How To Find Your Computer’s IP Address

What is an IP address?

An IP address or better known as Internet Protocol address is nothing but a numerical label assigned to any computer or mobile device which is participating in a computer network using the Internet protocol for communication. Whenever you connect your PC or mobile to any network connection, it is assigned a unique IP address which is required for the device so that it can open web pages, send emails, participate in IM chats and so on.

Quite recently we wrote how you can find the location of an IP address using a desktop tool called IP locator. The tool shows you how you can trace the location of any internet address on a Google Map. But what about finding the IP address of your computer or when you need to know the IP address of your internet connection ?

Knowing your computer’s IP address is very simple indeed, just follow the simple steps mentioned below:

1. Click Windows start menu and type “cmd” (without quotes) in the search box. Right click the command prompt icon and choose “Run as administrator”. If you are running older versions of Windows such as Windows XP, you can open the command prompt from “Start> Run”

2. When the command prompt window appears, type the following command and hit the return key

netstat -n (donot ignore the space)

3. You will see the following results and the IP address will be shown as depicted below:

4.You will see a list of all active connections and their addresses, distributed in 4 columns.

5. The local address field shows your IP number while the foreign address column shows the IP addresses of the computer to which you are connected to or communicating with. This can include the persons with whom you are sharing Instant messages, talking over VOIP or maybe sending files etc.

6. In the same way, open command prompt, type “ipconfig” (without quotes) and hit the return key. You will see the following results:

The above command will tell you the masked IP and local IP of your computer.

Alternatively, you can also try this website called whatsmyipaddress.com, when ever you visit the website you will be shown the active IP address of your computer on the homepage itself.

Note: You may see different IP addresses after successive visits, this is perfectly normal because your internet connection settings is set to choose a dynamic IP address whenever it connects to the internet. The site also shows the most probable geographical location of the IP address as shown below:

Easiest way to find IP address: If you ask me, I do not use any of the above techniques. I use my Gmail account itself. Here is how it works:

Whenever I log into my Gmail account, I can see the last login Time of Gmail and the IP address from where my Gmail account was accessed. Hence, this is another good way to find a computer’s IP address, without having to remember any command or use any third party website

Facebook Login Problems – When You Can’t Login To Facebook ?

There are situations when you have faced Facebook login problems. The login page appears, you type in the username and password of your Facebook account and hit the “Sign In” button. After that, the page turns white and loads forever

You are either not able to access the Facebook login page or the Facebook homepage never loads completely. What should you do in such situations ?

Here is a step by step guide which will solve Facebook login problems on your side and you can be rest assured that you are able to login to your Facebook account and comunicate with friends, chat with your Facebook contacts.

Check Whether Facebook is Down For Everyone or Just You

Go to Downforeveryoneorjustme.com and enter Facebook.com in the text box. Using this site you will be able to know whetherFacebook.com is down for everyone else or is it just you who is unable to access the Facebook login page.

If it’s shown that Facebook.com is down for everyone, there is nothing you can do here. May be the developers are updating someting or Facebook servers are on scheduled maintainence. Wait for some time till the updates are rolled out and try again after half an hour or so.

If it’s shown that Facebook.com is down for only you while everyone else is able to use Facebook normally, you have to check your computer’s network preferences, Firewall and Windows’s host file.

Check Your Computer’s Host File Or Parental Controls

The Host file of Windows can be used to block specific websites from opening in your computer. If you share your computer with other family members, colleagues or friends, chances are that some of them is playing pranks or tricks with you. It might occur that one of the shared users has intentionally blocked Facebook.com login page using Windows host file or Windows 7 Parental controls.

Open Windows explorer and go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc. Double click the “Hosts” file and open it with Notepad. You will see something like the following:

If you find an entry as shown below, you will not be able to access Facebook login page. Delete the above lines, save the hosts file and refresh the Facebook login page to see whether you are able to get through.

How to Update Facebook Status Messages from Google Talk

You cannot Update your facebook status messages from Google Talk because facebook still doesnt suports this feature. However there are neat workarounds that can be used to post your Facebook status messages from google talk Itself.

Update Facebook Status messages from Google talk using Third party Applications

Update facebook Status Messages from Ping.fm

This is the Most popular solution netizens use to update the status messages of maximum social networking sites in One go. Justsign up for an account at Ping.fm and connect your Google Talk account and Facebook profile. Whenever you change your status message in Google talk the same message is posted in your facebook  profile.

Update Facebook Status From Google talk Using Your Twitter Account

If you are active on Both Facebook and Twitter then the easiest way to update your Facebook status messages from google talk is to connect your Facebook and twitter accounts and use google talk to post messages to twitter. Following are the steps involved :

1.Sign up for an account at   Tweet.im and connect both Your twitter and Google talk accounts. After Your accounts are connected you can receive as well as Send tweets as Instant messages.

2 . Add This Facebook application To Connect Your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Remember to click  on “Allow Twitter to Update Your Facebook Status”.

You are done.Whenever You send a Message from Google talk to Tweet.im the message is shown as a Tweet in your twitter account. And almost instantly the Facebook application pulls the same tweet  and puts it in The Facebook status Message. So apparently You have Updated your facebook profile from Google talk !

If You prefer the Browser based G talk Then you can tweet by adding an entire Twitter Gadget in Your Gmail account. Thus No need To sign Up for a Tweet.im  account.

A serious disadvantage : The above two methods are real easy But  there is a serious disadvantage. The same messages gets repeated in all Your Social Networking profiles which doesn’t look good. For example : If you are on Twitter, facebook, Friendfeed etc the same message is replicated over at all places.

How to Update Facebook Status Messages from google talk Without using any Third party Tool

The Google talk Sync Facebook application  allows you to update your Facebook status from the Google Talk status line. Just change Your G talk Status and Your facebook status is updated.

The following Method Connects your Google talk account and facebook account without requiring you to sign Up at other Social Networking Sites like Twitter or Ping.fm. Following are the Steps Involved :

1. Add This facebook application in Your Facebook profile.

2. Go here and create a G talk Badge for your profile.

3. Remember to check on The checkbox “ Show Your Status Message “ In The G talk Badge you are creating.After that click “Update Badge”

4. Copy The code That You are provided and place the code In The Facebook application Box page as shown below

5.Enter an optional “Prefix” So you could set your prefix to “is”, and then “working” in Google would end up as “is working” on Facebook. “Is” or “says: ” are good options.

6. Grant the Facebook application permission  to Sync Messages to Update your Facebook status. Otherwise it won’t work.

Okay all The geeky parts are Over. Now sign In to Google talk and after That save Your facebook App. You should see Your G talk status online in the facebook app.

Now  Change your Google talk Status Message and You should see the facebook status Updating straight away.

This method doesn’t require you to sign up anywhere else and just connect your facebook and google talk accounts. All Your other social network profiles are not affected.

Do you Know any Simpler Method To update Facebook status from Google  talk  ? Did the above procedure worked for you ? I would love to Hear from you. Please feel free to Post Your Ideas as Comments.

How To Setup Facebook Login Alerts – Know When Your Facebook Account Gets Hacked

There are so many situations when other users might get access to your Facebook account; without your consent or even without your wildest imagination. Let’s say you were browsing Facebook on a shared computer and someone managed to trace your Facebook login cookie using malicious add-ons like Firesheep. We have earlier covered a detailed guide on using an HTTPS connection to protect your login information from malicious add-ons e.g Firesheep, so you should be very careful on apublic Wi-Fi connection that’s not completely secured.

The method is called “sniffing” and the person who uses malicious scripts to gain unauthorized access may sniff login data, cookies on a not so secured network connection.

Another possible scenario is when you suddenly find that someone else has updated your Facebook wall with spam messages or vulgar pictures. The reason – you forgot to log out from the public computer in which you were using Facebook and the next user using the same computer got unauthorized access to your Facebook account. He browsed through your Facebook profile and maybe deleted some of your old pictures and photo albums.

The good thing regarding Facebook account settings is that he/she won’t be able to change the password without knowing the currently active password but nevertheless, it’s a major security risk.

Setup Login Alerts In Facebook – Get Notified When Someone Else Is Using Your Facebook Account

Setting up Login alerts in Facebook is a really neat idea and takes only a minute. Go to Facebook Account settings page and find “Set Up Login alerts” under the “Settings” tab. Then choose”Send me an email” whenever anyone else is using my Facebook account.

Facebook detects the IP address of your computer and tries to match it with the earlier IP addresses used to login to your Facebook account. If you use Facebook from your mobile or from the office computer, Facebook records the frequently used IP addresses of the devices being used with your Facebook account.

Whenever, there is a mismatch or whenever someone else is uses your Facebook account from a different IP address, you will get the login alert directly in your email address. If you get a login alert, the first thing you should be doing is login to your Facebook account from a secured connection and change the password.

Here is how the Facebook login alert email looks like:

As you can see, Facebook will immediately send a login alert whenever it finds that another suspicious IP address or device is using your Facebook account from a different location. Prior to this, you should register your own home or office computers and your mobile device because neglecting this will send login alerts whenever you use Facebook from the office or home or on the go (mobile).

View The Locations And Devices From Where Your Facebook Account Was last Used

To know which devices, browsers or operating systems were being used to access your Facebook account, go to the “Account security page“. Here is how the recent Facebook activity logs will look like:

The location is an approximate location, in my case, the country detected was correct but the city wasn’t. However, Facebook lets you end the activity of a specific location or device which is currently active, all you have to do is click on “End Activity” link placed just beside the last accessed location.

Hence, you should always choose to receive email and SMS alerts in your mobile, if you are really concerned about the security of Your Facebook account and want to protect it from hackers and malicious phishing attempts.

Use Mouse Gestures To Open Programs in Windows

A Mouse gesture recognition software records the movement of your mouse and executes a particular command or program, when a specific pattern of movement is detected. There are several Mouse gesture programs available for Windows operating system, but nothing is simpler than Gmote.

Gmote is a portable application for Windows which lets you define gestures and assign commands to the mouse gestures. This can be very useful, you can quickly open files, folders, a web URL or a program.

To use Gmote, run the program, right click the system tray icon and choose configure. You will be shown the following window:

Next, click the “Create Gesture” button to start recording a mouse movement. The pattern will be shown in the right pane as you move your mouse cursor to create a gesture.

When the gesture has been recorded, you can select an action by clicking the action text field button. The actions can be anything – you can launch a program, file, folder, media player, a web address or may be shut down your computer.

You can even define application oriented gestures. For example- Using a particular gesture in the Firefox window may refresh the page and using the same gesture in the explorer window may go one window back. You can choose different actions for different programs. There are a lot of suggested actions already available in the actions dropdown, so choosing an action won’t be an issue.

You can create as many gestures as you want and save the gestures as a set. This is useful, because you can reload the set file on another computer and start using mouse gestures without having to configure anything. The application is portable, thus works on any computer without installation.

Link Multiple Gmail accounts and check email at One place

If you have Multiple email addresses to check then managing emails can be really tiring. Every now and then you need to check all your email accounts for new mail. Here is How You can connect all Your Gmail accounts and check all your emails at one place.

Let us Suppose You have 3 email accounts One is primary and the rest of them are secondary. You want to forward all Your emails from Your secondary email accounts in the primary account and read them at one place. Here is How you do it :

Add a Secondary email Address in your primary mail account

1.Open Your primary email account  and click settings from the Top right corner of the Screen.

2.On the Accounts tab  select Add another Email Address. A Pop Up Window Will Open asking you the email address that you want to add in your primary account.

3. Fill In the Secondary email address and click Next Step. Then click Send Verification and Close the pop up window.

A verification mail will be sent to the secondary email address. Open your Secondary email address and click the verification Link. The verification part is over.

Related : How To Back Up Emails and Read offline

Forward Your Incoming mail from Secondary account

Now you need to Log in to your secondary email address and Forward all Incoming mail  to your primary email address. Follow the Instructions Below.

Click settings and  select Forwarding and IMAP. Enter your primary Email  address as shown.

You can choose to Keep the copy of the email In the secondary email Inbox or you can archive it. If you get a large amount of emails then it is recommended to filter The emails and label them.

After you have added your primary email address for forwarding click save changes and The forwarding part is over

Create a label and a Filter In your primary Mail account

Now Your primary email account is configured to receive the emails from secondary email account. So You may start to get  a large Number of emails in your primary email address. To manage the emails it is recommended to Create a Filter in your primary email account.

1. Open your Primary email account . Click Settings select the Tab Labels and create a New label. Name it “Secondary” or something like that so that you can remember from which email account these mails are coming.

2.Now Click The Filters Tab and select Create a New Filter. Type your secondary email address in to To: field.

3. Click Next Step and Select “Apply the label”. pick the label that you created In the earlier step.

4. All set. Click create Filter.

Now emails from your secondary email account will be sent to your primary email account and automatically will be inserted into the label that you created.The Filters will make sure that The emails are kept separate and Your inbox is uncluttered. You can check Your settings By sending a Test mail from any email account to your secondary email address.

How to Change Folder BackGround in Windows Vista and Windows7

By default, the Windows Explorer does not allow you to change the background of a folder with an image of your choice. But here are two ways using which you can set an image as folder background in Windows.

Set an Image as Folder Background Using Windows7 Folder BackGround Changer – Windows7

The Windows7 Folder Background changer lets you set any image as the folder background in Windows7. Following are the steps involved :

1. Download Folder background changer. The Application is portable, thus requires no installation and can be run from a removable drive.

2. Once the download is complete, extract the content of the folder and double click the W7BC1.1 folder to launch the application.

3. Next, select the location of the folder and click “Change Background image”. This will open a small explorer windows where you can simply select an image file or a wallpaper and set it as the folder background. Sweet!

If the change is not visible instantly, hit F5 or refresh the Windows explorer. You can also choose the text color, so that the content of the folder is easily readable. All the subfolders can also be chosen to display the same wallpaper or image as folder background.

The program is compatible with 32 bit and 64 bit editions of Windows and runs

Change Folder Background in Windows Vista

When Microsoft released Windows XP, it didnt included much of the features of Windows 98. The ability to customize the folder background with an image was not possible in Windows XP , Windows Vista by default. However, you can use Vista Folder Background changer to set an image or a wallpaper as a folder background in Windows Vista. Following are the steps involved:

1. Download Ave’s Vista Background changer.

2. Extract the content of the download and you will see two folders – 32 bit and 64 bit. If your Operating system is in 32 bit, open the 32bit folder and double click the install.bat file. This will add a new tab under folder properties which will allow you to set an image as folder background in Vista.

Now right click any folder, choose properties and go to the folder background tab

Click “Set image” button and select the image for the folder background. Nest hit Apply and you are done.

Registry Trick to Set an Image as Folder Background in Windows

If both the above method fails and you are unable to set an image as folder background, the following registry trick will be useful. Carefully follow the steps mentioned below:

1. Open Command prompt by typing cmd in the search box.

2. Now let us assume that you want to set an image as foler background to the folder E:/Test. Type the following command in the command prompt window:

attrib +s D:\Setup

3. Now create a new notepad file and paste the following code:

[ExtShellFolderViews]

{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC} = {BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}

[{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}]

Attributes=1

IconArea_Image=path_of_the_wallpaper

IconArea_Text=0×00000000

4. Save the file as “Desktop.ini” (including quotes) in the same folder whose background is to be changed. It’s done, refresh the folder and you will see the folder background changed.

How To Share Internet Over Wireless In Windows 7 and Vista

Some days back Amit and me faced quite a problem sharing Internet via wireless. We got caught due to some unknown anomalies due to different OS we used.(I use Windows 7 while Amit is still on Windows Vista). Hence we had to figure out a way toconvert one of our laptops into a Wi-Fi hotspot.

Now that we had fixed it properly here is a detailed documentation of the steps that helped us troubleshoot the problem.

Windows 7 and Vista has a very easy to use Network Configuring Wizard. Follow the steps as mentioned below to create a wireless connection over which you can share Internet Connection with other computers on the same network.

There are two main steps

1. Configuring the Wireless Network in the host(one that has/shares the internet connection).

2. Connecting the Client(one that uses the shared Internet from Host) to the wireless network.

Configuring the Wireless Network in the Host Computer

Share Internet Connection Via Wireless in Windows 7

1. Open “Network And Sharing Center”. Go to Control Panel > View Network Status And Tasks.

2. Move down in the window and click on the “Setup a new connection or network”.

3. Scroll down and you will get an option “Set up a wireless ad-hoc (computer-to-computer) network”. Select it and press Next. In the next window proceed pressing Next.

4. Now name your new network anything that seems meaningful to you. Choose the “Security Type” as WEP and put a password for the network. Do not forget to select the bottommost checkbox that says, “Save this network”.

5(i). Wait as the network is set up. As the network is created proceed by clicking the Close button.

5(ii). You will be asked to assign the newly created network a location type. I have made it Public for easy access.

6. Open the Network And Sharing Center again. In the left pane click the Change adapter settings.

7. The resulting window will have all the networks on your PC listed. Choose the network which you use to connect the Internet. Right click on it and select Properties.

8. Go to the “Sharing” (last) tab and then check the option “Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection”. In the “Home Networking Connection”  dropdown select “Wireless Network Connection”.

9. In order to configure the ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) Settings, click the “Settings” button and then select all the options and press Ok.

10. Well that’s all, you can now connect to the internet and share the internet connection over the wireless network.

Share Internet Connection Via Wireless in Vista

1. Open “Network And Sharing Center”. Go to Control Panel > View Network Status And Tasks.

2. Click on the “Setup a new connection or network” in the left pane.

3. Follow steps 3, 4 and 5 as mentioned in the previous section.

4. Open the Network And Sharing Center again. In the left pane click the “Manage Network Connections”.

5. Now follow the steps 7 – 10 as detailed above in the Windows 7 section.

Connecting the Client with Host

For Windows 7

1. Turn on your Wireless. Click on the Network icon in the Windows notification area and connect to the available Wireless network.

2. You will need to enter the password that was assigned to the network.

For Windows Vista

1. Turn on your Wireless.

2. Right click on the network icon the notification area and select “Connect to a network”.

3. Click on the Wireless network and press Connect. That’s all. You can now browse the internet. You will need to enter the password that was assigned to the network.

FOOTNOTE : I personally use Lenovo Ideapad Y330. If you own a Lenovo here are some simple troubleshoots that may help you set up your Wireless Network

1. The Broadcom Wireless Drivers that are supplied with the model may cause some anomalies like no options for ad-hoc connection is there in the New connection Wizard. To solve this, you can try the Intel Wireless Drivers which can be found here atLenovo Driver Download page.

2. It may happen that the Wireless gets turned off and hence you are unable to set up a Wireless network. Try the Function key (fn) + F5 to turn it on.

3. If you are unable to configure a Wireless network even after using all the above mentioned techniques, there is also a possibility that you may need to turn on the Wireless from your BIOS(if there’s a option for it). If you are not good at configuring BIOS, look out for some helping hand.

That is all for now, if you are still experiencing problems feel free to ask via comments. And if the problem gets solved, a thank you note will surely be appreciated :).

Display Custom Text On Windows 7 Logon Screen

Here are two ways to display custom messages on your Windows 7 logon screen.

Method 1 : Show Custom Messages Using Windows Logon Notifier

This method involves using a free tool named Windows Logon Notifier. Any user can try this because installing a freeware is perhaps the easiest way to deal with a problem (or to create one). Download Windows Logon Notifier and start it.

As you can see in the screenshot above, there are two places where you can add two custom messages. Enter your message, press the Add Message button and you are done. Do it on your own and reboot PC to see the changes.

Method 2 : Show Custom Messages by Editing Registry

Now this is a tricky part which can also help you display custom messages on logon screen without the use of any 3rd-party tool. As this process is going to involve editing registry we recommend you to backup Windows registry first.

1. Open Registry Editor. To do that first open Run (press Win Key + R) and then type regedit in it and hit Enter.

2. Now go to

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
HKLM stands for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

3. In the right pane you will see two entries “legalnoticecaption” and “legalnoticetext“.

4. Double click the each of them and type in your message header and message body. Restart your system to see the changes.

Here is yet another logon screen trick which you can use to change your logon screen to Vista Logon screen in Windows XP.

Auto-Restart Your PC after a Power Failure And Logon To A Specific Windows User Account Automatically

Here is a step by step tutorial that will explain how you can start your PC automatically after an accidental power failure and logon to a specific user account by editing your registry and system properties.

Setup Your BIOS

First of all, you need to setup your BIOS configuration to ensure that the PC starts up automatically in case of an accidental power failure. To do that, go to your BIOS and then to the Power settings and make the relevant changes. Once you have successfully changed the value , please exit saving changes. If you are not sure how to edit BIOS consult somebody who can.

Edit Start-Up and Recovery Settings

Open Start, right-click on My Computer and choose Properties. Click Advanced System Settings from the left side. In theSystem Properties dialog press the Settings button for Startup and Recovery.

1. CHOOSE DEFAULT OPERATING SYSTEM:

In case you have multiple operating systems installed, choose the operating system you wish to use for the automatic startup. Use the dropdown list to choose the OS.

2. EDIT TIME COUNTDOWN DURING BOOT:

Next thing you have to do is choose the countdown down until the default operating system starts booting automatically. Change the time in the section Time to display the list of operating systems. Choose any time that you prefer.

Edit Registry To Automate The Logon For A Specific Account

Now using registry you have to enter the username and password of the specific user account you wish to boot automatically. Open Run (Windows Key + R), type regedit and hit Return to start Registry Editor.

NOTE: Editing Registry can go wrong if not handled properly, hence its always advised to backup Windows registry before editing it. You can restore the backup if anything goes wrong.

Now in the Registry Editor go to,

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

Now follow the steps below to edit the registry keys mentioned there.

1. Choose the Default Username:

Locate the key DefaultUserName. If its not there, create it a new string value and name it DefaultUserName.

Now double click the entry to edit the string. Enter the username you wish to automatically logon.

2. Choose Password for Default Account:

In a similar way create and edit DefaultPassword entry and enter the password for the Windows user account you chose in the previous step.

3. Enable Auto Logon:

Now that you have entered the username and password, activate the auto-logon.  Find the key AutoAdminLogon or create one if its not there. Double click the entry and enter the value 1.

That is all. But if you wish to have an option for logging in using another user account, create another key ForceAutoLogon. Edit its value to 1. To use this press and hold the left SHIFT key when Windows starts. This will allow you to use another user account.

Once everything is done, close the registry editor and restart your PC for checking. Let us know if the tweak had helped you or not. And please state the reason why you wish to auto start your PC.

Use Windows 7 and Vista For 1 Year Without Activation

If all other possible ways to activate Windows has failed, you are left with only one which is to activate windows by phone. What if that also has failed somehow? Here is a nice registry (as well as a command line) trick to postpone Windows activation for 1 year or just to say, use Windows without activating it.

Reset Windows Vista And Windows 7 Activation for 120 days

1. Start Command Prompt. (Press Winkey+R to start Run, type cmd in it and hit enter).

2. Enter the command slmgr –rearm and hit enter.

3. You will be prompted to restart Windows. After restarting, the trial period will be extended for 30 more days.

NOTE : If you are willing to take full advantage (i.e 120 days) perform this trick every 30 days after installation. This trick will work only three times. So, 30days(default) + extended 90(30X3) days makes the extension of 120 days or 4 months.

Reset Windows 7 or Vista Activation For almost 1 year(360 days)

As I mentioned earlier, the slmgr –rearm trick could be used only 3 times. But a registry trick will make it usable for 8 more times i.e (8X30=240days) of Windows use.

1. Open the registry editor in Windows 7 or Vista.(Press Winkey+R to start Run, and then type regedit in it and hit enter).

NOTE : Backup Windows Registry before making changes to it.

2. Go to the following directory using the left pane,

For Windows Vista

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\SL

For Windows 7

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform

*HKLM stands for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

3. Now in the right pane, you will find a DWORD entry named, SkipRearm. Right click on it and press “Modify”. Change the “Value Data” to 1.

4. Restart your computer to apply the changes. That’s all. Now you can perform the previously mentioned(slmgr -rearm) trick 8 more times.

Therefore the total count of the allowed slmgr –rearm trick is 11 which means an extra of 330 days in addition to the default 30 days. So, you get a 360 days of extension for using Windows 7 or Vista without activating it. You may also like to know how todisable or enable the Windows auto-activation feature.