Vista upgrade invalidates your XP key

If you choose to purchase an upgrade version of Windows Vista to upgrade XP, you will no longer be able to use that version of XP. Either on another system, or as a dual-boot option. The key will be invalidated, preventing activation. I wonder why Microsoft is changing it's EULA.
Does this prevent me from uninstalling Vista and reinstalling XP? HUM!!

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Free Computer Vulnerability Tests

Free Computer Vulnerability Tests
These services test whether your computer is open for attacks from other computers connected to the Internet through a process called 'port scan'.

You can protect your computer against these attacks through a firewall.

Broadband Port scanInstant online security analysis of your computer through a Java applet which runs in your browser.

Shields Up!Shields Up! tests your computer for vulnerabilities from outside attacks through the Internet. You do not need to install anything.

Free Antivirus Software & Online Scanners

Free Virus Scanners
Virus scanners operate by searching your harddisk(s) for files which might be infected
by a virus. This method is never 100% secure, since only known viruses (or known virus patterns) are detected.
If an infection has been detected in a certain file, the virus scanner might be able to clean the file,
but very often this is not the case. In that case, you can try another scanner to clean the file, you can try to
replace the file or - as a last resort - delete it.

However, if many important operating system files are affected, it might be the best solution to reformat the harddisk
and install the operating system from scratch.

There are even viruses can not be cleaned by mere hard-disk reformatting.
E.g. so-called boot-viruses infect the boot-sector of disks, and will very often not be removed by
simply reformatting the harddisk. In this case you will need to repair the boot-sector, a good utility for this
can be found in Norton Utilities (not free).

Antidote Super Lite versionFreeware lite version of the commercial Antidote program.
It utilizes the same virus database as the commercial version.

Avast!Anti-virus program for Windows. The home edition is freeware for noncommercial users.

AVG Free editionFree edition of the AVG anti-virus program for Windows and Linux.

Avira AntivirFree anti-virus software for Windows, Linux, Free BSD and Solaris.
Detects and removes more than 50,000 viruses. Free support.

BitDefenderFreeware virus scanner for Linux.

Clam AVFreeware, GPL, Linux. Clam AntiVirus is a GPL anti-virus toolkit for UNIX. The main purpose of this software is the integration with mail
servers (attachment scanning). The package provides a flexible and scalable multi-threaded daemon,
a command line scanner, and a tool for automatic updating via Internet.

ClamWinFreeware, open-source anti-virus program for Windows.

Comodo Anti-VirusFree anti-virus program for Windows.

CyberhawkProtects against viruses, worms, trojans and other spyware, designed to be a complement to your current anti-virus software.
Cyberhawk is unique in the sense that it does not need to know anything about a virus before it can protect you against it.
This is because Cyberhawk looks at the behaviour of an infected program (instead of the contents of the infected file).

The basic version is free.


FProtFree anti-virus software for Linux, FreeBSD and DOS (personal use). Evaluation version for Windows.

HandyBitsFree for personal use. Virus 'scanner integrator'.
After performing an auto-search for installed virus scanners, it will scan your files using all found installed virus scanners.
This can be useful, since some antiviral programs are good for one type of viruses, other programs for other viruses.

Paypal hacking

Here's a nice tutorial on it. PayPal Hacking.

Back Up Your Gmail

Take my advice and back up your gmail account up. Here is the steps I took.

1. Read Google’s Help document on POP access to your Gmail account.
   
2. Configure an account on your mail client for your gmail account. - IMPORTANT- Build a separate account. If you’re using Outlook, make sure this is a standalone PST file. If you’re using mail.app or Thunderbird, make sure this is a standalone account.
   
3. Do the sync between gmail and your client. NOTE: This will probably take a while. If you’ve got a fairly healthy gmail account with lots of archived mail, you will be at this step for hours. So, disable your computer’s sleep setting, but enable the screensaver if you want, and let it do its thing.
   
4. When it’s all there, turn off your mail client.
   
5. Locate your mail client’s file for the gmail mails.
   
6. Consider moving these (or making a copy) offline to a backup drive. In my case, I’m going to clip off a current update from today, and toss that entire file to my backup drive. Then, I’ll delete the account on my POP mail client, and go about my business.
   
7. Schedule your updates periodically with Google Calendar (provided THAT doesn’t encounter a whoops).

MySpace / Website Goodies

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Change the Background of your Browser Toolbar

XP Professional

1. Click Start > Run > Type gpedit.msc
2. Click User Configuration > Windows Setting > Internet Explorer Maintenance > Browser User Interface
3. Double click on Browser Toolbar Customization
4. Click on Customize Toolbar Background Bitmap
5. Browse for the new Background

XP Home Edition

1. Click Start > Run, type: regedit
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar
3. Right click on an empty spot and create a new string value
4. Name it BackBitmapIE5
5. Doubleclick on BackBitmapIE5 and type in the path of your toolbar bitmap
6. Click OK and close regedit
(always backup before making any changes in the registry)

Change Internet Explorer Title Bar

1. Open regedit navigate to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main

2. Change (or create) the value of the string Window Title to whatever you want on the titlebar of Internet Explorer - to have no title except the title of the web pages you are browsing do not enter anything for a value.

Disable XP Boot Logo

To disable the XP splash screen to slightly speed up the overall boot process.
1. Edit boot.ini
2. Add " /noguiboot" right after "/fastdetect".
(or check the /noguiboot switch in msconfig on the boot.ini tab)Upon restarting, the splash screen will be gone. It can be re-enabled by removing the new switch.