Skidzopedia » How To

How to Change Some Files in your Hosting Account from Read and Write to Read Only so Your Files are Hack Proof

Musab Zain — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:46:24 +0000

There are a million and one ways in which you can get hacked and even if you apply every single defense you can think about, there is no guarantee that your hosting account and the sites you host are safe. However, this doesn’t mean that there are no little steps you can (and should) take in order to defend your sites from hackers. Hosting nerds know many useful tricks and one of them is how to change some files in your hosting account from Read and Write to Read-only.

If you aren’t a hosting nerd, maybe you are wondering why you should bother changing file permissions. The answer is easy – because when your files can be modified (i.e. when you have enabled the Write permission for them), this is a security risk.
Not all files in your cpanel hosting account are subject to the same risk level and this why you need to know which files are to be modified. There are files, which are more important than others and which are easier to modify to include malicious code in them. When a hacker gets hold of such a file, he or she can add a virus code. Later on, when somebody loads your page in his or her browser, his or her computer will get infected – this is the way viruses are distributed all over the Net.

Which Files Need a Special Protection?

There isn’t a universal prescription which files need to be protected but generally the list includes host’s file, or a file with access permissions, such as the .htaccess file in your cpanel account. Files with hardcoded usernames and passwords for database access are also very vulnerable.

In addition to them, database files (i.e. those files with an .mdb extension) and .txt files are also a lucrative target for a hacker. Finally, one more group of files in need of special protection are .config files. .config files store different kinds of configuration settings and if such a file is hacked, this could cause a lot of problems for you. This is why you need to make .config files read-only as well.

How to Make Files Read-only

The exact way in which you can change a file from Read and Write to Read-only varies depending on the operating system your website hosting provider uses. Basically, if your website hosting uses cpanel hosting, you need to log in first and then you can make any changes.

If the operating system of your hosting provider is UNIX, you can change permissions with the chmod command. You can change permissions only for files you are the owner of. 777 permissions are to be avoided for any file with important data.

If your website hosting provider uses Windows and IIS, then you can change permissions to Read-only from File Manager and Explorer. You need to know that when you set permissions for a folder with subfolders, the permissions are automatically inherited – i.e. all the subfolders and the files in them inherit the permissions for the parent folder but if you need to set specific permissions for an individual files, you can do it.

How To Crack a Password in Windows with Ophcrack Live CD

Musab Zain — Fri, 01 May 2009 09:20:28 +0000

Its not that hard to forget a Windows admin password. It can happen to anyone especially those who constantly change passwords or haven’t used their computer for a long time. Although there is one useful way to recover your password by creating a Windows password reset disk. However, if you don’t prefer that method, there is another simple method to crack your password by using a Ophcrack LiveCD that claims to have cracked 99.9% alpha-numeric passwords, but that’s always not the case!

In this tutorial I will teach you a step by step procedure on how to create a Live CD and then use it to Crack a Password.

Step #1: First of all you’ll have to download Ophcrack. Once the Live CD ISO is downloaded, you’ll need to burn it on a Blank Disk. Burn the Disk at a low burning speed.

Step #2: Now when ever you forget or lose your Admin Password. On system restart, insert the Burned Disk onto your CD/DVD ROM. Make sure you have set the boot sequence to CD first. If not go to BIOS and set the boot sequence accordingly.If every thing works, you should see a loading screen like the one below,

(Image Courtesy: LifeHacker)

Step #3: Once the Live CD loads it will automatically start working on the password, using rainbow tables and some pre-calculated data stored in memory (More on Rainbow Tables here) it will crack the password depending upon the length and complexity. For average passwords of length 6-10 letters it can take up to 3-7 minutes. In case you have more than one account, you will have to choose from a list of accounts.

Step #4: Note down the cracked password once its displayed; remove the Live CD from the CD/DVD ROM and restart your computer. Type in the password that you noted in step #3 and enter at log-in. Once you are successfully logged inside, DON’T FORGET to change the password and note down the new password for future references.

Using Ophcrack is a very useful if you have simple and short alphanumeric. However, it does not crack strong passwords. Ophcrack Live CD can really help those who forget passwords on regular basis.

How To Disable ‘Safely Remove Hardware’ Popup Notification in Windows

Musab Zain — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:22:50 +0000

Apart from disabling User Account Control feature (UAC) which is basically a security mechanism that pops up each time you click on the .exe file, one of the most annoying features in Windows Vista and Windows XP is that each time you remove a USB Flash drive or any other removable media by right clicking on the drive and then selecting ‘Eject’ from the menu; you will be presented with an annoying popup/balloon over the taskbar, telling you that the drive have been safely removed.

If you are like me and feel pissed of each time this pop appears and wish if there is some way to disable it forever, then consider it to be your lucky day! You don’t have to worry about hacking into your registry to disable it, the solution is pretty simple and any one can do it. Here’s how;

Disable ‘Safely Remove Hardware’ Popup Notification

Step #1: Right click on the taskbar and select properties from the menu;

Step #2: For Windows XP users; Under the ‘Taskbar’ tab, click the ‘Customize’ button that appears near the bottom of the window, For Windows Vista users; Click on the ‘Notification Area‘ tab and then click on ‘Customize‘ button;

Step #3: In the new window that pops up, scroll down and look for ‘Safely Remove Hardware‘ option, click on the drop down menu and choose ‘Hide‘ (Windows Vista) or ‘Always Hide‘ (in Windows XP) from the list;

Step #4: Click OK when done.

Next time you remove your USB Flash Drive you won’t have to worry about this pop up anymore. You can also use Icon Remover as an alternative to the above procedure, which basically comes with two options; a button to remove the Safely Remove Hardware icon, and a second button to restore it. Enjoy!

How To Make Hidden And Unsearchable Folders in Windows XP and Vista

Musab Zain — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:30:49 +0000

In one of our previous posts we showed you how to create an ultra hidden folder in Windows within a couple of minutes, using the ALT+0160 technique. However, there were generally two downsides to this trick. First was that you can only hide the folder on the desktop, the reason behind it was that users can easily change the background color of the desktop in order to merge with the folders surrounding, but it was almost impossible to hide a folder in any directory or folder.

Secondly, the hidden folder was still search-able and any one who was looking for that folder could easily type the folder name in Windows Search box and steal any confidential stuff from within it. Certainly no one wants this to ever happen. Luckily, there is another more powerful technique that not only works within the directory or folders, but its also un-searchable. If you want to provide maximum security to your confidential files and folders, read on…

Create Hidden and Unsearchable Folder in Windows

Step #1. Go to Start->Run or use WindowsKey+R keys combination,

Step #2. Open Command Prompt by typing cmd

Step #3. Inside the window go to that folder that you wish to hide. In our case for instance, we’ll be hiding a folder name Private that is residing in Drive E, inside another folder named DCIM. The final path would be, E:DCIM

Notice the commands we have used to reach the destination of that folder,

Step #4. Once you are there, type in the following command in DOS,

attrib +s +h MyFolder

where attrib stands for ‘attribute’, +h means ‘hide folder‘ while +s means ‘unsearchable‘

For example, we’ll replace MyFolder with Private, since our folder name is Private, and hit Enter. Reference screen-shot above,

Now if you go to that path where the target folder was residing, you no longer will see that folder. Try searching this as well and surprising it won’t appear in the search results. Your friends or clients won’t even know the folder ever existed!

You can easily make this folder visible and searchable again, simply repeat the process up till Step #3, then use the following command to unhide the folder,

attrib -s -h MyFolder

where -h means ‘Unhide folder‘ while -s means ‘Make the folder searchable‘. Notice we have used minus (-) sign instead of plus (+) to un-hide the folder,

Tip: If the folder that you want to hide contains a space, simply enclose the folder name in double quotes, as shown below.

Have you tried any of these methods? Which method do you prefer the most and why?

How to Disable Windows Defender in Windows Vista

Musab Zain — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:01:50 +0000

Mircosoft’s Windows Defender, is a software that prevents, removes and quarantines spyware in Windows. It is included in Windows Vista and Windows 7 by default. However, if you have your own Anti-virus or Anti-spyware software such as KasperSky or AVG you probably won’t need Windows Defender help to protect your system.

Unfortunately, Windows hasn’t provided any mechanism to un-install it and you will have to manually do the labor to disable it as it is using precious resources of your system. If you are confident about the antivirus/antispware software you are using, here’s what you have to do to disable it permanently.

Turn off Windows Defender in Windows Vista

1. Go to Start and in the search box type, Windows Defender or search for it inside the All Programs menu,

2. A small window will pop out, click ‘Tools‘ button,

3. Under the ‘Tools and Settings‘ section click Options,

4. Scroll down to the end. Under the Administrator Options, un-check the ‘Use Windows Defender‘ box,

5. Once you hit the Save button, a ‘Windows Defender is turned off‘ dialog message will appear, confirming that the Windows Defender has been disabled

In addition to that a notification message will be displayed above the system tray, warning users that the security functionality is no longer working. If you are an above average user you can permanetly disable this warning using the hack mentioned here. I won’t advice novice users to follow this hack as this will prevent them knowing about any security changes that may occour if they have accidently disabled any security feature.

How To Disable Security Center Alerts in Windows XP and Vista

Musab Zain — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:29:10 +0000

One of the most annoying things that I find in Windows XP and Windows Vista is that when ever you disable an important security setting, a Windows Security Center Alert icon will pop up at the taskbar. If you are looking it from a security perspective its a good way to notify a novice user about any changes he/she has made that could eventually threaten the security of the system.

In general this alert will be triggered each time you Disable a security program, such as Firewall or antivirus, especially when you uninstall an anti-virus or its signatures get out-dated. Besides that there are several other reasons where this pop up can appear. None the less, most users hate when a pop up message is displayed. If you are looking for a way to turn off this feature, read on…

Disable Security Center Alerts in Windows Vista

step #1. Go to Control Panel and under Security, click ‘Check this Computer’s security Status‘ link,

step #2. A small window will pop out. At the left side of the pane, click ‘Change the way Security Center alerts me‘. Reference screen-shot below,

step #3. Again a small window will appear, here three options are provided namely;

Yes notify me and display the icon
Don’t notify me, but display the icon
Don’t notify me and don’t display the icon

step #4. Select the last option.

step #5. Restart system for changes to take effect.

Disable Security Center Alerts in Windows XP

Same procedure goes for Windows XP. However, after step #4 an Alert Settings dialog box will appear. Clear the Firewall, Automatic Updates, and/or Virus Protection check boxes to disable the respective component’s alert. Source

Prank: How To Create a Fake Computer Virus in Windows

Musab Zain — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 11:49:20 +0000

Sometimes you are in a mood to fool your friends but are unable to think of any prank. What could be more fun to create a fake computer virus that once executed displays a ‘shutdown system‘ message and eventually shuts the system down after the specified time has elapsed. Harmless but fun!

Any one can create this fake computer virus. In this tutorial I will demonstrate a step by step procedure on how to create a fake virus in Windows. If you find any trouble understanding the trick, drop a comment.

How to Create a Fake Virus

Step #1. Right click on the desktop and from the menu go to New->Shortcut,

Step #2. A window will pop up, simply type the following command to create a fake shutdown message,

shutdown -s -t 300 -c “This is a fake Virus!”

-t represents time in seconds, in this case its 300 secs (5 minutes). You can set to any value you want.
-c represents comment. Here you can type any comment which will appear in the shutdown message. Don’t forget to write your message between quotes as shown above.

Step #3. Click Next and then you’ll be asked to enter a shortcut name,

Step #4. Enter any shortcut name that you think is more likely to be clicked by your friends; in this tutorial however, I have entered – firefox. Click Ok and you’ll see a shortcut on your desktop.

However there is one problem, the icon doesn’t seem to be a Firefox icon as seen below, therefore we’ll have to change the icon.

Step #5. For this right click on the icon, click Properties->Change Icon. A warning will appear click OK.

Step #6. Next up, you will have to select the appropriate icon against the shortcut name. If for instance, you have typed ‘Internet Explorer‘ as a shortcut name, scroll and select IE icon for this and in case you have typed Firefox or any other program, you will have to browse through the directory where that program is located. Once you are in that folder, select the icon and hit Enter.

Presto! Now you have a proper icon. However, there is a shortcut arrow appearing on that icon. If you want to make this prank look more realistic, follow the procedure mentioned here to remove the shortcut overlay, else skip it.

Now when ever some one will click on the icon, it will generate a system shutdown message. After the specified time is elapsed the system will shutdown. This will certainly give your friend a hard time figuring it out as to what went wrong with the system.

The best part is that you can’t close it using the conventional way, no matter how hard you try, not even through the Task Manager. There is only one way to stop the counter. Here’s how:

How To Stop ‘System Shutdown Error’ Message

Go to Start->Run or use the WindowKey+R combination,

Type the following command,

shutdown -a

-a represents Abort. The shutdown message will disappear once this command is executed.

Don’t forget to share you experiences after pulling this prank on your friends. Have Fun!

How To Add Inline Images in Email Using Gmail

Musab Zain — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:40:41 +0000

No doubt Gmail is one of the most popular email clients available. In the recent past Gmail has added several new and exciting features some of which include; Smileys, ability to send text messages right from Gmail, voice and video chat feature and among the most recent one being Undo sent message feature. Despite all the improvements, one of the most wanted feature demanded by the Gmail users was the ability to inline images while attaching inside an email.

Its seems that Google pays a lot of attention to the feedback of its user, as of today Gmail introduced a new ‘Insert Image‘ feature in Gmail meaning you can embed images in email messages directly without having to use file attachments.

This feature is not active by default. In order to activate you will have to follow the procedure mentioned below;

1. Log-in to your Gmail account,

2. Click on the Settings button at the top right corner,

3. Next click on the Labs button,

4. Scroll down and at the end you will find ‘insert image‘ option,

5. Click on the Enable radio button to activate it.

Now when ever you want to add images to your email, simply click on the button as shown below;

A small window will pop out through which you can easily add new images directly from your hard drive or embed images from various websites.

Once the image has been added, click on the image to re-size it or drag it anywhere across your text message. Its fairly simple to use now. What do you think about this feature?

How to Create an Ultra Hidden Folder on Windows

Musab Zain — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:01:51 +0000

Hiding files and folders in Windows is one of the oldest tricks in the book. Although its a very good option to protect your privacy by hiding files and folders, however the down side is that most of the users know this trick and can easily expose any ones privacy by enabling ‘Show hidden files and folders‘ option in windows Folder option menu.

What if I tell you that you can make an ultra hidden folder which not every one can crack? If you are interested in knowing this trick keep reading.

Note: Before you begin, make sure you have a dark background; (In Windows Vista) right click on the mouse button and select Properties, then select Desktop Background from the list and choose a suitable dark background (not necessarily black).

Hide a folder in Windows XP and Vista

step #1. First of all choose any folder from the desktop that you want to hide,

step #2. Select the folder name and highlight the text,

step #3. Now hold down the ALT key and while holding it press the following key combination 0160 .i.e. ALT+0160

step #4. Once you release the ALT key, you will notice that the text has disappeared,

Great! Now we have to somehow hide the folder as well, here’s what you have to do next;

step #5. Right click on the folder and choose Properties from the menu,

step #6. Click the Customize tab on the window,

step #7. Inside the customize tab, click on Change Icon… button,

step #8. From the window that pops, scroll to the right and select hidden icons from the list. Click OK when done. Reference the screen-shot below;

Voila! The folder has now magically disappeared! Do note at this point, if you are a Windows Vista user, once the folder is hidden you can only select it but cannot delete, however Windows XP users can delete this folder by pressing the delete button on the keyboard.

This is the final result. The folder is now hidden. Rearrange the icon to merge it with the background better.

How to delete the folder in Windows Vista?

As I already mentioned, deleting the hidden folder in Windows Vista will not work. For this you will have to opt a different tactic. First you’ll have to rename it and then delete it, however the conventional way of renaming a folder won’t work here. Simply follow the procedure mentioned below.

step #1. Go to start and inside the search box type; cmd and hit enter,

step #2. A command prompt will open;

step #3. First you will have to type the path where the hidden folder is placed, in this case its on the desktop, therefore, we’ll use the following path;

C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\

step #4. Once you are there, type

ren ” ” folder

Important: The above line is not as simple as it seems. Let me explain this in simple English;

First type ren,
Hit the space bar,
Click the Double Quote button,
Now use the following key combination while holding the ALT key; i.e. ALT+0160
You will notice that a space has now been added next to the quote, add another double quote as shown
Again press the spacebar and type any name that you want to give to the folder, in this case it’s folder
Hit enter and the name will appear on that folder

step #5. Hit the delete button to delete the folder.

How To Take iPod Touch or iPhone Screenshots Using Built-in Screen Capture

Musab Zain — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 07:57:29 +0000

Have you ever wondered how people take screen shots of their iPhones or iPods while writing a post on their blogs? Taking screen shot of non-jailbroken iPhones and iPod Touch is very simple and above all it helps you in writing tutorials about Apple devices and other applications installed on it.

There are two ways to take screen shots from an iPhone; one way is to use the built in screen capture facility to take screenshots, while the other one involves taking screen shots and then transferring it onto your computer. In this tutorial, I will demonstrate both the procedures one by one.

Capturing Screenshots from iPhone and iPod Touch using Built in Screen Capture

Step #1. First up, navigate the iPhone to the screen you want to create an image of,

Step #2. Then hold down the home (bottom) button and at the same time press the power (top) button, as shown on the right;

Step #3. The screen will flash and an image will be automatically saved and stored,

Step #4. Click the Photos icon on your iPhone or iPod Touch, this is where your screen shots will be stored.

Capture Screenshots from Apple devices using iPhone SDK

Step #1. For this you’ll need to download and install iPhone SDK, which is absolutely free of cost,

Step #2. Open Xcode and open the Organizer window,

Step #3. Plug-in the device and after a few moments it will appear in the list of devices on the left pane,

Note: You’ll be prompted whether you want to allow this device for development or not, click to proceed.

Step #4. Now click the “Screenshot” tab in the Organizer window and you are ready to capture any screenshots from the device.

Note: Built in screen capture feature is not available with iPhone and iPod Touch with firmware OS version 1.x.

How To Fix “Cannot remove or delete network printer” Error in Windows

Musab Zain — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 19:01:39 +0000

Offices and huge organizations have a large network of interconnected printers that are attached to a network and are accessible by other machines on that network. At some point in time some of the printers start malfunctioning, may be because of overload or due to any other problems, while in the most extreme cases some of the printers die out over time.

This could eventually lead to mess as the list of network printers will include names of those printers that are not in use any more (or have died). One of the major problems faced while deleting a printer that is no longer functioning in Windows is that it displays an error message which say “Cannot delete network printer” .

This error could prove very problematic since it will not remove those unwanted printers that are still in the list. So what should be done to resolve this issue? Luckily, we have just the solution for you which will enable you to get rid of this pesky error in no time!

Note: Since this is a registry hack, for those who don’t feel comfortable with it, should first create a backup copy of Windows registry.

Remove network printers from Windows using registry

1. Go to Start and click on Run,

2. Type regedit and hit enter,

3. Navigate to the following registry path,

HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Printers -> Connections

This will show you the list of printer that are inside the list. Select the printer that you want to remove from the network and either hit the delete button or use the right click mouse button and then select delete from the menu to remove the folder completely.

Wait…!! There’s one last step that you still have to perform. Follow the registry path as shown below:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE –> SYSTEM –> CurrentControlSet –> Control –> Print –> Providers -> LanMan Print Services –> Servers -> Printers

Now under the Printers key, expand it and see the name of the print server that actually hosts the printer you want to delete, then delete the printer from the list.

Great! Now reboot your system for changes to take effect. The next time you’ll log-in to the network that pesky error and the non-working printer will be no more in the list. Enjoy! Image Courtesy: OnlineTechTips

How To Add/Remove Items Under the ‘Send To’ Menu in Windows Vista

Musab Zain — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 19:01:47 +0000

The ‘Send To‘ option in Windows Vista is very useful and time saving command which allows users to send any file or folder located anywhere inside the computer to one of the options provided inside the Send to menu. Users have the leverage to either send their files to a Floppy drive, CD/DVD drives, compressed (Zipped) folder or create a shortcut on the Desktop for future references.

Likewise, some softwares also creates an entry in the ‘Send To‘ menu. This can lead to over crowded menu with a large amount of entries that are not in use. Similarly, the user may want to add additional entries which helps navigate or send files/folders to the added entry quickly. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to modify i.e. add or delete entries from the Send To menu.

Adding items to the ‘Send To‘ menu

1. Click on the Start button,

2. Inside the Search box, enter SHELL:SENDTO and hit enter. Note: Make sure you enter the command in Upper case (Block Letters), otherwise it won’t work. Alternatively, use the following path;

C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo

3. If you are using the former method, you’ll see a a list of default items (as shown above) which are visible in Send To menu,

4. In the Send To, you can add any item you wish to see in the Send To menu. Similarly, you may add any folder you want to place your files in.

In order to place a file, simply locate that file, usually inside the C:\Program Files, copy and paste any file inside the Send To windows. Follow the same procedure to add a folder to Send To window or create a new folder by right clicking the mouse button and selecting New->Folder. For instance in this tutorial, we created a new folder named ‘TestFolder‘. Here’s a screenshot illustrating the effect;

Removing items from the ‘Send To’ menu

Follow the same procedure upto step #3 and delete any file or folder that you don’t want to see in the Send To menu.

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Merge Two or More Yahoo! Accounts into a Single Account – How To

Musab Zain — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:00:12 +0000

Previously, we discussed with you on how to integrate two or more Gmail accounts onto a single one. This is very useful as most of us have multiple accounts. It becomes extremely painstaking work to sign in each account separately to send mails to your friends or clients.

However, today I’ll share with you a very useful and time saving trick, that will allow you to merge multiple account of the same service, in this case, Yahoo!. Here’s how what you have to do,

Integrate two or more Yahoo! accounts into a single one

1. Sign in to your Yahoo! account,

2. Click on Option button on the right side of the screen,

3. From the drop down menu choose ‘mail options‘,

4. Once the page has loaded, on the left pane click on ‘Accounts‘,

5. Now on the right side of the pane, click on ‘Add or edit an account‘ link,

6. A new window will open, click the ‘Add‘ button,

7. Inside the Add account menu, you’ll be asked to enter ‘Account Name‘. Enter the name of the account and hit enter,

8. Again you’ll be asked to provide your name and email address into the fields. Simply enter the email address you want to integrate with this account. Hit enter when done,

9. After a few minutes you’ll receive a confirmation email from Yahoo! on the email account that you have just integrated,

10. Click on the link to complete the procedure,

Voila! Enjoy two or more integrated accounts on a single one.

Windows Mail: How To Block Email Messages From A Particular Country To Control Spam

Musab Zain — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 08:01:36 +0000

Many people nowadays complain about spam and phishing mails that daily ends up in their mail boxes. Seriously, its really annoying and time wasting to clean all the mess that others have made while you were offline. However, we have come up with an excellent solution to this problem.

If you are a regular user of Windows Mail – a successor of Outlook Express, not only this will help you combat spam and phishing mails but also you won’t have to worry about deleting them from the inbox as these types of mails will be get caught in the spam filter once you have blocked it permanently.

Before we move on, you have to make sure from where these spam mails come from, although this is not the preferred method but still this would help you a lot in blocking countries who send spam the most. For instance, spam coming from UK or Germany will have a suffix .uk or .de appended at the end of each address, respectively. But like we said that’s not the preferred method, since services like hotmail, yahoo, etc. won’t have a suffix at the end.

How to Filter Email Messages from a Particular Country?

1. Inside Windows Mail, click on Tools menu at the top and from the drop down menu, select Junk E-mail Options,

2. A new window will pop up, click on the International tab,

3. Under this tab click on ‘Blocked Top-Level Domain List…‘ button,

4. Another small window will pop up, listing all the countries,

5. ‘Select All‘ and then manually deselect your preferred countries, where you want to receive emails from. Click OK when done.

Perhaps the most easiest method is to de-select any country from which you want to receive emails, for instance, from countries where your friends and family are living. You’ll be surprised to see the results! Give it a try and let us know about your views on this.

How to Make Windows XP Shutdown Faster?

Musab Zain — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 19:01:59 +0000

You are probably reading this article because your Windows XP takes a lot of time before it shuts down and you want a way to solve this problem once and for all. So why does your Windows take eternity to properly shut down?

This problem is caused by third party applications and sometimes by Microsoft apps themselves that need to be properly cleaned up when exiting. Windows will keep on trying this until its done and this will generally take 1-2 minutes before it shuts down. This could even take more time if the number of third party applications increases overtime.

Fortunately, there is a registry tweak to force Windows XP to shut down as quickly as possible. When applied can drastically shave of some time. But before you begin, don’t forget to backup your registry in case anything goes wrong.

Cut short time and boost up Windows XP Shutdown speed

1. Click on Start Menu -> Run,

2. Enter: regedit

3. A Registry Editor window will pop up, look for HKEY_CURRENT_USER, click on the folder,

4. In the drop down menu click on Control Panel folder, next click on Desktop,

5. On the right side of the pane, you’ll see a list of files, scroll down to HungAppTimeout,

6. Double click on the file, a small window will pop out. Under the value data, the default value is set to 5000, change this to 1000. Click OK when finished.

7. Now scroll down in the same list and click on WaitToKillAppTimeout, change this value to 1000 as well. Default is set to 20000. Click OK when done.

Next up is to go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, click on the ‘+‘ (plus) sign to expand the folder,

1. Inside it look for the System folder,

2. Next click on CurrentControlSet and then Control,

3. On the right side of the window, search for WaitToKillServiceTimeout, and set it to 1000,

In the end, go to HKEY_USERS \ DEFAULT \ Control Panel \ Desktop,

1. Change HungAppTimeout to 1000 and click OK,

2. Scroll down and also change WaitToKillAppTimeout to 1000,

Save changes and reboot your system to see whether it work or not. In case it doesn’t start from 10000 and then decrease the count. The reason lower values like 1000 might not work is because some of the programs may be performing cleanup maintenance.

Play around with the values to see which works for your system. Note, if you do change these values, make sure they are uniform throughout each setting.

However, if you are afraid to use this hack, you can download User Profile Hive Cleanup Service as an alternative to this hack. Basically, this tool helps to ensure user sessions are completely terminated when a user logs off.

We would love to hear your views about this article. Image Courtesy: HowToGeek

Skidzopedia » How To

How to Change Some Files in your Hosting Account from Read and Write to Read Only so Your Files are Hack Proof

Which Files Need a Special Protection?

How to Make Files Read-only

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