1. Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) – This organization is responsible for co-ordination of IP addressing, DNS Root, and other Internet Protocol resources throughout the world. IANA also maintains a list of those IP addresses that are to be used for network administration-related tasks only and may not be assigned to any user.
2. Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) – IETF is a vast, open to all, international community consisting of network designers, vendors, researchers, and operators who are concerned about the smooth running of the internet. Any interested individual is free to join IETF.
3. World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) – This organization develops interoperable technologies (including software, tools, guidelines and specifications) that help lead the internet to its maximum potential. W3C is an open-to-all forum for communication, information, commerce, and collective understanding.
4. Internet Society (ISOC) – ISOC is an independently operating, international organization that provides internet related education, standards, and policy worldwide. This non-profit organization was established in 1992 and is still functional.
5. Internet Architecture Board (IAB) – IAB is chartered under two different organizations. On one hand, it is a constituent committee of the IETF. On the other hand, IAB also functions as an advisory body for ISOC. The responsibilities of IAB include oversight and appeal of Internet Standards Process, architectural oversight of IETF activities, and deciding on the appointment of the Editor of RFC (a memorandum called Request for Comments, published by IETF).
6. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) – WIPO is a specialized agency under the United Nations. WIPO works in a dedicated manner towards developing an easily accessible and balanced international intellectual property system. The system rewards individuals whose works display creativity, stimulate innovation and that contribute towards economic development. At the same time, however, the works must also safeguard public interest.
7. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) – This organization co-ordinates the names and IP addresses used by people using internet around the world. Formed in 1998 as a non-profit, public-benefit organization, ICANN has a direct role to play in the evolution of the internet.

These organizations act as forerunners among those dedicated towards making internet a safer place for everyone around the world.

1. Viruses – Computer viruses have always been the cause for alarm among PC users. Viruses work in different ways; some can slow down your PC to a crawl, others can wipe out data from your hard drive, corrupt system files and generally wreck havoc on your PC. Viruses are very dangerous, and you should always install some good antivirus software on your PC and keep it updated regularly. Scan your PC with this regularly to make sure that it is free from viruses.
2. Worms – These are not anywhere near viruses in danger factor, but can be pretty annoying. These malicious bits of software can stay resident in the memory, thereby slowing down your PC, sapping away RAM, interfering with the speed of your internet connection, and what not. What’s worse is that these often have a nasty habit of sending e-mails to every contact in your address book. Not a good thing. However, a good quality antivirus will be able to keep most worms at bay.
3. Spyware – These are small bits of malicious software that usually infiltrate your PC through certain websites. These usually get installed without user intervention, which means that you will not even know when your PC is getting infected by a spyware, unless you receive a intrusion warning message from your antivirus or firewall. Spywares can be dangerous when these enter your PC, because these can act as keyloggers, tapping into your key presses and sending information about those through the internet to the people who created the spyware in the first place.
4. Malware – These are similar to spyware, in that these often have similar ways of working. The main difference is that these usually pose a very innocent face up front, so in most cases, you will be installing these programs inadvertently in your PC.

Your PC has to withstand many attacks in the form of one or more of these threats on a regular basis, whenever you are connected to the internet. Keep a good firewall and antivirus installed in your PC, to make sure that the dangerous denizens of the Internet leave your PC alone.

However, the scenario has changed a little bit with the release of Windows XP. The MS-Office™ package and some other products from Microsoft have followed the way of the Mac, saving data about the application which was used to create a file, within the file itself. Even if the file has been transferred from other PCs, which did not have XP installed, MS-Office™ will still try to identify the file type by analyzing the structure of the file. If it finds a match, then MS-Office™ will try to use that application to open the file.

You can try it out yourself, if you have Windows XP loaded in your PC. Do the following:

1. Start Microsoft Word™.
2. Type some text.
3. Save the file someplace where you can access it easily. Desktop is a good option. Make the extension something weird, like .uke, or .ihf, or something like that.
4. Now go to My Computer.
5. Click on Tools > Folder Options.
6. In the window, choose the tab “View”.
7. Scroll down to the option “Hide file extensions for known file types”.
8. Uncheck the box next to the option and click on the Apply button at the bottom of the window.
9. Click OK.
10. Now go to your Desktop.
11. Right click the file that you saved with MS-Word™.
12. Choose the option “Rename” from the pop up menu and remove the extension .doc from the file.
13. Windows XP will ask whether you really want to do that. Click Yes.
14. Now double click on the file, and voila! MS-Word™ will open up the file and display the contents. Even after you reboot the PC, the same thing will happen.

This process can be extremely helpful if you are dealing with a file having an unknown extension. Try this process in Windows XP before you resort to other, more complex measures in order to open the file.

Hiberfil.sys is created by Windows if you keep Hibernation mode enabled in your PC. When you put your PC in hibernate mode, Windows stores a snapshot of the contents stored in RAM, which will be used later to bring Windows out of hibernation next time you turn it on. This file can be deleted if you do not wish to put your PC ever in hibernate mode. You will have to turn off ‘Hibernate’ option before you can delete Hiberfil.sys. Here’s how you can do it in Windows XP:

1. Open Control Panel via the Start Menu.
2. Click on Power Options, and in the window that opens, select the Hibernate tab.
3. Uncheck the box named ‘Enable Hibernation’.
4. You should be able to delete the file Hiberfil.sys now.

In Windows Vista, the procedure is markedly different. You have to use the Command prompt after logging in as an administrator, in order to disable Hibernation. Once you have logged in, do the following:

1. Click on the Start button, then on “All Programs”, and finally on “Accessories”.
2. Right click on the item called “Command Prompt”, and click on the option “Run as Administrator”. If any queries about UAC pop up, simply click OK on all of those.
3. In the command prompt type the command: powercfg.exe /hibernate off and press Enter.
4. The command prompt window should flash once, and you should find yourself back at the prompt.
5. Type the command: exit at the prompt and press Enter.
6. Hibernation should be turned off now, and the file Hiberfil.sys should be automatically deleted by Windows.

Pagefile.sys is a file that is created by Windows when it runs for the first time after installation. The size of the file is typically set to 1.5 times the amount of RAM in the PC. Windows and also some third party applications need this file in order to function normally, so deleting it is definitely not recommended. If you delete this file, Windows may stop working altogether. However, if you have really high amount of RAM in your PC (in excess of 4 GB), you may risk turning off the page file altogether. In order to do that, do the following:

1. Right click on My Computer, and choose Properties from the pop up menu.
2. Select the tab named Advanced, and click on the button named Settings in the Performance section.
3. Select the tab named Advanced.
4. Under the section named Virtual Memory, click on the button named Change and then choose the option “No paging file”.
5. Click on the button “Set”, and click on OK in any dialog box that may pop up asking you to confirm your choices.
6. Click on Apply, and then on OK.

Your page file should be turned off now and the file named Pagefile.sys should be automatically deleted. If you face any difficulty in running Windows® after this, simply come back to the same spot and turn the page file back on.

In Event Viewer, you can see a record of every error that has occurred since you installed or reinstalled your operating system the last time. The errors are logged date-wise and time-wise, and can be sorted for easy access. You can double click on any error message to see details about it in a separate window that pops up.

You can access the event viewer in many different ways in Windows XP. The easiest way is through the Command Prompt. Here’s how you do it:

1. Click on Start button, and then on Run.
2. In the box named Open, type “eventvwr.msc” (without the quotes) and hit Enter. The Event Viewer will open.

You can also access Event Viewer through the Control Panel. Here’s how:

1. Click on Start button, then on Control Panel.
2. In the Control Panel window, double click on the item named Administrative Tools.
3. You will find Event Viewer among the items in the list that opens.

In case of Windows XP, you can simplify access to Event Viewer through a small configuration. Here’s how you can go about doing that:

1. Right click on Start button, and choose Properties.
2. Select the tab named Start Menu (if it is not already selected).
3. Click on the button named Customize.
4. Click on the tab named Advanced.
5. In the box named Start Menu Items, scroll down to the list till you come to the item named Administrative Tools.
6. Select the option named Display on the All Programs menu.
7. Click on OK.
8. Now, click on Apply and then on OK.

The Event Viewer is a very useful tool for system administrators, who can use it to find out the various errors the system has encountered over time. This is one of the best diagnostic tools available to users of Windows XP.

If you are a Windows user, however, you are in a fix. What to do? Well, you could always call up or send an e-mail to the person who sent you the file in the first place, asking him/ her to clarify the source software of the file, so that you can open it. If that is not the case, then you will have to put it upon luck. However, you can try the following solution:

1. First, make sure that you can see the extension of all files. In order to display known file extensions, open Windows Explorer and click on Tools > Folder Options, located in the top menu.
2. Choose the tab “View” in the window.
3. Uncheck the box next to the setting “Hide extensions for known file types”.
4. Click on Apply, and then on OK.
5. The changes will take effect immediately. You do not have to close the Explorer or reboot your system.

Now, you will be able to see the extensions of all files. Read the name of the file carefully. If the filename corresponds to any topic that you recognize, try to guess in which application it was created, like a word processor, spreadsheet, or presentation creator. If it was sent from your workplace, then it could have been created using an office application.

Try to rename the file by right clicking on the file and choosing the “Rename” option from the pop up menu. Add an extension and see whether you are able to open the file. Assuming that you have MS-Office™ installed in your PC, .doc, .xls, and .ppt (.docx, .xlsx, and .pptx if you use MS-Office 2007) would be the most likely suspects. Other likely extensions to try would be .dat, .avi, .mp3, and .wma. Unfortunately, trial and error will be your only way of finding out the application that can open a file, unless you can contact the creator.

That is something you can do with a software utility named Pixelcryptor. This utility allows you to encrypt data by embedding it into a picture. Here’s how you can use this effective, easy to use utility:

1. Download the tool by running a Google search. It is available on a website named codegazer.com.
2. Download the setup program and run it. The program will be installed. Launch the program and you will see a start screen.
3. Start by clicking on the Encode icon on the start screen. It looks like a sealed folder having a padlock placed on it. This will create a new empty package in which you can place your files to start encrypting those.
4. In the next screen, click on Add File or Add Folder to put files into the empty package.
5. Select the files by browsing for those, and click on OK to add files to the package.
6. In the next step, click on the box located at the center of the window.
7. Browse your hard disk for a suitable image. Preferably, choose a large sized, detailed photo or a complex image.
8. Select the image of your choice. Click Open. Remember which image you used to encrypt the data. Never change, delete, or lose the original image that you used.
9. Click on Next.
10. Click on the small icon named Browse located on the left of the box of the destination file.
11. Enter the file name and save the file.
12. Wait for a while and watch the animation that plays, while your file is being encrypted by Pixelcryptor.
13. Once the process is over, click on Finished.

That’s it. Now your selected data files will be encrypted with the image that you selected. Simply send the image to someone else and have complete peace of mind knowing that your data is safe from hackers and worms alike.

Nero Drivespeed is one great utility that can significantly cut down the sound of your CD/DVD drives. Previously, Nero would provide it with its burning software, but now this nifty little tool is available for free. However, as with any other free software, there are no guarantees as to how well it will work on your PC. Here’s how you can use this tool:

1. Download Drivespeed by doing a Google search for the tool. It is usually available in the form of a compressed (zipped) file with the name NeroDriveSpeed_300.zip. Download the tool to some place where you can easily locate it. Desktop would be a good idea.
2. Extract the executable of Drivespeed from the zipped file. Install the tool on your PC.
3. If you do not have any older version of Drivespeed installed in your PC, then your job will be much easier. However, if you have an older version in your PC that installed along with Nero burning software, then you may have to go through little trouble. Anyway, for now, just start the executable.
4. A dialog box will open, and you will see two buttons in it, namely, Silent and Fast.
5. Clicking on the Silent button will lower the noise level of the drive after a few seconds. Pressing the Fast button will increase drive speed, but may increase the noise level considerably.

If you have older versions of Drivespeed installed in your PC, you will not get the Silent and Fast buttons. In that case, you may have to configure the drive speed manually. Lower the drive speed than what it is now, and see if there is any difference in the noise level. If it gets lowered, then check for performance issues. If you see that the performance is at par with your requirements, then your experimentation is successful. Close the window and enjoy a quieter experience. If the performance level is degraded after you lower drive speed, then bring it back up, one notch at a time. When you feel that you have achieved a balance between speed and noise level of the CD/DVD drive, stop there.

Malwares have evolved greatly over the years, with each new generation being more harmful than the preceding one. The first generation malwares bordered on the threshold of being “innocently annoying”, and were mere pranks pulled by intelligent kids. These malwares would reach your PC through an attachment with an absolutely innocent-looking e-mail. When you clicked on the attachment, the malware would launch, sending a copy of the same e-mail to every person in your address book. Suffice to say, the creators of these had no other malicious intent than to simply fill up your e-mail storage space. Even the earliest antivirus solutions, such as FPROT, could stop these malwares dead in their tracks.

The next generation was more sinister in its motive. The motto of the creators had been altered from simply getting some fun to earning truckloads of cash. This was the time of birth of quite a few companies, which are often looked upon by many as the first organizations to propagate spyware in an “official” manner. Those were dark days for PC users who connected their PCs to the internet and stared at the screen with an expression of abject horror, as dozens of pop up ads appearing every 5 minutes or so made working on the internet nigh impossible. What’s worse, some of the notable antivirus producers admitted their inability to track and intercept the signatures of most of these malwares.

The PC users in present time are often plagued by third generation malwares, which have evolved from being “mildly annoying” to “severely damaging” varieties, thanks largely to the hackers and rogue programmers having superior technology literally at their fingertips. Malwares now target specific information stored within the hard drive of the PCs that these infect. The information is mostly of the sensitive kind, with special attention towards information related to credit cards, that you might have stored in your PC.

The most dangerous fact about present generation of malwares is that these are often undetectable by antivirus software. Special spyware and malware removal tools are required to clean your PC once these malicious programs infect it. Keep a malware removal tool installed in your PC and update it regularly. Scan your PC at least once a week with these tools to make sure that you are safe from these dangerous “netizens”.

The process of log on automation in Windows XP involves considerable amount of registry editing, so remember to take a backup of your registry before doing anything. Be careful not to make mistakes during the procedure either. Mistakes made in registry editing here can render your entire operating system installation unbootable.

Ready? Now for the actual process, carefully follow the instructions given below:

1. Click on the Start button, and then on Run.
2. In the dialog box named Open, type Regedit and hit the Enter key.
3. Expand the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
4. Navigate to the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
5. Click on the entry WinLogon on the left pane.
6. On the right pane, you will see the contents of the key. Double click on the entry named DefaultUserName.
7. In the text box named Value data, type your username. Click on OK.
8. Now double click on the entry named DefaultPassword.
9. Type your password in the text box named Value data, and hit Enter.
10. Now located an entry named AutoAdminLogon. Double click on it.
11. Change the value of the entry from 0 to 1.
12. Exit the registry and reboot your PC.

The DefaultPassword entry may not always exist. If it is not there when you get to step number 8 above, then you will have to create it. Here’s how:

1. Right click any empty area and choose the option New >> String Value.
2. You will see a new entry created at the bottom of the pane. Give its name as DefaultPassword and hit Enter key.
3. Now, double click the newly created entry as described above in step 8 onwards and assign the password.

Once you reboot your PC, Windows will automatically logon at startup, eliminating the need to do so manually each time you boot up your PC.

CAB files can contain almost any type of data, including textual data, program code, and images. When installed as part of a program, CAB files may contain the code necessary to run the program properly. If one or more CAB files of a program get corrupted, the program may not run at all.

You cannot extract files stored inside a CAB file by simply double clicking the file. In order to open CAB files, you need to use some third party utilities. These utilities can help you to open CAB files or to extract files stored within those. However, if you modify any file while those are still inside the CAB file, then the CAB file might not function properly again. If you have to modify any file stored inside a CAB file, it is better to extract it first.

There are several third party utilities that you can use in order to open CAB files, or to extract files stored within those. Unshield, the utility that is used to create packages with InstallShield, can be used to open or extract CAB files. Winrar is another utility that can open or extract files stored within CAB files. However, it may not be able to open files stored in all types of CAB files.

CAB files can be opened under Windows operating system using Winrar or Unshield. In order to extract files stored within CAB files under Linux, you have to use a utility called cabextract. This utility was made by Stuart Caie, and has the ability to extract files from CAB files under Linux operating system. CAB files can be opened and the contents pf those can be extracted without much problem nowadays thanks to the advanced decompression utilities available. The only thing to look out for is that the CAB file does not get corrupted in the process.

However, if you do wish to play your M4P files in unprotected mode on your Windows Media Player, there are two ways of doing that. The first one involves ripping of the tracks in a slightly complex manner, while the second one involves the usage of third party software utility, named TuneClone.

If you are planning to rip the tracks, then do the following:

1. Put a blank CD/DVD in the CD/DVD Writer in your PC.
2. Burn the iTunes playlist onto the CD/DVD to make an Audio CD/DVD. Do not attempt to create an MP3 CD/DVD. You cannot directly create an MP3 disk using M4P files.
3. When the burning is complete, take the disk out of your drive and then re-insert it into the drive.
4. Use Windows Media Player or the iTunes software to import the tracks you burned on the disk as WMA or MP3 files.

In this way, you can get DRM-free MP3 or WMA tracks on your PC from your iTunes player. However, if you have purchased a great deal of music from the iTunes store, then this process may be quite time consuming. In that case, you can use the TuneClone software to directly convert your collections of M4P files to MP3 format. TuneClone M4p to MP3 converter is a software utility that creates a virtual CD-ROM drive on your computer. This virtual drive allows you to remove the DRM protection from M4P audio files without wasting actual CD/DVD disks. Here’s how you do it:

1. Create a playlist in iTunes with the tracks you wish to extract.
2. Launch TuneClone and click on the tab “Settings”. Specify the output folder, format of the output file (WMA or MP3), for the output files.
3. Now in iTunes, click on the button “Burn Disk”.
4. In the window “Burn Settings”, Select the setting “TuneClone Virtual CD-RW” from the drop down menu called “CD Burner”. Select the option “Audio CD”, and check the option “Include CD Text”.
5. Click “Burn”.
6. Once the burning is complete, click on the “Folder” tab on the TuneClone manager screen to locate the outputs folder.

That’s it. You’re done and your M4P collection is all ready for you to listen to on your Windows Media Player without the hassles of copy protection.

If you still need more info, you can click here to see how to convert m4p to mp3.

Leave alone floppies, even CD/DVD may seem like having inadequate capacity. Consider that an ordinary, single-layer DVD has around 4.5 GB of available space. So, in order to back up an 80 GB hard drive, you would need around 18-20 DVDs. Just imagine the amount of money you would have to spend, each time you backed up your hard disk. This is certainly not an economically feasible solution, especially if you need to make frequent backups. Thankfully, there are many alternative options at your disposal in this regard. These include:

1. External hard disk: This is one of the most reliable and relatively inexpensive backup systems for your hard disk. The USB hard disks last a long time when stored carefully, and there are several good backup tools available to carry out the procedure in a hassle free manner.
2. Online backup system: In this process, the backed up files will be stored in online servers, from where you can download those quickly in times of need.

Whichever process you choose, the procedure is similar. You will have to fire up the software that you are using for creating the backup first. Then, all you have to do is select the files that need to be in the backup. If you are backing up your entire hard disk, simply select that option and move on to the next step.

If you are backing up your files through an online backup service, then the software will likely take over from here. However, you will have to wait for quite a long time, as the process of transferring of files will possibly take quite a while. However, if you are using a backup tool installed in your hard disk itself, then you will have to select your drives individually. Then simply choose to back up your files and you will be on your way.

There are various software utilities available that can greatly simplify your backup process. Acronis True Image™ is one of the best tools in this regard.

A boot disk contains some of the most essential files that Windows needs in order to boot up. These files can be in a floppy diskette or a CD, those will be effective in both cases. Some of the files are Kernel.sys, Msdos.sys, Io.sys, Command.com, and Drvspace.bin. The files that are needed to boot up the PC are Io.sys, Msdos.sys, and Command.com. Then you would also need the file FDisk.exe if you need to format the drive of the operating system.

You cannot simply copy the files needed to boot the PC into a diskette and use it as a boot disk. You need to follow a special procedure in order to create an emergency startup disk. If you have to install Windows operating system again, you will still need the original Windows setup discs. Boot disks will not be able to install Windows.

For all versions of Windows prior to Windows XP (Windows 95, 98, 2000 and ME), you can create an emergency startup disk in the following process:

1. Put an empty floppy diskette in the floppy drive.
2. Click on Start button and then on Run.
3. In the box named Open, type the command: format A: /s (where A is the drive letter of your floppy drive). The boot disk will be created shortly. Write protect the floppy and keep it safe from dust and moisture.
4. You cannot use CDs to create boot disks in this way.

In case of Windows XP, you do not have to create any CD-ROM boot disk at all. The Windows XP setup disc is itself a boot disk. You can use it to boot the PC directly by putting the CD in the drive and rebooting the PC. When the PC starts, you will get a message on the screen telling you to “Press any key to boot from CD”. Simply press Enter at this step and the PC will automatically boot from the CD.

These are the simple cases, where you know the source of the file and can figure out which application will be able to open it. However, things will be a little different, and a whole lot more complex when you do not know the source of a DAT file. Let us suppose you receive a DAT file from your friend in an e-mail. How will you know what type of a file it was? One solution would be to ask your friend which application was used to create this file, but if that is not known even to him/ her, then you will be in a bit of trouble.

Guessing the correct application that will open a DAT file of unknown origin can be a bit tricky. If you do not know the source application that created the file, you can try the following approach:

1. Right click on the file and choose “Open”.
2. In the box that pops up, select the option “Open With”. This box may or may not appear. If it doesn’t, then follow the instructions from Step 3 onwards.
3. In the next box, select the option “Select the program from a list”.
4. Click on OK.
5. In the next window, select the program which you think will open the file. Just make a guess. The safest option is notepad. Do not check the box which says, “Always use the selected program to open this kind of file.”
6. Click on Open.

Notepad will open almost any file. Once the file is open, look through it. There is a chance that you will find a lot of garbage characters and garbled text in it and not much more. Still, you can try to guess the type of the file from the characters that you are able to see.

If you still cannot figure out the type of the file, then keep on trying with the multimedia, word processing and office applications installed in your PC. One of those should be open the file. Follow the process described above.