Techno Tips n' Trixx

Liven up your desktop with Windows XP's animated pointer schemes

Windows XP has a variety of built-in animated pointer schemes. Here's how you can start using some of these little-known tricks. Note: This tip applies to both Windows XP Professional and Home.
Let's face it. There are times in every IT person's week when the urgent need for high-powered technical intelligence wanes a bit—especially on a slow Friday afternoon. Those are the times when technical prowess turns to such tasks as fine-tuning the advanced settings of the ultimate OpenGL 3D screen saver or other system tweaks. The next time you find yourself in this situation, why not investigate some of Windows XP's built-in animated pointer schemes?
Here's how.

1. Go to Start | Control Panel and double-click the Mouse tool to access the Mouse Properties dialog box.
2. Select the Pointers tab.
3. In the Scheme drop-down list, select a scheme from the list. (Keep in mind that not all of the pointer schemes in the list are animated, and some of the pointer schemes are designed for Windows Accessibility features.)
4. Once you select a pointer scheme, you can view the various animated pointers in that scheme by scrolling through the Customize list and selecting the pointer. When you do, you'll see the animation in a frame adjacent to the Scheme drop-down list.
5. Click OK.

If you wish, you can create your own animated scheme by double-clicking a pointer in the Customize list, selecting from one of the available pointers, and then clicking the Save As button in the Scheme panel and providing a unique name.

Create your own Sleep button in Windows XP

Is the Sleep button on your Windows XP machine in an inconvenient location for regular use? If so, follow these simple steps to create your own.
Many computers or keyboards have a Sleep button, which when pressed puts the computer into either Stand By or Hibernate mode depending on how Windows XP's Power Options are configured. However, the Sleep button might not be in convenient location for regular use. For example, it might be on the front of a mid-tower case that's under your desk.
You could activate Stand By or Hibernate mode from the Shut Down Windows dialog box. An alternative to this method is to create your own Sleep button by creating a shortcut on your desktop. Here's how.

1. Right-click on the desktop.
2. Select New | Shortcut.
3. Type rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState in the text box.
4. Click Next.
5. Type Sleep in the text box and click Finish.

Now when you click the Sleep icon, Windows XP will put the computer into either Stand By or Hibernate mode depending on how the When I Press The Sleep Button On My Computer setting is configured on the Advanced tab of the Power Options Properties dialog box.

Clean up custom Notification (Show Hidden Icons):

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Explorer\TrayNotify
Delete keys: IconStreams and PastIconStream (Binary)
Note: This is an extreme step that will completely clear the Notification Area. Also, restart Explorer to clear the current list. Ctrl+Alt+Del > task Manager > Processes > select explorer.exe > End Process (DO NOT CLOSE TASK MANAGER!) > File > New task > type Explorer >OK.

Outlook – Stop blocking specific attachment:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0 (10.0 for Office XP)\Security
New string value: name = “Level1Remove”; value = “pdf;doc;xls;mdb;jpg;tif;gif” [string of extensions, separated by semicolon]

Stop displaying last logged user name

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
Select “dontdisplaylastusername” and change value from 0 to 1, (if the key doesn’t exist, create a DWORD value).
Note: This setting can also be changed in Local Security Settings (Start > Programs > administrative Tools). Change: Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options > Interactive logon: Do not display last user name = Enabled.


For top three tweaks, you can also use the Windows 2000-style User Accounts management utility. Location: C:\WINDOWS\system32\control.exe (switch: userpasswords2)
Start > Run > control userpasswords2

Create Shortcut:
Target = C:\WINDOWS\system32\control.exe userpasswords2
Start In = %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%