May 5, 2017

Here Are 12 Computer Tricks That Every CS Student and IT Person Must Know

With the increase in technology, use of a computer which was a luxury once upon a time became a necessity. In the present situation of Tech world, there is no wonder if anyone says that computer is an essential part of a human. Though you may be using the computer for many days, most probably there would be many things which were unknown to you. Here are some tips and tricks that every user must know.

#1. Change windows password without knowing the existing password

You can change the password without knowing the existing password. But this trick works only when your PC was logged in.

step1: Right click on computer and select manage

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step2: Go to Local users and Groups option and then click on users. You can see the list of users.

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step3: Right click on the user whose password you want to change and then select set password

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step4: click on proceed on the pop-up window

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step5: Enter the new password and click on Ok.

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#2. Block Websites

You can block some websites from opening on your computer using this trick.

step1:  Type this %windir%\system32\drivers\etc in run (WIN + R)

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or navigate to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc

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step2:  open notepad from start menu by typing notepad and running it as an administrator and then Open the hosts file by navigating to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc.

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step3: Now if you want to block a site. say facebook or google for an example. Then type these lines.

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From the next time, the above sites will not open in your browser. To unblock, remove the above lines from the notepad (Note: This trick will work if your browser is not open.If your browser is open then close the browser and restart it.)

#3. Website redirecting

For example, if someone wants to open facebook but you want them to be redirected to google. Then use this simple trick.

step1: Firstly know the IP address of the google by typing tracert google.com in cmd.

step2: Type the google address along with facebook.com in the hosts opened from notepad. (from the above trick)

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You will be redirected to facebook.com if you try to open google.com. To remove redirecting remove the above lines from notepad.

#4. Boost Your Broadband Speed

Though the broadband speed depends on various external factors, you can improve the internal factors by this simple trick.

step1: open cmd in administrator mode and type netsh int tcp show global and then press enter

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step2: Now change the TCP parameters. Open notepad and type these commands

cd\

netsh int tcp show global

netsh int tcp set global chimney=enabled

netsh int tcp set heuristics disabled

netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=normal

netsh int tcp set global congestionprovider=ctcp

step3: save the file as Speedbooster.bat

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step4: Run speedbooster.bat in administrator mode. You can notice 30-35% increase in the speed

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To reset TCP global parameters to default values Type these in notepad

cd\

netsh int tcp show global

netsh int tcp set global chimney=default

netsh int tcp set heuristics enabled

netsh int tcp set global congestionprovider=none

and save it as say Reset.bat to reset the TCP global parameters to their respective default values.
Run it as an administrator.

#5. Faster Internet by combining two different networks

If you have two network providers, for example, an ethernet and an USB dongle, then you can avail additional benefit by using network bridge.

step1: Press WIN + R keys and type “ncpa.cpl”.

step2: Select the two network drivers from the window.

step3: Right click and select BRIDGE CONNECTIONS.

step4: You will have an additive speed of these connections.

#6. Go to Task manager

Go to Task manager directly by pressing ctrl+shift+Esc instead of ctrl+alt+del

#7. Encrypting files and folders

step1: Right click on the file/folder and click on the properties at the bottom.

step2: click on advanced.

step3: tick on Encrypt contents to secure data option

step4: click ok and apply

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You can access it and modify it anytime. But other users cannot access it. You can copy this files to a USB drive but you cannot view in other PC. You can view only when you know the encryption password of your PC.

#8. Create Undeletable and Unrenamable Folders

Create a folder with keywords like con, aux, lpt1, lpt2, lpt3, lpt4, lpt5, lpt6, lpt7, lpt8 and lpt9 as the name. But you cannot rename or create directly with the keyword as the name. So, follow this simple trick.

step1: Go to run and type cmd

step2: In the Command Prompt , type the name of the drive you wish to create your folder in the format <drive-name>: and press Enter. e.g. If you wish to create the undeletable folder in D drive, type “D:” without the quotes. Folder cannot be created in the root of C: drive (if C: is your system drive).

step3: Type this command- “md con\” or “md lpt1\” without the quotes and press Enter. Any of the keywords can be used.

Deleting the Folder: Folder cannot be deleted manually, you can delete the folder by typing “rd con\” or “rd lpt1\” in Step 3 instead of “md con\” or “md lpt1\”.

#9. Disable the recent Document history

step1: Go to run and type regedit and then press enter to open registry editor

step2:  Go to “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer”

step3: Create a NoRecentDocsHistory D_WORD key [Right Click® New ®DWORD (32- Bit) Value] .

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step4: Set the Data Value to 1 to enable the restriction with hexadecimal and then click ok. Restart the computer.

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To enable recent document history, go to “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer”. and delete “NoRecentDocsHistory” file that you have created and restart your computer.

#10. Add Mouse Friendly Checkboxes to icons.

No need of holding control button to select multiple files simply use checkboxes by selecting icon check boxes from view.

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#11.  Know the details of your Internet Connection

Go to command prompt from the run and type  ipconfig/ all for all the details like IP address, DNS server address etc. about your Internet connection.

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Also Know, if your neighbors are using your WiFi connection

step1: Open your browser and visit http://192.168.1.1 or http://192.168.0.1
step2: Go to the “Attached Devices” tab
step3: Find the computer name, IP address and MAC Address of your computer using the previous trick.
step4: Compare it with those displayed by your router.

#12. Access blocked websites by using IP address

If any of the site you want to open was blocked in the browser, then go to the required site by searching the site with an IP address.

For IP address of a site, ping the website domain name in the Command Prompt in Windows

About the author 

Imran Uddin


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