How To Disable a USB Flash Drive (Mass Storage Devices Only)

Whenever you insert a USB flash drive into your computer, the flash drive is detected automatically by Windows and then opened. Here I am going to show you how to stop your USB Flash Drives Mass Storage Only through registry.

This trick can also be done through my computer Device Manager but that one stops all the USB connections. This is not recommended.

So are you ready to start?

Here we go.

1.Click Start Menu > go to run command and type "regedit" without quotes. Registry Editor will open.

2.Expand the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE folder then SYSTEM >CURRENT CONTROLL SET > SERVICES >USBstor, located at the left pane.

3.Find "Start" in the right pane with the blue icon.

4.Double click "Start". A box titled "Edit DWORD value" will open.

5.Write down "4" in the "Value Data" Field. Illustration 1.1

6.Click OK and then close the Registry Editor.

Illustration 1.1

Your USB flash drive is now disabled. Whenever you insert a flash drive, Windows won't detect it and will not open it.

To enable it again, repeat steps 1 through 4 and then change the value to 3. The default value for enabling a USB flash drive is 3.

Note: Performing this trick will only Disable USB Mass Storage devices and will not affect other USB Devices such as USB Keyboard, USB Mouse, Scanner, Printer etc....always backup your registry to prevent losing your valuable data.

Show Hidden Files and Folders not working?

Show Hidden Files and Folders not working?

A few days back, a client came to me and told me that he was having trouble with his Windows XP. The show hidden files and folders was not working at all. If he selected the radio button “Show hidden files and folders”, and then press Ok .. the changes would just disappear upon opening the dialog again. It was probably some virus attack after which the Windows registry was not being updated properly. So here is what I did to restore it back. There are so many methods to restore back the registry. If one method is not working, please try another one.

Method 1:

Go to registry editor by running regedit in the run box.Go to this key:HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
In the right hand area, double click hidden and change the value to 1.

Now you’re all set to go. Check it in your tools menu if the changes have taken effect.

Method 2:

1. Click “Start” -> “Run…” (or press Windows key + R)2. Type “regedit” and click “Ok”.3. Find the

key:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\SHOWALL4. Look at the “CheckedValue” key… This should be a DWORD key. If it isn’t, delete the key.5. Create a new key called “CheckedValue” as a DWORD (hexadecimal) with a value of 1.6. The

“Show hidden files & folders” check box should now work normally. Enjoy!

Method 3:

1- Click Start –> Run –> regsvr32 /i browseui.dll –> enter
A confirmation message will appear like given below
2- Click Start –> Run –> regsvr32 /i shell32.dll

Wait for the confirmation and click OK.

Method 4:

If none of the above methods work, please download our Smart Virus Remover from here:

Smart Virus Remover

Using this Virus Remover please restore your Windows settings and your show hidden files and folders will be set to default.

Convert Files into any Format with Right Click using Cometdocs for Desktop

There are lots of file formats being used today, and every format has its own advantage. While we use PDF files where we wish to protect the data, we use images to capture some info. So what if you need to convert the same file you are using into some other format, you may go to the free online web services and get them converted or may be download and install a tool just for this purpose.

Meet a new tool called as Cometdocs for Desktop, and what this have in different from others is that it incorporates the converter right into the file context menu. This means, if you come across any file that needs to be converted into some other format, look nowhere, just right click on it and select the output format. The converted file will be presented to you in some time.

Cometdocs is an online file conversion site which has launched this desktop tool for Windows. While uploading large documents to convert them online can slow down your browser (thereby preventing you from working) or converting the document in the system can slow down your machine, this converter works in a different way. It still uses its old way of converting which is to upload the file from the client directly (without you doing it) and then downloading back to the machine and the same folder automatically.

Although this will use your data plan but will save the machine from getting slowed down. To be able to use this tool, you need to login into the cometdocs account which you can register for free anytime (simple email address and password is all it need).

You can convert the file into any format from the list present in the right click context menu and the conversion status can be seen in a separate window. If you think it is a really useful tool, then you can get it for free from the link below.

Download

Scan and Find Lost Hard Disk Space with MeinPlatz

There is a thing with hard disk memory, it is not always sufficient. Whether you buy double the memory of the hard disk, you will eventually use all the memory intentionally or unknowingly. I remember upgrading my hard disk to the double of the present hard disk space but over the time, I had used that too. This is the same issue with everyone, so if you are also wondering where your memory space has gone, then do read the article.

Well most of the times we know what we are saving in our disk, but there are times when we don’t know what is being saved and stored in our disk automatically. Hence we need to continuously scan and monitor the hard disk space but doing this manually is not possible. Thus, here is a tool called as MeinPlatz that does it for you. It scans the entire hard disk for you to find out the space utilization for you and present that in a list in an easy form.

The biggest advantage of using this tool is that it eliminates the need of scanning the disk manually to find out which all files and folders are storing how much data. MeinPlatz which actually means “My Space” scans your hard drive for the memory consumption and presents the data in a tabular form which is very easy to decipher.

Using this tool you can find out right in one screen which file and folder is consuming how much data so that you can take the appropriate action. The tool also has an option of excluding the files and folders which you don’t wish to scan. Moreover MeinPlatz allows you to export your data in other formats like CSV or excel, txt and html.

The tool also lets you zoom the display, for easier viewing using the magnifier option. MeinPlatz is found to work on all versions of Windows and can be downloaded from the link below.

Download

Monitor and Control your PC remotely from your Smartphone while Gaming

This goes for all the hard core gamers out there who like to play games on their computers. The last thing any gamer want while playing games, is the disturbance which can be from someone outside or from the computer apps. How does it feel when there is some facebook message, or twitter update on your desktop when you are playing? It doesn’t feel nice when your system starts lagging due to maximum usage of the RAM and you have to quit the game to control the task manager. What if someone asks you to lower the volume of the audio being played in the background; you will again have to quit playing.

Here is a simple app that can completely monitor and control your computer remotely using your smartphone whether iPhone or Android without having you to quit playing and taking a break. Moreover the app is completely free to use.

The app is known as Roccat Power-Grid, and lets you monitor your system for statistics, control it and also access your apps on PC like youtube, outlook, social media and others. So whether it is the lagging system which can be controlled by your phone, or app message which, now, can be used on your phone or some hardware settings which can also be controlled on your phone, you don’t have to quit the action you are in already.

So how this works? Just install the app on your computer and on your phone to allow the pairing of the devices and easily monitor and control your machine remotely. Moreover the app is fully customizable as you can select the apps you want and use the most, so that you can instantly take action.

The tool is available for use for free for both computer and phone and can be downloaded from the link below.

Download

Buying Used Cell Phone? Check for Bad ESN/IMEI Number

We all love our cell phones so much that we can’t even think of spending a day without it. It happened to me recently when I lost my phone on road. I have a Samsung Note 2 which I really liked. Fortunately, I also have mobile insurance plan which allowed me to get a replacement device (for some cost) within couple of days but spending those two days were not easy. This was when I came to know about an all different world of used phones and the ESN numbers.

So for all those who are new to this and don’t have much information on buying used phones, here are some useful facts that you should know. These days almost all the major carriers sell their phones with a contract for like 12 months or 24 months, which is why they sell the phones at a very cheap rate of like $200 (for a phone which is about $600). So why are they heavily subsidizing this? The answer is simple; they wish to keep their customers with them for a long time.

While this idea suits many people, there are others who don’t like to stay that long with any network and want to be free. Thus they also look for some used phone in the market which is unlocked. Now, you can get a genuinely used phone which is legal to use but chances are you might also get a blacklisted phone too. In case you are already looking for some used phone, then you might have come across some terms known as ESN or IMEI.

ESN is short for Electronic Serial Number and is a number printed on the back of the phone underneath the battery to uniquely identify it. Similarly it is the IMEI number which is present for all the GSM phones. Now, if someone had lost a phone or someone had stolen a device, then that phone will get blacklisted by the network so that it can’t be used again on that network (and the ESN will now be known as Bad ESN). Same is the case if someone decides to quit a contract without paying the pending amount.

So should we buy Used phones?

Yes, there is no stopping on buying the used phones as long as they are clean ESNs/IMEI and can be used with the network of your choice. While no one will tell you if the ESN is bad, but what you should do to be sure is call your network operator and provide them the ESN/IMEI to check whether the phone is clean to use on their network or not.

If the number is clean, then go ahead and buy the phone else better to stay away from the people who want to phish you. After all, it is still your own hard earned money.

Compare and Synchronize Files between different Folders with PathSync

It is always a good idea to backup and copy your data to some other location; it can be anexternal drive, cloud storage or may be to some other folder. While I don’t like backing up and spending time on it, it is always worth it. Have you ever come across a situation when you wanted to synchronize two different folders with the same data in both of them? Well this can be a tedious task to figure out which file has already been copied and which not.

Here is a simple and small tool that will not only compare two different folders for you but also help you in synchronizing them so that you have same data in both of them, may be for the backup purposes. This tool is called as PathSync and it is capable of comparing different locations (both locally and remotely) and copying the data to and fro.

Using this tool is quite simple too, as you just need to set the local source, remote destination(by browsing both the locations) and the copy type which can be from source to destination,destination to source or even bidirectional meaning from and to both locations. When you are done setting up the tool for the use, you then need to click the Analyze button.

The tool will start comparing the files automatically and will then copy the required files from the source to the destination. This is a really useful file synchronizer for Windows which you can not only use to create similar copies of the folders in the computer but also to backup the data to an external disk or may be to a cloud server.

The tool is free to use and have been found to work well on Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8. So if you want to give it a try, you can get it from the link below.

Download