ⓖⓔⓔⓚ'ⓢ ⓐⓡⓔⓐ

learn how to change *.exe files, in 5 easy steps:

1) Don't try to modify a prog by editing his source in a dissasembler.Why?
Cause that's for programmers and assembly experts only.

try to view it in hex you'll only get tons of crap you don't understand.
First off, you need Resource Hacker(last version). It's a resource editor-
very easy to use, You can download it at h**p://www.users.on.net/johnson/resourcehacker/

2) Unzip the archive, and run ResHacker.exe. You can check out the help file too

3) You will see that the interface is simple and clean. Go to the menu FileOpen or press Ctrl+O to open a file. Browse your way to the file you would like to edit. You can edit *.exe, *.dll, *.ocx, *.scr and *.cpl files, but this tutorial is to teach you how to edit *.exe files, so open one.

4) In the left side of the screen a list of sections will appear.
The most common sections are
-String table;
-RCData;
-Dialog;
-Cursor group;
-Bitmap;
-WAV.

*Icon: You can wiew and change the icon(s) of the program by double-clicking the icon section,chossing the icon, right-clicking on it an pressing "replace resource". After that you can choose the icon you want to replace the original with.

*String table: a bunch of crap, useful sometimes, basic programming knowladge needed.

*RCData: Here the real hacking begins. Modify window titles, buttons, text, and lots more!

*Dialog:Here you can modify the messages or dialogs that appear in a program. Don't forget to press "Compile" when you're done!

*Cursor group: Change the mouse cursors used in the program just like you would change the icon.

*Bitmap: View or change images in the programs easy!

*WAV:Change the sounds in the prog. with your own.

5) In the RCData,Dialog,Menu and String table sections you can do a lot of changes. You can modify or translate the text change links, change buttons, etc.


TIP: To change a window title, search for something like: CAPTION "edit this".

TIP: After all operations press the "Compile Script" button, and when you're done editing save, your work @ FileSave(Save as).

TIP: When you save a file,the original file will be backed up by default and renamed to Name_original and the saved file will have the normal name of the changed prog.

TIP: Sometimes you may get a message like: "This program has a non-standard resource layout... it has probably been compressed with an .EXE compressor." That means that Resource Hacker can't modify it because of it's structure.

Yes, firefox is already pretty damn fast but did you know that you can tweak it and improve the speed even more?

That's the beauty of this program being open source.
Here's what you do:
In the URL bar, type “about:config” and press enter. This will bring up the configuration “menu” where you can change the parameters of Firefox.

Note that these are what I’ve found to REALLY speed up my Firefox significantly - and these settings seem to be common among everybody else as well. But these settings are optimized for broadband connections - I mean with as much concurrent requests we’re going to open up with pipelining… lol… you’d better have a big connection.

Double Click on the following settins and put in the numbers below - for the true / false booleans - they’ll change when you double click.

Code:
browser.tabs.showSingleWindowModePrefs – true
network.http.max-connections – 48
network.http.max-connections-per-server – 16
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy – 8
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server – 4
network.http.pipelining – true
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests – 100
network.http.proxy.pipelining – true
network.http.request.timeout – 300


One more thing… Right-click somewhere on that screen and add a NEW -> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0”. This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives. Since you’re broadband - it shouldn’t have to wait.

Now you should notice you’re loading pages MUCH faster now!

I can see you hiding in the shadows over there and so can the logs of all the web sites, FTP servers and other nooks and crannies you visit on the web. The sort of information gathered by these logs and which is available to the webmasters of the sites you visit include the address of the previous site you visited, your IP address, your computer's ID name, your physical location and the name of your ISP along with less personal details such as the operating system you're using and your screen resolution. If someone was snooping through your dustbin to gather information on consumer trends or tracking your every move to see where it is you go everyday you wouldn't be too chuffed would you. Well the web is no different, it's still an invasion of privacy and a threat to security and you don't have to put up with it.

Proxy servers:

Every time you visit a web site, detailed information about your system is automatically provided to the webmaster. This information can be used by hackers to exploit your computer or can be forwarded to the market research departments of consumer corporations who by tracking your activities on the internet are better equipped to direct more relevant spam at you. Your best defence against this is to use what is known as a proxy server, which will hide revealing information from the web sites you visit, allowing you to surf the web anonymously. These work by altering the way in which your browser retrieves web pages or connects to remote servers. With a proxy server set up, whenever you 'ask' IE or Netscape to look at a web page, the request is first sent through an external server which is completely independent of your ISP's servers. This third party server then does the requesting on your behalf so that it appears that the request came from them rather than you and your real IP address is never disclosed to the sites you visit. There is nothing to download and the whole process takes less than a minute.

There are two different ways to use proxy servers and both have their advantages and disadvantages. The first method is to use a web based service. What this involves is visiting the proxy's home page each time you want to browse a web site anonymously. The core component of such a system is the dialog box where you enter the address of the web site you want to visit. Each time you enter the URL of the site you want to browse via the proxy into this box, your personal information, IP address and so on is first encrypted before being sent to the site allowing you to maintain your anonymity. Two of the best examples of this type of web based proxy service are

Code:
hxxp://www.rewebber.com/
and hxxp://www.anonymizer.com/.

Obviously one disadvantage of using a web based service like Rewebber or Anonymizer, however, is that you have to visit the proxies home page each time you want to surf anonymously. You could choose to select this page as your default home page, but it's still quite awkward if you're forever site hopping at the speed of light. The second main 'con' is that you often have to put up with extra adverts on the pages you visit. These are automatically inserted into the pages by the proxy - they have to pay for service somehow. More sophisticated and convenient solutions are also on offer yet they come with a price tag.

The second method you can use to protect your privacy via a proxy server involves adjusting the settings of your web browser so that you can surf anonymously without having to visit the home page of your proxy each time. To do this you will first need to know the name of your proxy server and the port number it uses. This information can be gleaned from either a public proxy server list or the FAQ referring to a private subscription based service. Once you have the name of the proxy server you wish to use, select 'Internet Options' from the 'Tools' menu of your browser. Now select 'Connections' followed by 'Settings' and tick the 'use a proxy server' check box. To finish the job all you have to do now is enter the name of the server in the 'address' box, the port which it uses in the 'port' box and go forth and surf anonymously.

Free, manual proxy servers as advertised on anonymity sites, if you can find one at all, are likely to be highly oversubscribed, and as a result the speed at which they retrieve web pages can deteriorate. In which case you can go in pursuit of a public proxy server list and select an alternative from it, which can then be set up manually. To locate such a list you can investigate sites such as

Code:
hxxp://www.proxys4all.com/

however, this method isn't problem free either, so before you get too carried away and go jumping on the anonymity bandwagon there are a few things you should be aware of. It's very easy to use proxies to protect your privacy, but often the disadvantages of using them far out weigh the benefits. You see, the problem is that, like the proxy servers provided Rewebber et al, free, public proxies are nearly all over subscribed and so they can slow down web browsing considerably. Digging out fast reliable proxy servers is an art form in itself and is a skill which takes considerable practice. You could find a list of public proxy servers and then experiment with each one until you find one that runs at a reasonable speed, but this can be very time consuming and frustrating. Instead, your search would be much more efficient if you got a dedicated program to carry out this task for you. There are literally dozens of proxy seeking programs around which can do just that, and many of them are available as freeware. What these do is scan the internet for public proxy servers. These servers are then tested for speed and anonymity (not all of them are truly anonymous, even if they claim to be!) and once you find one which suits your requirements you can select it as your default proxy with the click of a button.

One of the most significant advantages of using an automated tool to locate proxy servers is that you do not have to keep editing your proxy settings manually each time you wish to try out a new one. Instead, what you do is enter 'localhost' or '127.0.0.1' into the 'address' box and '8088' into the 'port' box of your browser's proxy settings menu and then forget about it. All future proxy switching is then orchestrated from within your proxy seeking software, which subsequently relays the information to your browser or whatever type of application you are attempting to make anonymous. For those of you who are curious 'localhost' and the IP address '127.0.0.1' are the names by which every computer on the internet refers to itself.
Here's a good selection of links, which should help you to get started -

Code:
hxxp://www.a4proxy.com/ Anonymity 4 Proxy
hxxp://www.helgasoft.com/hiproxy/ Hi Proxy
hxxp://www.proxy-verifier.com/ Proxy Verifier
hxxp://www.photono-software.de/ Stealther.

You may find that even when using these programs you have difficulty finding good proxy servers. It is for this reason that many people choose only to use proxy servers temporarily whilst doing something which may land them in trouble with their ISP, or in a worst case scenario with the law. The most obvious example of a situation in which you would want to cover your tracks is when scanning for public FTP servers and subsequently uploading to them. Most other net activities are unlikely to incur serious consequences so under these circumstances you can safely surf the web without a proxy. If you're really serious about protecting your privacy, however, your best bet is probably to invest in a dedicated, stable proxy such as the ones offered by

Code:
hxxp://www.ultimate-anonymity.com/ Ultimate Anonymity


These aren't free, but may be worth the expense if you aren't keen on continuously switching proxy servers.

Before splashing out though it may be worth checking if your current ISP has a proxy server of its own which you can use. These aren't there to help you to commit cyber crimes and get away with it, they actually have a legitimate purpose as well - otherwise they wouldn't exist. You see, proxy servers were originally designed to help speed up web page loading times. Proxy servers contain a cache of all the web pages which have been requested via the browsers of the people using the proxy. When someone surfs the web using a proxy, the proxy first checks to see if it already has a copy of the web page stored in its cache. If this version of the page is bang up to date, it is sent to your computer and appears in your browser. If the page found in the cache of the proxy server is older than the one stored on the server hosting the page, a new request to the web server is made and the page is updated in the cache of the proxy before being sent to you. Because these servers use very fast internet connections they can retrieve web pages at much greater speeds than you can via your modest home setup. If these servers are located physically nearer to your home than the web host servers you wish to retrieve web pages from, the speed at which you browse the web will be accelerated.

Anonymity - Cookies

One last important point you need to be aware of before jumping in with both feet is that different programs have to be setup in different ways before being able to make external connections via a proxy server. For example, you can surf the web anonymously by modifying the settings in Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator as explained earlier in this tutorial, but this will only affect your browser. If you then used Flash FXP to copy a batch of 0-day releases from one FTP server to another, this isn't going to protect you in the slightest. What you have to do is enter the name of the proxy server into each application you wish to make anonymous before making any external connections. This can usually be done by browsing through the preferences of your program to see if there is a 'use proxy server' option available. If there is, make sure you use it!

Cookies:

You have little to fear from the edible variety, but the digital ones can be a major threat to your security and privacy. A cookie is a tiny text file (usually less than 1kb in size), which is created and stored on your hard drive whenever you visit a dynamic (or an interactive if you like) web site. These are used to log your personal details so that you can access members only areas of web sites without having to type in a password every time, or to retain your customized settings so that they are available the next time you visit. If you're using a shared computer, anyone who visits the same site that you have previously logged in to can access your accounts. This is particularly worrying if you have entered your credit card details into a form on an e-commerce site. If your browser is set to automatically fill in these details whenever you
return to a previously visited site, this information could be clearly visible - you don't need me to explain the problems this could entail.

The solution to this problem is to delete any cookies which contain sensitive data once you have completed your transactions. Your cookies will be stored in a different place depending on which operating system you are using so you will have to use your detective skills to find them. As an example, in Windows XP they are located in your 'c:\Documents and Settings\Kylie Minogue\Cookies' directory (that is if your name is Kylie Minogue. Mine isn't in case you're wondering!). If you look in this directory, in some cases it is easy to identify which cookie is associated with which web site, but in other cases it's not so obvious. The cookie which was created when you visited Yahoo.com to check your email may be called ABC@yahoo.tx for example. Unfortunately some cookies refer to the IP address of the site you visited and so look more like kylie minogue@145.147.25.21. These cookies can be selectively deleted one at a time if it's obvious which ones are causing a threat to your security, or you can just wipe out the whole lot in one fell swoop and have them recreated as and when they are required. However, if
you're really struggling to find your cookie jar, you could delete your cookies via your browser's tool bar instead. In Internet Explorer this can be done through the 'Tools' > 'Internet Options' menu items.

If all this sounds like too much hassle, you can always find a labour saving program which will be happy to take the job off your hands. These 'cookie crunching' programs allow you to be more selective when editing, viewing and deleting cookies from your system, and some of them will even prevent cookies from being created in the first place. Yes, I know you're hungry for links so I won't deprive you. Have a look here -

Code:
hxxp://www.rbaworld.com/Programs/CookieCruncher/ Cookie
Cruncher
hxxp://www.thelimitsoft.com/ Cookie Crusher
hxxp://www.angove.com/ Cookie Killer
hxxp://www.kburra.com/ Cookie Pal
and
hxxp://www.cookiecentral.com/ Cookie Web Kit.

Ok, this should work...First of all, there is one great extension for DW & PHP ADODB object model that is free and great! Download it and install from www.interakt.ro its called PHAKT (NOT impakt, because its not free)

Install it and you will have another type of PHP ADODB document type

1) Start project with PHP ADODB (not old PHP MySQL)

2) In Page 1 Create form that has one Editbox and one button.

3) Name Edit box smething like e.g. "search" without quotes.
That form should have form action="results.php" and type set to POST
Not,

4) Create Page 2 and name it results.php. Create new recordset in dw
like this


SELECT *
FROM table
WHERE table.colum.you.r.searching LIKE '%colname%' OR table.other.column LIKE '%colname%' ORDER BY table.tableid

This means that we want to select ALL (*) records in table WHERE content of column is similar (Dav, will return Dave, David, Davidof...) to search keyword.

5) Next, in variables click + and add variable name colname default value set to % if you want to show all records if form is submited blank, or -1 if You want to show none if form is submited blank. Finaly for Run-time value type $HTTP_POST_VARS['search'] Runtime value is equal name of Edit box name you set up in first page...

6) Now, from bindings tab, select values and insert it on page, that You would like to show on page. Ill skip this part assuming You know how to format output and how to limit it but if you dont know ask in reply...

7) So now You have page with results. Test it and see if its working.

8) If it is, create page 3 and name it details.php. Now, select value from page that you want to link with details page and click on link. Select details.php page and click on parameters. For param name enter something like id since this should be PK in table and unique value, and for value click on lightning icon, and select primary key in your table. In live page link should be like

details.php?id=<some_value>.
As for details page recordset it should look like
SELECT *
FROM table
WHERE table.id = 'colname'

9) create vars as for page 2, but change Runtime to $HTTP_GET_VARS['id']
and format output on page. That should be it, but since im typing it in "realtime" maby i forgot something...

Hope I helped You

Are you scared that the RIAA is about to track you down for illegally downloading songs.
Well, here is a method of obtaining many songs absolutely free that is virtually untrackable
by modern technology. This has to do with capturing streaming audio, which in many cases, believe it or not
are plain old mp3s just waiting for you to "download." I have found most of the current top-40 as well as many others you may like, so keep searching. The music is waiting for you to find it.

Step 1:

First of all, you need to find a good site that hosts streaming audio. My favorite that has brought me many songs to date is hxxp://www.windowsmedia.com . Some others are just as good, but this is the site that I will be referencing (plus, I know you guys love to steal from Microsoft).

Step 2:

Alright, go up to the left hand corner where there is an empty text box. This is the search box, just fill it with a songname or artist just like you would in kazaa and click search. This will bring up a page with links to many websites hosting a stream by that artist. The ones with music notes are just that...music, this is what you want. In many cases, this is all you need. Just right click on one of the links and click "save as" to save the song. This works if the file extension is .mp3 or .wma or .asf or well-other known formats. If this worked, you are finished, otherwise continue reading.

Step 3:

However, if you encounter a .asx file, there are a few more steps you will have to endure. First of all, do exactly like the above example and save the file locally. After the file is downloaded, check to see how large the file is. If it is a large file in the megabyte range, then you should be able to play it in your favorite music program. However, if it is less than 1 kilobyte, open it as a textfile. You will then see many script commands that communicate to windows media player. Don't worry about these, just look for some URLs which will most likely be pointing to a .asf file. It will have at least one if not more. Open the new found URL in your browser and save it like in step 2 and you should be good to go. (I use Mozilla, because Internet Explorer likes to open things rather than save them as I tell it)

NOTE: If any of the URLs are preceded with "mms://" instead of "http://" find another URL, because this technique will not work.

This technique is especially useful to avoid prosecution because streaming audio, and downloading it appear the same to a web server, therefore you are seen as just another "legal" listener, so "download" away my friend and don't blame me if this soon becomes illegal (if it isn't already).

Step 4:

If you are picky then search for a program that will convert these file types to mp3s. I assure you there are many sites out there.

If this technique does not work for some reason, there is another technique which is manually recording streaming audio, with an audio capture program. I use the one that came with my soundcard (Audigy 2ZS, great soundcard), but I would recommend it only as a last resort such as with "mms://" files. There is a degredation in quality compared to the other formats and it records every sound your PC makes while it is recording so don't chat on AIM while recording (lol I can hear random doors slamming now).

Here is the best way to crack the bios password in win 95/98:

Follow the steps below:

1) Boot up windows.

2) go to dos-prompt or go to command prompt directly from the windows start up menu.

3) type the command at the prompt: "debug" (without quotes ninja.gif )

4) type the following lines now exactly as given.......
o 70 10
o 71 20
quit
exit

4) exit from the dos prompt and restart the machine

password protection gone!!!!!!!!!!!!!

EnjoYYYYYYYYYY

PS: I tested this in Award Bios........
There seems to be some issue regarding display drivers on some machines if this is used. Just reinstall the drivers, Everything will be fine...........

I have not found any other trouble if the codes are used.

To be on safe side, just back up your data..........


The use of this code is entirely at ur risk.......... It worked fine for me..........

When you first turn on you computer (BEFORE DIALING INTO YOUR ISP),
open a MS-DOS Prompt window (start/programs MS-DOS Prompt).
Then type netstat -arn and press the Enter key.
Your screen should display the following (without the dotted lines
which I added for clarification).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Active Routes:

  Network Address          Netmask  Gateway Address        Interface  Metric
        127.0.0.0        255.0.0.0        127.0.0.1        127.0.0.1      1
  255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255          0.0.0.0      1

Route Table

Active Connections

  Proto  Local Address          Foreign Address        State

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you see anything else, there might be a problem (more on that later).
Now dial into your ISP, once you are connected;
go back to the MS-DOS Prompt and run the same command as before
netstat -arn, this time it will look similar to the following (without
dotted lines).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Active Routes:

  Network Address          Netmask  Gateway Address        Interface  Metric
          0.0.0.0          0.0.0.0    216.1.104.70    216.1.104.70      1
        127.0.0.0        255.0.0.0        127.0.0.1        127.0.0.1      1
      216.1.104.0    255.255.255.0    216.1.104.70    216.1.104.70      1
    216.1.104.70  255.255.255.255        127.0.0.1        127.0.0.1      1
    216.1.104.255  255.255.255.255    216.1.104.70    216.1.104.70      1
        224.0.0.0        224.0.0.0    216.1.104.70    216.1.104.70      1
  255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255    216.1.104.70    216.1.104.70      1

Route Table

Active Connections

  Proto  Local Address          Foreign Address        State
  TCP    0.0.0.0:0              0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
  TCP    216.1.104.70:137      0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
  TCP    216.1.104.70:138      0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
  TCP    216.1.104.70:139      0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
  UDP    216.1.104.70:137      *:*      

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What you are seeing in the first section (Active Routes) under the heading of
Network Address are some additional lines. The only ones that should be there
are ones belonging to your ISP (more on that later). In the second section
(Route Table) under Local Address you are seeing the IP address that your ISP
assigned you (in this example 216.1.104.70).

The numbers are divided into four dot notations, the first three should be
the same for both sets, while in this case the .70 is the unique number
assigned for THIS session. Next time you dial in that number will more than
likely be different.

To make sure that the first three notation are as they should be, we will run
one more command from the MS-DOS window.
From the MS-DOS Prompt type tracert /www.yourispwebsite.com or .net
or whatever it ends in. Following is an example of the output you should see.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tracing route to /www.motion.net [207.239.117.112]over a maximum of 30 hops:
1  128 ms  2084 ms  102 ms  chat-port.motion.net [216.1.104.4]
2  115 ms  188 ms  117 ms  chat-core.motion.net [216.1.104.1]
3  108 ms  116 ms  119 ms  www.motion.net [207.239.117.112]
Trace complete.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You will see that on lines with the 1 and 2 the first three notations of the
address match with what we saw above, which is a good thing. If it does not,
then some further investigation is needed.

If everything matches like above, you can almost breath easier. Another thing
which should you should check is programs launched during startup. To find
these, Click start/programs/startup, look at what shows up. You should be
able to recognize everything there, if not, once again more investigation is
needed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now just because everything reported out like we expected (and demonstrated
above) we still are not out of the woods. How is this so, you ask? Do you use
Netmeeting? Do you get on IRC (Internet Relay Chat)? Or any other program
that makes use of the Internet. Have you every recieved an email with an
attachment that ended in .exe? The list goes on and on, basically anything
that you run could have become infected with a trojan. What this means, is
the program appears to do what you expect, but also does just a little more.
This little more could be blasting ebay.com or one of the other sites that
CNNlive was talking about.

What can you do? Well some anti-virus software will detect some trojans.
Another (tedious) thing is to start each of these "extra" Internet programs
one at a time and go through the last two steps above, looking at the routes
and connection the program uses. However, the tricky part will be figuring
out where to tracert to in order to find out if the addresses you see in
step 2 are "safe" or not. I should forewarn you, that running tracert after
tracert, after tracert might be considered "improper" by your ISP. The steps
outlined above may not work exactly as I have stated depending upon your ISP,
but with a true ISP it should work. Finally, this advise comes with NO
warranty and by following my "hints' you implicitly release me from ANY and
ALL liability which you may incur.

 Other options:

Display protocol statistics and current TCP/IP network connections.
Netstat [-a] [-e] [-n] [-s] [-p proto] [-r] [intervals]

-a.. Display all connections and listening ports.

-e.. Display Ethernet statistics. This may be combined with the -s option.

-n.. Diplays address and port numbers in the numerical form.

-p proto..Shows connections for the protocol specified by proto; proto may be
TCP or UDP. If used with the -s option to display per-protocol statistics,
proto may be TCP, UDP, of IP.

-r.. Display the routing table.

-s.. Display per-protocol statistics. By default, statistics are shown for TCP
UDP and IP; the -p option may be used to specify a subset of the default
interval..Redisplay selected statistics, pausing intervals seconds between each
display. If omitted. netstat will print the current configuration information
once

STEPS:

1. Click on "Start" in the bottom left hand corner of screen

2. Click on "Run"

3. Type in "command" and hit ok

You should now be at an MSDOS prompt screen.

4. Type "ipconfig /release" just like that, and hit "enter"

5. Type "exit" and leave the prompt

6. Right-click on "Network Places" or "My Network Places" on your desktop.

7. Click on "properties"

You should now be on a screen with something titled "Local Area Connection", or something close to that, and, if you have a network hooked up, all of your other networks.

8. Right click on "Local Area Connection" and click "properties"

9. Double-click on the "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" from the list under the "General" tab

10. Click on "Use the following IP address" under the "General" tab

11. Create an IP address (It doesn't matter what it is. I just type 1 and 2 until i fill the area up).

12. Press "Tab" and it should automatically fill in the "Subnet Mask" section with default numbers.

13. Hit the "Ok" button here

14. Hit the "Ok" button again

You should now be back to the "Local Area Connection" screen.

15. Right-click back on "Local Area Connection" and go to properties again.

16. Go back to the "TCP/IP" settings

17. This time, select "Obtain an IP address automatically"
tongue.gif 18. Hit "Ok"

19. Hit "Ok" again

20. You now have a new IP address

With a little practice, you can easily get this process down to 15 seconds.

NOTE:
This only changes your dynamic IP address, not your ISP/IP address. If you plan on hacking a website with this trick be extremely careful, because if they try a little, they can trace it back.

BIOS Update Procedure

All latest Motherboards today, 486/ Pentium / Pentium Pro etc.,ensure that upgrades are easily obtained by incorporating the system BIOS in a FLASH Memory component. With FLASH BIOS, there is no need to replace an EPROM component. Once downloaded, the upgrade utility fits on a floppy disc allowing the user to save, verify and update the system BIOS. A hard drive or a network drive can also be used to run the newer upgrade utilities. However, memory managers can not be installed while upgrading.

Most pre-Pentium motherboards do not have a Flash BIOS. The following instructions therefore do not apply to these boards. If your motherboard does not have a Flash BIOS (EEPROM) you will need to use an EPROM programmer to re-program the BIOS chip. See your dealer for more information about this.

Please read the following instructions in full before starting a Flash BIOS upgrade:

A. Create a Bootable Floppy (in DOS)

•With a non-formatted disk, type the following:

format a:/s

•If using a formatted disk, type:

sys a:

This procedure will ensure a clean boot when you are flashing the new BIOS.

B. Download the BIOS file

•Download the correct BIOS file by clicking on the file name of the BIOS file you wish to download.

•Save the BIOS file and the Flash Utility file in the boot disk you have created. Unzip the BIOS file and the flash utility file. If you don't have an "unzip" utility, download the WinZip for Windows 95 shareware/ evaluation copy for that one time use from _www.winzip.com or _www.pkware.com. Most CD ROMs found in computer magazines, have a shareware version of WinZip on them.

•You should have extracted two files:

Flash BIOS utility eg: flash7265.exe (for example)

BIOS eg: 6152J900.bin (example)

Use the latest flash utility available unless otherwise specified (either on the BIOS update page or in the archive file). This information is usually provided.

C. Upgrade the System BIOS

During boot up, write down the old BIOS version because you will need to use it for the BIOS backup file name.

Place the bootable floppy disk containing the BIOS file and the Flash Utility in drive a, and reboot the system in MS-DOS, preferably Version 6.22

•At the A:> prompt, type the corresponding Flash BIOS utility and the BIOS file with its extension.

For example:

flash625 615j900.bin

•From the Flash Memory Writer menu, select "Y" to "Do you want to save BIOS?" if you want to save (back up) your current BIOS (strongly recommended), then type the name of your current BIOS and its extension after FILE NAME TO SAVE: eg: a:\613J900.bin

Alternatively select "N" if you don't want to save your current BIOS. Beware, though, that you won't be able to recover from a possible failure.

•Select "Y" to "Are you sure to program?"

•Wait until it displays "Message: Power Off or Reset the system"

Once the BIOS has been successfully loaded, remove the floppy disk and reboot the system. If you write to BIOS but cannot complete the procedure, do not switch off, because the computer will not be able to boo, and you will not be given another chance to flash. In this case leave your system on until you resolve the problem (flashing BIOS with old file is a possible solution, provided you've made a backup before)

Make sure the new BIOS version has been loaded properly by taking note of the BIOS identifier as the system is rebooting.

For AMI BIOS
Once the BIOS has been successfully loaded, remove the floppy disk and reboot the system holding the "END" key prior to power on until you enter CMOS setup. If you do not do this the first time booting up after upgrading the BIOS, the system will hang.

BIOS Update Tips

1.Make sure never to turn off or reset your computer during the flash process. This will corrupt the BIOS data. We also recommend that you make a copy of your current BIOS on the bootable floppy so you can reflash it if you need to. (This option is not available when flashing an AMI BIOS).

2. If you have problems installing your new BIOS please check the following:

Have you done a clean boot?
In other words, did you follow the above procedure for making a bootable floppy? This ensures that when booting from "A" there are no device drivers on the diskette. Failing to do a clean boot is the most common cause for getting a "Memory Insufficient" error message when attempting to flash a BIOS.

If you have not used a bootable floppy, insure a clean boot either by

a) pressing F5 during bootup

b) by removing all device drivers on the CONFIG.SYS including the HIMEM.SYS. Do this by using the EDIT command.

Have you booted up under DOS?

Booting in Windows is another common cause for getting a "Memory Insufficient" error message when attempting to flash a BIOS. Make sure to boot up to DOS with a minimum set of drivers. Important: Booting in DOS does not mean selecting "Restart computer in MS-DOS Mode" from Windows98/95 shutdown menu or going to Prompt mode in WindowsNT, but rather following the above procedure (format a: /s and rebooting from a:\).

Have you entered the full file name of the flash utility and the BIOS plus its extension?
Do not forget that often you will need to add a drive letter (a:\) before flashing the BIOS. Example: when asked for file name of new BIOS file which is on your floppy disk, in case you're working from c:\ your will need to type a:\615j900.bin, rather than 615j900.bin only.

This reg file automatically ends tasks and timeouts that prevent programs from shutting down and clears the Paging File on Exit.

1. Copy the following (everything in the box) into notepad.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]
"ClearPageFileAtShutdown"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop]
"AutoEndTasks"="1"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control]
"WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="1000"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Save the file as shutdown.reg

3. Double click the file to import into your registry.

NOTE: If your anti-virus software warns you of a "malicious" script, this is normal if you have "Script Safe" or similar technology enabled.

1.) To decrease a system's boot time and increase system performance, use the money you save by not buying defragmentation software -- the built-in Windows defragmenter works just fine -- and instead equip the computer with an Ultra-133 or Serial ATA hard drive with 8-MB cache buffer.

2.) If a PC has less than 512 MB of RAM, add more memory. This is a relatively inexpensive and easy upgrade that can dramatically improve system performance.

3.) Ensure that Windows XP is utilizing the NTFS file system. If you're not sure, here's how to check: First, double-click the My Computer icon, right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Next, examine the File System type; if it says FAT32, then back-up any important data. Next, click Start, click Run, type CMD, and then click OK. At the prompt, type CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS and press the Enter key. This process may take a while; it's important that the computer be uninterrupted and virus-free. The file system used by the bootable drive will be either FAT32 or NTFS. I highly recommend NTFS for its superior security, reliability, and efficiency with larger disk drives.

4.) Disable file indexing. The indexing service extracts information from documents and other files on the hard drive and creates a "searchable keyword index." As you can imagine, this process can be quite taxing on any system.

The idea is that the user can search for a word, phrase, or property inside a document, should they have hundreds or thousands of documents and not know the file name of the document they want. Windows XP's built-in search functionality can still perform these kinds of searches without the Indexing service. It just takes longer. The OS has to open each file at the time of the request to help find what the user is looking for.

Most people never need this feature of search. Those who do are typically in a large corporate environment where thousands of documents are located on at least one server. But if you're a typical system builder, most of your clients are small and medium businesses. And if your clients have no need for this search feature, I recommend disabling it.

Here's how: First, double-click the My Computer icon. Next, right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Uncheck "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching." Next, apply changes to "C: subfolders and files," and click OK. If a warning or error message appears (such as "Access is denied"), click the Ignore All button.

5.) Update the PC's video and motherboard chipset drivers. Also, update and configure the BIOS. For more information on how to configure your BIOS properly, see this article on my site.

6.) Empty the Windows Prefetch folder every three months or so. Windows XP can "prefetch" portions of data and applications that are used frequently. This makes processes appear to load faster when called upon by the user. That's fine. But over time, the prefetch folder may become overloaded with references to files and applications no longer in use. When that happens, Windows XP is wasting time, and slowing system performance, by pre-loading them. Nothing critical is in this folder, and the entire contents are safe to delete.

7.) Once a month, run a disk cleanup. Here's how: Double-click the My Computer icon. Then right-click on the C: drive and select Properties. Click the Disk Cleanup button -- it's just to the right of the Capacity pie graph -- and delete all temporary files.

8.) In your Device Manager, double-click on the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers device, and ensure that DMA is enabled for each drive you have connected to the Primary and Secondary controller. Do this by double-clicking on Primary IDE Channel. Then click the Advanced Settings tab. Ensure the Transfer Mode is set to "DMA if available" for both Device 0 and Device 1. Then repeat this process with the Secondary IDE Channel.

9.) Upgrade the cabling. As hard-drive technology improves, the cabling requirements to achieve these performance boosts have become more stringent. Be sure to use 80-wire Ultra-133 cables on all of your IDE devices with the connectors properly assigned to the matching Master/Slave/Motherboard sockets. A single device must be at the end of the cable; connecting a single drive to the middle connector on a ribbon cable will cause signaling problems. With Ultra DMA hard drives, these signaling problems will prevent the drive from performing at its maximum potential. Also, because these cables inherently support "cable select," the location of each drive on the cable is important. For these reasons, the cable is designed so drive positioning is explicitly clear.

10.) Remove all spyware from the computer. Use free programs such as AdAware by Lavasoft or SpyBot Search & Destroy. Once these programs are installed, be sure to check for and download any updates before starting your search. Anything either program finds can be safely removed. Any free software that requires spyware to run will no longer function once the spyware portion has been removed; if your customer really wants the program even though it contains spyware, simply reinstall it. For more information on removing Spyware visit this Web Pro News page.

11.) Remove any unnecessary programs and/or items from Windows Startup routine using the MSCONFIG utility. Here's how: First, click Start, click Run, type MSCONFIG, and click OK. Click the StartUp tab, then uncheck any items you don't want to start when Windows starts. Unsure what some items are? Visit the WinTasks Process Library. It contains known system processes, applications, as well as spyware references and explanations. Or quickly identify them by searching for the filenames using Google or another Web search engine.

12.) Remove any unnecessary or unused programs from the Add/Remove Programs section of the Control Panel.

13.) Turn off any and all unnecessary animations, and disable active desktop. In fact, for optimal performance, turn off all animations. Windows XP offers many different settings in this area. Here's how to do it: First click on the System icon in the Control Panel. Next, click on the Advanced tab. Select the Settings button located under Performance. Feel free to play around with the options offered here, as nothing you can change will alter the reliability of the computer -- only its responsiveness.

14.) If your customer is an advanced user who is comfortable editing their registry, try some of the performance registry tweaks offered at Tweak XP.

15.) Visit Microsoft's Windows update site regularly, and download all updates labeled Critical. Download any optional updates at your discretion.

16.) Update the customer's anti-virus software on a weekly, even daily, basis. Make sure they have only one anti-virus software package installed. Mixing anti-virus software is a sure way to spell disaster for performance and reliability.

17.) Make sure the customer has fewer than 500 type fonts installed on their computer. The more fonts they have, the slower the system will become. While Windows XP handles fonts much more efficiently than did the previous versions of Windows, too many fonts -- that is, anything over 500 -- will noticeably tax the system.

18.) Do not partition the hard drive. Windows XP's NTFS file system runs more efficiently on one large partition. The data is no safer on a separate partition, and a reformat is never necessary to reinstall an operating system. The same excuses people offer for using partitions apply to using a folder instead. For example, instead of putting all your data on the D: drive, put it in a folder called "D drive." You'll achieve the same organizational benefits that a separate partition offers, but without the degradation in system performance. Also, your free space won't be limited by the size of the partition; instead, it will be limited by the size of the entire hard drive. This means you won't need to resize any partitions, ever. That task can be time-consuming and also can result in lost data.

19.) Check the system's RAM to ensure it is operating properly. I recommend using a free program called MemTest86. The download will make a bootable CD or diskette (your choice), which will run 10 extensive tests on the PC's memory automatically after you boot to the disk you created. Allow all tests to run until at least three passes of the 10 tests are completed. If the program encounters any errors, turn off and unplug the computer, remove a stick of memory (assuming you have more than one), and run the test again. Remember, bad memory cannot be repaired, but only replaced.

20.) If the PC has a CD or DVD recorder, check the drive manufacturer's Web site for updated firmware. In some cases you'll be able to upgrade the recorder to a faster speed. Best of all, it's free.

21.) Disable unnecessary services. Windows XP loads a lot of services that your customer most likely does not need. To determine which services you can disable for your client, visit the Black Viper site for Windows XP configurations.

22.) If you're sick of a single Windows Explorer window crashing and then taking the rest of your OS down with it, then follow this tip: open My Computer, click on Tools, then Folder Options. Now click on the View tab. Scroll down to "Launch folder windows in a separate process," and enable this option. You'll have to reboot your machine for this option to take effect.

23.) At least once a year, open the computer's cases and blow out all the dust and debris. While you're in there, check that all the fans are turning properly. Also inspect the motherboard capacitors for bulging or leaks. For more information on this leaking-capacitor phenomena, you can read numerous articles on my site.

NOTE:

Following any of these suggestions should result in noticeable improvements to the performance and reliability of your customers' computers. If you still want to defrag a disk, remember that the main benefit will be to make your data more retrievable in the event of a crashed drive.