Hide your data in an Image file

You can hide your documents in a JPEG image file.

1) Put your files in a RAR file. You can use WinRAR for that. I'll use abc.rar as an example.

2) Now move this RAR file into a particular folder. I'll use the C:\MyFolder here.

3) Have a JPEG/JPG file (The one in which you want to hide the stuff) in the same folder. I'll use Logo.jpg as an example.

Now in the command prompt navigate to the folder using cd MyFolder

now type this: copy /b Logo.jpg + abc.rar Logo.jpg

Now double-click on the Logo.jpg file it should open with your Picture viewer. To open it as a RAR file you can use open with from the files right-click menu and choose WinRAR Or drag it into WinRAR otherwise the JPG's open with will have a WinRAR entry. To make it more secure I recommend adding a password for the RAR file.

How to open multiple instances of Google Talk

It's frustrating when you share a single PC at your home with your family. By default Google Talk allows only one user to sign in at a time. Here's how you can have multiple instances of Gtalk open to sign in with different accounts.

1) Browse to the directory where you installed Google Talk: C:\Program Files\Google\Google Talk

2) Select the file named 'googletalk.exe' and create a shortcut for it.

3) Open the properties for the shortcut and append its target location with /nomutex

The target: should look like this; "C:\Program Files\Google\Google Talk\googletalk.exe" /nomutex

4) Now run this shortcut whenever you require to open another instance of Google Talk

Force files sent to the Windows Recycle Bin to be automatically erased

To forcefully delete files without moving it to the Recycle Bin (Without holding Shift + Delete) :

Merge the following into the registry:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\BitBucket] "NukeOnDelete"=dword:00000001

Show/Hide file extensions

One way is to do it using folder options. The registry way is as follows: To Hide: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced] "HideFileExt"=dword:00000001

To Show/Unhide: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced] "HideFileExt"=dword:00000000

Restore missing Send To Desktop (Create Shortcut)

If the Desktop (create shortcut) entry is missing from the Send To when you right-click a file you can restore it using the following methods. Method 1:

Type shell:sendto in Start menu>Run.

This will open the Send To folder.

In this folder create a new text file and rename it as Desktop (create shortcut).DeskLink

Method 2:

Use the following command in Start Menu>Run or the Command Prompt: regsvr32 sendmail.dll

Disable access to a drive

To prevent users from using My Computer, Explorer, Run, Map Network Drive to access the content of selected drives:

In the Windows Registry Editor (regedit) navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Create a new DWORD Value named: NoViewOnDrive

The value for NoViewOnDrive needs to be calculated as follows:

A drive that needs to be hidden is represented by a binary 1.

ZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
00000000000000000000100000

For example to hide drive F the value for NoDrives = 20 in hexadicimal

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer] "NoViewOnDrive"=dword:00000020

To hide all drives except C, D and E the binary value is 11111111111111111111100011

So the value for NoDrives will be: 3FFFFE3

If a user tries to access the drive he will get a restriction warning stating "This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator."

Disable personalizing the target location for My Documents, My Music, My Pictures and Favourites

When you right-click the My Documents folder icon in the Desktop or Start Menu, you get an option to change its target location. To disable changing this target location merge the following into the registry:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer] "DisablePersonalDirChange"=dword:00000001

To re-enable it delete the "DisablePersonalDirChange" from the registry.

Use the following to restrict the remaining:

DisablePersonalDirChange - Restrict changes to My Documents DisableMyPicturesDirChange - Restrict changes to My Pictures DisableMyMusicDirChange - Restrict changes to My Music DisableFavoritesDirChange - Restrict changes to Favorites

Disable the recycle bin properties option

Import the following into the registry:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer] "NoPropertiesRecycleBin"=dword:00000001 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer] "NoPropertiesRecycleBin"=dword:00000001

Restore missing tabs in Folder Options

Paste the following in notepad and save it with the .reg extension:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{EF8AD2D1-AE36-11D1-B2D2-006097DF8C11}] [-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{B091E540-83E3-11CF-A713-0020AFD79762}] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{EF8AD2D1-AE36-11D1-B2D2-006097DF8C11}] @="Global Folder Settings" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{EF8AD2D1-AE36-11D1-B2D2-006097DF8C11}\InProcServer32] @=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\ 00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,62,00,72,00,\ 6f,00,77,00,73,00,65,00,75,00,69,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,00,00 "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{B091E540-83E3-11CF-A713-0020AFD79762}] @="File Types Page" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{B091E540-83E3-11CF-A713-0020AFD79762}\InProcServer32] @=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\ 00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,53,00,48,00,\ 45,00,4c,00,4c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,00,00 "ThreadingModel"="Apartment"

Now merge it with the registry.

Registry editing has been disable by your administrator

Here's the command to enable registry editing using the command prompt/run dialog box:

REG add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableRegistryTools /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Here's another way to enable it by using a vb script: http://punkisnail.blogspot.com/2009/01/enable-regedit-using-vb-script.html

Show Desktop is missing from the quick launch toolbar

The following steps show how to restore the 'Show desktop' entry in the quick launch toolbar. Open Notepad and type/paste the following code:

[Shell] Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar] Command=ToggleDesktop

Save the file with a .scf extension in the quick launch folder.

Here's the path to the quick launch folder: C:\Documents and Settings\[USERNAME]\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch

Another method is to type this command in run or the command prompt: regsvr32 /n /i:U shell32.dll