registry entry will prevent you from permanently repositioning desktop shortcuts and from adjusting the size and/or position of the Taskbar.

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Pol icies\Explorer

Add or change the Value name: "NoSaveSettings", Data Type: REG_DWORD, to 1.

Delete An "undeletable" File

Open a Command Prompt window and leave it open.
Close all open programs.
Click Start, Run and enter TASKMGR.EXE
Go to the Processes tab and End Process on Explorer.exe.
Leave Task Manager open.
Go back to the Command Prompt window and change to the directory the AVI (or other undeletable file) is located in.
At the command prompt type DEL <filename> where <filename> is the file you wish to delete.
Go back to Task Manager, click File, New Task and enter EXPLORER.EXE to restart the GUI shell.
Close Task Manager.


Or you can try this

Open Notepad.exe

Click File>Save As..>

locate the folder where ur undeletable file is

Choose 'All files' from the file type box

click once on the file u wanna delete so its name appears in the 'filename' box

put a " at the start and end of the filename
(the filename should have the extension of the undeletable file so it will overwrite it)

click save,

It should ask u to overwrite the existing file, choose yes and u can delete it as normal


Here's a manual way of doing it.
1. Start
2. Run
3. Type: command
4. To move into a directory type: cd c:\*** (The stars stand for your folder)
5. If you cannot access the folder because it has spaces for example Program Files or Kazaa Lite folder you have to do the following. instead of typing in the full folder name only take the first 6 letters then put a ~ and then 1 without spaces. Example: cd c:\progra~1\kazaal~1
6. Once your in the folder the non-deletable file it in type in dir - a list will come up with everything inside.
7. Now to delete the file type in del ***.bmp, txt, jpg, avi, etc... And if the file name has spaces you would use the special 1st 6 letters followed by a ~ and a 1 rule. Example: if your file name was bad file.bmp you would type once in the specific folder thorugh command, del badfil~1.bmp and your file should be gone. Make sure to type in the correct extension.

or Download this Freeware

http://www.diskcleaners.com/files/deletedr.exe

This is especially important in case of certain types of malware and worms such as W32/Lovgate.AC.worm:
see what happens when your system is infected with this worm:

Once launched, It also saves its components in the following files:

%System%\NetMeeting.exe
%system%\spoolsv.exe
%SysDir%\msjdbc11.dll
%SysDir%\MSSIGN30.DLL
%SysDir%\ODBC16.dll
%SysDir%\Lmmib20.dll
It also creates a file named AUTORUN.INF in the root directory of all accessible disks.

Home / Viruses / Virus Encyclopedia / Malware Descriptions / Network Worms / Email Worms
Email-Worm.Win32.LovGate.w
Other versions: .a, .ad, .ah, .b, .c
Aliases
Email-Worm.Win32.LovGate.w (Kaspersky Lab) is also known as: I-Worm.LovGate.w (Kaspersky Lab), BackDoor-AQJ (McAfee), W32.Lovgate.R@mm (Symantec), Win32.HLLM.Lovgate.9 (Doctor Web), W32/Lovgate-V (Sophos), Win32/Lovgate.V@mm (RAV), Win32:Lovgate-AD (ALWIL), I-Worm/Lovgate.X (Grisoft), Win32.Lovgate.V@mm (SOFTWIN), W32/Lovgate.AC.worm (Panda), Win32/Lovgate.Z (Eset) Description added Apr 05 2004
Behavior Email Worm
Technical Details


This worm spreads via the Internet as an attachment to infected messages. It is written in MFC.

The worm itself is approximately 125KB in size, packed using ASPack. The unpacked file is approximately 205KB in size.

Installation
Once launched, the worm copies itself under several different names to the Windows system and root directories:

%system%\Kernel66.dll
%system%\IEXPLORE.exe
%system%\hxdef.exe
%system%\RAVMOND.exe
%windir%\SYSTRA.exe
c:\command.exe
It also saves its components in the following files:

%System%\NetMeeting.exe
%system%\spoolsv.exe
%SysDir%\msjdbc11.dll
%SysDir%\MSSIGN30.DLL
%SysDir%\ODBC16.dll
%SysDir%\Lmmib20.dll
It also creates a file named AUTORUN.INF in the root directory of all accessible disks.

The worm creates several copies of itself in ZIP or RAR format. These copies are saved under random names in the root directories of all accessible disks.

It registers several copies of itself in the system registry. This ensures that these copies will be launched every time Windows is restarted.

[HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
"WinHelp"="%System%\WinHelp.exe"
"Hardware Profile"=""="%system%\hxdef.exe"
"Microsoft NetMeeting Associates, Inc."="NetMeeting.exe"
"Program in Windows"="%System%\IEXPLORE.EXE"
"Protected Storage"="RUNDLL32.EXE MSSIGN30.DLL ondll_reg"
"VFW Encoder/Decoder Settings"="RUNDLL32.exe MSSIGN30.DLL ondll_reg"
[HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows]
"run"="RAVMOND.exe"
It also creates the following system registry value:

[HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run Services]
"SystemTra"="%Windir%\Systra.exe"
It creates an additional registry value to flag its presence in the system:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ZMX LIB1
Propagation via local networks
It makes the Ó:\windows\Media folder accessible via the local network under the name \\Media.

It copies itself to all network disks under the following names:

autoexec.bat
Cain.pif
client.exe
Documents and Settings.txt.exe
findpass.exe
i386.exe
Internet Explorer.bat
Microsoft Office.exe
mmc.exe
MSDN.ZIP.pif
Support Tools.exe
Windows Media Player.zip.exe
WindowsUpdate.pif
winhlp32.exe
WinRAR.exe
xcopy.exe
The worm attempts to copy itself to all local network machines by using the Adminstrator account. It uses the following passwords to attempt to gain access to the account:


!@#$
!@#$%
!@#$%^
!@#$%^&
!@#$%^&*
0
000000
00000000
007
1
110
111
111111
11111111
12
121212
123
123123
1234
12345
123456
1234567
12345678
123456789
123abc
123asd
2003
2004
2600
321
54321



654321
666666
888888
88888888
a
aaa
abc
abc123
abcd
abcdef
abcdefg
admin
Admin
admin123
administrator
Administrator
alpha
asdf
asdfgh
computer
database
enable
god
godblessyou
guest
Guest
home
Internet
Login
login
love



mypass
mypass123
mypc
mypc123
oracle
owner
pass
passwd
password
Password
pc
pw
pw123
pwd
root
secret
server
sex
sql
super
sybase
temp
temp123
test
test123
win
xp
xxx
yxcv
zxcv




If the worm succeeds in establishing a connection, it copies itself to \admin$\system32\NetManager.exe and launches the file as 'Windows Management NetWork Service Extensions'.

The worm harvests information about the victim machine, saves it in a file named c:\Netlog.txt and sends this file to the worm's author via email.

It installs a backdoor on TCP port 6000 to receive commands.

It launches an FTP server without login or password on a random port.

The worm searches all accessible disks from C: to Z: for files with the extension .exe. It then renames them as *.zmx, ascribes the attribute 'hidden/ system' to these files, and copies itself to the original files under the original names (working in the same way as companion viruses do.)

For further information of this worm click the link below:

http://www.viruslist.com/en/viruses/...?virusid=48907