Hide recently opened files and programs from Start Menu

Windows save list of recently opened files and show them in start menu. Its very convinient to find files. But if you wanna some privacy, if you don;t want others to see which files and programs you opened than you can hide recent files.



To remove recent items from start menu just follow these steps:

1). Right click on taskbar and click on Properties.

2). Click on start menu tab.

3). Uncheck the check boxes under privacy.



4). Click ok.

Its done.
Click on start menu and check recent items and recent programs, they must not be in start menu. Start menu will look like this figure.

Filter Web Surfing - Remove Ads, scripts and animation from websites

Most of websites displays lots of advertisement banners, pop up ads, animation etc. If you don't like these ads n all then you can remove all these undesirable things.

Webwasher is a proxy server application which allows user to filter out undesirable content that user specify, including ads, animations, scripts and more. It provides user a basic interface, made up of basic checkboxes with a few option windows. Click in front of check boxes which you want to filter out.

Pop-ups, misdirected URLs, large images, scripts, and animations can be easily set to not display. It also crush cookies. It can also be used to block some websites. It provides user a secure and safe search.

Webwasher is freely available on internet for personal use. However, you need to purchase it for using in enterprise(bussiness purpose).

Click here to Download

Disable the Blinking Cursor in Computer Applications

If you are using any computer application, for example MS Word or MS FrontPage and you did not like blinking of cursor. Now you can stop the cursor from blinking in these applications, for this you have to edit your computer registry keys, but be careful to work with computer registry. Its very simple just follow the given steps to stop cursor from blinking:


1). Click on Start button then type Regedit in Run option.

2). Here browse the location to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER>Control Panel>Desktop.



3). Now here add the string value.

4). Enter its name CursorBlink and value -1.

5). Reboot your computer.

Its done.

Turn off all system Beeps - Cool Computer Tricks

wanna turn off all cpmputer beeps?? just follow these steps you need to do some changes in registry but its very simple. Follow these steps:

1). Open Run.

2). Type Regedit and press enter.

3). Now window ll ask for your perimission to continue just click on continue.

4). In registry editor window , browse to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Sound


5). Here double click on Beep.

6). Now change the value of beep to No.


7). Close the registry editor and reboot your computer.

Its done.
Changes will be reflected after you reboot your computer.

Disable useless repeating error notifications

Your computer may be at risk. Your virus protection status is unknown and many others.These are some notifications which windows gives to maintain computer security.

Security is a system of safeguards designed to protect a computer system and important data from damage or access by unauthorized persons. Different antivirus and firewall programs are used to manage the security of the computer. Some time this is build-in antivirus or firewall program in windows to maintain the computer security. But if your windows is not provided with any antivirus, firewall program and Automatic Updates, your windows security center will alerts you a message Your computer may be at risk. Your virus protection status is unknown with useless repeating reminder.



You can disable this message permanently by doing some changes in registry. Just follow these steps:

1). Go to run.

2). Type Regedit in Run option.

3). Now window will ask for your permission to continue, just click on continue.

4). Here locate the location to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center

5). Now in right side panel, double click on AntiVirusDisableNotify and set its value 1.

6). Close the registry editor and restart your computer after any changes to go into effect.

Its done.

Enable or Disable Control Panel

If your friends, childrens or family members use your computer and you do not want them to change any system setting then best way for this is to disable Control Panel. To disable control panel you have to do some changes in Regisstry. Just follow these steps:

1). Go to Run and type regedit.

2). Now window will ask for your permission to continue Click on Continue

3). Now in registry editor window, Browse to given User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer]

4). Here create a new DWORD value, or modify the existing value called NoControlPanel set the value to equal 1 to enable the restriction.

5). Now again browse to following System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]

6). Follow step no 4 to create NoControlPanel dword key.

7). Exit registry editor.

Its done.

you may need to restart for the changes to take effect. This setting allows you to restrict user access to the Control Panel options and settings.

Split text among Clumns in MS Excel - Useful Computer Trick

Suppose you have some data in word file or notepad about some person like first name, last name, age etc... Now you have to sort this data according to last name. This problem is very easy and can be solved easily by using MS Excel but what happens is when you copy paste whole content in Ms Excel file it will first and last name and age in the same cell.

Now how are you supposed to sort that list alphabetically by last name when first name is listed first?

The answer is that you can't you have to separate the first and last names somehow... But how?

You could spend your time retyping the last name into the next column. It works but it's not a great plan since it could take long time if your list is really long.

So here is a fast way to separate the data, It will split text among columns in MS Excel. Make sure text should be deliminated( seperated by spcae or tab)Just follow these steps:

1). First copy paste content in MS Excel file.

2). Now Highlight the data that needs to be separated as shown in figure.


3). Now go to the Data menu, Text into Columns choice.


4). A 3-step wizard will start to guide you through the process.

5). On step 1 check at the top that the data will be delimited, Then click Next.


6). In step 2 you can select Deliminater (space or tab or any other) in the Delimiters section.
Deliminater tells Excel what character separates your pieces of data. If you select space as deliminater then when it find a space it place next piece of text in a new column.
It also shows preview of your data in the bottom window..

7). Click Next.

8). Click Finish.



Its done.
Just like magic your first and last names and ages are in separate columns,now you can sort them easily...

Turn On/Off numlock on StartUp

Mostly keyboards have small numeric keypad which can also be used for some other functions like page up, page down. It also has 1 key known as numlock key when it is on, keypad used for numbers and when numlock is off, keypad used for other functions.
Windows turn off numlock key by default, so if you want to turn on numlock key by default on start up then now you can do it very easily. You have to do only some changes in registry. Just follow these steps:

1). Open run and Type Regedit and hit Enter.
2). Windows will ask for your permission to continue, click on continue.
3). Now in registry editor browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Keyboard\.
4). Now in the keyboard folder, you should have a string value named InitialKeyboardIndicators with a value of 0, 1, or 2.



5). Double-click on this string value InitialKeyboardIndicators and edit the value to what you want.
0: Num Lock is turned OFF on startup
1: Disable Num Lock
2: Num Lock is turned ON on startup
6). Click ok.
Its done.

Forcefully eject Pendrive - Cool Computer Tricks

Sometimes, while ejecting USB flash drives or pendrives from system, an error comes saying The device Generic Volume cannot be stopped right now, Try stopping the device again later.

Here is a free utility called EjectUSB that forcefully stops all the running programs and helps in ejecting pen drives safely.

It is designed to be a simple utility to close all programs running from a specified drive or folder and then attempt ejection if a drive was specified.

Click here to download

Show OR Hide profile visits in Orkut - Cool Computer Tricks

Do you want to visit profile of other users anonymously, dont want to show yourself in their recent visitors?? If yes then this trick is for you. Now you can prevent other users from knowing you have looked at their profile. Bur choosing this setting will prevent you from seeing who has viewed your own profile, You cant see your own profile's recent visitors.

To show or hide profile visits, just follow these steps:

1). Click settings on the top right corner of your profile.

2). Click the privacy tab.

3). Choose to show profile visits or hide profile visits.

4). Click save changes.

The option show profile visits will allow you to see recent visitors to your profile, but will also allow other members to see that you've looked at their profile.

Disable or Enable Right Click on Taskbar - Cool Computer Tricks

Here is trick to remove right click functionality from taskbar. You just have to do some editing in windows registry editor. It willl disable right click on all components of taskbar. Just follow given steps:

1). Go to Start -> Run -> regedit.

2). In registry editor window go to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

3). Create a DWORD value and set its value name as NoTrayContextMenu.

4). Set its value data 1 or 0

1- For disabling right click functionality from all components of taskbar

0- For enabling right click functionality from all components of taskbar

5). Restart computer.

Its done.

Activate and Deactivate SCREENSAVER - Cool Computer Tricks

You can activate or deactivate screensaver whenever you want. You have to make some changes in windows registry after then 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.

Follow these steps:

1) Go to RUN.

2) Type regedit and press Enter.

3) Then in Registry Editor window go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

4) Now in the right pane right click and create a new string value and name it Mouse Corners.

5) Now modify its value and set it to -Y-N.

6) Press F5 to Referesh.

Its done.

To Deactivate it, you have to simply delete this string value.

Hide all Items from desktop - Cool Computer Tricks

Do you want to fascinate your friends?? Here is one cool trick by using this you can hide all Items from desktop including all files , folders and even system folders..

To hide all items just follow these steps:

1) Go to Run.

2) Type Regedit and press enter.

3) Then in Registry Editor Window go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer

4) Now in the right pane right click and create a new DWORD item and name it NoDesktop.

5) Now modify it's value and set it to 1.

6) Press F5 to referesh.

Its done.

To enable display of Items , simply delete this DWORD item.

Disable display of Drives in My Computer

You can disable display of local and networked drives when you click My Computer. Try this trick on your friend's computer and see their reactions when they saw their is no drives. To disable dispaly of drives you have to make some changes in windows registry just follow these steps:

1) Go to RUN.

2) Type regedit and press Enter.

3)Then in Registry Editor window go to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.

4) Now in the right pane right click and create a new DWORD item and name it NoDrives.

5) Now modify it's value and set it to 1.

6) Press F5 to Referesh.

Its done. When you click on My Computer, no drives will be shown.

To enable display of drives in My Computer, simply delete this DWORD item.

Enable Right click on Websites which had disabled it

Lots of web sites have disabled the right click function of the mouse button...which disables all functionalities like: Copy, Paste, Open in new tab, Open in new Window etc.. It's really very annoying. But you need not to worry, now you can enable right click on those websites, It's very easy to change this setting in Internet Explorer, Just follow these steps:

1) Click Tools -> Internet Options.

2) In Internet settings window, Click on Security tab.

3) Then Click on Custom Level button.

4) In Security settings window, Scroll down to the Scripting section.

5) Set Active Scripting to disable.

6) Click Ok a couple of times.

you can also turn it enable anytime to disable right click on those sites by following same procedure..

Delete Safely Remove Hardware Icon

If you have an USB device attached to your system, you will notice an icon in the Notification area, which when clicked will give you the option to Stop your hardware, before you unplug it. And if usb device permanently attached to your system and you never unplug this hardware. So now you can get rid of that icon. just follow these steps:

1). Right-click the notification area, and selecting Properties.

2). Under the Notification area heading, click Customize.

3). Find the Safely Remove Hardware icon and select Always hide in the Behavior column next to it.

4).press OK and Apply.

It will hide that safely remove hardware icon permanently.

Disable XP Boot Logo

It is possible to disable the XP splash screen, which will slightly speed up the overall boot process. Be aware that removing the splash screen will also cause you not to see any boot-up messages that might come up(chkdsk, convert ... ), but if your system runs without any problems then it should not matter.

· Edit boot.ini.

· Add " /noguiboot" right after "/fastdetect".

Upon restarting, the splash screen will be gone. It can be re-enabled by removing the new switch.