Change Windows 7 Logon Screen In Just 1 minutes – Simple Steps

Did you ever try to change windows 7 logon screen ? If not, let me tell you how to, Because its really fun and interesting to change windows 7  logon screen with your any own wallpaper. We usually see a boring blue logon screen every time when we try to login windows 7. But you can easily get rid of this routine logon screen with some easy tweaks in registry. You can customize it very easily and feel the pleasure of having a different logon screen compared to your friend’s computer. You can put any wallpaper as your logon screen. Just follow the below steps to change windows 7 logon screen.

How To Change Windows 7 Logon Screen In Simple Steps :

1. Open Run (Windows + R) and type Regedit and press Enter.
2. Navigate your registry to  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Authentication\ LogonUI\Background.
3. Now double click on the value OEMBackground and change the value from o to 1.You can check the above screenshot for reference.
4. Now create a JPEG that is smaller than 256kb and this picture should match the aspect ratio of your display.. Like for example if you are using 1152 x 864 then you can use upto 1280 x 965. Don’t worry if you have lesser or bigger resolutions. Windows will stretch the image to fit automatically.
5. Now navigate to the C: Windows\System32\oobe folder on the windows drive (default c).
6. Create a new folder named “info”. Open this folder and create a new folder named “backgrounds.”
7. Now copy the JPEG picture you want to serve as the logon. Just copy paste the picture in this sub-folder.
8. Now rename the JPEG file as “backgroundDefault”.
9. That’s all. Now reboot and check your new custom made windows logon background.

In few windows 7 operating systems, you can automatically found that the info and background folders are already created. If so, then no need to create these folders again. Just copy the picture and rename it as mentioned in step 9. And if you have any queries on this change windows 7 logon screen post, simply ask your query below. It will be addressed as soon as possible. Thanks for reading and we hope you will share this simple trick to change windows 7 logon screen with your friends.

6 Must Install Tools To Use With a New Windows PC

Windows 7 is the newest operating system that comes installed on Windows personal computers. Windows 7 comes bundled with many useful tools, but there are other tools you need.

As far as programs go, if your new computer did not come with an antivirus program, it is very important to purchase one or download a free one! Without a reliable antivirus program, your computer is at great risk! An anti-malware program such as MalwareBytes is also needed and is free, along with an anti-spyware program such as Ad-Aware.

Speaking specifically of tools, there are some that you need to install on a new Windows personal computer:

• PC Decrapifier
• Windows Backup and Restore or Macrium Reflect
• Revo Uninstaller
• CCleaner
• Microsoft Security Essentials
• Dropbox or Syncback SE

Most brand laptops and desktops comes with unwanted preinstalled software which you should uninstall if you want your computer to function better. PC Decrapifier lets computer owners get rid of junk software and make more room for software and programs that are needed. PC Decrapifier is free for personal use; the commercial version is available at a small cost.

It is very important to create a system image when you buy a new computer. You can create one using the built-in Windows backup and restore center, but this may not be installed on all Windows editions. A more powerful tool isMacrium Reflect; use it to create the first system image and for other similar tasks when you start using your computer. You can download a free edition.

Revo Uninstaller is a great tool to clean uninstalled applications and programs from a Windows PC. It’s much more powerful than the default add/remove programs tool. Sometimes there are problems encountered when trying to uninstall programs using Windows Add or Remove Programs.

CCleaner is a wonderful free tool to perform routine computer maintenance and get rid of temporary files and data that you don’t need. CCleaner is an optimization tool that removes unused and temporary files from your computer.

 Microsoft Security Essentials is one of the best free software tools that has been released by Microsoft. It can protect your computer from viruses, spyware and malware.

People tend to procrastinate when it comes to backing data up. Many times a crisis situation happens where people lose important data without any backup at all. An online backup tool like Dropbox and an offline sync and backup tool like Syncback SE allow online backups and data to be synchronized with an external hard drive.

These tools can be downloaded free of charge and are highly recommended.

Best Ways to Secure Digital Life From Hackers

Its very important to secure your digital life from hackers. Cyber crime is constantly evolving, and a data leak to rogue third parties can wreak havoc to our business and personal lives. It’s not just big businesses that are being targeted, increasingly as more and more of our personal information is disclosed on social media sites, the average computer user is being targeted by hackers and script kiddies, primarily because individuals are far less likely to have their system security in order. In order to stay protected we need to learn about system vulnerabilities and ways we can overcome them. In this article I discuss 10 effective steps you can implement to stay secure. This article on secure your digital life from hackers will help you to move towards the next level of security.

10 Best Ways To Secure Your Digital Life From Hackers :

1. Secure your WIFI connection

Home users are particularly prone to leaving their routers open without passwords, in order to make sure that you’re protected check your router settings to verify whether encryption is turned on or not. leaving access unencrypted can be just a minor issue of bandwidth being stolen by unauthorized users freeloading off your connection to more serious cybercrimes like credit card fraud or hacking taking place using your internet connection, which may be traced back to you.

The majority of routers support encrypted connections, support either WEP or WPA/WPA2, always opt for WPA/WPA2 as it’s far more secure. If you have the option hide SSID broadcast, turn that on as well, it basically allows you to make your wireless router invisible to outsiders and they need to know your SSID to access the network.

2. Encrypt your hard drive

It’s important to keep your data secure in case of loss of hardware or even theft. An encrypted hard drive basically prevents its contents from being access without the password. It is obviously more important to encrypt thumb drives and laptop drives. Windows 7 Ultimate and Business editions come with a built in hard drive functionality using a software called BitLocker which will encrypt your entire hard drive, but users with Home Premium or Basic users shouldn’t feel left out as there is a free way to encrypt your hard drive using trucrypt.

Mac users can use FileVault to encrypt their folders, and OSX Lion will allow you to encrypt your entire hard drive as well.You can also get hardware encryption which will use fingerprint recognition to unlock data inside the drive like the Lacie Rugged Safe.

3. Keep your software updated

It’s a given that you need to keep your operating system, antivirus and web browser up to date in order to protect yourself from exploits, and if you haven’t got automatic update turned on for them, you should do it now.

However a lot of users often overlook other software such as Acrobat Reader, Flash, Java and iTunes when it comes to keeping software updated. It’s important to realize that many of these applications have direct access to the operating system, and an exploit in these applications can be used as a gateway into your system files. Flash and Acrobat are used heavily with web browsers which is the number one source of malware infections.

4. Upgrade your antivirus suite.

It’s as important to keep your virus suite updated as much as it is to keep your virus definitions updated. The reason for this is because antivirus software evolve in the way they deal with malware, such as introducing heuristic technologies which identify common traits of viruses, the way they interact with the system and actively block these scripts. This is why having an outdated antivirus software, despite updated virus definitions may not provide the best possible protection. If you’re using an older version of antivirus software you may entitled to discounted upgrades to newer versions.

5. Secure your smartphones

Many people completely overlook this fact, but smartphones are essentially mini computers which hold swathes of personal information about you. They often hold logins to your facebook/twitter accounts which are set on auto login, online banking and other financial information as well as access to email. If someone gets hold of all these details it can cause a lot of stress and havoc to your life.

It’s vital to keep your devices with password lock activated, additionally you should take some precautionary measures in case you lose your device.

Apple has a very cool security software called Find my iPhone which is a free app by Apple, which lets you track your phone by GPS, lock and remotely delete data from it. You can even use it just to locate your iPhone if you misplace it, causing it to sound an alarm.

For Android users it’s important to stay protected, smartphones are just as vulnerable to viruses as a PC, although the android platform is more prone to them than apple due to the open platform nature of the former. Android phones require antivirus protection, all the popular desktop antivirus brands offer android support as well.

The app store is less prone to malware due to the fact that all apps are vetted by Apple before publishing, although if you’ve jail broken your iPhone, antivirus protection may be something you need to look at.

6. Vet web page links using a link checker

Cyber criminals are using sophisticated strategies to drive users onto their web pages, increasingly innocent websites are being targeted using exploits to find security holes to hack and implant code on them which can launch JavaScript applications and infect computers when users visit the infected site. Link checkers scan links on your search results and optionally other websites and indicate whether links are safe, websites are scanned by their own servers so it does not impair your computer performance. Link checkers are available with most anti malware security suites such as with AVG, McAfee and Symantec.

7. Laptop Security for mobile workers

Laptops thefts are common, and are easy targets due to their transportable nature. If you work away from your office it’s important to invest in a Kensington Lock. While a lock won’t prevent trained thieves armed with cable cutters, it will prevent opportunistic thieves which is the overwhelming majority of laptop thefts.

It’s also important to keep prying eyes away from your data, always password protect your login, and when leaving your laptop unattended, using the screen lock feature in Windows to prevent unauthorized users from looking at or accessing your information.

If you work with particularly sensitive data a privacy screen may provide an added level of protection, the screen is only viewable to the person sitting directly in front, so people sitting around you cannot look at your screen. Targus and 3M are well known for producing privacy screens for all manner of monitor sizes.

8. HTTPS encryption for websites

Most people are well informed with the necessity of using https secure connections with online shopping when entering sensitive personal information. However, it can be argued that websites like facebook, twitter, gmail and others hold equally sensitive information about you.

Did you know you can elect to use https secure connections on these websites? For case by case uses, you can insert a ‘s’ after the http on the web address, if there isn’t one already to access the site securely. However if you want to access the sites securely every time you visit, you can login select the option to always use https in the profile settings.

9. Use online backup to keep an offsite storage of your files.

A great way for mobile workers to keep data kept safe and secure while on the move is to use online backup, this provides great peace of mind if your computer gets lost, as it allows you to recover your files from the cloud. Online backup services like Sugar Sync also provide users with high level synchronization features which can be used as a great time management tool as well, as it keeps data across all your computers consistent and up to date. You can look up various online backup reviews here to compare their features and read up user reviews.

10. Avoid public wifi and public computers.

Using public computers can be incredibly risky as malware and key loggers can be installed to track your keystrokes and cached files in order to gain access to your private information.

Additionally, public wifi connections can be risky as the servers can be breached with malware additionally phantom hotspots can be set up which appear like legitimate hotspots, but are actually other ordinary laptops which act as a middleman eavesdropping into the connection.

An example on how cached data can be hijacked to login to your web accounts can be demonstrated using FireSheep.

Thankfully mobile 3G internet connections are becoming more affordable, and are often faster than public wifi hotspots. 3G connections are far more secure, additionally you may be able to tether your Smartphone internet connection to work on your laptop. I hope this article helped you all for sure. And do follow these above 10 steps and secure your digital life from hackers.

Speed Up Your Computer In 6 Easy Ways

So your computer has been running slow lately? Boot up taking longer than you would like? Files taking way too long to open? All of these and some more common problems can be fixed with just a little housekeeping, so to speak. Here are some tips to keep your PC running smooth and fast:

1) Clean your registry : The Windows registry is a database of setting and associations. It’s pretty much one of the most important components in your operating system. The registry does the all-important job of connecting everything together. How does your OS know that clicking a video file should open a certain program? How does it know clicking a shortcut should open a certain file? All this and much more are handled by the registry. Sometimes program installations and uninstallations can cause broken registry links, orphaned file associations and general conflicts. This can lead to errors and unnecessary clutter. Needless to say, always keep your registry clean and free from any conflicts.

2) Defragment your hard drives : You’re clicking on your hard drive partition and it takes a bit too long to access data and display it, wonder why? It’s because of fragmentation. When hard disks are brand new, there are huge blocks of empty space. Any data you wish to keep is saved in smaller parts sequentially. But as time goes by and more data is added or removed, fragments of data are removed and it can cause smaller amounts of free space between occupied data fragments. Now if you try to save data, it uses those smaller fragments and maybe spread it over a few too many smaller fragments, not necessarily in sequence. When the OS tries to access fragmented data, it has to look over a larger space for smaller chunks of data, and so it takes time. The solution? Regularly defragment your drives, especially the ones that see a lot of reading and writing of data. The Windows defragmenter will do just fine.

3) Get rid of unnecessary startup programs : When you start up Windows, some programs are automatically set to start up. Often, these programs serve no immediate purpose. Do you really need a program updater to stay on all the time and start up with Windows? Do you need a PDF reader as soon as you start up Windows? Probably not. Sometimes even useful programs startup a small optional component so that the main program starts up faster when you do choose for it to, so even if you have no plans to use that particular program, there’s still that component running. Isn’t it better you have a generally faster Windows boot instead of a faster program boot? All these startup programs slow down your Windows boot. Remove all unnecessary startup programs and see how much faster you can start using your computer instead of waiting for everything to load.

4) Remove unused programs and use alternatives : Try not to keep multiple programs that serve the same purpose. Do not keep multiple antivirus programs or video players. Keep just one good program that serves the purpose you want. Also try to use some alternatives other than the status quo. For example, for opening PDF files, use Foxit Reader, it’s a free and lightweight PDF reader and editor with all the features you’d need. Look for lighter alternatives, lots of the commonly used programs are simply bloatware. Another good example is K-Lite Codec Pack, install it and view all video files on Windows Media Player itself, you won’t need another video player again.

5. Scan for and remove malware/spyware/viruses : Often, Windows can be slowed down by malicious programs. Install a respected antivirus or internet security suite and keep it updated. Turn on active protection so you’re protected all the time. Also scan your computer regularly for any malicious software. Some good free antivirus programs are Avast! Antivirus and Avira Antivirus.

6) Clean your disks of temporary files : You know how when you start a program setup it takes a while to install because it copies all setup files into your hard drive? After the setup is done, these installation files are still kept on your hard drive and are completely unnecessary. Over a period of time, these files accumulate and take up a lot of space. Make sure to remove all temporary files regularly.

So there you have it, a few simple tips to speed up your computer. Following these regularly can keep your computer healthy and you can avoid crashes and lockups. Most of these functions can be performed by multiple programs, but I recommend a free and useful program called CCleaner, which can be downloaded here. Another great suite is TuneUp Utilities, you can get a trial version from here.

Good luck and happy cleaning!

Speed Up Internet Speed By Tweaking DNS Server Address

Last month, Google and several DNS resolution and content delivery network (CDN) companies joined forces to enhance Internet speed by localizing domain name system (DNS) resolution responses. This move should reduce delays in downloading online content due to failure to find the closest CDN server of the website being visited.  All you need to do is change the DNS server address of your computer to enjoy the benefits of the new DNS resolution standard.

Internet Speed : The EDNS – Client – Subnet Standard

This is the name of the new domain name resolution protocol forged by Google and its industry partners. Under this standard, your computer’s location will be taken into account when finding the server of the web site being visited. But isn’t that how the current system works? Definitely not.

The process of downloading a website begins with a search of the IP address of its host or cache server. This is the job of the DNS. Your ISP’s DNS server is the one that initiates the IP search.

A website could have copies stored in many servers located in various places, each having its own IP address. These servers are operated by CDN providers. Websites with copies stored in many CDN cache servers are therefore associated with many IP addresses. The DNS server of your ISP attempts to find the server closest to itself, not the one closest to your computer. What if your ISP server and your computer are 10 cities apart? Who wants to waste Internet speed due to poor DNS resolution standard?

The edns-client-subnet standard is developed to address the inefficiency of the current DNS resolution standard in order to minimize download latency. This standard requires DNS servers to know the location of the client so that the CDN cache server closest to it can be located. This will guarantee that the Internet surfer will be directed to the cache server closest to his current location, and not the location of his ISP DNS server, thereby minimizing the dampening effect of geographic distance on Internet speed.

The edns-client-subnet standard is only implemented by a number of CDN companies. As of now, you need to use the server addresses of either Google Public DNS or  Open DNS to experience the new DNS resolution standard.

IPV4 ADDRESSES OF GOOGLE PUBLIC DNS:

• 8.8.8.8
• 8.8.4.4

IPV6 ADDRESSES OF GOOGLE PUBLIC DNS:

• 2001:4860:4860::8888
• 2001:4860:4860::8844

OPENDNS

• 208.67.222.222
• 208.67.220.220
• 208.67.222.220
• 208.67.220.222

Find and Change Your Current DNS Address to Boost Internet Speed

FOR MAC OS X

1. Go to System Preferences-> Network.
2. Select the connection you want to configure. Then click Advanced.
3. Click the DNS tab on the menu bar. Click the plus sign at the bottom of the screen to add the DNS server address of  Google Public DNS or OpenDNS. Click Apply and OK.

FOR VISTA AND WINDOWS 7

1. Go to Start Menu-> Control Panel-> Network and Sharing Center.
2. Choose Manage Network Connections for Vista or  Change Adapter Settingsfor Windows 7.
3. Right click the network connections you want to change, then choose Properties.
4. Click the Networking tab on the menu bar.
5. Choose either Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) or Internet Protocol Version 6 and go to Properties.
6. You will see a new window like the one below.
7. Choose Use the Following DNS Server Address. Add either the Google Public DNS  or OpenDNS IP addresses.

Let’s hope the new standard gains more acceptance from ISPs and other CDN and DNS companies.You wouldn’t see improvements in Internet speed if the websites you are visiting are not using the servers of CDN companies participating in this initiative. Hope you all enjoy good Internet Speed.

How to convert text into speech using Notepad

This post will teach you how convert the input text to speech using Microsoft’s inbuilt speech software by importing it using notepad.T his is a really simple notepad tweak. Its pretty fun. Just follow the given instructions and you will be able to do what the title mentions.

Step 1 : Copy the following code and paste it into a notepad.

Dim msg, sapi
msg=InputBox(“Enter your text for audio conversion–www.coolpctips.com from Pranay Kotapi”)
Set sapi=CreateObject(“sapi.spvoice”)
sapi.Speak msg

Step 2: Next save it as “audio.vbs”. (Make sure it ends with a .vbs extension)

Step 3: Run it and enter the text and listen to the converted speech.

That’s it as simple as that. Hope you guys enjoyed this post. Stay subscribed to catch up with more of our updates. Thanks for reading.

How To Make Telnet Work In Windows Vista and Windows 7 Tweaks

If you are a hacker you’d know what a telnet command is, for those of all who don’t know what it is, Here it is : Telnet is a protocol that allows you to connect to remote computers (called hosts) over a TCP/IP network (such as the Internet) as defined by Microsoft. Its one of those most popular Windows IP Utilities that most of the security professionals use. The telnet command is used to send fake emails. If you are using Windows XP, you are lucky as the telnet command is available to you by default, but for the Windows 7 and Vista users it is not available by default and you have to enable it yourself manually. And I’m gonna show you how to do just that.

Try using the “telnet” command in if you are using Vista or 7, the following error message will occur.

‘telnet’ is not recognized as an internal or external command,operable program or batch file.

So let’s talk about the procedure on how to enable telnet feature (telnet command) in Windows Vista and Windows 7.

1. Goto the Control Panel.
2. Chose Uninstall a program under Programs.
3. Under the Tasks tab, select the option Turn Windows features on or off.
4. Now a new window opens. In the new window select the following : Telnet Client
   Telnet Server (optional)
5. After selecting click on OK.

It will say “Please wait while the features are configured. This may take a few minutes.”

That’s it, your telnet feature is installed. Now you can go to the command line and use thetelnet command as you wish. Hope this  post was informative for the Windows Vista and 7 folks. Happy Hacking. Soon we will post a article on How To Watch Star Wars Through command prompt. Thank you :)