Delete Files From The Recent File List In Windows

This tip requires a change to the Windows Registry. Please see the MSFN Guide "Backup Your Registry" if you are new to the Windows Registry.

Windows Media Player (WMP) is a built-in application that allows you to play multimedia files. Like many other applications, WMP remembers the most recently played files and displays them in the Recent File List under the File menu. This feature is useful if you regularly play certain files, but you may want to clear the list if you share the computer and a user account or create archives and CDs.

There are two ways you can clear the list:

I. The ClearMRU.exe Utility is available for free in the Windows Media Player Bonus Pack from Microsoft, but Microsoft does not support this tool.

II. You can also manually delete the list through the Windows Registry:

1. Start the Windows Registry Editor, regedit.exe, by typing regedit in the Windows Run Command Line.

2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Player\RecentFileList.

3. Delete the RecentFileList subkey.

4. If you've also streamed content from the Internet, you can delete the RecentURLList subkey.

5. Exit the Registry Editor.

6. Restart the computer.

To keep certain files in the list, don't delete the entire key. Deleting individual entries within the key will get rid of the files that you no longer want in the Recent File List.

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Digital Camera Guide

Digital Camera Guide

So, it's time for a digital camera huh? Well, buying one can be more than a little difficult. What types of features should you look for? Well, this guide will tell you that plus get you a little more familiar with what these cameras are capable of.

Megapixels
When it comes to megapixels, the more the better. I recommend a minimum of 2, but 3 or 4 is great. We did a test to see if a camera with 2.3 megapixels (actually 1.92 - 1600 x 1200) could produce a good quality 8x10.

Turns out it can, if you have the right paper and printer. We used HP Premium Plus photo paper with an HP 970 series printer and made a fantastic 8 x 10. Remember, I was a professional photographer before I got into computing, so I know a good print when I see it :-)

The resolution at 8x10 (we had to crop in to make the picture proportional to 8x10) was only 150 DPI. Most printers would not make a real good 8x10 at that resolution, but this one did. So, if you want to be sure you can get good 8 x 10s, you may want to go with a 3 megapixel camera or better (that gives you around 200 DPI at 8x10 size, still not quite the optimum 300 DPI, but it looks good with the right printer).


Optical vs Digital Zoom
You've probably noticed that most digital cameras have both a specification for digital and optical zoom. Pay the most attention to the optical zoom.

The optical zoom magnifies (zooms in) using glass. The digital zoom basically crops out the edge of the picture to make the subject appear closer, causing you to lose resolution or to get an interpolated resolution (i.e. the camera adds pixels). Neither of which help image quality.

Finally, make sure you get enough (optical) zoom. A 2x zoom isn't going to do much for you. A 3x is the average you'll find in most digital cameras will probably be good for most uses. More on lenses later.


Connection
How does the camera connect to your computer? If you have a USB port in your computer, you'll want a camera that can connect via USB as opposed to a slow serial connection.

On the other hand, if your computer doesn't have a USB port, is there a serial connector available for the camera you're looking at? If so, is it a special order and how long does it take to get it?


Storage
What does the camera use to store images with? If it uses a memory stick, make sure you consider buying additional sticks when you get your camera. A typical 8 meg memory stick that comes with a 2 megapixel camera only holds 5 or 6 images at the camera's best quality.

Some cameras use a 3.5 inch disk for storage. Be careful of these!
Although it may sound like a good idea, a 3 megapixel camera at high resolution produces a 1 meg file (compressed!). That's only 1 picture per disk.


Here's a few more things to look out for when trying to make your digital camera purchase.

Picture Formats
When you're trying to decide on which digital camera to get, check and see how many different picture formats it supports.

You want something that can produce both uncompressed (usually TIFF) and compressed (usually JPEG) images. I personally use the high quality JPEG setting on my camera for most of my shooting. TIFFs are just too big and the difference in quality is not ascertainable by mere mortals.

You also want to be able to shoot at a lower resolution than the camera's maximum. That way, If you're running short on memory, you can squeeze a few more shots on your memory stick.


Auxiliary Lens / Flash
This was a biggie for me. While a 3x zoom may work for the "average" user, I needed something that allowed me to do some wide angle work as well as have a good telephoto lens.

So, the camera I purchased a few months back was a Nikon Coolpix 990 (note that this isn't the only camera that can accept lenses). It has auxiliary lenses that screw into the filter ring on the front of the lens. I now have an ultra-wide fisheye lens plus a nice telephoto.

In addition to lenses, I wanted a good flash. The flash that is built into most of these cameras gives you a top range of 15-20 feet - at best. I wanted a camera that could take a powerful auxiliary flash (again, the Nikon isn't the only camera that fits this requirement, but I liked it better than the rest). If you need more reach than the small built in flash can deliver, then make sure you can attach an external flash to any camera you consider.

As an added bonus, if you get a camera that can take an external flash, you can place that flash on a bracket and eliminate red-eye.


Flash Distance
Speaking of flashes, make sure you check the distance the built in flash is good for. You don't want a camera with a wimpy flash that only travels a few feet (well, unless you can get an external flash for it as described above).


Battery Type
This may not sound important, but it is. Anyone who owns a digital camera can tell you they eat batteries the way a sumo wrestler eats at a buffet.

Make sure the camera can run on regular (or rechargeable) "AA" type batteries. You don't want a camera that eats through expensive lithium batteries every 10 shots or so.

One thing to remember about digital cameras, they do eat through batteries. I recommend getting some Nickel Metal Hydride rechargeable for it. I have some for mine and they have saved me a fortune.


Final Notes
Choosing a digital camera isn't easy. There's a huge selection out there and only you can determine which features you need.

For instance, if you shoot wildlife photos, a small 3x zoom probably isn't going to cut it (unless you can attach auxiliary lenses to it). If you shoot lots of close-ups, make sure the camera has some sort of macro capability. If you shoot big group photos indoors, an external flash may be necessary.

My advice is to make a list of things you want to be able to do with the camera then go to somewhere that can help you make a good purchase decision.

Finally, buy the BEST camera you can possibly afford. Or wait until the price drops on one with the type of features you want.

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Delete An "undeletable" File

Delete An "undeletable" File

Open a Command Prompt window and leave it open.
Close all open programs.
Click Start, Run and enter TASKMGR.EXE
Go to the Processes tab and End Process on Explorer.exe.
Leave Task Manager open.
Go back to the Command Prompt window and change to the directory the AVI (or other undeletable file) is located in.
At the command prompt type DEL <filename> where <filename> is the file you wish to delete.
Go back to Task Manager, click File, New Task and enter EXPLORER.EXE to restart the GUI shell.
Close Task Manager.


Or you can try this

Open Notepad.exe

Click File>Save As..>

locate the folder where ur undeletable file is

Choose 'All files' from the file type box

click once on the file u wanna delete so its name appears in the 'filename' box

put a " at the start and end of the filename
(the filename should have the extension of the undeletable file so it will overwrite it)

click save,

It should ask u to overwrite the existing file, choose yes and u can delete it as normal


Here's a manual way of doing it. I'll take this off once you put into your first post zain.

1. Start
2. Run
3. Type: command
4. To move into a directory type: cd c:\*** (The stars stand for your folder)
5. If you cannot access the folder because it has spaces for example Program Files or Kazaa Lite folder you have to do the following. instead of typing in the full folder name only take the first 6 letters then put a ~ and then 1 without spaces. Example: cd c:\progra~1\kazaal~1
6. Once your in the folder the non-deletable file it in type in dir - a list will come up with everything inside.
7. Now to delete the file type in del ***.bmp, txt, jpg, avi, etc... And if the file name has spaces you would use the special 1st 6 letters followed by a ~ and a 1 rule. Example: if your file name was bad file.bmp you would type once in the specific folder thorugh command, del badfil~1.bmp and your file should be gone. Make sure to type in the correct extension.

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Debug, Learn how crack windows

ebug: Learn how to crack windows, programs ect manually




Debug is a program that comes with modern versions of DOS (I do not know when I started shipping out with DOS). Anyway, all Windows users should have it already.

It's a great tool for debuging programs, unassembling and cracking, and reading "hidden" memory areas like the boot sector, and much more.

The following was copied from an assembly tutorial who's author we cannot credit, because we have no idea who he is.

Get into DOS and type "debug", you will get a prompt like this:
-

now type "?", you should get the following response:
assemble A [address]
compare C range address
dump D [range]
enter E address [list]
fill F range list
go G [=address] [addresses]
hex H value1 value2
input I port
load L [address] [drive] [firstsector] [number]
move M range address
name N [pathname] [arglist]
output O port byte
proceed P [=address] [number]
quit Q
register R [register]
search S range list
trace T [=address] [value]
unassemble U [range]
write W [address] [drive] [firstsector] [number]
allocate expanded memory XA [#pages]
deallocate expanded memory XD [handle]
map expanded memory pages XM [Lpage] [Ppage] [handle]
display expanded memory status XS

Lets go through each of these commands:
Assemble:

-a
107A:0100

At this point you can start assembling some programs, just like using a assembler. However the debug assembler is very limited as you will probably notice. Lets try to enter a simple program:

-a
107A:0100 MOV AH,02
107A:0102 MOV DL,41
107A:0104 INT 21
107A:0106 INT 20
-g
A

Program terminated normally

That's the same program we did at the end of the previous chapter. Notice how you run the program you just entered with "g", and also notice how the set-up part is not there? That's because debug is just too limited to support that.
Another thing you can do with assemble is specify the address at which you want to start, by default this is 0100 since that's where all .COM files start.
Compare:

Compare takes 2 block of memory and displays them side by side, byte for byte. Lets do an example. Quite out of debug if you haven't already using "q". Now type "debug c:\command.com"

-c 0100 l 8 0200
10A3:0100 7A 06 10A3:0200

This command compared offset 0100 with 0200 for a length of 8 bytes. Debug responded with the location that was DIFFERENT. If 2 locations were the same, debug would just omit them, if all are the same debug would simply return to the prompt without any response.
Dump:

Dump will dump a specified memory segment. To test it, code that assembly program again:

C:\>debug
-a
107A:0100 MOV AH,02
107A:0102 MOV DL,41
107A:0104 INT 21
107A:0106 INT 20
-d 0100 l 8
107A:0100 B4 02 B2 41 CD 21 CD 20
...A.!.

The "B4 02 B2 41 CD 21 CD 20" is the program you just made in machine language.

B4 02 = MOV AH,02
B2 41 = MOV DL,41
CD 21 = INT 21
CD 20 = INT 20

The "...A.!." part is your program in ASCII. The "." represent non-printable characters. Notice the A in there.
Enter:

This is one of the hard commands. With it you can enter/change certain memory areas. Lets change our program so that it prints a B instead of an A.
-e 0103 <-- edit program at segment 0103
107A:0103 41.42 <-- change 41 to 42
-g
B

Program terminated normally
-
Wasn't that amazing?
Fill:

This command is fairly useless, but who knows....
It fills the specified amount of memory with the specified data. Lets for example clear out all memory from segment 0100 to 0108, which happens to be our program.
-f 0100 l 8 0 <-- file offset 0100 for a length of 8 bytes with 0
-d 0100 l 8 <-- verify that it worked
107A:0100 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .......
Yep, it worked.
Go:

So far we used go (g) to start the program we just created. But Go can be used for much more. For example, lets say we want to execute a program at 107B:0100:
-r CS <-- set the CS register to point to 107B
CS 107A
:107B
-g =100

You can also set breakpoints.
-a <-- enter our original program so we have something
107A:0100 MOV AH,02 to work with
107A:0102 MOV DL,41
107A:0104 INT 21
107A:0106 INT 20
-g 102 <-- set up a break point at 107A:0102

At this point the program will stop, display all registers and the current instruction.
Hex:

This can be very useful. It subtracts and adds two hexadecimal values:
-h 2 1
0003 0001 <-- 2h + 1+ = 3h and 2h - 1h = 1h

This is very useful for calculating a programs length, as you will see later.
Input:

This is one of the more advanced commands, and I decided not to talk about it too much for now. It will read a byte of data from any of your computers I/O ports (keyboard, mouse, printer, etc).

-i 3FD
60
-

Your data may be different.
In case you want to know, 3FD is Com port 1, also known as First Asynchronous Adapter.
Load:

This command has 2 formats. It can be used to load the filename specified with the name command (n), or it can load a specific sector.

-n c:\command.com
-l

This will load command.com into debug. When a valid program is loaded all registers will be set up and ready to execute the program.
The other method is a bit more complicated, but potential also more usefull. The syntax is

L <address> <drive letter/> <sector> <amount to load>
-l 100 2 10 20

This will load starting at offset 0100 from drive C (0 = A, 1 = B, 2 = C, etc), sector 10h for 20h sectors. This can be useful for recovering files you deleted.
Move:

Move takes a byte from the starting address and moves it to the destination address. This is very good to temporary move data into a free area, than manipulate it without having to worry about affecting the original program. It is especially useful if used in conjunction with the r command to which I will get later. Lets try an example:
-a <-- enter our original program so we have something
107A:0100 MOV AH,02 to work with
107A:0102 MOV DL,41
107A:0104 INT 21
107A:0106 INT 20
-m 107A:0100 L 8 107B:0100 <-- more 8 bytes starting from 107A:0100 into 107B:0100
-e 107B:0103 <-- edit 107B:0103
107B:0103 41.42 <-- and change it 42 (
-d 107A:0100 L 8 <-- make sure it worked
107A:0100 B4 02 B2 41 CD 21 CD 20 ...A.!.
-d 107B:0100 L 8
107A:0100 B4 02 B2 42 CD 21 CD 20 ...B.!.
-m 107B:0100 L 8 107A:0100 <-- restore the original program since we like the changes.
Name:

This will set debug up with a filename to use for I/O commands. You have to include the file extension, and you may use addition commands:

-n c:\command.com
Output:

Exactly what you think it is. Output sends stuff to an I/O port. If you have an external modem with those cool lights on it, you can test this out. Find out what port your modem is on and use the corresponding hex number below:

Com 1 = 3F8 - 3FF (3DF for mine)
Com 2 = 2F8 - 2FF
Com 3 = ??? - ??? (if someone knows, please let me know)

Now turn on the DTA (Data Terminal Ready) bit by sending 01h to it:
-o XXX 1 <-- XXX is the com port in hex

As soon as you hit enter, take a look at your modem, you should see a light light up. You can have even more fun with the output command. Say someone put one of those BIOS passwords on "your" computer. Usually you'd have to take out the battery to get rid of it, but not anymore:

MI/AWARD BIOS
-o 70 17
-o 71 17

QPHOENIX BIOS
-o 70 FF
-o 71 17

QGENERIC
-o 70 2E
-o 71 FF

These commands will clear the BIOS memory, thus disabling the password.
Proceed:

Proceeds in the execution of a program, usually used together withy Trace, which I will cover later. Like the go command, you can specify an address from which to start

using =address
-p 2

Debug will respond with the registers and the current command to be executed.
Quite:

This has got to be the most advanced feature of debug, it exits debug!

-q
Register:

This command can be used to display the current value of all registers, or to manually set them. This is very useful for writing files as you will see later on.

-r AX
AX: 011B
:5
-
Search:

Another very useful command. It is used to find the occurrence of a specific byte, or series of bytes in a segment. The data to search for can by either characters, or a hex value. Hex values are entered with a space or comma in between them, and characters are enclosed with quotes (single or double). You can also search for hex and characters with the same string:
-n c:\command.com <-- load command.com so we have some data to search in
-l
-s 0 l 0 "MS-DOS" <-- search entire memory block for "MS-DOS"
10A3:39E9 <-- found the string in 10A3:39E9

NOTE: the search is case sensitive!
Trace:

This is a truly great feature of debug. It will trace through a program one instruction at a time, displaying the instruction and registers after each. Like the go command you can specify where to start executing from, and for how long.
-a <-- yes, this thing again
107A:0100 MOV AH,02
107A:0102 MOV DL,41
107A:0104 INT 21
107A:0106 INT 20
-t =0100 8

If you leave out the amount of instructions that you want to trace, you can use the proceed (p) to continue the execution as long as you want.
Unassemble:

Unassembles a block of code. Great for debugging (and cracking)
-u 100 L 8 <-- unassembles 8 bytes starting at offset 100
107A:0100 MOV AH,02 <-- debut's response
107A:0102 MOV DL,41
107A:0104 INT 21
107A:0106 INT 20
Write:

This command works very similar to Load. It also has 2 ways it can operate: using name, and by specifying an exact location. Refer to back to Load for more information.

NOTE: The register CX must be set the file size in order to write!
NOTE: Write will not write .EXE or .HEX files.[SIZE=7][SIZE=14]

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Data Capacity of CDs [Tutorial]

Data Capacity of CDs [Tutorial]

Abstract
You can fit on a S/VCD without overburning:
- approx. 735 MB of MPEG data onto a 74min/650MB disc
- approx. 795 MB of MPEG data onto an 80min/700MB disc

You can fit on a CD-ROM without overburning:
- approx. 650 MB of data onto a 74min/650MB disc
- approx. 703 MB of data onto an 80min/700MB disc

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Introduction
Let us ignore for now the terms of megabyte for CD capacity and try to understand how the data is stored on a CD.

As well all know, the data is stored digitally as binary data. This means, however the actual information is actually kept on the disc, this information is in the form of "1"s and "0"s. Physically, the information on a CD is as pits on a thin sheet of metal (aluminium).

An a CD-R disc, the data is physically on an organic dye layer which simulates the metal layer on a real pressed CD.

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How is the information structured
Now, on the CD, the information isn't just organised from beginning to end willy-nilly. Otherwise, it would be really hard to find a useful piece of information on the CD.

Rather, the information is organised in sectors. Consider a sector as like a page in a book. Just like you are able to quickly find something in a book if you know the page number, you can quickly find something on a CD if you know the sector number.

Now, remember that the CD was original made to hold audio data. It was decided, that the CD would would 75 sectors per second of audio. Although I cannot guess where this number comes from, it is quite appropriate for the audio CD. It means that you can "seek" an audio CD accurately to 1/75th of a second -- which is more than enough for consumer purposes.

Now, with this in mind, we can work out the total data capacity of user data for 1 sector.

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The total data capacity of user data of 1 sector on a CD
CD audio uses uncompressed PCM stereo audio, 16-bit resolution sampled at 44.1 kHz.

Thus 1 second of audio contains:
16 bits/channel * 2 channels * 44100 samples/second * 1 second
= 1411200 bits
= 176400 bytes

Since there are 75 sectors per second
1 sector
= 176400 bytes / 75
= 2352 bytes

One sector on a CD contains 2352 bytes max.

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The concept of different MODES and FORMS of burning
Now, audio CD was well and good, but the medium would become much more useful if you could store other data on the disc as well. This became to be know as CD-ROM of course.

Now, the audio-CD uses the ENTIRE sector for audio data.

However, for CD-ROMs this caused a problem. Simply, CDs and the CD reading mechanisms were not 100% faultless. That is, errors (indeed frequent errors) could be made during the reading. For audio CDs, this does not matter as much as you could simply interpolate from the adjacent audio samples. This will obviously NOT DO for data CDs. A single bit error could lead to a program being unexecutable or ruin an achive file.

Thus, for CD-ROMs, part of each sector is devoted to error correction codes and error detection codes. The CD-R FAQ has the details, but in effect, only 2048 bytes out of a total of 2352 bytes in each sector is available for user data on a data CD.

This burning mode is either MODE1 or MODE2 Form1.

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MODE2 Form2 sectors of VCDs and SVCDs
Now, for VCDs and SVCDs, the video tracks do not necessarily require the robust error correction as normal data on a CD-ROM. However, there is still some overhead per sector that is used for something other than video data (e.g., sync headers).

S/VCDs video tracks are burnt in what is called MODE2 Form2 sectors. In this mode, only 2324 bytes out of a total of 2352 bytes in each sector is available for user data.

This is MUCH MORE than for CD-ROMs, but still less per sector than audio CD.

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The disc capacities of CD-ROMs, audio-CDs and VCDs
Now, obviously what ultimately determines the capacity of a disc is the total number of sectors it contains. This is similar to the total number of pages in a blank exercise book (if you recall the book analogy).

The secondary determinant is the burning mode of the disc.

For audio CDs, it is as if you could fill each page from top to bottom with audio data as the entire sector is used for audio data.

For CD-ROMs, it is as if you need to first rule a margin and then leave the bottom part of each page for footnotes (headers + ECC + EDC). The amount of text you can actually write per page is then less due to these other constraints.

For S/VCDs, we still need to rule a margin on the page, but we don't have to worry about the footnotes (headers). We can fit MORE text than a CD-ROM, but less than an audio-CD.

Now remember, 1 second on a CD = 75 sectors.

Thus:
- 74 min CD = 333,000 sectors
- 80 min CD = 360,000 sectors


Data capacity in Mb for an audio-CD
74 min
= 333,000 sectors * 2352 bytes / sector
= 783216000 bytes
= 746.9 Mb

80 min
= 360,000 sectors * 2352 bytes / sector
= 846720000 bytes
= 807.5 Mb


Data capacity in Mb for a CD-ROM
74 min
= 333,000 sectors * 2048 bytes / sector
= 681984000 bytes
= 650.4 Mb

80 min
= 360,000 sectors * 2048 bytes / sector
= 737280000 bytes
= 703.1 Mb


Data capacity in Mb for a S/VCD
74 min
= 333,000 sectors * 2324 bytes / sector
= 773892000 bytes
= 738.0 Mb

80 min
= 360,000 sectors * 2324 bytes / sector
= 836640000 bytes
= 797.9 Mb

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Conclusions
As you can see, the often quoted capacities of 650MB and 700MB refer to CD-ROM capacities.

Due to the fact that S/VCDs use a different burning mode where MORE of each sector is available as user data, the relatively capacities are HIGHER.

Now, since S/VCDs are not composed of PURELY video tracks and have some unavoidable overheads, the actually total capacity left for video tracks is a few Mb less for each disc (about 735 Mb for 74min discs and 795 Mb for 80min discs). This is where the often quoted capacities of 740MB and 800MB come from. They are quite accurate.

All these capacities are available BEFORE overburning. Overburning is where you burn MORE sectors than the disc is rated for. If you overburn, you can typically achieve about 1-2 minutes of additional capacity (depending on your drive and media).

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