TechExpertBlog

This script is useful when dealing with a large volume of filename extensions. This script renames all files in a directory and its subdirectories with an ‘extension’ of sorts with the description of the file type. Other search techniques and batch renamers can then look after restoring these to common three letter extensions.

ren.sh

t="/tmp/ren"
find -type f > "$t"
while read record[n]
do
mv "${record[n]}" "${record[n]}.$(file -b "${record[n]}")"
let "n+=1"
done < "$t"
rm "$t"

then, for example, to correctly name all JPG files run (the complete list of files is too large to embed every option), where "JPG" begins the description and "jpg" is the new extension:

find -name "*.JPG" -print0 | xargs -0 rename .JPG .jpg

Follow the below instructions to generate a CSR for your Web site. When you have completed generating your CSR, cut/copy and paste it into the CSR field on the SSL certificate-request page.

CSR-Generation Instructions
To generate a triple-DES encrypted key pair and a Certificate Signing Request (CSR):

Enter the following commands:

1. cd /usr/bin/ (/your path to openssl/)
   Enter a passphrase when prompted to.
2. openssl genrsa -des3 -out <name of your certificate>.key 1024
3. openssl req -new -key <name of your certificate>.key -out <name of your certificate>.csr

Please enter the information as prompted. If you are requesting a Wildcard certificate, please add an asterisk (*) on the left side of the Common Name (e.g., "*.domainnamegoes.com" or "www*.domainnamegoeshere.com"). This will secure all subdomains of the Common Name.

Now you should have:
domain.com.key and domain.com.csr

Make a backup copy of your private key! If you lose it, you have to purchase a new cert!

You should NOT generate the RSA private key with a passphrase if you have scripts that restart apache automatically. If you have, then apache just sit there and wait for the script to input the passphrase! 

There is a method that you can disable the passphrase to prompt when you restart apache.

# mv MYdomain.com.key MYdomain.com.key.has-passphrase
# openssl rsa -in MYdomain.com.key.has-passphrase -out MYdomain.com.key

And then restart apache.

To ensure your SSL works, you should have something like this in your httpd.conf

<VirtualHost 123.456.789.123:443>
… some config like DocumentRoot , etc..
SSLEngine  on
SSLCertificateFile /etc/httpd/conf/ssl.crt/MYdomain.com.crt
SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/httpd/conf/ssl.key/MYdomain.com.key
</VirtualHost>

 

Setting up a subdomain with PLESK is easy. Just click the Subdomins icon and click the Add New Subdomain. The subdomain entry will be added to the DNS setting if it’s not exist.

However, in other cases, you may encouter problems with subdomain. For example, you have have forgotten you check one of the options, you may want to remove one of the option or the IP address of the web site has been changed. Though the subdomain folder has created properly, you will see the default page telling you the subdomain is not setting up properly when you access http://subdomain.domain.com,

You can fix this by

/usr/local/psa/admin/bin/websrvmng –reconfigure-vhost –vhost-name=domain.com

the path of the executable may be vary depending on the system.

Packt Publishing today announced that Drupal has won the Overall 2007 Open Source CMS Award. With 18,000 votes on Packt’s website, coupled with the expert opinions from a panel of judges, Drupal succeeds Joomla! as the overall winner.

Initially released in 2001, Drupal is one of the most downloaded Open Source Content Management Systems with one of the most enthusiastic and committed communities. "This is a great honor for the Drupal community and the thousands of individual developers who’ve contributed to the project" confirms Drupal developer and core contributor Jeff Eaton. "We’ve worked hard to make Drupal as flexible, as scalable, and as accessible as possible. It’s a great week for all of Open Source; the winners in every category have shown that OSS can produce powerful solutions for a wide range of needs" he concludes.

Winners in the other final categories include:

• Most Promising: MODx
• Best Open Source PHP: Joomla!
• Best non PHP Open Source CMS: mojoPortal
• Best Social Networking: WordPress

The Awards were designed to recognize and reward Open Source CMS’s for their consistently high standards in what is an extremely competitive field. The result of this year’s Award confirms this quality and also suggests that there isn’t necessarily one CMS that is the best, more that there is the best one to fit an individual user’s needs and requirements.   

Full results of the Overall 2007 Open Source CMS Award 

 

Add OpenWith to all files Backup/Restore the Registry Lockout unwanted Users Customize the System Tray Changing Windows’ Icons Change Registered User Change Registered Owner Add/Remove Sound Events Open a DOS Window to a folder Change Exchange/Outlook Mailbox Add Apps to Right Click Add Explore to all Folders Creating a Logon Banner Creating a Default File Opener Changing the Tips of the Day Automatic Screen Refresh Disable Password Caching Removing Items from NEW Recycle Bin Edits Disabling My Computer Changing Desktop Icons Turn Off Window Animation Change/add restriction and features Change Keyboard layout

Making Telnets window larger Multiple Columns For the Start Menu Change Default Folder Locations Disabling Drives in My Computer Disable the Outlook Express Splash Screen Change Location of Windows Installation Files Change the caption on the Title Bar for Outlook Change the caption on the Title Bar on I.E. Clearing the Documents Menu Automatically Disabling the Right-Click on the Start Button Opening the Explorer from My Computer Setting the Minimum Password Length Add\Delete programs to run on boot up Removing the Shortcut Icon Arrows Changing your Modem’s Initialization String Increasing the Modem Timeout Clear Apps from Add/Remove The Fix For Grayed Out Boxes Adding Items to the Start Button Change the MaxMTU for faster Downloads Remove Open, Explore & Find from Start Menu More Protection for system files Delete Registry Keys from Command Line

Backup / Restore the Registry

To Backup/Restore the Windows Registry: Windows 9x For XP 2000 click here

1. If you are in MSDOS, at the C:\Windows prompt type
2. Attrib -s -r -h C:\Windows\System.dat (press Enter)
3. Attrib -s -r -h C:\Windows\User.dat (press Enter)

To make the backup copies type:

1. copy C:\Windows\System.dat C:\Windows\System.000 (press Enter)
2. copy C:\Windows\User.dat C:\Windows\user.000 (press Enter)

To Restore the Registry

1. copy C:\Windows\System.000 C:\Windows\System.dat (press Enter)
2. copy C:\Windows\User.000 C:\Windows\user.dat (press Enter)

Add Open With to all files

You can add "Open With…" to the Right click context menu of all files.This is great for when you have several programs you want to open the same file types with. I use three different text editors so I added it to the ".txt" key.

1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\Shell
3. Add a new Key named "OpenWith" by right clicking the "Shell" Key and selecting new
4. Set the (Default) to "Op&en With…"
5. Add a new Key named "Command" by right clicking the "OpenWith" Key and selecting new
6. Set the (Default) to "C:\Windows\rundll32.exe shell32.dll,OpenAs_RunDLL %1", C:\ being your Windows drive. You must enter the "OpenAs_RunDLL %1" exactly this way.

Customize the System Tray

You can add your name or anything you like that consists of 8 characters or less. This will replace the AM or PM next to the system time. But you can corrupt some trial licenses of software that you may have downloaded.

1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\International
3. Add two new String values, "s1159" and "s2359"
4. Right click the new value name and modify. Enter anything you like up to 8 characters.

If you enter two different values when modifying, you can have the system tray display the two different values in the AM and PM.

Lock Out Unwanted Users

Want to keep people from accessing Windows, even as the default user? If you do not have a domain do not attempt this.

1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Network\Logon
3. Create a dword value "MustBeValidated"
4. Set the value to 1
This forced logon can be bypassed in Safe Mode on Windows 9x

Disable the Outlook Express Splash Screen

You can make OutLook Express load quicker by disabling the splash screen:

1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\OutLook Express
3. Add a string value "NoSplash"
4. Set the value data to 1 as a Dword value

Multiple Columns For the Start Menu

To make Windows use multiple Start Menu Columns instead of a single scrolling column, like Windows 9x had, Also if you are using Classic Mode in XP

1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to the key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ Advanced
3. Create a string value "StartMenuScrollPrograms"
4. Right click the new string value and select modify
5. Set the value to "FALSE"

Changing Windows’ Icons

You can change the Icons Windows uses for folders, the Start Menu, opened and closed folder in the Explorer, and many more.

1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ Shell Icons
3. Add a string value for each Icon you wish to change.
Example: "3" ="C:\Windows\Icons\MyIcon.ico,0" This will change the closed folders in the Explorer to "MyIcon.ico". Here is a complete list for each value.

0= Unknown file type 1= MSN file types 2= Applications Generic 3= Closed Folder 4= Open Folder 5= 5.25" Drive 6= 3.25" Drive 7= Removable Drive 8= Hard Drive 9= NetWork Drive 10= Network Drive Offline 11= CD-ROM Drive 12= RAM Drive 13= Entire Network

14= Network Hub 15= My Computer 16= Printer 17= Network Neighborhood 18= Network Workgroup 19= Start Menu’s Program Folders 20= Start Menu’s Documents 21= Start Menu’s Setting 22= Start Menu’s Find 23= Start Menu’s Help 24= Start Menu’s Run 25= Start Menu’s Suspend 26= Start Menu’s PC Undock 27= Start Menu’s Shutdown

28= Shared 29= Shortcut Arrow 30= (Unknown Overlay) 31= Recycle Bin Empty 32= Recycle Bin Full 33= Dial-up Network 34= DeskTop 35= Control Panel 36= Start Menu’s Programs 37= Printer Folder 38= Fonts Folder 39= Taskbar Icon 40= Audio CD

You need to reboot after making changes. You may need to delete the hidden file ShellIconCache if after rebooting the desired Icons are not displayed.

Change Default Folder Locations

You can change or delete the Windows mandatory locations of folder like My Documents:

1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ Shell Folders
3. Change the desired folder location, My Documents is normally list as "Personal"
4. Open the Explorer and rename or create the folder you wish.

To change the desired location of the Program Files folder
1. Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
2. Change the value of "ProgramFiles", or "ProgramFilesDir"
Now when you install a new program it will default to the new location you have selected.

Change the Registered Change the User Information

You can change the Registered Owner or Registered Organization to anything you want even after Windows is installed.

1) Open RegEdit
2) Got to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion.
3) Change the value of "RegisteredOrganization" or "RegisteredOwner", to what ever you want

Opening a DOS Window to either the Drive or Directory in Explorer

Add the following Registry Keys for a Directory:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\opennew
@="Dos Prompt in that Directory"

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\opennew\command
@="command.com /k cd %1"

Add or Edit the following Registry Keys for a Drive:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\opennew
@="Dos Prompt in that Drive"

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\opennew\command
@="command.com /k cd %1"

These will allow you to right click on either the drive or the directory and the option of starting the dos prompt will pop up.

Changing Exchange/Outlook Mailbox Location

To change the location of your mailbox for Exchange:
1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ Microsoft\Windows Messaging Subsystem\ Profiles
3. Go to the profile you want to change
4. Go to the value name that has the file location for your mailbox (*.PST) file
5. Make the change to file location or name

To change the location of your mailbox for Outlook
1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Outlook (or Outlook Express if Outlook Express)
3. Go to the section "Store Root"
4. Make the change to file location

Add/Remove Sound Events from Control Panel

You can Add and delete sounds events in the Control Panel. In order to do that:

1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps and HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Eventlabels. If this key does not exist you can create it and add events.
3. You can add/delete any items you want to or delete the ones you no longer want.

Adding an Application to the Right Click on Every Folder

Here is how to add any application to the Context Menu when you right click on any Folder. This way you do not have to always go to the Start Menu. When you right click on any folder, you can have access to that application, the same as using Sent To.

1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell
3. Add a new Key to the "Shell" Key and name it anything you like.
4. Give it a default value that will appear when you right click a folder, i.e. NewKey (use an "&" without the quotes, in front of any character and it will allow you to use the keyboard)
5. Click on the Key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\NewKey
6. Add a New Key named Command
7. Set the (Default) value of the application you want to run
8. For example: c:\program files\internet explorer\iexplore.exe (Include the full path and parameters if you need them)

Adding Explore From Here to Every Folder

When you want to right click on any folder and want to open up an Explorer window of that folder.

1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell
3. Add a new Key "RootExplore " under the "Shell" Key
4. Set the (Default) value to "E&xplore From Here "
5. Right Click the "RootExplore " Key and add a new Key "Command"to the RootExplore
6. Set the (Default) value of Explorer.exe /e,/root,/idlist,%i

Changing the Location of Windows’ Installation Files

If you need to change the drive and or path where Windows looks for its installation files:
1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Setup
3.Edit the value next to SourcePath

Creating a Logon Banner

If you want to create a  Logon Banner: A message box to appear below your logon on.

1.Open RegEdit
2.Go To
For Windows 9x and ME -
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Winlogon

For Windows 2000 XP 2003 Vista -
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Winlogon

3.Create a new String value"LegalNoticeCaption "
4. Enter the Title of the window. What is displayed in the Title Bar.
5. Create a new string value "LegalNoticeText"
6. Enter the text for your message box that will appear even before the Logon window.

Creating a Default File Opener

If you have a un-registered file type and want to view it instead of having to select Open With. Use Explorer’s Right-click and add your program to the right-click options by:
1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown\Shell
3. Right click on "Shell" and create a New Key and name it "Open "
4. Create a New Key under the "Open" key you just created and name it "Command"
5. Set the (Default) value to the path and filename of the program you want to use to open the file type
6. For example: C:\Windows\NOTEPAD.EXE %1
You must use the "%1" for this to work.and a space between the exe and the %1

Deleting Registry Keys from the Command Line

There are two ways to delete a key from the Registry from the Command line. At the Windows Command line:

RegEdit /l location of System.dat /R location of User.dat /D Registry key to delete
You cannot be in Windows at the time you use this switch.

Or you can create a reg file as such:
REGEDIT4

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\the key you want to delete]
Note the negative sign just behind the[
Then at the Command line type:
1. RegEdit C:\Windows\(name of the regfile).

Change/Add Restrictions And Features

If you want to make restrictions to what users can do or use on their computer without having to run Poledit, you can edit the Registry. You can add and delete Windows features in this Key shown below.

Zero is Off and the value 1 is On. Example: to Save Windows settings add or modify the value name NoSaveSettings to 0, if set to1 Windows will not save settings. And NoDeletePrinter set to 1 will prevent the user from deleting a printer.

The same key shows up at:
HKEY_USERS\(yourprofilename)\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Explorer so change it there also if you are using different profiles.

1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ CurrentVersion\ Policies
3.Go to the Explorer Key (Additional keys that can be created under Policies are System, Explorer, Network   and WinOldApp )
4.You can then add DWORD or binary values set to 1 in the appropriate keys for ON and 0 for off.
NoDeletePrinter - Disables Deletion of Printers
NoAddPrinter - Disables Addition of Printers
NoRun - Disables Run Command
NoSetFolders - Removes Folders from Settings on Start Menu
NoSetTaskbar - Removes Taskbar from Settings on Start Menu
NoFind - Removes the Find Command
NoDrives - Hides Drives in My Computers
NoNetHood - Hides the Network Neighborhood
NoDesktop - Hides all icons on the Desktop
NoClose - Disables Shutdown
NoSaveSettings - Don’t save settings on exit
DisableRegistryTools - Disable Registry Editing Tools
NoRecentDocsMenu - Hides the Documents shortcut at the Start button
NoRecentDocsHistory- Clears history of Documents
NoFileMenu _ Hides the Files Menu in Explorer
NoActiveDesktop - No Active Desktop
NoActiveDesktopChanges- No changes allowed
NoInternetIcon - No Internet Explorer Icon on the Desktop
NoFavoritesMenu - Hides the Favorites menu
NoChangeStartMenu _ Disables changes to the Start Menu
NoFolderOptions _ Hides the Folder Options in the Explorer
ClearRecentDocsOnExit - Empty the recent Docs folder on reboot
NoLogoff - Hides the Log Off …. in the Start Menu

And here are a few more you can play with
ShowInfoTip
NoTrayContextMenu
NoStartMenuSubFolders
NoWindowsUpdate
NoViewContextMenu
EnforceShellExtensionSecurity
LinkResolveIgnoreLinkInfo
NoDriveTypeAutoRun
NoStartBanner
NoSetActiveDesktop
EditLevel
NoNetConnectDisconnect
RestrictRun - Disables all exe programs except those listed in the RestrictRun subkey
This key has many other available keys, there is one to even hide the taskbar, one to hide the control panel and more. I’m not telling you how, as someone may want to play a trick on you. The policies key has a great deal of control over how and what program can run and how one can access what feature.

In the System key you can enter:
NoDispCPL - Disable Display Control Panel
NoDispBackgroundPage - Hide Background Page
NoDispScrSavPage - Hide Screen Saver Page
NoDispAppearancePage - Hide Appearance Page
NoDispSettingsPage - Hide Settings Page
NoSecCPL - Disable Password Control Panel
NoPwdPage - Hide Password Change Page
NoAdminPage - Hide Remote Administration Page
NoProfilePage - Hide User Profiles Page
NoDevMgrPage - Hide Device Manager Page
NoConfigPage - Hide Hardware Profiles Page
NoFileSysPage - Hide File System Button
NoVirtMemPage - Hide Virtual Memory Button

In the Network key you can enter:
NoNetSetup - Disable the Network Control Panel
NoNetSetupIDPage - Hide Identification Page
NoNetSetupSecurityPage - Hide Access Control Page
NoFileSharingControl - Disable File Sharing Controls
NoPrintSharing - Disable Print Sharing Controls

In the WinOldApp key you can enter:
Disabled - Disable MS-DOS Prompt
NoRealMode - Disables Single-Mode MS-DOS

Automatic Screen Refresh

When you make changes to your file system and use Explorer, the changes are not usually displayed until you press the F5 key
To refresh automatically:
1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Update
3. Set the value name "UpdateMode" to 1

Disable Password Caching

To disable password caching, which allows for the single Network login and eliminates the secondary Windows logon screen. Either use the same password or:

1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to the key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE \Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Network
3. Add a Dword value "DisablePwdCaching" and set the value to 1

Changing the MaxMTU for faster Downloads

There are four Internet settings that can be configured, you can get greater throughput (faster Internet downloads) by modifying a few settings.
They are the MaxMTU, MaxMSS and DefaultRcvWindow, and DefaultTTL

1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlset\ Services\ Class\ net\ 000x
(where x is your particular network adapter binding.)
3.Right click on the right panel
4.Select New\String Value and create the value name IPMTU
5.Double click on it and enter then the number you want. The usual change is to 576
6.Similarly, you can add IPMSS and give it a value of 536

(Windows 9X)You can set DefaultRcvWindow, and DefaultTTL by adding these string values to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ System\ CurrentControlset\ Services\ VXD\ MSTCP
Set the DefaultRcvWindow to"5840"and the DefaultTTL to "128"

Note: These settings will slow down your network access speed slightly, but you will probably not even see the difference if you are using a network card. If you are using Direct Cable you should see a sight difference.

Adding Items to the Start Button

To add items when you right-click on the Start Button:
1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Shell
3.Right-click on Shell and select New Key
4.Type in the name of the key and press the Enter key
5.In the Default name that shows in the right hand panel, you can add a title with a "&" character in front of the letter for a shortcut
6.Right-click on the key you just created and create another key under it called command
7.For the value of this command, enter the full path and program you want to execute
8.Now when you right click on the Start Button, your new program will be there.
9.For example, if you want Word to be added, you would add that as the first key, the default in the right panel would be &Word so when you right click on the Start Button, the W would be the Hot Key on your keyboard. The value of the key would be C:\Program Files\Office\Winword\Winword.exe

Remove Open, Explore & Find from Start Button

When you right click on the Start Button, you can select Open, Explore or Find.
Open shows your Programs folder. Explore starts the Explorer and allows access to all drives.
Find allows you to search and then run programs. In certain situations you might want to disable this feature.
To remove them:
1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Shell\Find
3.Delete Find
4.Scroll down below Directory to Folder
5.Expand this section under shell
6.Delete Explore and Open
Caution: - When you remove Open, you cannot open any folders.

Removing Items from NEW Context Menu

When you right-click on the desktop and select New, or use the File Menu item in the Explore and select New a list of default templates you can open up are listed.
To remove items from that list:
1. Open RegEdit
2. Do a Search for the string ShellNew in the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT Hive
3. Delete the ShellNew command key for the items you want to remove.

Changing Telnet Window

You can view more data if you increase the line count of Telnet. By Default it has a window size of 25 lines. To increase this so you can scroll back and look at a larger number on lines:
1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Telnet
3. Modify the value data of "Rows"

 Changing the Tips of the Day

You can edit the Tips of the day in the Registry by going to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ explorer\ Tips

Disabling Drives in My Computer

To turn off the display of local or networked drives when you click on My Computer:
1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Explorer
3.Add a New DWORD item and name it NoDrives
4.Give it a value of 3FFFFFF
5.Now when you click on My Computer, none of your drives will show.

Changing the caption on the Title Bar

Change the Caption on the Title Bar for OutLook Express or the Internet Explorer:
For Outlook Express:
1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\OutLook Express
For IE5 and up use:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\IDENTITIES \{9DDDACCO-38F2-11D6-93CA-812B1F3493B}\ SOFTWARE\ MICROSOFT\ OUTLOOK EXPRESS\5.0
3. Add a string value "WindowTitle" (no space)
4. Modify the value to what ever you like.

For no splash screen, add a dword value "NoSplash" set to 1
The Key {9DDDACCO-38F2-11D6-93CA-812B1F3493B} can be any key you find here. Each user has his own Key number.
The Key 5.0 is whatever version of IE you have

For Internet Explorer:
1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
3. Add a string value "Window Title" (use a space)
4. Modify the value to what ever you like.

Disabling the Right-Click on the Start Button

Normally, when you right button click on the Start button, it allows you to open your programs folder, the Explorer and run Find.
In situations where you don’t want to allow users to be able to do this in order to secure your computer.
1.Open RegEdit
2.Search for Desktop
3.This should bring you to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory
4.Expand this section
5.Under Shell is Find
6.Delete Find
7.Move down a little in the Registry to Folder
8.Expand this section and remove Explore and Open
Now when you right click on the Start button, nothing should happen.
You can delete only those items that you need.
Note: - On Microsoft keyboards, this also disables the Window-E (for Explorer) and Window-F
(for Find) keys.
See the section on Installation in the RESKIT to see how to do this automatically during an install.

Disabling My Computer

In areas where you are trying to restrict what users can do on the computer, it might be beneficial to disable the ability to click on My Computer and have access to the drives, control panel etc.
To disable this:
1.Open RegEdit
2.Search for 20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D
3.This should bring you to the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID section
4.Delete the entire section.
Now when you click on My Computer, nothing will happen.
You might want to export this section to a Registry file before deleting it just in case you want to enable it again. Or you can rename it to 20D0HideMyComputer4FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D. You can also hide all the Desktop Icons, see Change/Add restrictions.

Opening Explorer from My Computer

By default, when you click on the My Computer icon, you get a display of all your drives, the Control Panel etc. If you would like to have this open the Explorer:
1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\ {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\ Shell
3 . Add a new Key named "Open" if it does not exists by right clicking "Shell" and selecting new.
4. . Add a new Key named "Command" by right clicking "Open" and selecting new
5. Set the (Default) value for the Command Key to "Explorer.exe" or "C:\Windows\Explorer.exe"

Recycle Bin Edits

Fooling with the recycle bin. Why not make the icon context menu act like other icon context menus.
Add rename to the menu:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\ {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\ ShellFolder
"Attributes"=hex:50,01,00,20
Add delete to the menu:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\ {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\ ShellFolder
"Attributes"=hex:60,01,00,20
Add rename and delete to the menu:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\ {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} \ShellFolder
"Attributes"=hex:70,01,00,20
Restore the recycle bin to Windows defaults including un-deleting the icon after deletion:
Restore the icon.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows \CurrentVersion\ explorer\
Desktop\NameSpace\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
@="Recycle Bin"
Reset Windows defaults.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\ {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} \ShellFolder
"Attributes"=hex:40,01,00,20
Other edits to the recycle bin icon:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\ {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\ ShellFolder
"Attributes"=hex:40,01,01,20 … standard shortcut arrow
"Attributes"=hex:40,01,02,20 … a different shortcut arrow
"Attributes"=hex:40,01,04,20 … and still another shortcut arrow
"Attributes"=hex:40,01,08,20 … make it look disabled (like it’s been cut) 

For Windows XP and 2000 also edit HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ CLSID\ {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
For Windows ME also edit HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software\ Classes\ CLSID\ {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

Setting the Minimum Password Length

1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Network
3. Now, choose the Edit/New/Binary value command and call the new value MinPwdLen. Press Enter twice and Assign it a value equal to your minimum password length.

Add\delete programs to run every time Windows starts

You can start or stop programs from executing at boot up by adding or deleting them to/from the run Keys in the Registry. Windows loads programs to start in the following order; Program listed in the Local Machine hive, then the Current User hive, then theWin.ini Run= and Load = lines. then finally programs in your Start Up folder.

To add or remove programs in the Registry
1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to the desired Key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows \CurrentVersion \Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows \CurrentVersion \RunServices
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows \CurrentVersion \Run
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows \CurrentVersion \RunServices
3. Add a new String Value and name it anything you like
4. For the value data, enter the path and executable for the program you want to run.

By adding the value to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER hive instead allows the program to start only when that user is logged on.

If you add the value to the RunOnce key the program will run once and be removed from the key by Windows.

Removing the Shortcut Icon Arrows

1.Open RegEdit
2.Open the Key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
3.Open the Key LNKFILE
4.Delete the value IsShortcut
5.Open the next Key PIFFILE
6.Delete the value IsShortcut
7.Restart the Windows

Turn Off Window Animation

You can shut off the animation displayed when you minimize and maximize Windows.
1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control panel \Desktop\ WindowMetrics
3. Create a new string value "MinAnimate".
4. Set the value data of 0 for Off or 1 for On

Changing your Modem’s Initialization String

1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet \Services \Class \Modem \0000 \Init
3.Change the settings to the new values

Increasing the Modem Timeout

If your modem it is timing out during file transfers or loading Web Pages, you might try increasing the timeout period. To change the Time Out::
1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\ Services\ Class\ Modem\ XXXX\ Settings Where XXXX is the number of your modem
3. In the right panel and double click on Inactivity Timeout
4.The number of minutes for a timeout should be entered between the brackets.
5.For example, a setting could have S19=<10> to set it to 10 minutes.

Removing Programs from Control Panel’s Add/Remove Programs Section

If you uninstalled a program by deleting the files, it may still show up in the Add/Remove programs list in the Control Panel.
In order to remove it from the list.
1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Uninstall
3.Delete any programs here.
If you have a problem locating the desired program open each key and view the DisplayName value

The Fix for Grayed Out Boxes

The File Types tab in Explorer’s View / Options menu lets you edit most of your file types, but certain settings cannot be changed. The default action for a batch file, for instance, runs the batch file instead of opening it via Notepad or Wordpad. Thus, when you double-click on AUTOEXEC.BAT, a DOS window opens, and the file executes. If you want to change this default action and edit a batch file when you double-click on it, however, the File Types tab does not let you do so; the Set Default button for the file type called MS-DOS Batch File is always grayed out.

The button is grayed out because HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT’s batfile key contains an EditFlag value entry. Such entries are used throughout the Registry to prevent novice users from altering certain system settings. The binary data in batfile’s EditFlag reads d0 04 00 00. If you change this value to 00 00 00 00, you can then change any of the batch file settings. Do not, however, indiscriminately zero out EditFlag; if you do so in a system ProgID such as Drive or AudioCD, it completely disappears from the File Types list. For ProgIDs that are linked to extensions, set all EditFlags to 00 00 00 00. For system ProgIDs, replace EditFlag data with 02 00 00 00.

If you wish to have access to some buttons while leaving others grayed out, you must know the function of each EditFlag bit. The last two bytes of data are always zero, but most bits within the first two bytes have a specific effect:

• Byte 1, bit 1: Removes the file type from the master list in the File Types tab (select View / Options under Explorer) if it has an associated extension.
• Byte 1, bit 2: Adds the file type to the File Types tab if it does not have an associated extension.
• Byte 1, bit 3: Identifies a type with no associated extension.
• Byte 1, bit 4: Grays out the Edit button in the File Types tab.
• Byte 1, bit 5: Grays out the Remove button in the File Types tab.
• Byte 1, bit 6: Grays out the New button in the Edit File Type dialog (select the Edit button in the File Types tab).
• Byte 1, bit 7: Grays out the Edit button in the Edit File Type dialog.
• Byte 1, bit 8: Grays out the Remove button in the Edit File Type dialog.
• Byte 2, bit 1: Prevents you from editing a file type’s description in the Edit File Type dialog.
• Byte 2, bit 2: Grays out the Change Icon button in the Edit File Type dialog.
• Byte 2, bit 3: Grays out the SetDefault button in the Edit File Type dialog.
• Byte 2, bit 4: Prevents you from editing an action’s description in the Edit Action dialog (select the Edit button in the Edit File Type dialog).
• Byte 2, bit 5: Prevents you from editing the command line in the Edit Action dialog.
• Byte 2, bit 6: Prevents you from setting DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange) fields in the Edit Action dialog.

The EditFlags value for Drive, for instance, is d2 01 00 00 in Hex (1101 0010 0000 0001 in binary). Bits 2, 5, 7, and 8 are on in byte 1, and bit 1 is on in byte 2. The EditFlag for batfile is d0 04 00 00 in Hex or 1101 0000 0000 0100 in binary. In this case, bits 5, 7, and 8 are on in byte 1, and bit 3 is on in byte 2.

Bits 4, 5, and 6 of byte 2 apply only to actions that are protected. EditFlags with action keys (such as HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\batfile\shell\open) determine protection. If byte 1, bit 1 of such an EditFlag is 0 (or if there is no EditFlag), then the action is protected. If byte 1, bit 1 is 1, then the action is unprotected.

Protection on system files

To enable protection on system files such as the KnownDLLs list, add the  following value;

1. Open RegEdit
2. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\ Control\ SessionManager
3. Create the a Dword value and name it "ProtectionMode "
4. Set the Value to1

There’s no silver bullet for web based content management system (CMS) ! Instead of building a new CMS, I wanted to work on an open source CMS. So, I don’t need to spend days and nights to build features around the system. I have evaluated over dozens of open source CMSs such as Drupal, Joomla, Mambo, Xoops, MODx, PHP-Nuke, PostNuke, SimpleCMS, CMS Mades Simple, Typo3, WordPress etc. Yet, it is extremely difficult for me to choose from one of them. Many times, I wanted to build a new CMS that customized for my needs.

Yeah, I built a web based CMS for Computerworld and PCWorld back in 1999 when I was working for IDG Hong Kong. It’s highly customized for online publish using ASP and SQL Server. I built the system from scratch in 3 months myself with the implementation of software and hardware architecture. I named the system "WebPub". The features of the system include article management, categorization, user management, access permission, newsletter subscription, online polling and front page management etc. In addtion, it supports Chinese or double-byte characters as we publish titles in Chinese as well. Following is a screen shot of the system.

  
WebPub 2.0

Easy of use or user friendly, shorter learning curve, flexible, extensible and community support are main criteria for me to evaluate a CMS. Most importantly, search engine (SEO) friendly and multi-languages support (I18N) are essential factors. Because, being indexed by Google and major search engines and ranked on top of the search engine result page (SERP) are vital for today’s web sites - it means business. And this is one of my goals for my clients at work.

After comprehensive evaluation and comparison,  I decided to go with Drupal. Because Drupal provides clean URL or user friendly URL through Apache’s mod_rewrite and support for multi-languages or translation. The learning curve for studying the Drupal API is relatively short and easy to learn. However, it’s not as easy as osCommerce – a robust open source ecommerce system for online stores, which I have worked on since 2003. Still, I can master Drupal in a few weeks. it gives me more time to build solutions on it rather than coding on a core system for a new system. Even people at IBM are using the same aproach to building solutions, Using open source software to design, develop, and deploy a collaborative Web site http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/ibm/library/i-osource1.

My first Drupal site is the company site for Affine Communications Inc., which is optimized for SEO purpose. I will build more solutions based on Drupal.

Common FTP Commands 

?	to request help or information about the FTP commands
ascii	to set the mode of file transfer to ASCII (this is the default and transmits seven bits per character)
binary	to set the mode of file transfer to binary (the binary mode transmits all eight bits per byte and thus provides less chance of a transmission error and must be used to transmit files other than ASCII files)
bye	to exit the FTP environment (same as quit)
cd	to change directory on the remote machine
close	to terminate a connection with another computer
	close brubeck	closes the current FTP connection with brubeck,   but still leaves you within the FTP environment.
delete	to delete (remove) a file in the current remote directory (same as rm in UNIX)
get	to copy one file from the remote machine to the local machine
	get ABC DEF	copies file ABC in the current remote directory to (or on top of) a file named DEF in your current local directory.
	get ABC	copies file ABC in the current remote directory to (or on top of) a file with the same name, ABC, in your current local directory.
help	to request a list of all available FTP commands
lcd	to change directory on your local machine (same as UNIX cd)
ls	to list the names of the files in the current remote directory
mkdir	to make a new directory within the current remote directory
mget	to copy multiple files from the remote machine to the local machine;   you are prompted for a y/n answer before transferring each file
	mget *	copies all the files in the current remote directory to your current local directory, using the same filenames. Notice the use of the wild card character, *.
mput	to copy multiple files from the local machine to the remote machine;   you are prompted for a y/n answer before transferring each file
open	to open a connection with another computer
	open brubeck	opens a new FTP connection with brubeck;   you must enter a username and password for a brubeck account       (unless it is to be an anonymous connection).
put	to copy one file from the local machine to the remote machine
pwd	to find out the pathname of the current directory on the remote machine
quit	to exit the FTP environment (same as bye)
rmdir	to to remove (delete) a directory in the current remote directory

Do you want to have your own customized logon screen with your logo for Microsoft Windows?

Here is how to do it. When you log on Windows XP/2000, it uses the default Graphical Identification and Authentication (GINA) file msgina.dll. You can change some of the items in this file, including the top portion of the logon screen (i.e., the logo). You can use several utilities to modify the file; I chose Resource Hacker (ResHack.exe), available at http://www.users.on.net/johnson/resourcehacker.

Before you start, double-click the My Computer icon on your desktop. From the File menu, select Tools, Folder Options. Click the View tab. Then, select the Show hidden files and folders option and clear the Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) option. Next, backup the msgina.dll file. Finally, install Win2K’s Recovery Console for fast access to the recovery options in case you have a problem. (To install the Recovery Console, run \install_source\winnt32 /cmdcons.)

To begin the modification process, copy msgina.dll from  System32\msgina.dll to \Winnt\System32\msgina2.dll. Create and save the bitmap you want to load. (Win2K Pro’s original bitmap attributes are 413 x 79 pixels, so you need to match this size.)

Use ResHack.exe to open msgina2.dll and navigate to bitmap 101, language 1033. (Note that only Win2K Pro systems use this bitmap. For Win2K Server, Win2K Advanced Server, and Windows NT Server , go to bitmaps 101-114, language 1033. Also, each OS uses different bitmaps during different parts of the logon process.)

From the File menu, select Action, Replace bitmap. Make sure that the bitmap you replace corresponds with the entry under Select bitmap to replace, on the right-hand side of the window. Save the msgina2.dll file and apply the change.

A registry setting identifies the name of the GINA; when this registry setting is missing, the OS uses msgina.dll. Use a registry editor e.g., regedit, to add the registry subkey

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\
    Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Ginadll, 

and set the value to msgina2.dll. (Note that some third-party programs such as Lotus Notes and Symantec’s pcAnywhere also change the GINA file. Make sure to check which version of the file you need.)

To check your new entry, run regedit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Ginadll. You must reboot the machine for the change to take effect, although you’ll notice the change on the logoff screen. To revert to the Win2K logo, simply delete the registry subkey you created.

Registrar Specific Instructions for Obtaining Transfer Authorization Code (Auth Code)

If you want to transfer your .com. .net, .biz, .us, .org or .info domain, you will need to contact your current registrar and request the domain’s Authorization Code (also referred to as an auth code, Authinfo code or an EPP code). An authorization code is usually a 6- to 16-character code assigned by the registrar. Authorization codes are basically a password for the domain serving as an extra security measure. The auth codes ensure that only a domain owner can make domain name transfers. The Registry requires the Auth Code so for .BIZ, .US, .ORG, and .INFO domains you will not be able to continue a transfer until you are able to get the Authorization Code from your current registrar. You should obtain your domain’s Authorization Code before initiating a domain transfer request.

Simply follow instructions listed below for that particular registrar to obtain your domain name’s authorization code.

If your registrar doesn’t have a an article on Authorization Codes or Auth Codes, email your existing registrar’s customer support from the domain’s administrative contact address and request your Authorization Code or Auth Code for a particular domain name. If you are told a .ORG, .BIZ, .INFO, .US or .NAME domain name does not have an authorization code, then the registrar is mistaken. Be persistent! Registrars are contractually required to provide auth codes upon registrant request.

Current registries assigning auth codes are: Verisign (the .COM and .NET Registry), Public Interest Registry (the .ORG Registry), Afilias (the .INFO Registry), NeuLevel (the .BIZ Registry), and NeuStar (the .US Registry). Auth codes provide an extra level of security for your domain names.

Registrars
4Domains.com
For this registrar, Auth Code is simply your domain management password.

Address Creation
Email technical support at support@addresscreation.com from domain’s administrative contact email address requesting domain’s Authorization Code.

AIT Domains
Send a transfer request via an online support ticket initiated at http://aitdomains.com/tickets.htm. Request that they send domain’s Authorization Code.

AW Registry
Email registration support at support@awregistry.net from domain’s Administrative email address requesting a domain’s Authorization Code.

BulkRegister.com
Email domainsupport@bulkregister.com from domain’s ‘Admin’ contact. If reseller is listed as ‘Admin’ contact, call or email reseller and ask for your domain’s Authorization Code (Auth Code).

Directi.com

Login to Control Panel at http://manage.directi.com/customer
Go to Domains » Search » Domain Registration Search, and search for domain name that you wish to transfer away.
In the Orders List View that appears, click on the Domain Name.
On the next page you would find the "Domain Transfer Secret" which is what Directi calls the Authorization Code.

DirectNIC.com
Login into account at https://secure.directnic.com/myaccount/. Submit a Trouble Ticket requesting domain’s Authinfo code. Authorization code is usually first three letters of a domain and the domain id (available by searching for your domain at Registry operator’s whois site).

Domain Monger
Create a support ticket at http://manage.domainmonger.com/contactus.html requesting your domain’s Authorization Code (Auth Code).

Dotster®

Log into your account at http://www.dotster.com.
From the Quick List, click on the Domain Name you wish to transfer
Scroll down to bottom of Domain Detail Page, click "Request Transfer Authorization Code" link to obtain the Auth code. It will be sent to domain’s administrative contact email address within minutes.

EnCirca
EnCirca requires registrants to set the auth code themselves. To set an auth code, simply login to your account at https://www.encirca.biz/myaccount/ and modify the domain by selecting the ‘modify domain’. Enter your desired auth code into "Authorization Info" box, select ‘continue’ and then ‘commit’ to save your changes.

eNom®

Login to eNom account at http://www.enom.com/Login.asp
Choose menu option DOMAINS, my domains
Click on the link for specific domain name that you wish to work with which brings up the domain control panel.
On domain control panel, scroll down to UTILITIES, click » Contact/WhoIs Information option.
At the bottom of the contact info page you will see the domain name authorization key.
If you do not have a direct eNom account, contact your reseller to obtain a domain’s Authorization Code. If reseller’s name is unknown, go to the eNom "help" page at http://www.enom.com/help/ and enter your domain name in the "Reseller Information Retrieval Tool."

Joker.com

Log in at http://www.joker.com.
Browse to the service zone for a domain.
Request "AUTH-ID"

Melbourne IT
Email das@melbourneit.com.au with Domain Name, Registry Key, and request Auth code. Authorization Code will be sent to ‘Admin’ email contact.

Names4Ever.com
Transfer Auth Code is your Names4Ever.com account password.

NamesDirect
Log into account at http://www.namesdirect.com/manage/.
In the Quick List, click on the domain name you wish to transfer.
Scroll down and click "Request Transfer Authorization Code" link near page bottom to obtain domain’s Auth code. It will be emailed directly to domain’s administrative email address.

NameScout
Send an email message to service@namescout.com from the domain owner’s email address as it appears in their records (consult Whois). In the request, list your domain names and ask that your authorization codes be sent.

Name Secure
Please contact NameSecure Customer Service with a list of your domain names requesting they provide your domain authorization codes.

NameZero
Log into account at http://www.namezero.com/login.php.
Click on the Domain Name you wish to transfer.
On Domain Detail page, scroll down to bottom and click "Request Transfer Authorization Code" to obtain domain’s Auth code. It will be e-mailed to the domain’s administrative email address on file.

Network Solutions®
Call Network Solutions 24 hour support line at (888) 642-9675. Request the Authorization Code for a particular domain. They will send authorization code to the domain’s ‘Admin’ contact email address.

Register.com
Login to your account at http://mydomain.register.com/. Within Account Management, click on a Domain Name to view its details. It’s Auth Code is listed on the domain details page.

RegisterFly.com - Losing ICANN Accreditation
Registrants at RegisterFly.com should be aware that ICANN has issued a formal notice of termination of RegisterFly.com’s Registration Accreditation Agreement (RAA). ICANN has issued a letter to RegisterFly indicating that it will cease operating as an ICANN-Accredited Registrar on March 31, 2007. » More on RegisterFly.com Pending Termination | » Consult ICANN’s RegisterFly.com FAQ | » Latest News on RegisterFly (courtesy Google News)

Complete the following steps to be able to gain auth code and unlock a domain at RegisterFly.com.

Log into your RegisterFly.com account at https://registerfly.com/scripts/login.php
Click on total domains
Click on the domain for which you require auth code
It will say locked at the domains properties click on it to unlock the domain.
Click on domain contact information (plus sign)
Press configure
On the next page will be to see the auth code for the domain at the bottom of the page.
Please also remove the protect fly for the transfer of domain.
If your control panel shows no auth codes or shows “RRP” or doesn’t allow you to log in or doesn’t show all of your domain names, you will need to contact RegisterFly. Several customers have reported successfully getting auth codes by submitting a support ticket with the appropriate subject (requesting an auth code or unlocking a domain ). Registerfly has also indicated that this is the best way to get auth codes. The average turn-around time is 1-3 days. If you are unable to submit a support ticket, write to compliance@registerfly.com . In your email, include the following:

All domain names affected;
Your registerfly account name;
Email address associated with your registerfly account; and
A brief explanation of the specific problem (in other words, say “I can’t get auth codes from the control panel,” or “I can’t unlock my domain name in the control panel,” or “I can’t log into my control panel” etc.). 

Stargate
Login to your account at https://www.stargateinc.com/us/account/login.asp. Click on the link "Get AuthInfo Code."

Tucows Open SRS
Auth code located in account within the Domain Details at http://manage.opensrs.net. Obtain Username and password from reseller.

Verio
Request your domain’s Authorization Code by sending an email to domreg@verio-hosting.com from ‘Admin’ contact. They will send the Auth Code.

Yahoo! Domains
Sign in to your Yahoo! Business Control Panel (you’ll be prompted to enter your Yahoo! ID and password if you haven’t already done so).
Click the "Domain Control Panel" link under your domain name.
On your Domain Control Panel, click "View Your Authorization Code."
Note: If you’re a Yahoo! Website Services customer, you won’t see this task. To retrieve your authorization code, you must contact Yahoo.

On the following page, you’ll see your domain’s unique authorization code. We recommend printing this code for your records, as you’ll need to provide it to your new registration upon transfer. 

Once you have your Auth Code
Once you have obtained your auth code and initiated the transfer request, you will be required to enter your Auth code for .BIZ, .INFO, .US and .ORG domains during the transfer process. You will be able view the status of your transfer on our Registrar Transfer Status page within your account.

There’re some basic tips to optimize the performance of your OSCommerce powered store front.

IMAGES
It’s important that you have dedicated thumbnail size picture for an item instead of doing it "on the fly" as it decreases server load tremendously. Alternatively, you can use automatic thumbnail generator with cache features. The effects may not be noticeable on a store with 1 or 2 visitors per hour but if you do any kind of serious volume you will defitely want to cache the images. if you’ve spent the server resources to create the thumbnail image why not store it and use it later instead of creating it again?

CONTRIBUTIONS
Install ONLY the ones that you need to operate and ONLY the ones that will either save time or add value to the shopping experience. What contributions will fit these requirements will depend on the type of store you have and products for sale. Each contribution you install will add overhead to process the logic whether it be pure PHP code or MySQL queries (or both). As a rule of thumb, KEEP THE NUMBER OF CONTRIBUTIONS INSTALLED TO A MINIMUM. Too many times a store owner will go contribution happy and install every toy possible. This adds tremendous bloat to the code base and performance suffers. The intent was to make a better shopping experience but the net effect is to DECREASE the experience due to slow loading pages.

REMOVE FEATURES NOT USED
There are several features of stock osCommerce that stores may or may not use that would help performance if removed. For example: banners, "requests since" / counter footer display, who’s online, etc.

If you don’t use the features remove (comment out) the code.

Another benefit of eliminating those features is that it prevents a store from using the MySQL query caching features. On each insert the cache is flushed. Of course, this also means storing the sessions on the filesystem!

STS - Simple Template System
It is one of the worse offenders for queries and is also one of the more popular template systems available for osCommerce. If you have a significant number of categories on your store this contribution will kill your page performance. It performs a full table scan on each page request. If you have more than a few hundred categories it will increase your page load time by 200-300% based on server specifications.

In short, if you want speed don’t use a template system. Learn to modify the monolithic application that is osCommerce.

SESSIONS
If you store the sessions in the database consider adding a (primary) multi-column index on sesskey and expiry columns. This will take up more physical space but will be much faster and will be a const query type.

CACHING - Stock Code and Page Cache
The ability to cache data is very important to performance, especially if you have a large number of categories, products, and/or orders. It’s recommend creating a directory ABOVE the publicly accessible document root and giving it proper permissions for the server read/write. Creating it ABOVE the document root ensures that would-be hackers cannot access it with their web browser. Set your cache directory settings to this filepath to keep it from being stored in the "/tmp" folder which will cause issues.

Once you have the cache folder created and settings configured TURN ON THE CACHE FEATURES. This is especially effective with the category box!

The Page Cache contribution  was created for those stores that have so many contributions installed it would be nearly impossible to optimize the code. The correct answer is to not bloat the store with contributions that are not needed, but if you find yourself in that position then Page Cache may be for you. Use the Page Cache contribution as a last resort, not as a first line choice.

COMPRESS YOUR PAGE OUTPUT
Most are aware of page compression via GZIP. The optimal setting is compression level 1 for speed as higher levels will not result in signifant reduction of page size. However, a quick trick is to phyically compress the data being GZIP’d by removing extra whitespace and line breaks.

Here is the function can be used:

Code:
function compress_buffer ($buffer) {
 # Return the compressed buffer
 return str_replace("\n", ‘ ‘, preg_replace(’/\>\s+\</’, ‘> <’, $buffer));
}

Of course, this is offered as a starting point for you and you’ll have to figure out how to use it in combination with GZIP.

The physical page compression with GZIP compression will reduce the output HTML code by some 60-75% and will dramatically increase page performance especially on dial connections.

CODE / QUERY OPTIMIZATION
The fact is that every store is different. They all start with the same code base but each store installs different contributions which results in great variation as to which code needs to be optimized.

A good starting point would be to install a per page query output contribution. This will allow you to see which queries are being executed on a per page basis and easily identify those that are redundant or taking excessive time to execute. Once you pinoint what needs to be done it’s easier to actually do it. Never perform ANY optimization blindly. ALWAYS modify code for a purpose. Sounds like common sense? You would be surpised.

Once again, this won’t approach specific contribution optimizations but will only discuss those that are common to every osC store. One such contribution is an abstraction of the MS3 tax class for MS2. This replaces the stock MS2 tax code with the new tax class for MS3 which is much more efficient and uses less queries per page. The tax query is EXECUTED ON EACH PRICE DISPLAY EVEN IF THE SETTING TO DISPLAY TAX IS DISABLED. It’s important to know that fact since most think if they turn off the option in the admin control panel it will not query for the tax. This is false and even if the setting is turned off it will STILL RUN THE TAX QUERY. Why is this important? Because the tax query is one of the most server intensive queries for all of osCommerce! For a 2 minute install it will increase the page performance / server load tremendously.

The also_purchased module (product info pages) is a powerful upsale tool however, it is the absolutely most server intensive query for the osCommerce application. This is especially true for those stores that have a significant number of products and orders. This would bring a dual 2.8 Ghz CPU, 1GB RAM server to its knees, by just running that 1 query. As you accumulate more orders you will get a feel for which products would be ideal cross sell items and thus it would be advisable to install a X-Sell contribution. It may be a bit more work to maintain but the increase in product page performance is well worth the effort.

On each page request the contents of the configuration table are loaded as define statements. The implication of this is that on each page request the server must perform a table scan to generate the data, which depending on how many contributions you have installed will add overhead to each page load. An excellent contribution that addresses this issue is Faster Page Loads, Less DB Queries. This contribution caches the data and eliminates the database query, thereby saving the table scan for when the cache is not present. This contribution is HIGHLY recommended.

This post is not meant to be a difinitive guide to optimizing an osCommerce store but will hopefully give you a few pointers as to which areas should be addressed as a priority to your optimizination efforts.

Source: http://forums.oscommerce.com/index.php?showtopic=144736