TIP: How to Restore Outlook Desktop Icon in Windows 7/Vista

After Installing Office 2007/2010 on Windows 7/Vista you're missing the Outlook icon on the desktop.
This icon is useful more than just to start Outlook (which can also be replaced by a simple shortcut...).
It is also has the ability to get you right into the Outlook Control Panel, same as clicking on the Control Panel Mail icon.

To restore this special icon you need to add a simple key to the registry. follow these instructions to make the tweak:


Step 1
Go to the "Start" menu and select "Run." (Type "run" and hit "Enter" after clicking the "Start" menu in Windows Vista and 7.)

Step 2
Type "regedit" in the search line and click "OK" to start the Registry Editor.

Step 3
Browse to the following registry entry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace

Click the "NameSpace" key.

Step 4
Click the "Edit" menu option in Registry Editor's window and select "Add." Type the following in the "Key" field {00020D75-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} and click "OK."

Step 5
Go to your desktop and click the "F5" key to refresh it and the Outlook icon should appear. You may have to log off and then log back in to see the icon.

That's it!

Have fun with Outlook :)

Tools: View Passwords, Serials, Product Keys and AutoComplete Data

Here's a list of some useful tools I'm using the backup your private data:


View Hidden or Saved Passwords:
Mail Account Passwords - Mailpv , Outlook Personal Folder Passwords
Dialup & VPN Passwords - Dialupass
Wireless Network Passwords- WirelessKeyView
Browser Passwords - Internet Explorer, Firefox , Chrome , NetScape, IE Content Advisor
Messenger & ICQ- mspass
Network Passwords - netpass
Licenses, Product Keys & Serials: ProduKey, KeyFinder153, KeyFinder2, LicenseCrawler
Asterisks (***) hidden passwords: Asterisk Logger, AsterWin, ShowPwd, UnMask, Revealer, Asterisk Key, Password Unleasher, KernelPasswordUnmask
Browser (IE) hidden passwords: AsterWinIE, IEpassview , IEAstRecover
Windows Mobile Hidden passwords: PocketAsterisk
Application specific passwords: VNC, PCanywhere, Win95-98, Remote Desktop, MS-Access, SQL Enterprise Manager , AspNetUserPass

You can also use my self-assembled script to auto-save your data: SaveMyData2


Many thanks and credit goes to the lovely site NirSoft.Net

Vista SP2 doesn't have the TCP/IP Half-Open Connection Limit!

After years of struggle with Tcp/Ip patches, Microsoft finally remove the half-open connection limit.
Since Windows XP SP2 Microsoft limited the maximum half-open connections to 10 only. this limitation have caused many file-sharing applications to slow-down their download rate, and Event-id 4226 has flooded the system event log.

In Vista SP2 this limitation is finally gone! you can read more about it in this KB969710 Article
If you still wish to keep the limitation running (for any reason I can't even think of..) then use this registry tweak:

1. Locate and then double-click the following registry key:
   
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\EnableConnectionRateLimiting
2. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
3. Exit Registry Editor.
4. Restart the computer.

Those of you who still works on older versions of Windows (Vista/SP1, XP-SP2/SP3) can use this Universal TCP/IP Patcher from Deepxw. Another fine patcher from Half-Open.com

UPDATE: The same as Vista SP2 update, so does Windows 7 not having the limit for the half-open connections.

Tool: Two Alternative User Account Manager for XP & Vista Home

Microsoft disabled the "Users And Groups" MMC snap-in in XP Home & Vista Home. The only interface left is the crippled "User Accounts" in Control Panel, that gives you much less functionality.

I offer you two cool alternatives...

1. Hidden User Account Manager UserPasswords2
Use this command in Start>Run: %windir%\system32\control.exe userpasswords2
it will show a hidden User Account Manager that will allow you to do more stuff such as  renaming your  
real user name (not the display-name) and change group membership.
To add this tool permanently to the Control Panel, use this tweak.

2. NT4 User Manager works in XP!

On Windows XP you can still use the old User Manager tool from NT4. Download and use this tool to have a complete control over User Accounts, Groups, Password Resets and more.

How to add Hibernate as a 4th option in XP’s Shut-Down Menu

You might have seen it before on someone else’s laptop, and wondered how you can get down with the hibernation game. Why doesn’t it show up by default on your shutdown screen?? Don’t have hibernation envy!

I’m referring to seeing 4 options to choose from on your Shut Down menu of Windows XP. After this hack the Hibernate option will stay there without the need to press the Shift key any more.

Well- let’s get to it:

The first thing to do is get a hold of Microsoft’s hotfix KB893056. You can use this link to request it immediately.

After we installed the hotfix, we need to make some small registry changes. Get it here

For those of you working in a Workgroup environment and using the friendly “Welcome Screen” you need to run the Reg-file called: “1 AddToShutdown”. If you use the classic logon screen you can also run the 2nd Reg-file to set Hibernate as the default action in the menu.

When you’re finished just restart the machine and check it out!

Needless to says that you must have the Hibernate feature on in your Control Panel’s Power Options. or else nothing would appear obviously.

Enjoy :-)

How To Avoid BSOD 0x7B When Moving Hard Disk From One Machine to Another

Windows 2000 and XP produces a blue-screen of 0x7b after you transfer a Disk from one motherboard to another. The reason for it, is the difference in the IDE Disk controller.

Windows will only boot successfully using the same IDE controller of the same manufacturer (i.e. Intel, VIA etc..). It’s not that the Windows plug’n'play mechanism can’t handle the change, but that Microsoft doesn’t really want us to take one Windows from an old system and move in to a new one. so logically it is programmed to produce an error message.

To successfully make the change, you have 3 options to choose from:

1. Run a Repair installation to make Windows reinstall on its hardware.
2. Find a new motherboard that contains a chipset from the same manufacturer.
3. Run the following cool procedure…. :))

Thankfully, there’s a working workaround straight from Microsoft’s Knowledgebase (KB314082). What we will basically do is to tell Windows that it already “knows” all of the generic IDE types from all vendors. that way, when it will boot up, it will only install the new hardware and not refuse to boot because it is missing the old one.

The procedure described in the article takes you through extracting some drivers from the I386 and importing some registry data from a text file to the system.

But as you all already knows- I like Automation!!

so I’ve writen a script called UpdateIDE that checks whether you run it on a Win2000/XP/2003 and does the patching needed for the HD relocation.

What you basically need to do is:

1. Run the script while the disk is still installed on the original machine.

2. Shutdown, Relocate the disk to the new system & boot.

3. Windows will do it’s hardware recognition magic and you’re up & running 

While working in Microsoft’s IT team back in 2002, I’ve used this tool to create a master Ghost image that I could deploy on all the laptops brands & models we’ve had to support.

But What Can I do if my old Motherboard is Dead?

If you can’t run the script on your original machine beforehand, we’ll have to you another working system.

1. we’ll connect the drive as a secondary disk on a working machine (so it will appear as drive “D” for example….)

2. we will have to make the file copying manually. according to your Windows version (2K/XP), copy & rename these 4 files as follows:

• atapi.xp –> d:\windows\system32\driver\atapi.sys
• pciide.xp –> d:\windows\system32\driver\pciide.sys
• pciidex.xp –> d:\windows\system32\driver\pciidex.sys
• intelide.xp –> d:\windows\system32\driver\intelide.sys

* The d: stands for the drive letter as it appears on your system.

3. Using RegEdit, we will load the System hive of the drive we’ve connected, and we will import the registry data to it.

a. open RegEdit, stand on Local Machine.

b. in the File menu choose “Load Hive”. now browse and select the file:

d:\windows\system32\config\system.name it as “OldSys”. it will now appear as another hive in Regedit.

c. to import the registry data found in the file Merge.xp (or merge.2k) we will first need to update it to fit the new situation:

Open the file Merge.xp using Notepad. Run a Find & Replace from “\SYSTEM\” to “\OldSys\”

Now save the file as: Merge.reg

Double-click on it to make the actual import process.

d. when finished, stand on the “OldSys” hive and choose “Unload Hive” from the File menu.

That’s it! now replace the drive into your new system and boot to victory!
Note: if you’re changing your system from and old IDE drive to a brand new SATA drive, this procedure can only work if your Bios can turn off the “SATA Native mode” and emulate it to be recognized as an IDE drive.

Cheers,

Yaron

Outlook: How to open blocked attachments in Outlook like VBS, MSI etc..

for obvious security risks, Outlook by default block certains risky file extensions.
the lists of block file types are:

.ade;.adp;.asx;.bas;.bat;.chm;.cmd;.com;.cpl;.crt;.exe;.hlp;.hta;.inf;.ins;.isp;.js;.jse;.lnk;.mda;.mdb;.mde;.mdz;.msc;.msi;.msp;.mst;.pcd;.pif;.prf;.reg;.scf;.scr;.sct;.shb;.shs;.url;.vb;.vbe;.vbs;.wsc;.wsf;.wsh

you can unblock it by using the following tweaks:
Office 2003: Out2k3 Dis_AttachBlock
Office 2007: Out2k7 Dis_AttachBlock

Close Outlook.
Download and run.
Run Outlook.

Office: How to change the Office Serial / Key after installation

Use the following Scripts to force Office to pop-up a wizard for replacing your serial.
you can use this method to fix the the Office Genuine Update warnings by replacing the bad serial with a new genuine one.

Close all running Office Applications, Download and run the script.
Office 2003: ReplaceOfficeSerial2003
Office 2007: ReplaceOfficeSerial2007
Afterwards, open an Office application, like word, and a wizard will come-up asking for a serial.
Note: you can use this method manually for different products from the Office family (like Visio, Publisher etc.) just open RegEdit and goto:
"HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office\{Office GUID}\Registration\"
then delete the "DigitalProductID" and the "ProductID" values.

It works like magic!

Outlook: How to minize Outlook to the system tray

This tweak will make Outlook minimize itself to a small icon in the system tray notification area instead of the taskbar.
Download and run this: MinToTrayOutlook.reg

This tweak will affect Outlook 2002/2003.

Office: How to disable the annoying Clipboard Manager in the SysTray

Use the following Registry tweak to disable this useless feature of Office.
Download and run: DisableClipboardMgr.reg

Note: this tweak will affect Office versions 2000/2002/2003
You might need to Restart the machine for the tweak to take effect.