CGI Proxy

What are CGI Proxies ?

It is a way to hide your IP address by communicating through a 3rd party server

Simple Analogy:
A wants to talk to C but D is looking at him.
So to ensure D doesn't know A uses Proxy B.
Whatever A wants to tell C, he tells B to pass the message to C
so D will not know A is actually communicating with C.

I added a new gadget on this site for CGI Proxy Testing (To test if the Proxy actually hides your IP)
Here is a site containing CGI Proxy Locations.
If you still want to find more simply google CGI Proxy.
Some CGI Proxies are actually fake, meaning other then advertising they don't proxy your IP addresses.
So to test whether they work simply enter my blog URL and look at the gadget.
If it displays your ISP and Dynamic IP address assigned by your ISP, it is a fake proxy hence don't use it.

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Converting from IDE to AHCI in Windows Vista

When you do a fresh install on Vista
First select to boot in IDE mode by selecting IDE in BIOS
After completing the install
Do the following

1. Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
2. If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.
3. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci
4. In the right pane, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify.
5. In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.
6. On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor.

Restart and select AHCI in BIOS

This only applies when you are reformatting your computer from scratch from a Vista Install CD
If you are doing image recovery the above is already completed


From Microsoft Help & Support

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Vista Cursor For Windows Xp

I am sure Xp users are bored of seeing Hour Glass after a while
I have Linked 2 Sets of Vista Cursor
( I didn't make any of them and I have forgotten where I got this from)

Vista Cursor Black
Vista Cursor Blue

• Extract the file to a folder

• Right Click the Install.inf and Select Install

• Go to Mouse Property in Control Panel
• Select the newly installed Mouse Cursor Set
  
• Apply then Save the Cursor Set

And you are done !

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Realtek Optimal Driver Settings

The Latest Realtek High Definition CODEC Driver is available here

The following is a guide to optimal driver settings so that

1. The full driver features are utilised
2. The amplitude of the volume is controlled so the speakers do not get damaged
   

First Right Click the Icon Shown below

Choose Playback Device
Select Speakers then Properties Then Check Limited Output
This will prevent speaker damage when the volume is maximum

Next

Switch PC Beep to Zero or Mute it to turn off the annoying PC Beep
Then Ensure the Microphone in Speaker Properties is Muted to remove the annoying static that can be heard some times

Next Right Click the Icon shown below and select Sound Manager


Check Either Full Range Speaker Or Virtual Sound for best sound effects because Virtual Sound refers to headphone sound virtualization


Select the following options to reduce Microphone interference
The Red Cross Should Show if the options are enabled

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Internet Explorer Tweak

Here is a registry tweak for Internet Explorer


Similar to the Mozilla Firefox tweak this enable you to increase the number simultaneous server connections.
It is one of the few "tweaks" Internet Explorer has as it is not designed to be this tweakable

If you can't see the words on the picture, the registry entry is as follows:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings]
Entries to be edited

"MaxConnectionsPerServer"
"MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server"

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Windows Networking Guide

Here is a interesting site contain information regarding Windows Networking

For Windows Vista, Server 2008 Guide see here

There are also many other interesting knowledge regarding networking there to check out

If you are not comfortable with modifying values via commandline there are downloads available too

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The Physical Memory Limits of Windows Vista/Xp 32bits

Clarification

There is no support for a full 4GB of Memory in Windows according to Mark Russinovich's Blog
After some research a simple explanation is that although originally PAE (Physical Addressing Extensions) was implemented to support more than 4GB of Memory Address, due to poor driver programming by vendors has resulted in Microsoft's convenient decision to simply pull the plug on PAE support in Client OS.
Their rationale being they couldn't resolve crashes on Windows 32bit Client Machines due to poorly programmed device drivers like WebCam etc.
However, this is not to say you cannot enable PAE on any 32bit Windows Operating System.
However it is not ANY Windows Operating System

Physical Memory Limits: Windows Server 2008

The following table specifies the limits on physical memory for Windows Server 2008. Limits greater than 4 GB for 32-bit Windows assume that PAE is enabled.

Version	Limit in 32-bit Windows
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter (full installation)	64 GB
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter (Server Core installation)	64 GB
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise	64 GB

Physical Memory Limits: Windows Server 2003

The following table specifies the limits on physical memory for Windows Server 2003. Limits over 4 GB for 32-bit Windows assume that PAE is enabled.

Version	Limit in 32-bit Windows
Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 2 (SP2), Datacenter Edition	128 GB 64 GB with 4GT
Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 2 (SP2), Enterprise Edition	64 GB
Windows Storage Server 2003, Enterprise Edition	8 GB
Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter Edition Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 (SP1), Datacenter Edition	128 GB 16 GB with 4GT
Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 (SP1), Enterprise Edition	64 GB 16 GB with 4GT
Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition	128 GB 16 GB with 4GT
Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition	32 GB 16 GB with 4GT

Physical Memory Limits: Windows 2000

The following table specifies the limits on physical memory for Windows 2000.

Version	Limit in 32-bit Windows
Windows 2000 Advanced Server	8 GB
Windows 2000 Datacenter Server	32 GB

As you can see they are all Server OS which makes me wonder, since most in fact all Drivers are certified by Microsoft, shouldn't they work with PAE? Or is it that they don't want to ?

It turns out that the reason Windows Vista/Xp 32bit "eats" up your RAM is because all hardware require memory address to map location.
Xp/Vista 32bit addresses do not exceed 4GB because Microsoft removed this functionality hence

Amount Of Space Left = Available 4GB address - Addresses Taken Up By Device Hardware

This number varies from System to System hence there is 3 ways of overcoming this issue

1. Get a 64bit Windows OS
2. Get a 32bit Windows Server OS listed above
3. Hack the Windows Kernel to force enable PAE

If you are a student with Microsoft Academic Alliance in your institution you are in luck, as you can get the software free

Take a look here and here

Sorry again if my previous post caused some confusion

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