Permanently Block Dangerous Sites

Hello everyone! It's me - Creastery™ 2009, posting here again.
Today, I am going to teach you how to block sites that you do not want to visit.
Example, advertisements and also sites that have auto pop-ups.
This is available for Windows and Mac operating systems.

For Windows:

Windows XP = C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC
Windows 2K = C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC
Windows 98\ME = C:\WINDOWS

Whichever applicable, open the file "hosts" with any editor. Eg: Notepad.
* Add the following on its own line in the hosts file, using the sites that apply to you:

You will see something like this below:

# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the localhost, you can add on like this.

127.0.0.1 localhost facebook.com youtube.com blogger.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Remember to leave a space between each website. After you are done, save and quit.

For Mac Operating System,
In Finder, from the Go menu, choose "Go to folder." then type "/etc/".
At the /etc/ folder window, open the "hosts" file in a text editor.
Add the following to the hosts file in its own line, using the site that applies to you:
127.0.0.1 metafilter.com flickr.com facebook.com blogger.com
That is just an example.

After you are done, save and quit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By right, if you use any of those servers above available,
you should get a "Server Not Found" error. This will be effective if you put virus websites, spam sites like www.funbox.com, all these will be blocked.

That's all folks for today! Please comment on tech as we need comments to improve on the tech guide. Don't hesitate to ask any questions. Thanks!
By - WinTechpedia™ 2009 Contributors

Microsoft Powertoys - Virtual Destop Manager

Hi all, this is Creastery™ 2009 here posting here again. Before we start, please be warned that what I am going to share is only for Windows Xp Users.

I know that I have not talk about what I have promised in my earlier posts...I need to find time to prepare...

Note to all: We merely to write this blog to share information. If you encounter problems, please consult us but we would not hold responsibility if there is any damage to your computer.

Before you continue, ask these questions to yourself..
Do you like to have more workspace on your computer?
Do you like to multi-task when using the computer?

If the answers are yes..please continue reading.
If not, take note that this post is not really suitable for you.

Well..Is that possible and without virus? YES!
With the release of Microsoft Powertoys - Virtual Destop Manager, it is made possible.

Okay...back to topic. As the title says, I am going to talk about having multiple Virtual Destops.
Note before you continue, PowerToys only work with U.S. English regional settings.

With this program, you can manage up to four desktops from the Windows taskbar!
Click here to download (This is officially made by Microsoft)

After the download, run the executable file. Then choose the complete installation and then install. After the done message, it has completed.

Now, do a right click on the taskbar (The above picture shows an example of the toolbar.)
Select the options toolbars, now click Destop Manager. Now you are all done.
Let me explain the icons on the toolbar. (By right you should see something like the picture below.)

You can see the shortform (MSVDM)--Allows you to go to configuration faster.
You see a green button -- That's for viewing all 4 stations (default)
Then you see 4 buttons with 1,2,3,4 respectively -- They are the work station's number.
You can always change the wallpaper settings by selecting MSVDM settings to configure.
Also, you can change the shortcut keys.

That's all folks for today! Please comment on tech as we need comments to improve on the tech guide. Don't hesitate to ask any questions. Thanks!
By - Freedomstar & Creastery™ 2009

Techpedia Daily 2: Speed up Windows XP Explorer

Welcome to Techpedia Daily 2, the second of the daily tips and tricks for your computer.

Microsoft Windows is the most popular operating system, therefore, most of us probably use it. Tired of waiting every few seconds for the next folder to load and also having your whole system freeze because Windows Explorer consumed all your system resources? Here are a few tips to speed up Windows Explorer in Windows XP (Windows NT 5.1).

1. Disable Automatic Network Drive Searching

Whenever you load Explorer, you may notice a slight lag. This is because Windows XP, by default, searches for files in network drives (network files) and printers every time Explorer opens. This is quite unnecessary as it causes everything to slow down and many of us might not even have any network files. Disabling it is really simple.
Simply go to Folder Options which is accessible from Tools --> Folder Options. Then click on the View Tab. In the Advanced Settings box, uncheck the box that corresponds to "Automatically search for network folders and printers." Then click OK or Apply and reboot your computer. Your Explorer browsing should be faster (especially on low resource computers). Click on the above screenshot to enlarge.

This also works in Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me).
2. Limit the number of details on the details view

Viewing in Details mode is useful because it gives you lots of information about each file and folder in one place. However, Windows needs to look up this data each time and depending on your computer, this might slow it down. You can easily disable what you don't need.
In all Windows NT systems, when in details view, right click on the column names and you will get a list of column options. Uncheck what you don't need. This can speed this up slightly especially for low resource computers.

3. Disable Thumbnail Previews (Advanced)

In Windows XP (as well as later systems), a file thumbnail isn't just the file type icon, but a preview of the image. In XP, Windows Picture and Fax Viewer makes this possible.
However, there is a way to disable the previews, which will disable Windows Picture and Fax Viewer completely although Microsoft doesn't make it easy here. There are two methods: A command, or a registry modification. Try the command first and only try the registry if it doens't work. Both ways should work. End explorer.exe and start it if necessary.

Command Line Version: (Run --> cmd)
Run the following command in Command Prompt: regsvr32 /u shimgvw.dll
This will disable Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, therefore disabling the thumbnails.

To reverse these steps, simply run the command: regsvr32 shimgvw.dll
This will reable Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, therefore enabling the thumbnails.

Registry Modifications: (Run --> regedit)
This is slightly more advanced. Do back up your registry before doing this.

-Expand the keys (folders) to the following:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\image\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers\ShellImagePreview
-On the (Default) key, double click it and clear the value so the value goes blank.

-To reverse this, go back to the same key and double click on (Default) and enter the following for the Value Data: {e84fda7c-1d6a-45f6-b725-cb260c236066} Enter exactly that including the brackets.
These 3 steps will make your Windows Explorer browsing a lot faster. However, if you have plenty of RAM and other resources to spare and want to keep some nice eye candy and visual effects, re-enable the last one.

There are much much more methods to speed up your XP, which will be included in a future issue. These were methods to speed up Windows Explorer in XP. I hope this has been helpful.

Want to suggest something that you want published? As always, you can contact me through the Digsby widget to the right, leaving a comment in the comments section, or sending an email to techpedia.mail@gmail.com. Feedback is always welcome.