Disable a user from logging off Windows

In order to make sure that a user always shuts down the Windows instead of logging off, you can disable the logging off options from the Windows. By disabling the logging off options, a user can either switch the user, or will have to shut down the system. He/she will not be able to log off the system, but will be able to shutdown the system.

In order to remove the logging off option from the Window, you'll have to remove the "Log Off" from the start menu and from the Task Manager as well.

1. Remove Log Off option from Task Manager

In order to remove the "log off " menu option from the Task Manager's menu, do as follows:

1. Open Group Policy Editor (Start->Run->"gpedit.msc")
2. On the left go to, User Configuration->Administrative Templates->System->Ctrl+Alt+Del Options.
3. On the right, Enable this setting "Remove Logoff". (see figure below)

This setting does not let the user log off the system by using any method, including programs run from the command line, such as scripts. It also disables or removes all menu items and buttons that log the user off the system except from the Start Menu.

2. Remove Log Off from the Start Menu

To remove the log off button from the Start Menu, do as follows:

1. Open Group Policy Editor (Start->Run->"gpedit.msc")
2. On the left go to, User Configuration->Administrative Templates->Start Menu and Taskbar.
3. On the right, Enable this setting "Remove Logoff on the Start Menu". (see figure below)

If you enable this setting, the Log Off item does not appear in the Start menu. This setting also removes the Display Logoff item from Start Menu Options. As a result, users cannot restore the Log Off item to the Start Menu.


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Disable Highlight for Newly Installed Programs

Are you tired of looking at that annoying little window which pop up to tell you that a new program is installed? And if it gets in the way whenever you try to log off or shut down the system, then you can turn it off completely.

To stop it from popping up every time you install a new application, do this:

1. Go to Task Bar's properties. (Right click the Task Bar and click Properties from the menu)
2. Click on the Start Menu tab.
3. Click on Customize.
4. Click on the Advanced tab.
5. Uncheck the setting "Highlight the newly installed programs".
6. Click Ok and then click OK again.

Now, that annoying pop up is gone until you revert back the setting.

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Copy from Command Prompt & paste to Clipboard EASILY

It's a pain if you need to copy some text from the Windows XP command prompt and save it in clipboard or any other text editor such as Notepad. You'll need to use the command prompt system menu's edit menu and use the mark and copy commands.

A better alternative is to use the clip command utility available from Windows Server 2003. This command line utility also works in Windows XP Pro. All you need to do is copy the clip.EXE from Windows\System32 folder from Windows 2003 system and paste it in Windows\System32 folder.

What if you don't have access to Windows 2003 system? In that case you can download the clip.EXE from here.

Clip.EXE Usage

In order to use you can use the pipe (|) from the command line and clip command. For example, If you want to copy the folder listing into the clipboard, simply type

dir | clip

in the command line and the folder listing will be copied to the clipboard. Now all you got to do is paste in it Notepad or anywhere else. Sweet and Simple.

Note: It also works in Windows XP Home & Windows Vista (Business).

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Automatically End Task of Hung application in Windows XP

The following registry hack allows for automatically killing a task if it becomes unresponding. This is a quite useful trick since every now and then some application does become un-responding.

Make sure to back up ur registry before trying to edit the registry. Follow the procedure:

Start Registry Editor. (Start->run->"regedit")

• On the left, navigate to,

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

• Create a new DWORD entry or alter the value, named "AutoEndTasks" and set its value as 1.


• Create a new DWORD entry or alter the value, named "HungAppTimeout" and set its value as 1000.


• Create a new DWORD entry or alter the value, named "WaitToKillAppTimeout" and set its value as 1.


• Exit registry editor.

Now every time an application becomes un-resposnding it will automatically be killed.
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Encrypt Folders with Folder Encryption

Data Protection is of a crucial significance today. Your computer contains a lot of files and folders which you would definitely want to protect from others. If your computer is accessible to others, then there is a chance that the data may be exposed to unwanted eyes and may even get deleted accidentally. Folder Encryption is a free utility which can be used to protect your folders from unwanted access.

This small piece requires no installation. Just download it and run it, select the folder which you want to lock and select the password for it. Now whenever you want to access the folder, you will require the password else it will not open. No one will be able to delete or copy it also unless the password is provided.

The best thing is that it is free and is around 366 Kb only.

Download Folder Encryption

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New form of Image verification is coming soon

Image verification process is not new to netters. The irritating, ugly distorted texts may be history soon. Microsoft is researching on the Image verification technology (also called 'Human Interactive Proofs'). The problem with the existing technology is that, it is getting old and hackers are starting to tweak their codes to fool the HIPs.

So, how the future HIP may look? May be like this:


Yes, you may be asked to identify the object. Cats and dogs will be appearing in online registration forms soon.

Again, hackers may soon find a way to by-pass this kitten technique (!?!) if the system doesn't have enough number of images to rotate (may be a million)

The research is not going to end there. They may be showing us small video clips as HIP!

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