Why do people encode, compress, or archive files?
Binary files must be encoded into an ASCII format in order to transmit them through text-only media such as electronic mail or Usenet news.
Macintosh files must be encoded in order to preserve their resource forks and file-type and creator information when they are transferred to other systems. Similarly, some VMS files must be encoded to preserve file-type and record-structure information.
Encoding a binary file typically increases its size by 30 or 35 percent. To compensate for this, people usually compress files before encoding them. There's no point in compressing a file after it's encoded, of course, because that would undo the benefits of the encoding—the result would no longer be a plain-text file.
Groups of related files are often archived (combined into one file). This ensures that none of the parts gets lost or mislaid in transit, and also simplifies the downloading process.
Most archiving utilities (other than the venerable UNIX tar and shar programs) also compress files. Because tar doesn't, most tar archives are compressed or gzipped as well, and you see them on the Net as .tar.Z or .tar.gz files.
By and large, audio, image, and video files are quite portable, and, given the right hardware, can be displayed on practically anything.
Archived, encoded, and compressed files, though, tend to be much less portable. It's not that they are intrinsically less portable, but that they are more often intended for use on a single type of machine. With the exception of Zip and occasionally Zoo archives, these files are intended for use on a particular type of system, and unpacking them elsewhere is usually more trouble than it's worth.
Even if you manage to find software that can unpack a UNIX tar archive on a Macintosh, chances are it won't do you any good; most tar archives contain UNIX source code, which won't compile on a Mac. Similarly, unpacking a Macintosh Compactor Pro archive won't do you much good on a PC; more than likely, the archive contains Macintosh software, which won't run on your PC.
The following lists the most common encoded, compressed and archive file types.
Thge Common encoded, compressed, and archive file types.
File Extension
Description
Capabilities
.arc
The old DOS archive standard
Archiving and compression
.cpt
Compact Pro for Mac
Archiving and compression
.gz
GNU gzip
Compression only
.hqx
Macintosh BinHex
Encodes Mac files preserving resource fork, file type and creator
.lha, .lzh
LHarc
Archiving and compression
.sea
Macintosh
Self-extracting archive
.shar
UNIX shell archive
Archiving only
.sit
Stuffit for Macintosh
Compression and archiving
.tar
UNIX Tape Archive
Archiving only
.uue, .uu
UNIX UUEncoding
Simple binary-to-ASCII encoding
.z
pack or gzip (see .gz)
Compression only
.Z
UNIX compress
Compression only
.zip
Phil Katz's pkzip
Archiving and compression
.zoo
Rahul Dhesi's zoo
Archiving and compression
Most of the time, we use mouse to navigate, copy, cut or paste. Yeah, just point the mouse right click or left click then it done. Alternatively, you can use keyboard shortcut, which is more faster.
For Real Windows Newbie's here you go...
CTRL+C (Copy)
CTRL+X (Cut)
CTRL+V (Paste)
CTRL+Z (Undo)
DELETE (Delete)
SHIFT+DELETE (Delete the selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin)
CTRL while dragging an item (Copy the selected item)
CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an item (Create a shortcut to the selected item)
F2 key (Rename the selected item)
CTRL+RIGHT ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word)
CTRL+LEFT ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word)
CTRL+DOWN ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph)
CTRL+UP ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph)
CTRL+SHIFT with any of the arrow keys (Highlight a block of text)
SHIFT with any of the arrow keys (Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text in a document)
CTRL+A (Select all)
F3 key (Search for a file or a folder)
ALT+ENTER (View the properties for the selected item)
ALT+F4 (Close the active item, or quit the active program)
ALT+ENTER (Display the properties of the selected object)
ALT+SPACEBAR (Open the shortcut menu for the active window)
CTRL+F4 (Close the active document in programs that enable you to have multiple documents open simultaneously)
ALT+TAB (Switch between the open items)
ALT+ESC (Cycle through items in the order that they had been opened)
F6 key (Cycle through the screen elements in a window or on the desktop)
F4 key (Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer)
SHIFT+F10 (Display the shortcut menu for the selected item)
ALT+SPACEBAR (Display the System menu for the active window)
CTRL+ESC (Display the Start menu)
ALT+Underlined letter in a menu name (Display the corresponding menu)
Underlined letter in a command name on an open menu (Perform the corresponding command)
F10 key (Activate the menu bar in the active program)
RIGHT ARROW (Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu)
LEFT ARROW (Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu)
F5 key (Update the active window)
BACKSPACE (View the folder one level up in My Computer or Windows Explorer)
ESC (Cancel the current task)
SHIFT when you insert a CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive (Prevent the CD-ROM from automatically playing)
Dialog Box Keyboard Shortcuts
CTRL+TAB (Move forward through the tabs)
CTRL+SHIFT+TAB (Move backward through the tabs)
TAB (Move forward through the options)
SHIFT+TAB (Move backward through the options)
ALT+Underlined letter (Perform the corresponding command or select the corresponding option)
ENTER (Perform the command for the active option or button)
SPACEBAR (Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box)
Arrow keys (Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons)
F1 key (Display Help)
F4 key (Display the items in the active list)
BACKSPACE (Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box)
Microsoft Natural Keyboard Shortcuts
Windows Logo (Display or hide the Start menu)
Windows Logo+BREAK (Display the System Properties dialog box)
Windows Logo+D (Display the desktop)
Windows Logo+M (Minimize all of the windows)
Windows Logo+SHIFT+M (Restore the minimized windows)
Windows Logo+E (Open My Computer)
Windows Logo+F (Search for a file or a folder)
CTRL+Windows Logo+F (Search for computers)
Windows Logo+F1 (Display Windows Help)
Windows Logo+ L (Lock the keyboard)
Windows Logo+R (Open the Run dialog box)
Windows Logo+U (Open Utility Manager)
Accessibility Keyboard Shortcuts
Right SHIFT for eight seconds (Switch FilterKeys either on or off)
Left ALT+left SHIFT+PRINT SCREEN (Switch High Contrast either on or off)
Left ALT+left SHIFT+NUM LOCK (Switch the MouseKeys either on or off)
SHIFT five times (Switch the StickyKeys either on or off)
NUM LOCK for five seconds (Switch the ToggleKeys either on or off)
Windows Logo +U (Open Utility Manager)
Windows Explorer Keyboard Shortcuts
END (Display the bottom of the active window)
HOME (Display the top of the active window)
NUM LOCK+Asterisk sign (*) (Display all of the subfolders that are under the selected folder)
NUM LOCK+Plus sign (+) (Display the contents of the selected folder)
NUM LOCK+Minus sign (-) (Collapse the selected folder)
LEFT ARROW (Collapse the current selection if it is expanded, or select the parent folder)
RIGHT ARROW (Display the current selection if it is collapsed, or select the first subfolder)
Shortcut Keys for Character Map
After you double-click a character on the grid of characters, you can move through the grid by using the keyboard shortcuts:
RIGHT ARROW (Move to the right or to the beginning of the next line)
LEFT ARROW (Move to the left or to the end of the previous line)
UP ARROW (Move up one row)
DOWN ARROW (Move down one row)
PAGE UP (Move up one screen at a time)
PAGE DOWN (Move down one screen at a time)
HOME (Move to the beginning of the line)
END (Move to the end of the line)
CTRL+HOME (Move to the first character)
CTRL+END (Move to the last character)
SPACEBAR (Switch between Enlarged and Normal mode when a character is selected)
Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Main Window Keyboard Shortcuts
CTRL+O (Open a saved console)
CTRL+N (Open a new console)
CTRL+S (Save the open console)
CTRL+M (Add or remove a console item)
CTRL+W (Open a new window)
F5 key (Update the content of all console windows)
ALT+SPACEBAR (Display the MMC window menu)
ALT+F4 (Close the console)
ALT+A (Display the Action menu)
ALT+V (Display the View menu)
ALT+F (Display the File menu)
ALT+O (Display the Favorites menu)
MMC Console Window Keyboard Shortcuts
CTRL+P (Print the current page or active pane)
ALT+Minus sign (-) (Display the window menu for the active console window)
SHIFT+F10 (Display the Action shortcut menu for the selected item)
F1 key (Open the Help topic, if any, for the selected item)
F5 key (Update the content of all console windows)
CTRL+F10 (Maximize the active console window)
CTRL+F5 (Restore the active console window)
ALT+ENTER (Display the Properties dialog box, if any, for the selected item)
F2 key (Rename the selected item)
CTRL+F4 (Close the active console window. When a console has only one console window, this shortcut closes the console)
Remote Desktop Connection Navigation
CTRL+ALT+END (Open the Microsoft Windows NT Security dialog box)
ALT+PAGE UP (Switch between programs from left to right)
ALT+PAGE DOWN (Switch between programs from right to left)
ALT+INSERT (Cycle through the programs in most recently used order)
ALT+HOME (Display the Start menu)
CTRL+ALT+BREAK (Switch the client computer between a window and a full screen)
ALT+DELETE (Display the Windows menu)
CTRL+ALT+Minus sign (-) (Place a snapshot of the active window in the client on the Terminal server clipboard and provide the same functionality as pressing PRINT SCREEN on a local computer.)
CTRL+ALT+Plus sign (+) (Place a snapshot of the entire client window area on the Terminal server clipboard and provide the same functionality as pressing ALT+PRINT SCREEN on a local computer.)
Microsoft Internet Explorer Navigation
CTRL+B (Open the Organize Favorites dialog box)
CTRL+E (Open the Search bar)
CTRL+F (Start the Find utility)
CTRL+H (Open the History bar)
CTRL+I (Open the Favorites bar)
CTRL+L (Open the Open dialog box)
CTRL+N (Start another instance of the browser with the same Web address)
CTRL+O (Open the Open dialog box, the same as CTRL+L)
CTRL+P (Open the Print dialog box)
CTRL+R (Update the current Web page)
CTRL+W (Close the current window)
Windows Vista is designed for businesses of all sizes and across all industries. Windows Vista will make a difference in any business setting. Windows Vista also helps PC users to be more effective in their work by offering improved connectivity with advanced integration across technologies, networks, and systems, as well as providing them with quick access to better organized information
Tips & Tricks
Folder Navigation
1. Getting around your PC - Folders look visually different, but with more choices navigation is even easier. Using the Navigation pane you can visually see the folder hierarchy and quickly find your destination.
2. Address bar - The arrows on the Address Bar open a fly-out to specific folders on your PC or network.
3. Classic Menus – If need you can return to the classic views just hit the ALT key. However, stay with the Windows Vista default configuration for better productivity.
Running your Applications
1. Find them, and then run them – You might use the Start menu Search box to type an application’s name, and then press enter to run it, no need to go looking.
2. MS-DOS command prompts – Type ‘command’ in the Start menu Search box, press Enter and you can return to command land. You can also use the Start menu Search box in place of the Run dialog box.
Finding Your Files
1. Simple Search – Use the Start menu Search box to type part of a file’s name and see a list of the matching files. Use a similar Search box at the top right of every folder window to search down through subfolders.
2. Advanced Search – From the Start menu, choose Search, type what you need to find and Windows Vista will show you all the files matching your criteria.
3. Advanced Search Filters – Use + to add filters using keywords, author, title or just about any of the information available in properties.
4. Saved Search – A few clicks of the mouse and you can save a search to revisit later.
Control Panel
1. Search the Control Panel – Consistent with the other tools and folders, the Control Panel provides a Search box to quickly find available tools.
2. Classic View – Return to your glory days with just a click and you will find the familiar Control Panel View, however the updated Windows Vista Control Panel is so much more useful you may never need that Classic View.
3. Offline Files – Away from the network? You can take files with you and make sure you have the information you need.
4. Sync Center – Make sure you have the latest version of those offline files with the Sync Center; you can even make sure the files are up-to-date automatically and on a schedule.
5. Mobility Center – Windows Vista does a better job of collecting resources that are appropriate for certain tasks; the mobility center is just one example. Here you will manage the resources appropriate for laptops, such as battery status, wireless network, external monitor, and presentation settings.
Internet Explorer® 7
1. IE Appearance – IE allows you to zoom in or out on web-pages – use Ctrl+(+) and Ctrl+(-), You can even generate a print preview that scales the page to your paper size.
2. Classic Menus – To stick with tradition, the ALT key or the Tools menu provides easy access to those familiar classic menus of IE.
3. Web Search – Use the search engine you prefer through one familiar search box, and change search providers on the fly from a handy drop-down menu.
4. Tabbed Browsing – How often do you open a number of web pages with a similar theme? Well you can group these together under the same Internet Explorer window with tabbed browsing. A simple ctrl-click will open a link in your current window to a new tab.
5. Quick Tabs – Once you have the tab group, Quick Tabs allows you to view all your tabbed pages as thumbnails, allowing you to quickly pick the page you want.
6. Favorites (Groups) – Favorites are even easier, and you can even save those same tab groups you created for later use. Simply use the star to access saved pages or tab groups, or + to add the page or tab group to favorites.
Changes to Discover
1. Windows® Shared View – Windows Shared View is easier to connect with others, share information and collaborate on projects.
2. Windows Defender – To ease the worry about viruses and other malicious software, Windows Defender increases the security level for your PC.
3. Windows Sidebar – You will see a new generation of applications, more accurately called gadgets. These gadgets can be used on the desktop or with the Windows Sidebar, a desktop location or corral to access them.
4. Turn off and start up more quickly. When you click the power button on the Start menu, Windows saves your work and programs just as they are, and then puts the computer to sleep. When you use Sleep, your computer typically wakes up in one or two seconds.
its is virus spread thru removable drives..u r not actually banned
may be it can slolve
o Remove
1. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL and go to the processes tab
2. Look for svchost.exe under the image name. There will be many but look for the ones which have your username under the username
3. Press DEL to kill these files. It will give you a warning, Press Yes
4. Repeat for more svchost.exe files with your username and repeat. Do not kill svchost.exe with system, local service or network service!
5. Now open My Computer
6. In the address bar, type C:\heap41a and press enter. It is a hidden folder, and is not visible by default.
7. Delete all the files here
9. Now go to Start --> Run and type Regedit
10. Go to the menu Edit --> Find
11. Type "heap41a" here and press enter. You will get something like this "[winlogon] C:\heap41a\svchost.exe C:\heap(some number)\std.txt"
12. Select that and Press DEL. It will ask "Are you sure you wanna delete this value", click Yes
13. Now close the registry editor.
Now the virus is gone. But be sure to delete the autorun.inf file and any folder whose name ends with .exe in the pen drive.
Some reported that after this fix they were not able to see their Hidden folders and files if you have that issue try the folowing
1. Go to REGEDIT
2.[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
3. set the DWORD "NoFolderOptions" to 0 or just delete it..
1983: Fred Cohen formally defined a virus as ‘a computer program
that can affect other computer programs by modifying them in such a
way as to include a (possibly evolved) copy of itself.’
1986: The first PC virus was created in Pakistan. It was named the
Brain virus – although somewhat comically it is misspelt as ‘Brian’ in
some commentaries. This was a boot sector virus and thus only
infected the boot records of floppy disks, but not hard drives. It spreadby users trading disks (those were the days!). It would occupy space
on the disk so that it could not be used. One novelty with the virus
was that it contained the name, address and phone numbers of its
creators. While it is not entirely clear why this was, one story is that
the creators (two brothers running a computer store in Lahore) wrote
the virus so that it would infect any computers running a bootleg copy
of a software program that they had written.
1987: The Christmas Tree Exec worm (actually a Trojan horse) spread
on IBM PCs, forcing many systems to shut down, including the
worldwide IBM network. A user would receive an e-mail Christmas
card that included executable code. If executed the program claimed
to draw a Christmas tree on the user’s screen. It did actually do this:
but it also sent itself to everyone on the user’s address lists.
1988: The first anti-virus program was compiled in Indonesia; two
years later Norton AntiVirus was launched by Symantec.
1988: Robert Morris (a graduate student at Cornell University)
launched an Internet worm program. It replicated itself over 6,000 hosts
with the inevitable result of bringing almost all of the network to a
stop. He was arrested, fined US $10,000, sentenced to three years’
probation and ordered to do 400 hours’ community service.
1988: Jerusalem (aka Friday the 13th) appeared. It was activated
every Friday the 13th affecting various files and deleting programs
that ran on that day. It also executed a software loop that would slow
down computers. It was widely imitated.
1991: The first widespread polymorphic virus was found. Polymorphic
viruses change their appearance at each new infection.
1992: Remember the Michangelo virus? Discovered in 1991, this
virus would erase IBM hard disks on March 6, the birthday of Michelangelo.
Hyped by media reporting (and misreporting) a solemn and
serious estimate was given that 5 million computers would crash. No
one knows how many did – but the highest estimate is 10,000 worldwide
(the lowest estimate being zero!). Apocalypse avoided then, but
awareness of the problem raised substantially.
1994: Post ironic or just plain stupid? One of the first e-mail hoaxes,
Good Times, told you by e-mail that a malicious virus would erase
your entire hard drive. All you had to do was open an e-mail titled
‘Good Times’ – which presumably you had just done, to read the
warning. The hoax kept coming around every 6–12 months.
1995: Word Concept – an interesting development because it showed
that Microsoft Word could be used as a platform for viruses. When
opened it executed a series of macros that made changes to documents
on templates. It spread as users swapped Word files.
1995: On November 15 Christopher Pile (alias ‘The Black Baron’)
appeared for sentencing for 11 offences under the Sections 2 and 3 of
the Computer Misuse Act at Exeter Crown Court, England. Pile had
already pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced to 18 months
in prison. The viruses were inspired by the British comedy/science
fiction series Red Dwarf.
1998: The first of many Trojan viruses to steal information from AOL
users was launched.
1999: The Melissa virus, which infects Word documents and then
very kindly e-mails itself to 50 people in your address book, spread
like wildfire. The virus also infects Word documents and e-mails them
as attachments (there goes confidentiality then). It spread faster than
any other virus.
1999: Disguised as a Y2K fix, Babylonia appeared. It is a virus capable
of downloading and updating itself from the Internet.
1999: The Love Bug/ILOVEYOU Virus hit Outlook, like Melissa.
The virus came as a VBS attachment and proceeded to delete files
(MP3, MP2 and JPG to name but a selection). The Virus also sends
usernames and passwords to the author of the virus. It was one of the
first viruses that used Visual Basic scripts to execute commands on a
computer.
2000: VBS.NewLove.A virus appeared – it overwrites every file on
the user’s system not currently in use.
2000: The Anna Kournikova virus (aka VBS/SST) appeared –
offering a picture of the tennis star. It operated in the same way as
Melissa and The Love Bug.
2001: The Code Red I and II attacked computer networks. It is a
worm, as opposed to a virus, and took advantage of a vulnerability in
Windows 2000 and NT server software. Microsoft itself admits that it
was affected.
The terminal velocity of viruses:
In 1986 there was one virus.
In 1990 estimates of the number of viruses ranged from 200 to
500.
One year later the highest estimate hit 1,000.
By 1992 estimates ranged from 1,000 to 2,300.
In 1996 the highest estimate went over 10,000.
In 1998 the top limit went over 20,000.
In 2000 the maximum number of viruses exceeded 50,000.
In May 2002 Sophos Anti-Virus detected 73,553 viruses while
Symantec listed 61,086.
