Cyber Security:Predictions galore: BL
A look at what cyberspace might hold this new year..
Through the looking glass.
Predictions dished out by astrologers and experts on January 1 each year are lapped up by consumers
whichever walk of life or profession they might be.
The cyber world is no different. I am not for a moment underplaying the importance or utility of such
predictions. What I look for is certain exactitude in warning what one should be prepared for in the New
Year. This is why I am amused when experts say that 2010 will see more intrusions in cyberspace and we
should be more vigilant.
There are, however, a few analyses that are slightly more concrete and therefore meaningful. As for
instance, when McAfee, the reputed anti-virus software vendor, projects a year that will be marked by
intensified criminal concentration on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Its 2010 Threat
Predictions report suggests that Twitter will, in particular, be the target of those who want to hide sinister
Web sites somewhere so that their detection becomes difficult. There will also be exploitation of popular
applications alongside increased sophistication of cyber criminals. McAfee also believes that HTML5 will be
popular among malware writers. More attacks on Adobe Reader and a rise in banking Trojans are distinct
possibilities.
The prognosis, especially with regard to Facebook and other such sites, seems credible because of the
avalanche of attacks on them that one saw in 2009. Readers may also recall that a number of hackers into
these sites succeeded in breaking into users' profiles and posting links to malware-affected sites.
Notwithstanding these, I do not foresee any drop in new subscribers to Facebook and Twitter, because they
are live and interesting to an average individual looking for excitement in cyberspace. They have also
acquired a certain aura, thanks to VIP users such as our own Minister in the Ministry of External Affairs,
Shashi Tharoor.
Apart from McAfee, there are several other companies offering predictions. One of them is Kaspersky Lab,
again an anti-virus software provider, which is headquartered in Moscow and has offices all over the world.
Although the company indulges in some generalisations, such as an increase in the sophistication of
attacks, it makes bold to predict that next year will witness less number of attacks using Web sites and
applications. There will also be fewer malicious applications making bogus claims of being genuine anti-virus
and security software. Kaspersky attributes this to market saturation of such products and increased
vigilance of law enforcement officials. Also interesting will be to watch how cyber criminals are going to
receive new operating systems such as Windows 7 and Snow Leopard.
Perhaps somewhat contentious is the prediction that black hat hackers will start legitimising their activities
by means of partner programmes, wherein professional criminals will be assisted through monetising spam
botnets, denial of service attacks and malware. It is not clear on what basis Kaspersky is making this
assertion. But it is undoubtedly an interesting speculation that should alert policemen patrolling cyberspace.
Equally intriguing and absorbing is Kaspersky's belief that 2012 will see more pressure on mobile phone
applications, file sharing and peer to peer networks. The Kaspersky analysis sounds erudite and cannot be
ignored. It merits careful analysis.
Another expert surmise is that there will be first time criminal attention to cloud computing services. It is just
possible that these services will be hijacked and used to control and direct attacks. (More about the security
threats to cloud computing in a subsequent column.) Also, botnets will become more sophisticated. Perhaps
the most amusing suggestion is that there will be inter-gang wars where one gang may hijack the botnets
controlled by other gangs. In sum, whatever happens in the real world could be replicated in cyberspace!
Amidst all these conjectures comes the report now of extreme ingenuity on the part of a hacker called Samy
Kamkar who, only the other day, demonstrated how we can identify a browser's geographic location by
exploiting the weaknesses in many Wi-Fi routers. Incidentally, Samy is the hacker who, in 2005, through
what is now known as Samy Worm, put MySpace out of commission by adding more than one million friends
to the author's account. Kamkar tells us of how hardware firewalls can be penetrated with the help of some
JavaScript embedded in a Web page. He is positive that by luring victims to a malicious link, the aggressor
can access any service on the victim's machine. This is a dreadful prospect. The caveat, however, is that the
visitor must have on his machine an application running, such as file transfer protocol or session initiation
protocol. For one Samy known to us, there are a thousand others with a dishonest intention. This is why we
need to do everything within our capacity to educate ourselves on the latest modes of attack and take
minimum possible precautions.
Some cheer news
Against this background of fears of perils in cyberspace, the findings of two recent studies make sense. The
first by PriceWaterCoopers (PwC) claims that there is a nearly 100 per cent improvement in the security
capabilities of the IT-BPO industry in the past few years. Also noteworthy is the shift of accent from
technology to people-related controls through increased importance to employee security awareness
programmes.
Another study, conducted by KPMG and Nasscom, is nearly equally positive. According to it, security has
now become a Board room concern and a majority of companies look upon it as a business enabler.
Information security is now part of the training imparted to newcomers, and this has brought in its own
rewards in terms of protecting corporate information. This is heartwarming if one considers the situation until
a few years ago, when IT security was a very low priority, something of a ritual rather than a protector of a
company's assets and image.
The writer is a former CBI Director who is currently Adviser (Security) to TCS Ltd.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Cyber Quiz: BL
Questions
1. According to ComScore, Inc, US shoppers spent a whopping $27 billion online in the holiday season with
the second most productive day being ?Cyber Monday' with sales of $887 million after the December 15
sales which saw $913 million being spent. When was ?Cyber Monday'?
2. If the signalling rate for USB 2.0 is 480 Mbit/s, what is it for the new USB 3.0?
3. Teenager David Nelson, the founder of a music service, was chastised by Vevo which asked him to stop
using the service's content and trademark. Name the teenager's site.
4. Name the game that has broken many records, earning the distinction of being the ?most pirated game of
2009' with downloads exceeding 4.1 million times till end December since its early November launch.
5. The team from which prestigious varsity won a $40,000 online, nine-day challenge in early December,
proposed by the US government's DARPA, in just nine hours?
6. According to Netcraft's December 2009 Web Server Survey, how many million sites were there across all
domains: 225, 234 or 240?
7. Why is February 4, 2004 a significant date in the online world of social networking?
8. Which OS has the default browser NetPositive (often called Net+)?
9. Which dangerous worm has/had the aliases ?Simpsons', ?Kwyjibo' or ?Kwejeebo'?
10. The popular video capture and video processing utility for Microsoft Windows written by Avery Lee is
called..?
Answers
1. November 30.
2. 4.8 Gbit/s
3. Muziic
4. ?Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2'.
5. MIT
6. 234 (from about 12 million in 1999).
7. Facebook, initially named ?thefacebook', made its appearance.
8. Be Operating System (BeOS).
9. Melissa
10. VirtualDub.
Questions
1. According to ComScore, Inc, US shoppers spent a whopping $27 billion online in the holiday season with
the second most productive day being ?Cyber Monday' with sales of $887 million after the December 15
sales which saw $913 million being spent. When was ?Cyber Monday'?
2. If the signalling rate for USB 2.0 is 480 Mbit/s, what is it for the new USB 3.0?
3. Teenager David Nelson, the founder of a music service, was chastised by Vevo which asked him to stop
using the service's content and trademark. Name the teenager's site.
4. Name the game that has broken many records, earning the distinction of being the ?most pirated game of
2009' with downloads exceeding 4.1 million times till end December since its early November launch.
5. The team from which prestigious varsity won a $40,000 online, nine-day challenge in early December,
proposed by the US government's DARPA, in just nine hours?
6. According to Netcraft's December 2009 Web Server Survey, how many million sites were there across all
domains: 225, 234 or 240?
7. Why is February 4, 2004 a significant date in the online world of social networking?
8. Which OS has the default browser NetPositive (often called Net+)?
9. Which dangerous worm has/had the aliases ?Simpsons', ?Kwyjibo' or ?Kwejeebo'?
10. The popular video capture and video processing utility for Microsoft Windows written by Avery Lee is
called..?
Answers
1. November 30.
2. 4.8 Gbit/s
3. Muziic
4. ?Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2'.
5. MIT
6. 234 (from about 12 million in 1999).
7. Facebook, initially named ?thefacebook', made its appearance.
8. Be Operating System (BeOS).
9. Melissa
10. VirtualDub.
Corporation Bank targets Rs 1.5 lakh crore-biz this fiscal: BL
We are planning to grow by 52 per cent in the home loan segment.
Mr J.M. Garg, Chairman and Managing Director
Mr J.M. Garg, Chairman and Managing Director of Corporation Bank, feels that the performance of the bank
has been better than the system in spite of the economic slowdown. For the current financial year, Mr Garg
foresees a business growth of 23 per cent.
In an interview with Business Line, he spoke on various subjects ranging from the bank's targets for the
current financial year, the developments on the deposit and credit front, and the bank's plans for recruitment
among others. Excerpts from interview:
What is the business target for the current fiscal?
We have targeted a business level of Rs 1.5 lakh crore (1.22 lakh crore) by the end of March. This would
translate to a business growth of around 23 per cent, which is quite good, considering the present business
scenario and slowdown in credit offtake.
We have set a target of Rs 90,000 crore of deposits and Rs 60,000 crore of advances by the end of the
fiscal.
How is the growth in CASA?
The focus on CASA (Current Account, Saving Account) has borne fruit in the form of steady year-on-year
growth of around 24 per cent in savings deposits. The slowdown in credit has had its impact on the opening
of current deposits accounts and year-on-year growth has been only 15 per cent.
Growth in retail term deposits has been well over 30 per cent, which should enable the bank to shed some
of its bulk deposits.
Term deposits are growing though the interest rates have come down. People are now putting money in
short-term deposits, and are not going for long-term deposits. That gets reflected in term deposits. With that
the cost of deposits is coming down. I expect it to come down to 6 per cent by March-end. (It was around
6.44 per cent by the end of September).
Incidentally, almost all of the erstwhile high cost deposits have been replaced at very low rates, which will
further bring down the cost of deposits.
What future do you see for the growth of vehicle loans and home loans?
The auto industry is showing signs of revival and production. The passenger car segment has seen an
upturn. The demand for passenger cars has also shown some increase and we hope to see a growth in the
vehicle loans category. The bank has introduced a special product ?Corp Vehi Plus' with a rate of interest of
8 per cent frozen for the first year.
So far we have disbursed about Rs 100 crore under this scheme. We are projecting to nearly double the
vehicle loan portfolio to meet the growing demand in this sector.
As far as the home loan segment is concerned, real estate prices have been showing some corrections and
a number of houses and flats are now being offered by builders at more affordable prices. We are planning
to grow by 52 per cent in this segment. We have launched ?Corp Home Delight' scheme with an interest rate
of 8 per cent in the first year. So far, we have disbursed more than Rs 250 crore under this scheme. For
quickening the pace of sanctions, we have further fine-tuned our centralised processing systems so that we
are able to reduce the time between sanction and disbursement.
(The total vehicle loan portfolio of the bank stands at Rs 960 crore and home loan at Rs 4,400 crore. The
total retail portfolio of the bank is only 18 per cent of the total advances).
How is the performance of agri-loans and what are your plans in this regard?
We propose to increase the share of agriculture in adjusted net bank credit from 11 per cent in March 2009
to 15 per cent by March 2010. To improve performance under agriculture, we will focus on financing well-run
dairy co-operatives and rice mills.
We will also focus on zone-specific initiatives, such as floriculture in Bangalore, organic farming in Hassan,
Hubli and Belgaum, etc. Apart from this, the existing schemes will be made more customer-friendly. Finance
to dealers in fertilisers, pesticides, seeds and farm equipment is also being given focus.
To augment existing technical manpower, a good number of agricultural field officers are being recruited,
who are expected to exploit the hitherto untapped potential in northern and western parts of the country.
Can you explain your plans for increasing non-interest income?
For the current fiscal, the bank has targeted a growth of 45 per cent in non-interest income from core areas
(such as fees, commissions, exchange) from a level of Rs 449 crore in 2008-09 to Rs 650 crore in 2009-10.
The bank has taken several measures such as increase in volume of bank guarantees and letters of credit
business, focus on sale of third party products like mutual funds, bancassurance, gold retailing, garnering
higher share of Government business, and so on. These concerted efforts are showing results and the bank
looks forward to achieving its target.
What plans do you have to raise funds during the fiscal? What amount of funds was raised during the year
till now?
The bank has so far raised tier-I bonds for Rs 500 crore and tier-II bonds for Rs 1,550 crore during 2009-10.
The capital adequacy of the bank was very comfortable at 18.18 per cent (of which tier-I stood at 10.75 per
cent) as at September. This is sufficient to take care of expansion plans in the immediate future. In case the
markets are favourable, we may raise further funds through bonds.
What is happening on the recruitment front?
Corporation Bank has planned to recruit around 1,000 people in the current financial year. About 60 per cent
of these vacancies would be filled in the clerical cadre. Of the remaining, we are planning to recruit around
300 officers in specialist category and around 125 in the general category.
We are planning to grow by 52 per cent in the home loan segment.
Mr J.M. Garg, Chairman and Managing Director
Mr J.M. Garg, Chairman and Managing Director of Corporation Bank, feels that the performance of the bank
has been better than the system in spite of the economic slowdown. For the current financial year, Mr Garg
foresees a business growth of 23 per cent.
In an interview with Business Line, he spoke on various subjects ranging from the bank's targets for the
current financial year, the developments on the deposit and credit front, and the bank's plans for recruitment
among others. Excerpts from interview:
What is the business target for the current fiscal?
We have targeted a business level of Rs 1.5 lakh crore (1.22 lakh crore) by the end of March. This would
translate to a business growth of around 23 per cent, which is quite good, considering the present business
scenario and slowdown in credit offtake.
We have set a target of Rs 90,000 crore of deposits and Rs 60,000 crore of advances by the end of the
fiscal.
How is the growth in CASA?
The focus on CASA (Current Account, Saving Account) has borne fruit in the form of steady year-on-year
growth of around 24 per cent in savings deposits. The slowdown in credit has had its impact on the opening
of current deposits accounts and year-on-year growth has been only 15 per cent.
Growth in retail term deposits has been well over 30 per cent, which should enable the bank to shed some
of its bulk deposits.
Term deposits are growing though the interest rates have come down. People are now putting money in
short-term deposits, and are not going for long-term deposits. That gets reflected in term deposits. With that
the cost of deposits is coming down. I expect it to come down to 6 per cent by March-end. (It was around
6.44 per cent by the end of September).
Incidentally, almost all of the erstwhile high cost deposits have been replaced at very low rates, which will
further bring down the cost of deposits.
What future do you see for the growth of vehicle loans and home loans?
The auto industry is showing signs of revival and production. The passenger car segment has seen an
upturn. The demand for passenger cars has also shown some increase and we hope to see a growth in the
vehicle loans category. The bank has introduced a special product ?Corp Vehi Plus' with a rate of interest of
8 per cent frozen for the first year.
So far we have disbursed about Rs 100 crore under this scheme. We are projecting to nearly double the
vehicle loan portfolio to meet the growing demand in this sector.
As far as the home loan segment is concerned, real estate prices have been showing some corrections and
a number of houses and flats are now being offered by builders at more affordable prices. We are planning
to grow by 52 per cent in this segment. We have launched ?Corp Home Delight' scheme with an interest rate
of 8 per cent in the first year. So far, we have disbursed more than Rs 250 crore under this scheme. For
quickening the pace of sanctions, we have further fine-tuned our centralised processing systems so that we
are able to reduce the time between sanction and disbursement.
(The total vehicle loan portfolio of the bank stands at Rs 960 crore and home loan at Rs 4,400 crore. The
total retail portfolio of the bank is only 18 per cent of the total advances).
How is the performance of agri-loans and what are your plans in this regard?
We propose to increase the share of agriculture in adjusted net bank credit from 11 per cent in March 2009
to 15 per cent by March 2010. To improve performance under agriculture, we will focus on financing well-run
dairy co-operatives and rice mills.
We will also focus on zone-specific initiatives, such as floriculture in Bangalore, organic farming in Hassan,
Hubli and Belgaum, etc. Apart from this, the existing schemes will be made more customer-friendly. Finance
to dealers in fertilisers, pesticides, seeds and farm equipment is also being given focus.
To augment existing technical manpower, a good number of agricultural field officers are being recruited,
who are expected to exploit the hitherto untapped potential in northern and western parts of the country.
Can you explain your plans for increasing non-interest income?
For the current fiscal, the bank has targeted a growth of 45 per cent in non-interest income from core areas
(such as fees, commissions, exchange) from a level of Rs 449 crore in 2008-09 to Rs 650 crore in 2009-10.
The bank has taken several measures such as increase in volume of bank guarantees and letters of credit
business, focus on sale of third party products like mutual funds, bancassurance, gold retailing, garnering
higher share of Government business, and so on. These concerted efforts are showing results and the bank
looks forward to achieving its target.
What plans do you have to raise funds during the fiscal? What amount of funds was raised during the year
till now?
The bank has so far raised tier-I bonds for Rs 500 crore and tier-II bonds for Rs 1,550 crore during 2009-10.
The capital adequacy of the bank was very comfortable at 18.18 per cent (of which tier-I stood at 10.75 per
cent) as at September. This is sufficient to take care of expansion plans in the immediate future. In case the
markets are favourable, we may raise further funds through bonds.
What is happening on the recruitment front?
Corporation Bank has planned to recruit around 1,000 people in the current financial year. About 60 per cent
of these vacancies would be filled in the clerical cadre. Of the remaining, we are planning to recruit around
300 officers in specialist category and around 125 in the general category.
Corporation Bank looking at big-scale branch expansion:BL 241209
To focus on tier-3 to tier-6 centres.
Mr J.M. Garg
Corporation Bank, which has 1,094 branches in the country, is looking at expansion of its branch network on
a big scale in the next five years.Mr J.M. Garg, Chairman and Managing Director, told Business Line that the
bank is planning to open around 700 branches during the next five years.
Asked about the regions of focus, he said the bank has not identified any areas as such. However, he said
the bank will go for opening branches in tier-3 to tier-6 centres of the northern, eastern and western parts of
the country. "We will go in a limited manner in the South," he said.The major advantages for the bank
increasing its share in such centres are that it will be able to garner more CASA (current account and
savings account) deposits and it will help increase its presence in semi-urban and rural areas. "By opening
branches in tier-3 to tier-6 centres, the bank wants to increase the share of CASA deposits in its total
deposits. Those are the places where the CASA is high," Mr Garg said.
The move will also help the bank get additional licences to open branches in urban and metro centres.
To get licences
It will also help the bank get licences from the RBI in metros and urban centres where it does not have a
presence."These licences will be based on how many branches the bank has opened in tier-3 to tier-6
centres," he said.
Of the 1,094 branches of the bank, nearly 40 per cent of them are in semi-urban and rural areas. Mr Garg
said that in the banking industry it is the other way round.
The rural and semi-urban branch share of most of the banks is 60 per cent.Added to this, the move will help
the bank increase its agriculture lending also.To a query on increasing the overseas presence, Mr Garg said
that the bank has representative offices at Hong Kong and Dubai."The Hong Kong representative office is
proposed to be upgraded into a branch. Further we have plans to open offices in important financial centres
in future subject to necessary approvals," he added.
To focus on tier-3 to tier-6 centres.
Mr J.M. Garg
Corporation Bank, which has 1,094 branches in the country, is looking at expansion of its branch network on
a big scale in the next five years.Mr J.M. Garg, Chairman and Managing Director, told Business Line that the
bank is planning to open around 700 branches during the next five years.
Asked about the regions of focus, he said the bank has not identified any areas as such. However, he said
the bank will go for opening branches in tier-3 to tier-6 centres of the northern, eastern and western parts of
the country. "We will go in a limited manner in the South," he said.The major advantages for the bank
increasing its share in such centres are that it will be able to garner more CASA (current account and
savings account) deposits and it will help increase its presence in semi-urban and rural areas. "By opening
branches in tier-3 to tier-6 centres, the bank wants to increase the share of CASA deposits in its total
deposits. Those are the places where the CASA is high," Mr Garg said.
The move will also help the bank get additional licences to open branches in urban and metro centres.
To get licences
It will also help the bank get licences from the RBI in metros and urban centres where it does not have a
presence."These licences will be based on how many branches the bank has opened in tier-3 to tier-6
centres," he said.
Of the 1,094 branches of the bank, nearly 40 per cent of them are in semi-urban and rural areas. Mr Garg
said that in the banking industry it is the other way round.
The rural and semi-urban branch share of most of the banks is 60 per cent.Added to this, the move will help
the bank increase its agriculture lending also.To a query on increasing the overseas presence, Mr Garg said
that the bank has representative offices at Hong Kong and Dubai."The Hong Kong representative office is
proposed to be upgraded into a branch. Further we have plans to open offices in important financial centres
in future subject to necessary approvals," he added.
China systematically killing Indian manufacturing sector: L&T: ET
China systematically killing Indian manufacturing sector: L&T: ET
Private sector engineering major Larsen & Toubro has said that China is systematically killing Indian manufacturing
sector and sought 25 per cent anti-dumping duty on Chinese goods. "China has a fixed currency. It is not a market
economy like ours. China is systematically killing the Indian manufacturing sector," Naik, who was here for foundation
stone laying ceremony of a forgings unit at Hazira told reporters here yesterday. "There are taxes on goods
manufactured locally, but none on imported products (from China). This is an unfair situation for Indian goods. This is
why there should be 25 per cent anti-dumping duty on Chinese products," Naik said.
Speaking specifically about power equipment sector, in which L&T is a major player, Naik said, "The Indian power
companies, especially those in the private sector, have placed huge orders for power plant equipment with China. We
can say that Chinese power sector is virtually working for India." "It is not good that 80 per cent of our dependence for
power plant equipment is on one country, and that too China," he said, adding that China should not be allowed to grow
at the cost of Indian companies. "The day China opens its economy, its prices are bound to go up by 25 per cent," he
said. "But unfortunately we are not taking any steps to stop it," Naik further said.
L&T's special steel manufacturing and ultra heavy forgings unit at Hazira is a joint venture with Nuclear Power
Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL), in which L&T holds 74 per cent stake while the latter 26 per cent. The plant is being
set up at an investment of Rs 1,750 crore, and will supply finished forgings for nuclear reactors, pressurisers and steam
generators, besides heavy forgings for critical equipment in the hydrocarbon sector, as well as thermal power plants and
steel plants. The unit is expected to begin operations between March and May next year.
L&T is also investing over Rs 5,000 crore for setting up facilities to manufacture boilers, turbines, modular
fabrications. It is also establishing a ship-building unit and a power plant at its Hazira facility. "The boiler shop will be
opened in March or April this year, which will be followed by the turbine shop in August or so," Naik said.
Private sector engineering major Larsen & Toubro has said that China is systematically killing Indian manufacturing
sector and sought 25 per cent anti-dumping duty on Chinese goods. "China has a fixed currency. It is not a market
economy like ours. China is systematically killing the Indian manufacturing sector," Naik, who was here for foundation
stone laying ceremony of a forgings unit at Hazira told reporters here yesterday. "There are taxes on goods
manufactured locally, but none on imported products (from China). This is an unfair situation for Indian goods. This is
why there should be 25 per cent anti-dumping duty on Chinese products," Naik said.
Speaking specifically about power equipment sector, in which L&T is a major player, Naik said, "The Indian power
companies, especially those in the private sector, have placed huge orders for power plant equipment with China. We
can say that Chinese power sector is virtually working for India." "It is not good that 80 per cent of our dependence for
power plant equipment is on one country, and that too China," he said, adding that China should not be allowed to grow
at the cost of Indian companies. "The day China opens its economy, its prices are bound to go up by 25 per cent," he
said. "But unfortunately we are not taking any steps to stop it," Naik further said.
L&T's special steel manufacturing and ultra heavy forgings unit at Hazira is a joint venture with Nuclear Power
Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL), in which L&T holds 74 per cent stake while the latter 26 per cent. The plant is being
set up at an investment of Rs 1,750 crore, and will supply finished forgings for nuclear reactors, pressurisers and steam
generators, besides heavy forgings for critical equipment in the hydrocarbon sector, as well as thermal power plants and
steel plants. The unit is expected to begin operations between March and May next year.
L&T is also investing over Rs 5,000 crore for setting up facilities to manufacture boilers, turbines, modular
fabrications. It is also establishing a ship-building unit and a power plant at its Hazira facility. "The boiler shop will be
opened in March or April this year, which will be followed by the turbine shop in August or so," Naik said.
Check out FD schemes for saving income tax : ET
Fixed deposits offered by banks have been the favourite traditional saving and investment instrument for Indians. In
the union budget of 2006, the long-term bank deposits were made liable for the tax benefit under section 80C of
Income Tax Act, 1961.
It means investments up to Rs.1,00,000 in Bank FD at least for 5 years qualify for deduction from the gross total
income for purpose of tax calculations.
On the backdrop of high interest rate last year, banks were flooded with deposits under this scheme. Now, it is a time
to make tax planning for the financial year 2009-10 .
In view of this we bring out a ready reckoner on the tax savings deposit schemes offered by leading commercial
banks.
Deposit Amount (Per financial year)
Minimum: 1000
Maximum: 1,00,000
Tenure
Minimum: 5 years
Maximum: 10 years
Mode of Payment: Lump sum at the time of maturity or quaterly
Current Deposit rate (% per annum): 7.25 (Note: Additional 0.25% if the tenure of deposit is
8 years and up to 10 years)
Deposit Amount (Per financial year)
Minimum: 10, 000
Maximum: 1,00,000
Tenure
Minimum: 5 years
Maximum: 10 years
Mode of Payment: Lump sum at the time of maturity or quaterly
Current Deposit rate (% per annum): 7.00
Deposit Amount (Per financial year)
Minimum: 5, 000
Maximum: 1,00,000
Tenure
Minimum: 5 years
Maximum: 10 years
Mode of Payment:
Maximum: 1,00,000
Tenure
Minimum: 5 years
Maximum: 10 years
Mode of Payment: Lump sum at the time of maturity or quaterly or monthly
Current Deposit rate (% per annum): 6.75
Deposit Amount (Per financial year)
Minimum: 100
Maximum: 1,00,000
Tenure
Minimum: 5 years
Maximum: 10 years
Mode of Payment: Lump sum at the time of maturity or quaterly or monthly
Current Deposit rate (% per annum): 7.00
Deposit Amount (Per financial year)
Minimum: 10, 000
Maximum: 1,00,000
Tenure: 5 years
Mode of Payment: Lump sum at the time of maturity or quaterly or monthly
Current Deposit rate (% per annum): 7.75
Deposit Amount (Per financial year)
Minimum: 100
Maximum: 1,00,000
Tenure: 5 years
Mode of Payment: Quaterly or monthly
Current Deposit rate (% per annum): 6.00
Deposit Amount (Per financial year)
Minimum: 100
Maximum: 1,00,000
Tenure: At least 5 years
Mode of Payment: Lump sum at the time of maturity or quaterly
Current Deposit rate (% per annum): 7.00
Fixed deposits offered by banks have been the favourite traditional saving and investment instrument for Indians. In
the union budget of 2006, the long-term bank deposits were made liable for the tax benefit under section 80C of
Income Tax Act, 1961.
It means investments up to Rs.1,00,000 in Bank FD at least for 5 years qualify for deduction from the gross total
income for purpose of tax calculations.
On the backdrop of high interest rate last year, banks were flooded with deposits under this scheme. Now, it is a time
to make tax planning for the financial year 2009-10 .
In view of this we bring out a ready reckoner on the tax savings deposit schemes offered by leading commercial
banks.
Deposit Amount (Per financial year)
Minimum: 1000
Maximum: 1,00,000
Tenure
Minimum: 5 years
Maximum: 10 years
Mode of Payment: Lump sum at the time of maturity or quaterly
Current Deposit rate (% per annum): 7.25 (Note: Additional 0.25% if the tenure of deposit is
8 years and up to 10 years)
Deposit Amount (Per financial year)
Minimum: 10, 000
Maximum: 1,00,000
Tenure
Minimum: 5 years
Maximum: 10 years
Mode of Payment: Lump sum at the time of maturity or quaterly
Current Deposit rate (% per annum): 7.00
Deposit Amount (Per financial year)
Minimum: 5, 000
Maximum: 1,00,000
Tenure
Minimum: 5 years
Maximum: 10 years
Mode of Payment:
Maximum: 1,00,000
Tenure
Minimum: 5 years
Maximum: 10 years
Mode of Payment: Lump sum at the time of maturity or quaterly or monthly
Current Deposit rate (% per annum): 6.75
Deposit Amount (Per financial year)
Minimum: 100
Maximum: 1,00,000
Tenure
Minimum: 5 years
Maximum: 10 years
Mode of Payment: Lump sum at the time of maturity or quaterly or monthly
Current Deposit rate (% per annum): 7.00
Deposit Amount (Per financial year)
Minimum: 10, 000
Maximum: 1,00,000
Tenure: 5 years
Mode of Payment: Lump sum at the time of maturity or quaterly or monthly
Current Deposit rate (% per annum): 7.75
Deposit Amount (Per financial year)
Minimum: 100
Maximum: 1,00,000
Tenure: 5 years
Mode of Payment: Quaterly or monthly
Current Deposit rate (% per annum): 6.00
Deposit Amount (Per financial year)
Minimum: 100
Maximum: 1,00,000
Tenure: At least 5 years
Mode of Payment: Lump sum at the time of maturity or quaterly
Current Deposit rate (% per annum): 7.00
Central Bank's 99th Foundation Day:BL 241209
Central Bank of India, NS Road Branch, Kolkata, along with the bank's offices in several parts of the country,
celebrated its 99 {+t} {+h} Foundation Day here on Monday, according to a press release. An old customer
having savings bank account since 1935 showed up with her passbook, the release adds.
Central Bank of India, NS Road Branch, Kolkata, along with the bank's offices in several parts of the country,
celebrated its 99 {+t} {+h} Foundation Day here on Monday, according to a press release. An old customer
having savings bank account since 1935 showed up with her passbook, the release adds.
Call rates unchanged:BL 241209
Call rates closed unchanged at 3.25-3.3 per cent on Wednesday. In the one-day reverse repo auction, under
the liquidity adjustment facility, the Reserve Bank of India received and accepted 24 bids amounting to Rs
37,050 crore. There were no repo bids. In the CBLO auction, there were 537 trades for Rs 63,188.2 crore in
the rate range of 3-3.25 per cent.
Call rates closed unchanged at 3.25-3.3 per cent on Wednesday. In the one-day reverse repo auction, under
the liquidity adjustment facility, the Reserve Bank of India received and accepted 24 bids amounting to Rs
37,050 crore. There were no repo bids. In the CBLO auction, there were 537 trades for Rs 63,188.2 crore in
the rate range of 3-3.25 per cent.
Bonds yields may ease: BS
The yield on the government bonds may ease on Monday as investors await fresh cues on interest rate
trend. Dealers said yields may buck the trend (of hardening) which was driven by the rising inflation and
apprehension over Reserve Bank of India making a start for tight monetary policy. Investors could chose to
stay light until fresh cues on interest rates emerge.
The selection of papers for auction on Friday, movement in US Treasury notes and global crude oil futures
may also influence sentiment in domestic bonds. On Friday, the G-Sec market improved on value buying
and amidst the auction cut-offs being in line with expectations. The benchmark 10-year paper (6.90 per cent
paper 2019) closed at Rs 94.30 implying a yield of 7.76 per cent.
Call rates to remain steady
The interest rates in the overnight inter-bank market are expected to remain steady on ample liquidity in the
system. Banks have made provision for meeting reserve requirements. There are sufficient resources in the
system to manage any increase in demand for funds, dealers said. On Friday, call rates moved in the range
of 3.20 per cent to 3.40 per cent, which is around reverse repo rate as the liquidity in the money markets
was comfortable.
Rupee may turn weak
After witnessing sharp rise in value against the US dollar last week, Indian rupee may turn weak on increase
in demand from importers. The flow of overseas capital in stock market and from dollar?s movement against
major currencies would also influence the rupee.
The yield on the government bonds may ease on Monday as investors await fresh cues on interest rate
trend. Dealers said yields may buck the trend (of hardening) which was driven by the rising inflation and
apprehension over Reserve Bank of India making a start for tight monetary policy. Investors could chose to
stay light until fresh cues on interest rates emerge.
The selection of papers for auction on Friday, movement in US Treasury notes and global crude oil futures
may also influence sentiment in domestic bonds. On Friday, the G-Sec market improved on value buying
and amidst the auction cut-offs being in line with expectations. The benchmark 10-year paper (6.90 per cent
paper 2019) closed at Rs 94.30 implying a yield of 7.76 per cent.
Call rates to remain steady
The interest rates in the overnight inter-bank market are expected to remain steady on ample liquidity in the
system. Banks have made provision for meeting reserve requirements. There are sufficient resources in the
system to manage any increase in demand for funds, dealers said. On Friday, call rates moved in the range
of 3.20 per cent to 3.40 per cent, which is around reverse repo rate as the liquidity in the money markets
was comfortable.
Rupee may turn weak
After witnessing sharp rise in value against the US dollar last week, Indian rupee may turn weak on increase
in demand from importers. The flow of overseas capital in stock market and from dollar?s movement against
major currencies would also influence the rupee.
Bond prices close higher:BL 241209
Bond prices opened stronger and closed higher from the previous close on positive sentiments. But the
huge gains made by the equity markets prevented prices from rising further, said a bond dealer with a
private bank. After comments by the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia,
on Tuesday, it seems unlikely that a rate hike will happen before the January monetary, said the dealer. The
expectation is that a rate hike now could adversely impact credit demand. Therefore, the RBI may not take a
rate action immediately. The total traded volumes on the order matching system were higher at Rs 9,610
crore (Rs 8,965 crore).
Bond prices opened stronger and closed higher from the previous close on positive sentiments. But the
huge gains made by the equity markets prevented prices from rising further, said a bond dealer with a
private bank. After comments by the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia,
on Tuesday, it seems unlikely that a rate hike will happen before the January monetary, said the dealer. The
expectation is that a rate hike now could adversely impact credit demand. Therefore, the RBI may not take a
rate action immediately. The total traded volumes on the order matching system were higher at Rs 9,610
crore (Rs 8,965 crore).
BoI to launch 8% home loan plan on Jan 1 BS 241209
State-run Bank of India was set to launch an 8 per cent home loan scheme from January 1, M Narendra,
executive director of the bank said today. "We are in the process of launching such a scheme. The scheme
will be open to applicants from January 1 to February 28," he said. A senior official of the bank said an
official announcement of the scheme was being finalised and would be made in the next 2 days. Under the
scheme, the bank would offer home loans at 8 per cent for the first two years, after which floating rates
would be charged, the official said.
State-run Bank of India was set to launch an 8 per cent home loan scheme from January 1, M Narendra,
executive director of the bank said today. "We are in the process of launching such a scheme. The scheme
will be open to applicants from January 1 to February 28," he said. A senior official of the bank said an
official announcement of the scheme was being finalised and would be made in the next 2 days. Under the
scheme, the bank would offer home loans at 8 per cent for the first two years, after which floating rates
would be charged, the official said.
Banks shore up funds fearing rate hike:BL 241209
Issue certificates of deposit for Rs 20,000 cr.
Commercial banks appear to be trying to second-guess Reserve Bank of India's moves on interest rates and
liquidity management.There is fear that the RBI might suck out excess liquidity through a hike in cash
reserve ratio to rein in inflation. Banks have issued certificates of deposit (CD) aggregating to about Rs
20,000 crore in the past two weeks to mop up resources before they become dear.
Tax outflow
The rash of CD issuances - coming as they do in the backdrop of advance tax outflows from India Inc
totalling Rs 54,000 crore in the December quarter - has led to interest rates on these money market
instruments nudging up by about 25 basis points in the last fortnight.Certificates of deposit are short-term
money market instruments issued by banks. Generally, banks, mutual funds and large companies invest in
these instruments, which have a face value of Rs 1 lakh.
Fortification
Anticipating an upward pressure on interest rates, commercial banks are fortifying themselves with cheap
funds by issuing CDs of longer duration - up to one-year maturity, said a senior bank official with a State-
owned bank.That the flurry of CD issuances has pushed up interest rates on these instruments is
underscored by the fact that while State Bank of Travancore issued one-year duration CDs at 5.75 per cent
on December 7, Bank of Baroda issued one-year CDs at 5.97 per cent on December 18.
Among those that have raised between Rs 500 crore and Rs 1,000 crore through certificates of deposit are
UCO Bank, United Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Corporation Bank, Central
Bank of India, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, State Bank of Travancore and State Bank of Hyderabad."One
reason why CD rates have moved up in the last 15 days or so is the cyclical raising of funds by banks to
shore up their top line as the quarter comes to an end. Moreover, liquidity is at a premium currently, as funds
have gone out of the system due to advance tax payments. Hence the rush to issue CDs before rates start
moving up," said a dealer with a public sector bank.
Banks, depending upon their credit rating, are able to raise one-year funds through CDs at a coupon rate of
5.95-6.00 per cent. In the corresponding period last year, banks had raised resources at a higher rate of 9.5-
10 per cent, as liquidity was tight then.According to RBI data, banks have garnered about Rs 83,000 crore in
the first 10 months of the current calendar year through CD issuances against Rs 27,000 crore in the
corresponding period last year.
Issue certificates of deposit for Rs 20,000 cr.
Commercial banks appear to be trying to second-guess Reserve Bank of India's moves on interest rates and
liquidity management.There is fear that the RBI might suck out excess liquidity through a hike in cash
reserve ratio to rein in inflation. Banks have issued certificates of deposit (CD) aggregating to about Rs
20,000 crore in the past two weeks to mop up resources before they become dear.
Tax outflow
The rash of CD issuances - coming as they do in the backdrop of advance tax outflows from India Inc
totalling Rs 54,000 crore in the December quarter - has led to interest rates on these money market
instruments nudging up by about 25 basis points in the last fortnight.Certificates of deposit are short-term
money market instruments issued by banks. Generally, banks, mutual funds and large companies invest in
these instruments, which have a face value of Rs 1 lakh.
Fortification
Anticipating an upward pressure on interest rates, commercial banks are fortifying themselves with cheap
funds by issuing CDs of longer duration - up to one-year maturity, said a senior bank official with a State-
owned bank.That the flurry of CD issuances has pushed up interest rates on these instruments is
underscored by the fact that while State Bank of Travancore issued one-year duration CDs at 5.75 per cent
on December 7, Bank of Baroda issued one-year CDs at 5.97 per cent on December 18.
Among those that have raised between Rs 500 crore and Rs 1,000 crore through certificates of deposit are
UCO Bank, United Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Corporation Bank, Central
Bank of India, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, State Bank of Travancore and State Bank of Hyderabad."One
reason why CD rates have moved up in the last 15 days or so is the cyclical raising of funds by banks to
shore up their top line as the quarter comes to an end. Moreover, liquidity is at a premium currently, as funds
have gone out of the system due to advance tax payments. Hence the rush to issue CDs before rates start
moving up," said a dealer with a public sector bank.
Banks, depending upon their credit rating, are able to raise one-year funds through CDs at a coupon rate of
5.95-6.00 per cent. In the corresponding period last year, banks had raised resources at a higher rate of 9.5-
10 per cent, as liquidity was tight then.According to RBI data, banks have garnered about Rs 83,000 crore in
the first 10 months of the current calendar year through CD issuances against Rs 27,000 crore in the
corresponding period last year.
Banks returning to retail advances: BL
Fallout of ample liquidity, healthy economic outlook.
Housing loansdriving growth.
Banks are cautiously increasing their focus on the retail segment after a period of going slow on this
business.
Compared with the private banks, public sector banks appear more aggressive on retail business now.
This is due to a variety of factors including the tardy growth in corporate credit offtake, which has resulted in
ample liquidity in the system.
Banks had also reined in credit to the retail sector due to the perceived increased risk on account of the
general slowdown.
Slowdown fear fading
However, according to experts, the scenario is now changing due fears of the economic slowdown fading
away and more importantly, ample liquidity.
?Many banks have now launched marketing campaigns for their retails products such as home loans, vehicle
loans, gold loans/sale of gold coins, educational loans and personal loans,'' an economist with State Bank of
India told Business Line.
According to Ms Renu Challu, Managing Director, State Bank of Hyderabad , a strong focus on retail
advances led to a pick-up in credit growth during October-November 2009.
?Our retail focus has started paying-off. From 3.8 per cent, the advances grew to 9.2 per cent in October and
the November/December figures are likely to be more,'' she said.
The bank, which had done ?significant' sanctions in November, would register a credit growth of 20 per cent
for the year, she said.
Looking up
For most of the banks, housing loans, among others, are driving growth in retail advances. For instance, at
Rs 458 crore at the end of October, 2009, the housing loan portfolio grew by over 87 per cent for SBH.
The year 2009 had, in fact, ended on an optimistic note for housing loans. With many banks offering loans at
rates as low as 8 per cent, this segment is looking up.
With economic growth looking healthy and property prices stabilising, most players are upbeat about good
growth in the home loans segment next year, feel experts.
Public sector banks are also willing to tap the potential in the demand for personal loans though they are
generally being extended to their own customers.
In fact, it is time for the public sector banks to occupy the space vacated by private sector majors.
Private banks, that were aggressive on personal loans till last year, are now hesitant due to high default rate.
They are also reducing their exposure to retail. Other segments such as car loans, gold loans and sale of
gold coins are receiving attention.
The State Bank of India even opened its first exclusive gold coin outlet at Hyderabad.
The third quarter figures would showcase the growing focus of banks on retail more categorically, feel
analysts.
Fallout of ample liquidity, healthy economic outlook.
Housing loansdriving growth.
Banks are cautiously increasing their focus on the retail segment after a period of going slow on this
business.
Compared with the private banks, public sector banks appear more aggressive on retail business now.
This is due to a variety of factors including the tardy growth in corporate credit offtake, which has resulted in
ample liquidity in the system.
Banks had also reined in credit to the retail sector due to the perceived increased risk on account of the
general slowdown.
Slowdown fear fading
However, according to experts, the scenario is now changing due fears of the economic slowdown fading
away and more importantly, ample liquidity.
?Many banks have now launched marketing campaigns for their retails products such as home loans, vehicle
loans, gold loans/sale of gold coins, educational loans and personal loans,'' an economist with State Bank of
India told Business Line.
According to Ms Renu Challu, Managing Director, State Bank of Hyderabad , a strong focus on retail
advances led to a pick-up in credit growth during October-November 2009.
?Our retail focus has started paying-off. From 3.8 per cent, the advances grew to 9.2 per cent in October and
the November/December figures are likely to be more,'' she said.
The bank, which had done ?significant' sanctions in November, would register a credit growth of 20 per cent
for the year, she said.
Looking up
For most of the banks, housing loans, among others, are driving growth in retail advances. For instance, at
Rs 458 crore at the end of October, 2009, the housing loan portfolio grew by over 87 per cent for SBH.
The year 2009 had, in fact, ended on an optimistic note for housing loans. With many banks offering loans at
rates as low as 8 per cent, this segment is looking up.
With economic growth looking healthy and property prices stabilising, most players are upbeat about good
growth in the home loans segment next year, feel experts.
Public sector banks are also willing to tap the potential in the demand for personal loans though they are
generally being extended to their own customers.
In fact, it is time for the public sector banks to occupy the space vacated by private sector majors.
Private banks, that were aggressive on personal loans till last year, are now hesitant due to high default rate.
They are also reducing their exposure to retail. Other segments such as car loans, gold loans and sale of
gold coins are receiving attention.
The State Bank of India even opened its first exclusive gold coin outlet at Hyderabad.
The third quarter figures would showcase the growing focus of banks on retail more categorically, feel
analysts.
Banks get more time to rejig loans to mutual funds:BL 241209
Banks have got an extension of six months to restructure their loans to mutual funds and Irrevocable
Payment Commitments (IPCs) issued in favour of stock exchanges.The Reserve Bank of India, in a
notification issued on Wednesday, extended the time for banks to comply with the guideline from December
31, 2009 to June 30, 2010.
The RBI had asked banks to be judicious in extending finance to mutual funds and grant loans to MFs only
to meet their temporary liquidity needs. Bank loans to MFs should be only for the purpose of repurchase or
redemption of units within the ceiling of 20 per cent of the net asset of the scheme and should not be for
more than six months, the RBI said. Such loans to equity-oriented MFs would form part of banks' capital
market exposure.
With regard to IPCs, the RBI said that they should be treated on par with guarantees issued for the purpose
of capital market operations and will, therefore, form part of the capital market exposure.
Banks have got an extension of six months to restructure their loans to mutual funds and Irrevocable
Payment Commitments (IPCs) issued in favour of stock exchanges.The Reserve Bank of India, in a
notification issued on Wednesday, extended the time for banks to comply with the guideline from December
31, 2009 to June 30, 2010.
The RBI had asked banks to be judicious in extending finance to mutual funds and grant loans to MFs only
to meet their temporary liquidity needs. Bank loans to MFs should be only for the purpose of repurchase or
redemption of units within the ceiling of 20 per cent of the net asset of the scheme and should not be for
more than six months, the RBI said. Such loans to equity-oriented MFs would form part of banks' capital
market exposure.
With regard to IPCs, the RBI said that they should be treated on par with guarantees issued for the purpose
of capital market operations and will, therefore, form part of the capital market exposure.
Banking facility at every 5 km radius in three years in Guj: ET
Banking facility at every 5 km radius in three years in Guj: ET
People of Gujarat would have access to the banking facilities at every 15 km radius area by March 2010 and that
distance will be brought down to five km in next three years.
At present, there are only 405 villages in 28 blocks in 14 districts which are without bank branch in the radius 15 kms,
which is termed as under banked areas.
"The State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) in consultation with Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space application and
Geo informatics (BISAG) has undertaken the exercise of mapping of block wise bank branches in the state," said
Mukesh Kumar Jain, General Manager of Dena Bank Gujarat which is convenor for SLBC in the state.
According to Jain, in the last meeting of SLBC, it has been decided to provide banking facility either through fell-
fledged branch, satellite branch or business correspondent model.
"Once we achieve the target of providing bank facility at 15 kms radius, we will further bring down the distance from
15 kms to 5 kms in next three years," he said.
As per the figures provided by SLBC, in Gujarat, there are total 5881 bank branches in the state as on September 2009
and 376 applications were pending before the Reserve Bank of India for opening of new branches.
People of Gujarat would have access to the banking facilities at every 15 km radius area by March 2010 and that
distance will be brought down to five km in next three years.
At present, there are only 405 villages in 28 blocks in 14 districts which are without bank branch in the radius 15 kms,
which is termed as under banked areas.
"The State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) in consultation with Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space application and
Geo informatics (BISAG) has undertaken the exercise of mapping of block wise bank branches in the state," said
Mukesh Kumar Jain, General Manager of Dena Bank Gujarat which is convenor for SLBC in the state.
According to Jain, in the last meeting of SLBC, it has been decided to provide banking facility either through fell-
fledged branch, satellite branch or business correspondent model.
"Once we achieve the target of providing bank facility at 15 kms radius, we will further bring down the distance from
15 kms to 5 kms in next three years," he said.
As per the figures provided by SLBC, in Gujarat, there are total 5881 bank branches in the state as on September 2009
and 376 applications were pending before the Reserve Bank of India for opening of new branches.
Bank staff productivity doubles in five years : BL
Bank staff productivity doubles in five years : BL
Growth in business outpaced that in manpower.
Employees of Indian banks have become more productive over the last few years.According to ?A Profile of
Banks 2008-09' released by the RBI, the average business and profits per employee for Indian banks more
than doubled in the five years from 2004-05 to 2008-09.
The improvement was due to business growth outpacing that in manpower. Indian banks registered a total
business (advances plus deposits) growth of 135 per cent from 2004-05 to 2008-09, while their employee
strength edged up only by 10 per cent. Their branch network grew by 21 per cent.
Public sector catches up
Contrary to the general perception, public sector banks' (PSB) employee productivity grew at a faster rate
than that for private sector banks in this period. As of March 2009, both private banks and PSBs had
average business per employee of Rs 7.44 crore. However, private banks generated higher
profits/employee (Rs 6.1 lakh) with fee income forming a significant proportion of their earnings (which is
outside the core business). Fee income for private listed banks contributed 25 per cent of their net revenues
for FY09.
PSBs increased their branch network by 2 per cent between 2004-05 and 2008-09.However, the employee
strength has fallen by 1 percentage point in spite of recruiting more than 26,000 people in 2008-09.
Shrinking PSB workforce
The decline in employee base of PSBs during this period was due to a good portion of the workforce getting
superannuated and the implementation of VRS scheme in 2000 to rationalise the workforce. More than 1.26
lakh employees of 26 banks were given the VRS option.
Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank and Central Bank of India have seen their employee strength fall the
most among PSBs. IDBI Bank, Corporation Bank and Oriental Bank are the top three PSBs in terms of
productivity. IDBI Bank has business per employee of Rs 20 crore even as it added around 5,600
employees during 2004-09. Corporation Bank also increased its manpower by 2,200. As the PSBs'
productivity doubled during this period, they caught up with its private sector peers in terms of business per
employee.
Whither private banks
Private banks increased their workforce by more than 110 per cent over the five-year period. Private banks
improved their business per employee by 28 per cent. Some private banks employ direct selling agents who
bring in business but don't figure on the bank's payroll; this could overstate their productivity to some extent.
The new-age private sector banks such as ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and YES Bank witnessed improvement in
their employee productivity in terms of both business and profits.HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and
IndusInd Bank are the only banks which have witnessed decline in their productivity over the years. HDFC
Bank's merger with Centurion Bank of Punjab has taken a toll on its productivity.
As productivity of bank employees shot up, so did their compensation. Even as the total employee count for
Indian banks grew by 15 per cent, employees' wages grew by 85 per cent over five years.
Growth in business outpaced that in manpower.
Employees of Indian banks have become more productive over the last few years.According to ?A Profile of
Banks 2008-09' released by the RBI, the average business and profits per employee for Indian banks more
than doubled in the five years from 2004-05 to 2008-09.
The improvement was due to business growth outpacing that in manpower. Indian banks registered a total
business (advances plus deposits) growth of 135 per cent from 2004-05 to 2008-09, while their employee
strength edged up only by 10 per cent. Their branch network grew by 21 per cent.
Public sector catches up
Contrary to the general perception, public sector banks' (PSB) employee productivity grew at a faster rate
than that for private sector banks in this period. As of March 2009, both private banks and PSBs had
average business per employee of Rs 7.44 crore. However, private banks generated higher
profits/employee (Rs 6.1 lakh) with fee income forming a significant proportion of their earnings (which is
outside the core business). Fee income for private listed banks contributed 25 per cent of their net revenues
for FY09.
PSBs increased their branch network by 2 per cent between 2004-05 and 2008-09.However, the employee
strength has fallen by 1 percentage point in spite of recruiting more than 26,000 people in 2008-09.
Shrinking PSB workforce
The decline in employee base of PSBs during this period was due to a good portion of the workforce getting
superannuated and the implementation of VRS scheme in 2000 to rationalise the workforce. More than 1.26
lakh employees of 26 banks were given the VRS option.
Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank and Central Bank of India have seen their employee strength fall the
most among PSBs. IDBI Bank, Corporation Bank and Oriental Bank are the top three PSBs in terms of
productivity. IDBI Bank has business per employee of Rs 20 crore even as it added around 5,600
employees during 2004-09. Corporation Bank also increased its manpower by 2,200. As the PSBs'
productivity doubled during this period, they caught up with its private sector peers in terms of business per
employee.
Whither private banks
Private banks increased their workforce by more than 110 per cent over the five-year period. Private banks
improved their business per employee by 28 per cent. Some private banks employ direct selling agents who
bring in business but don't figure on the bank's payroll; this could overstate their productivity to some extent.
The new-age private sector banks such as ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and YES Bank witnessed improvement in
their employee productivity in terms of both business and profits.HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and
IndusInd Bank are the only banks which have witnessed decline in their productivity over the years. HDFC
Bank's merger with Centurion Bank of Punjab has taken a toll on its productivity.
As productivity of bank employees shot up, so did their compensation. Even as the total employee count for
Indian banks grew by 15 per cent, employees' wages grew by 85 per cent over five years.
Bank charges may be capped: BS
Bank charges may be capped: BS
Banks may soon have to cap the charges on basic services such as issuing a draft, remittances or for stop-
payment instructions. Faced with a rising number of customer complaints on excessive charges, the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked the Indian Banks? Association (IBA) to come up with guidelines on
what the reasonable charges should be.
Accordingly, the industry lobby has asked its Committee for Customer Service headed by Standard
Chartered Bank CEO Neeraj Swaroop to submit a report to the regulator. In turn, a sub-committee of
bankers from State Bank of India, Corporation Bank, Citibank and ICICI Bank, which is headed by Union
Bank of India Executive Director S Raman, has been tasked with framing the guidelines.
Sources associated with the sub-committee told Business Standard that the panel has been mandated to
look into 27 items categorised as basic transaction services.
Apart from charges for issuing cheque books and drafts, the committee is looking at charges for cheque
return, reviving inoperative accounts, issue of duplicate pass books and others such as not maintaining the
prescribed minimum balance.
Charges for special services such as loans and credit cards are not within the committee?s purview.
?There is wide disparity between what different banks charge their customers. The committee will come up
with caps on what banks can charge for basic services,? said a member of the sub-committee.
For instance, public sector lenders such as State Bank of India (SBI) require regular savings account
customers to maintain a minimum average balance of Rs 1,000 per quarter, while private sector lenders
such as ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank require a minimum balance of Rs 10,000.
Foreign lenders such as Citibank, Standard Chartered and HSBC have minimum balance requirements of
Rs 25,000 per quarter.
The penalties for non-maintenance of minimum balance are also steep for private and foreign banks.
SBI charges Rs 75 per year for non-maintenance of minimum balance. ICICI Bank and Citibank charge Rs
750 per quarter.
SERVICE FEE
Service SBI ICICI Bank Citibank
Issuing demand draft 30 onwards 50 onwards 150 onwards
Cheque return (outward) 75.00 100.00 100.00
Cheque return (inward) 75.00 350.00 350.00
Setting up standing instructions 50.00 150.00 NA
Min balance penalty 100-200/ quarter 750/ quarter 250/ quarter
Stop payment 50.00 quarter 50.00 quarter 50.00 quarter
National electronic fund
transfer
5-25/
transaction
5-25/
transaction
5-25/
transaction
Amount in Rs, NA: Not available, *Issued through branches,
**Free if instructions given online Source: Bank websites
?A lot of these charges are deterrents and the banks don?t really make money from them. They are used to
increase efficiency and improve customer behaviour,? said another sub-committee member.
The committee is expected to submit its recommendations next month, and if RBI accepts them, the
guidelines will come into effect from 1 April 2010.
Banks are currently required to prominently display their service charges and fees in an RBI-prescribed
format on their website and at all branches.
Before 1997, service charges and fees were governed by IBA guidelines. Later, RBI decided to allow banks
to frame their own charges subject to approval from respective boards.
Similarly, RBI had asked IBA to come up with guidelines on the use of ATMs for inter-bank transactions.
Adherence to IBA guidelines on reasonable service charges and fees would be voluntary.
Banks may soon have to cap the charges on basic services such as issuing a draft, remittances or for stop-
payment instructions. Faced with a rising number of customer complaints on excessive charges, the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked the Indian Banks? Association (IBA) to come up with guidelines on
what the reasonable charges should be.
Accordingly, the industry lobby has asked its Committee for Customer Service headed by Standard
Chartered Bank CEO Neeraj Swaroop to submit a report to the regulator. In turn, a sub-committee of
bankers from State Bank of India, Corporation Bank, Citibank and ICICI Bank, which is headed by Union
Bank of India Executive Director S Raman, has been tasked with framing the guidelines.
Sources associated with the sub-committee told Business Standard that the panel has been mandated to
look into 27 items categorised as basic transaction services.
Apart from charges for issuing cheque books and drafts, the committee is looking at charges for cheque
return, reviving inoperative accounts, issue of duplicate pass books and others such as not maintaining the
prescribed minimum balance.
Charges for special services such as loans and credit cards are not within the committee?s purview.
?There is wide disparity between what different banks charge their customers. The committee will come up
with caps on what banks can charge for basic services,? said a member of the sub-committee.
For instance, public sector lenders such as State Bank of India (SBI) require regular savings account
customers to maintain a minimum average balance of Rs 1,000 per quarter, while private sector lenders
such as ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank require a minimum balance of Rs 10,000.
Foreign lenders such as Citibank, Standard Chartered and HSBC have minimum balance requirements of
Rs 25,000 per quarter.
The penalties for non-maintenance of minimum balance are also steep for private and foreign banks.
SBI charges Rs 75 per year for non-maintenance of minimum balance. ICICI Bank and Citibank charge Rs
750 per quarter.
SERVICE FEE
Service SBI ICICI Bank Citibank
Issuing demand draft 30 onwards 50 onwards 150 onwards
Cheque return (outward) 75.00 100.00 100.00
Cheque return (inward) 75.00 350.00 350.00
Setting up standing instructions 50.00 150.00 NA
Min balance penalty 100-200/ quarter 750/ quarter 250/ quarter
Stop payment 50.00 quarter 50.00 quarter 50.00 quarter
National electronic fund
transfer
5-25/
transaction
5-25/
transaction
5-25/
transaction
Amount in Rs, NA: Not available, *Issued through branches,
**Free if instructions given online Source: Bank websites
?A lot of these charges are deterrents and the banks don?t really make money from them. They are used to
increase efficiency and improve customer behaviour,? said another sub-committee member.
The committee is expected to submit its recommendations next month, and if RBI accepts them, the
guidelines will come into effect from 1 April 2010.
Banks are currently required to prominently display their service charges and fees in an RBI-prescribed
format on their website and at all branches.
Before 1997, service charges and fees were governed by IBA guidelines. Later, RBI decided to allow banks
to frame their own charges subject to approval from respective boards.
Similarly, RBI had asked IBA to come up with guidelines on the use of ATMs for inter-bank transactions.
Adherence to IBA guidelines on reasonable service charges and fees would be voluntary.
Axis Bank recasts retail banking BS 241209
Instead of products, consumer groups come into focus. After restructuring its corporate banking operations,
Shikha Sharma-led Axis Bank, the country's third-largest private sector lender, has initiated a
comprehensive recast of its business, including the retail side.
While a large-scale recast is likely to be discussed by the board shortly, marking a fundamental shift in the
way it goes about its retail business, the bank has regrouped its operations under two new divisions. One
will be known as mass and mass-affluent banking, while the other will be called affluent banking."Earlier the
retail set-up was organised on the basis of products. Now, the operations will be organised on the basis of
customer groups," said Snehomoy Bhattacharya, president (human resources) of the bank.
Manju Srivatsa, who was previously head of retail banking, will now head the mass and mass-affluent
banking division. The lenders retail assets, retail liabilities and credit cards groups will be housed under this
division. The bank's priority banking offering is part of the mass-affluent category.
Sonu Bhasin will head affluent banking, which includes the bank's fledgling private banking group. Bhasin
was previously president (retail financial services), which oversaw distribution of third-party products such as
insurance and mutual funds.
There will also be some new faces at Maker Tower, the looming high-rise overlooking the Arabian Sea,
which houses the bank's headquarters. The lender is looking at bringing in a new head for retail assets and
credit cards, which are currently two separate groups. According to sources, the top candidate for the job is
Jairam Sridharan, who is currently with US-based lender Capital One Financial and has worked with ICICI
Bank in the past.
He will be Shikha Sharma's second senior recruit after V Srinivasan, who left JP Morgan to join Axis Bank
as executive director for corporate banking in September.
The bank has already seen one high-profile exit in Hemant Kaul, who was executive director of retail
banking and also in the running for the position of chief executive officer.
According to sources, the bank is also planning some changes on the human resources front and may
increase the number of grades.
Axis Bank has scrapped the practice of having a separate division for distribution of third-party products.
Now, each of the two divisions will look after third-party distribution among their respective customer
segments.
In keeping with the theme of customer service, the bank has merged its operations and IT divisions and split
them into retail operations & IT and wholesale operations. Retail operations and IT is headed by Rajagopal
Srivatsa, who was previously head of business banking. The division will deal with customer service issues
such as new account openings, follow-ups and cash management.
Axis Bank has retail assets worth Rs 17,984 crore as on September 30, accounting for 22 per cent of its
loan book. The percentage of retail assets on its loan book is much smaller than other large private such
bank such as ICICI Bank (45 per cent) and HDFC Bank (54 per cent).
The sweeping changes in the bank's retail operations come close on the heels of the recast in the bank's
overall structure. In October, Axis Bank had organised its business into strategic business units -- retail
banking, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and agriculture; corporate banking; non-banking retail
subsidiaries and corporate centre. Earlier, the bank had a vertical structure with executive directors in
charge of retail, corporate banking, mid-corporate and SME banking, and IT and business process.
The lender has also brought many changes on the corporate banking side. Most notably, it has put together
a 60-member strong group headed by Siddharth Rath to focus on lending to the infrastructure sector, which
is the biggest contributor to the bank's corporate loan book. The lender has also created the position of a
chief risk officer, which has been filled by Bapi Munshi, earlier president for treasury.
Instead of products, consumer groups come into focus. After restructuring its corporate banking operations,
Shikha Sharma-led Axis Bank, the country's third-largest private sector lender, has initiated a
comprehensive recast of its business, including the retail side.
While a large-scale recast is likely to be discussed by the board shortly, marking a fundamental shift in the
way it goes about its retail business, the bank has regrouped its operations under two new divisions. One
will be known as mass and mass-affluent banking, while the other will be called affluent banking."Earlier the
retail set-up was organised on the basis of products. Now, the operations will be organised on the basis of
customer groups," said Snehomoy Bhattacharya, president (human resources) of the bank.
Manju Srivatsa, who was previously head of retail banking, will now head the mass and mass-affluent
banking division. The lenders retail assets, retail liabilities and credit cards groups will be housed under this
division. The bank's priority banking offering is part of the mass-affluent category.
Sonu Bhasin will head affluent banking, which includes the bank's fledgling private banking group. Bhasin
was previously president (retail financial services), which oversaw distribution of third-party products such as
insurance and mutual funds.
There will also be some new faces at Maker Tower, the looming high-rise overlooking the Arabian Sea,
which houses the bank's headquarters. The lender is looking at bringing in a new head for retail assets and
credit cards, which are currently two separate groups. According to sources, the top candidate for the job is
Jairam Sridharan, who is currently with US-based lender Capital One Financial and has worked with ICICI
Bank in the past.
He will be Shikha Sharma's second senior recruit after V Srinivasan, who left JP Morgan to join Axis Bank
as executive director for corporate banking in September.
The bank has already seen one high-profile exit in Hemant Kaul, who was executive director of retail
banking and also in the running for the position of chief executive officer.
According to sources, the bank is also planning some changes on the human resources front and may
increase the number of grades.
Axis Bank has scrapped the practice of having a separate division for distribution of third-party products.
Now, each of the two divisions will look after third-party distribution among their respective customer
segments.
In keeping with the theme of customer service, the bank has merged its operations and IT divisions and split
them into retail operations & IT and wholesale operations. Retail operations and IT is headed by Rajagopal
Srivatsa, who was previously head of business banking. The division will deal with customer service issues
such as new account openings, follow-ups and cash management.
Axis Bank has retail assets worth Rs 17,984 crore as on September 30, accounting for 22 per cent of its
loan book. The percentage of retail assets on its loan book is much smaller than other large private such
bank such as ICICI Bank (45 per cent) and HDFC Bank (54 per cent).
The sweeping changes in the bank's retail operations come close on the heels of the recast in the bank's
overall structure. In October, Axis Bank had organised its business into strategic business units -- retail
banking, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and agriculture; corporate banking; non-banking retail
subsidiaries and corporate centre. Earlier, the bank had a vertical structure with executive directors in
charge of retail, corporate banking, mid-corporate and SME banking, and IT and business process.
The lender has also brought many changes on the corporate banking side. Most notably, it has put together
a 60-member strong group headed by Siddharth Rath to focus on lending to the infrastructure sector, which
is the biggest contributor to the bank's corporate loan book. The lender has also created the position of a
chief risk officer, which has been filled by Bapi Munshi, earlier president for treasury.
AV Rajwade: It's the rupee, stupid! : BS
While many in the government are talking of tax and other sops, it is the value of the rupee that determines
exports.
Last week, when the rupee appreciated to below 46 per dollar, there were reports about the ?sops? expected
to be offered to exporters in the next few days (One has always wondered why any procedural simplification
or other benefits given to exporters are referred to as ?sops?: The dictionary meaning of the word is
?conciliatory bribe, gift or concession?). Incidentally, the series of import duty cuts over the last two decades
have rarely been referred to by the media as ?sops? to importers. These seem to consist of extension of
some schemes (export credit interest rates?), increase in duty drawback rates for exports to ?specific
markets, of specific products, and of specific products to specific markets?! One wonders whether anybody
has quantified the actual benefit of such ?sops? as a percentage of exports. According to my estimate, a 1
per cent cut in export credit interest rates, even if you assume it is honestly passed on to the exporters by
lending banks, improves the margin by just 0.1 per cent of exports! In contrast, the rupee?s appreciation
against the dollar and the inflation differential together mean a loss of competitiveness of as much as 10 per
cent in the current year! ?Sops? are no substitute to a competitive exchange rate! The recent appreciation of
the rupee has had me wondering whether our domestic currency has become a ?commodity currency?:
Media short form for currencies of large commodity exporters ? Australia, for example. (While we do export
one commodity in significant quantities, namely iron ore, we are hardly a major commodity exporter: Indeed,
our import bill for commodities is much larger than export earnings.) These currencies tend to appreciate
when global commodity prices are rising, which is exactly what has happened with the rupee recently. At the
opening rate last Friday morning, the rupee had appreciated about 14 per cent against the dollar since
March 2009. To be sure, most Asian currencies have appreciated against the dollar during the period, but
these countries have surpluses on the current account. Last Thursday, the newly appointed finance minister
of Japan expressed his desire for a weaker yen and hinted at intervention in the market if needed.
One currency which has remained rock steady against the dollar during this period is the Chinese yuan. The
Economic Times reported on January 7 that the ?yuan revaluation move? took the rupee to a 12-week high.
The ?move? is a recommendation by a ?think tank? which, of course, may or may not be accepted by the
authorities. To my mind, it is extremely unlikely that, from a ?big power? perspective, China would make a
change in policy at this stage. In the last couple of months alone, it has been publicly pressured both at the
Apec Summit, and bilaterally by senior EU officials, to change its policy: A change now would clearly create
an impression that it has succumbed to external pressure, an impression the Chinese would be most
reluctant to create. Surely, one reason for our $20-billion bilateral trade deficit with China is the difference in
exchange rate policies?
The reason for the rupee?s appreciation is not so much competitiveness of the domestic economy as capital
inflows. As per the balance of payments data for the first half of the year, published on December 31, the
current account deficit has gone up from $15.8 billion in H1 2008-09 to $18.6 billion ? or, say, 3 per cent of
GDP. The current account deficit has gone up despite a reduction in the merchandise trade deficit, the latter
primarily due to lower oil prices. (These have gone up ever since and analysts expect the price to go up
further as global economy recovers more strongly in the current year.) The surplus on invisibles has dropped
even more sharply, leading to an increase in the current account deficit. One point should not be forgotten:
The deficit is suppressed by the inclusion of inward remittances as part of the current receipts. While this is
the accounting convention, the fact is that, in terms of economic analysis, remittances are more like capital
transfers than current receipts. For analytical purposes, the deficit needs to be regarded as closer to 9 per
cent of GDP, a horrendously large figure. And, an appreciating rupee certainly does not help improve it.
One wonders whether the central bank is looking at an appreciating currency as an anti-inflationary
measure. This has turned out to be a costly and risky course for many countries. Also, capital flow-induced
appreciation is not a sign of strength: It is swelling, not muscle. In a panel discussion, while talking about
capital inflows, the RBI governor said, ?No policy option, including Tobin tax, is off the agenda. In the long
list all this is there. The question is what instruments do we use and when?? So far the only option he seems
to have chosen is rupee appreciation. On this subject, we do need to learn more from our northern
neighbour than our western friends: After all, China is undoubtedly the most successful growth economy
ever. But more on the yuan next week.
While many in the government are talking of tax and other sops, it is the value of the rupee that determines
exports.
Last week, when the rupee appreciated to below 46 per dollar, there were reports about the ?sops? expected
to be offered to exporters in the next few days (One has always wondered why any procedural simplification
or other benefits given to exporters are referred to as ?sops?: The dictionary meaning of the word is
?conciliatory bribe, gift or concession?). Incidentally, the series of import duty cuts over the last two decades
have rarely been referred to by the media as ?sops? to importers. These seem to consist of extension of
some schemes (export credit interest rates?), increase in duty drawback rates for exports to ?specific
markets, of specific products, and of specific products to specific markets?! One wonders whether anybody
has quantified the actual benefit of such ?sops? as a percentage of exports. According to my estimate, a 1
per cent cut in export credit interest rates, even if you assume it is honestly passed on to the exporters by
lending banks, improves the margin by just 0.1 per cent of exports! In contrast, the rupee?s appreciation
against the dollar and the inflation differential together mean a loss of competitiveness of as much as 10 per
cent in the current year! ?Sops? are no substitute to a competitive exchange rate! The recent appreciation of
the rupee has had me wondering whether our domestic currency has become a ?commodity currency?:
Media short form for currencies of large commodity exporters ? Australia, for example. (While we do export
one commodity in significant quantities, namely iron ore, we are hardly a major commodity exporter: Indeed,
our import bill for commodities is much larger than export earnings.) These currencies tend to appreciate
when global commodity prices are rising, which is exactly what has happened with the rupee recently. At the
opening rate last Friday morning, the rupee had appreciated about 14 per cent against the dollar since
March 2009. To be sure, most Asian currencies have appreciated against the dollar during the period, but
these countries have surpluses on the current account. Last Thursday, the newly appointed finance minister
of Japan expressed his desire for a weaker yen and hinted at intervention in the market if needed.
One currency which has remained rock steady against the dollar during this period is the Chinese yuan. The
Economic Times reported on January 7 that the ?yuan revaluation move? took the rupee to a 12-week high.
The ?move? is a recommendation by a ?think tank? which, of course, may or may not be accepted by the
authorities. To my mind, it is extremely unlikely that, from a ?big power? perspective, China would make a
change in policy at this stage. In the last couple of months alone, it has been publicly pressured both at the
Apec Summit, and bilaterally by senior EU officials, to change its policy: A change now would clearly create
an impression that it has succumbed to external pressure, an impression the Chinese would be most
reluctant to create. Surely, one reason for our $20-billion bilateral trade deficit with China is the difference in
exchange rate policies?
The reason for the rupee?s appreciation is not so much competitiveness of the domestic economy as capital
inflows. As per the balance of payments data for the first half of the year, published on December 31, the
current account deficit has gone up from $15.8 billion in H1 2008-09 to $18.6 billion ? or, say, 3 per cent of
GDP. The current account deficit has gone up despite a reduction in the merchandise trade deficit, the latter
primarily due to lower oil prices. (These have gone up ever since and analysts expect the price to go up
further as global economy recovers more strongly in the current year.) The surplus on invisibles has dropped
even more sharply, leading to an increase in the current account deficit. One point should not be forgotten:
The deficit is suppressed by the inclusion of inward remittances as part of the current receipts. While this is
the accounting convention, the fact is that, in terms of economic analysis, remittances are more like capital
transfers than current receipts. For analytical purposes, the deficit needs to be regarded as closer to 9 per
cent of GDP, a horrendously large figure. And, an appreciating rupee certainly does not help improve it.
One wonders whether the central bank is looking at an appreciating currency as an anti-inflationary
measure. This has turned out to be a costly and risky course for many countries. Also, capital flow-induced
appreciation is not a sign of strength: It is swelling, not muscle. In a panel discussion, while talking about
capital inflows, the RBI governor said, ?No policy option, including Tobin tax, is off the agenda. In the long
list all this is there. The question is what instruments do we use and when?? So far the only option he seems
to have chosen is rupee appreciation. On this subject, we do need to learn more from our northern
neighbour than our western friends: After all, China is undoubtedly the most successful growth economy
ever. But more on the yuan next week.
Asci upholds Tata Sky's complaint against Airtel's DTH campaign:
BS
The competition among the half a dozen rival direct-to-home (DTH) operators in the country has once again
spilled over to the advertising arena. The Advertising Standards Council of India (Asci) has upheld a
complaint by Tata Sky against rival Airtel Digital TV for misleading the consumers in its ?Dil Titli? television
campaign featuring Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor. In its complaint to Asci made in November 2009,
Tata Sky had called the campaign ?misleading? for suggesting that the picture quality of Airtel Digital TV was
superior as it used the MPEG4 and DVB-S2 technology. The Asci, in its final hearing last week, upheld the
Tata Sky complaint and may soon ask Airtel to either modify or withdraw the campaign, sources in Asci said.
The Asci is the apex self-regulation body of the advertising industry. It deals with the complaints received
from consumers and industry against advertisements that are considered as false, misleading, indecent,
illegal, leading to unsafe practices, or unfair to competition.
In 2008, Tata Sky had dragged its rival Dish TV before the fair trade regulator ? Monopolies and Restrictive
Trade Practices Commission ? terming the Dish TV advertisement offering free set-top boxes as
?misleading? and ?deceptive?.
Tata Sky and Dish TV, the top two private DTH operators in the market, use MPEG2 technology while the
remaining DTH operators, including Sun Direct, Digital TV, Big TV and D2H, use MPEG4 technology.
In its complaint to Asci on the Airtel Digital TV advertisement issue, Tata Sky said that while MPEG4 was a
video compression standard and DVB-S2 was a satellite transmission standard, both these specifications
had no relationship with video quality. ?MPEG4 is a video compression technology that helps in packing
more channels within a given bandwidth. This has no relation with the picture quality, and it has been
scientifically proven. This is what we have told Asci. We are not there to stop anyone from advertising, we
just want the right message to go to the consumers,? said Vikram Mehra, CMO, Tata Sky. When contacted,
Airtel Digital TV CEO Ajay Puri said: ?We did receive a communication from Asci asking us to explain the
MPEG4 technology. We have not received any notice from them to withdraw the campaign yet.? ?MPEG4 is
a proven better compression technology and that is what we have said in our communications to the
consumers. Our ads are not directed against anybody,? he said. Industry sources, however, said that since
the DTH market had been extremely competitive, such ad campaigns may affect the consumers decision to
opt for one DTH operator over another. Currently, between the six DTH players, an average of around
18,000-20,000 DTH connections are being sold each day with Airtel Digital TV alone selling over 7,000
connections, higher than some of its rivals.
?We are selling 200,000 DTH connections each month,? confirmed Puri. Tata Sky, which is now the third-
largest DTH operator behind Dish TV and Sun Direct, is adding over 100,000 subscribers per month. ?Till
November 2009, our subscriber base stood at 4.5 million ?on a monthly basis, we have been selling far
more than 100,000 subscribers,? Mehra of Tata Sky said.
BS
The competition among the half a dozen rival direct-to-home (DTH) operators in the country has once again
spilled over to the advertising arena. The Advertising Standards Council of India (Asci) has upheld a
complaint by Tata Sky against rival Airtel Digital TV for misleading the consumers in its ?Dil Titli? television
campaign featuring Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor. In its complaint to Asci made in November 2009,
Tata Sky had called the campaign ?misleading? for suggesting that the picture quality of Airtel Digital TV was
superior as it used the MPEG4 and DVB-S2 technology. The Asci, in its final hearing last week, upheld the
Tata Sky complaint and may soon ask Airtel to either modify or withdraw the campaign, sources in Asci said.
The Asci is the apex self-regulation body of the advertising industry. It deals with the complaints received
from consumers and industry against advertisements that are considered as false, misleading, indecent,
illegal, leading to unsafe practices, or unfair to competition.
In 2008, Tata Sky had dragged its rival Dish TV before the fair trade regulator ? Monopolies and Restrictive
Trade Practices Commission ? terming the Dish TV advertisement offering free set-top boxes as
?misleading? and ?deceptive?.
Tata Sky and Dish TV, the top two private DTH operators in the market, use MPEG2 technology while the
remaining DTH operators, including Sun Direct, Digital TV, Big TV and D2H, use MPEG4 technology.
In its complaint to Asci on the Airtel Digital TV advertisement issue, Tata Sky said that while MPEG4 was a
video compression standard and DVB-S2 was a satellite transmission standard, both these specifications
had no relationship with video quality. ?MPEG4 is a video compression technology that helps in packing
more channels within a given bandwidth. This has no relation with the picture quality, and it has been
scientifically proven. This is what we have told Asci. We are not there to stop anyone from advertising, we
just want the right message to go to the consumers,? said Vikram Mehra, CMO, Tata Sky. When contacted,
Airtel Digital TV CEO Ajay Puri said: ?We did receive a communication from Asci asking us to explain the
MPEG4 technology. We have not received any notice from them to withdraw the campaign yet.? ?MPEG4 is
a proven better compression technology and that is what we have said in our communications to the
consumers. Our ads are not directed against anybody,? he said. Industry sources, however, said that since
the DTH market had been extremely competitive, such ad campaigns may affect the consumers decision to
opt for one DTH operator over another. Currently, between the six DTH players, an average of around
18,000-20,000 DTH connections are being sold each day with Airtel Digital TV alone selling over 7,000
connections, higher than some of its rivals.
?We are selling 200,000 DTH connections each month,? confirmed Puri. Tata Sky, which is now the third-
largest DTH operator behind Dish TV and Sun Direct, is adding over 100,000 subscribers per month. ?Till
November 2009, our subscriber base stood at 4.5 million ?on a monthly basis, we have been selling far
more than 100,000 subscribers,? Mehra of Tata Sky said.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Win XP Tweaks
Win XP Tweaks
-----------
STARTUP
-----------
Windows Prefetcher
******************
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Session Manager \ Memory Management \ PrefetchParameters]
Under this key there is a setting called EnablePrefetcher, the default setting of which is 3. Increasing this number to 5 gives the prefetcher system more system resources to prefetch application data for faster load times. Depending on the number of boot processes you run on your computer, you may get benefits from settings up to 9. However, I do not have any substantive research data on settings above 5 so I cannot verify the benefits of a higher setting. This setting also may effect the loading times of your most frequently launched applications. This setting will not take effect until after you reboot your system.
Master File Table Zone Reservation
**********************************
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ FileSystem]
Under this key there is a setting called NtfsMftZoneReservation, the default setting of which is 1. The range of this value is from 1 to 4. The default setting reserves one-eighth of the volume for the MFT. A setting of 2 reserves one-quarter of the volume for the MFT. A setting of 3 for NtfsMftZoneReservation reserves three-eighths of the volume for the MFT and setting it to 4 reserves half of the volume for the MFT. Most users will never exceed one-quarter of the volume. I recommend a setting of 2 for most users. This allows for a "moderate number of files" commensurate with the number of small files included in most computer games and applications. Reboot after applying this tweak.
Optimize Boot Files
*******************
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Dfrg \ BootOptimizeFunction]
Under this key is a text value named Enable. A value of Y for this setting enables the boot files defragmenter. This setting defragments the boot files and may move the boot files to the beginning (fastest) part of the partition, but that last statement is unverified. Reboot after applying this tweak.
Optimizing Startup Programs [msconfig]
**************************************
MSConfig, similar to the application included in Win9x of the same name, allows the user to fine tune the applications that are launched at startup without forcing the user to delve deep into the registry. To disable some of the applications launched, load msconfig.exe from the run command line, and go to the Startup tab. From there, un-ticking the checkbox next to a startup item will stop it from launching. There are a few application that you will never want to disable (ctfmon comes to mind), but for the most part the best settings vary greatly from system to system.
As a good rule of thumb, though, it is unlikely that you will want to disable anything in the Windows directory (unless it's a third-party program that was incorrectly installed into the Windows directory), nor will you want to disable anything directly relating to your system hardware. The only exception to this is when you are dealing with software, which does not give you any added benefits (some OEM dealers load your system up with software you do not need). The nice part of msconfig is that it does not delete any of the settings, it simply disables them, and so you can go back and restart a startup application if you find that you need it. This optimization won't take effect until after a reboot.
Bootvis Application
*******************
The program was designed by Microsoft to enable Windows XP to cold boot in 30 seconds, return from hibernation in 20 seconds, and return from standby in 10 seconds. Bootvis has two extremely useful features. First, it can be used to optimize the boot process on your computer automatically. Second, it can be used to analyze the boot process for specific subsystems that are having difficulty loading. The first process specifically targets the prefetching subsystem, as well as the layout of boot files on the disk. When both of these systems are optimized, it can result in a significant reduction in the time it takes for the computer to boot.
Before attempting to use Bootvis to analyze or optimize the boot performance of your system, make sure that the task scheduler service has been enabled - the program requires the service to run properly. Also, close all open programs as well - using the software requires a reboot.
To use the software to optimize your system startup, first start with a full analysis of a fresh boot. Start Bootvis, go to the Tools menu, and select next boot. Set the Trace Repetition Settings to 2 repetitions, Start at 1, and Reboot automatically. Then set the trace into motion. The system will fully reboot twice, and then reopen bootvis and open the second trace file (should have _2 in the name). Analyze the graphs and make any changes that you think are necessary (this is a great tool for determining which startup programs you want to kill using msconfig). Once you have made your optimizations go to the Trace menu, and select the Optimize System item. This will cause the system to reboot and will then make some changes to the file structure on the hard drive (this includes a defragmentation of boot files and a shifting of their location to the fastest portion of the hard disk, as well as some other optimizations). After this is done, once again run a Trace analysis as above, except change the starting number to 3. Once the system has rebooted both times, compare the charts from the second trace to the charts for the fourth trace to show you the time improvement of the system's boot up.
The standard defragmenter included with Windows XP will not undo the boot optimizations performed by this application.
-----------------------------------
General Performance Tweaks
-----------------------------------
IRQ Priority Tweak
******************
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ System \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ PriorityControl]
You will need to create a new DWORD: IRQ#Priority (where # is the number of the IRQ you want to prioritize) and give it a setting of 1. This setting gives the requisite IRQ channel priority over the other IRQs on a software level. This can be extremely important for functions and hardware subsystems that need real-time access to other parts of the system. There are several different subsystems that might benefit from this tweak. Generally, I recommend giving either the System CMOS or the video card priority. The System CMOS generally has an IRQ setting of 8, and giving it priority enhances the I/O performance of the system. Giving priority to the video card can increase frame rates and make AGP more effective.
You can give several IRQs priority, but I am not entirely certain how the system interacts when several IRQs are given priority - it may cause random instabilities in the system, although it is more likely that there's a parsing system built into Windows XP to handle such an occurrence. Either way, I would not recommend it.
QoS tweak
*********
QoS (Quality of Service) is a networking subsystem which is supposed to insure that the network runs properly. The problem with the system is that it eats up 20% of the total bandwidth of any networking service on the computer (including your internet connection). If you are running XP Professional, you can disable the bandwidth quota reserved for the system using the Group Policy Editor [gpedit.msc].
You can run the group policy editor from the Run command line. To find the setting, expand "Local Computer Policy" and go to "Administrative Templates" under "Computer Configuration." Then find the "Network" branch and select "QoS Packet Scheduler." In the right hand box, double click on the "Limit Reservable Bandwidth." From within the Settings tab, enable the setting and then go into the "Bandwidth Limit %" and set it to 0%. The reason for this is that if you disable this setting, the computer defaults to 20%. This is true even when you aren't using QoS.
Free Idle Tasks Tweak
*********************
This tweak will free up processing time from any idle processes and allow it to be used by the foreground application. It is useful particularly if you are running a game or other 3D application. Create a new shortcut to "Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks" and place it on your desktop. Double-click on it anytime you need all of your processing power, before opening the application.
Windows Indexing Services
Windows Indexing Services creates a searchable database that makes system searches for words and files progress much faster - however, it takes an enormous amount of hard drive space as well as a significant amount of extra CPU cycles to maintain the system. Most users will want to disable this service to release the resources for use by the system. To turn off indexing, open My Computer and right click on the drive on which you wish to disable the Indexing Service. Enter the drive's properties and under the general tab, untick the box for "Allow the Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching."
Priority Tweak
**************
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ PriorityControl]
This setting effectively runs each instance of an application in its own process for significantly faster application performance and greater stability. This is extremely useful for users with stability problems, as it can isolate specific instances of a program so as not to bring down the entire application. And, it is particularly useful for users of Internet Explorer, for if a rogue web page crashes your browser window, it does not bring the other browser windows down with it. It has a similar effect on any software package where multiple instances might be running at once, such as Microsoft Word. The only problem is that this takes up significantly more memory, because such instances of a program cannot share information that is in active memory (many DLLs and such will have to be loaded into memory multiple times). Because of this, it is not recommended for anyone with less than 512 MB of RAM, unless they are running beta software (or have some other reason for needing the added stability).
There are two parts to this tweak. First is to optimize XP's priority control for the processes. Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ PriorityControl and set the "Win32PrioritySeparation" DWORD to 38. Next, go into My Computer and under Tools, open the Folder Options menu. Select the View tab and check the "Launch folder windows in separate process" box. This setting actually forces each window into its own memory tread and gives it a separate process priority.
Powertweak application
**********************
xxx.powertweak.com
Powertweak is an application, which acts much like a driver for our chipsets. It optimizes the communication between the chipset and the CPU, and unlocks several "hidden" features of the chipset that can increase the speed of the system. Specifically, it tweaks the internal registers of the chipset and processor that the BIOS does not for better communication performance between subsystems. Supported CPUs and chipsets can see a significant increase in I/O bandwidth, increasing the speed of the entire system. Currently the application supports most popular CPUs and chipsets, although you will need to check the website for your specific processor/chipset combo - the programmer is working on integrating even more chipsets and CPUs into the software.
Offload Network Task Processing onto the Network Card
*****************************************************
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Services \ Tcpip \ Parameters]
Many newer network cards have the ability of taking some of the network processing load off of the processor and performing it right on the card (much like Hardware T&L on most new video cards). This can significantly lower the CPU processes needed to maintain a network connection, freeing up that processor time for other tasks. This does not work on all cards, and it can cause network connectivity problems on systems where the service is enabled but unsupported, so please check with your NIC manufacturer prior to enabling this tweak. Find the DWORD "DisableTaskOffload" and set the value to 0 (the default value is 1). If the key is not already available, create it.
Force XP to Unload DLLs
***********************
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer]
"AlwaysUnloadDLL"=dword:00000001
XP has a bad habit of keeping dynamic link libraries that are no longer in use resident in memory. Not only do the DLLs use up precious memory space, but they also tend to cause stability problems in some systems. To force XP to unload any DLLs in memory when the application that called them is no longer in memory, browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer and find the DWORD "AlwaysUnloadDLL". You may need to create this key. Set the value to 1 to force the operating system to unload DLLs.
Give 16-bit apps their own separate processes
*********************************************
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ WOW]
"DefaultSeparateVDM"="Yes"
By default, Windows XP will only open one 16-bit process and cram all 16-bit apps running on the system at a given time into that process. This simulates how MS-DOS based systems viewed systems and is necessary for some older applications that run together and share resources. However, most 16-bit applications work perfectly well by themselves and would benefit from the added performance and stability of their own dedicated resources. To force Windows XP to give each 16-bit application it's own resources, browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ WOW and find the String "DefaultSeparateVDM". If it is not there, you may need to create it. Set the value of this to Yes to give each 16-bit application its own process, and No to have the 16-bit application all run in the same memory space.
Disable User Tracking
*********************
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer]
"NoInstrumentation"=dword:00000001
The user tracking system built into Windows XP is useless to 99% of users (there are very few uses for the information collected other than for a very nosy system admin), and it uses up precious resources to boot, so it makes sense to disable this "feature" of Windows XP. To do so, browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer and find the DWORD "NoInstrumentation". You may need to create this key if it is not there. The default setting is 0, but setting it to 1 will disable most of the user tracking features of the system.
Thumbnail Cache
***************
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Advanced]
"DisableThumbnailCache"=dword:00000001
Windows XP has a neat feature for graphic and video files that creates a "thumbnail" of the image or first frame of the video and makes it into an oversized icon for the file. There are two ways that Explorer can do this, it can create them fresh each time you access the folder or it can load them from a thumbnail cache. The thumbnail caches on systems with a large number of image and video files can become staggeringly large. To disable the Thumbnail Cache, browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Advanced and find the DWORD "DisableThumbnailCache". You may need to create this key. A setting of 1 is recommended for systems where the number of graphic and video files is large, and a setting of 0 is recommended for systems not concerned about hard drive space, as loading the files from the cache is significantly quicker than creating them from scratch each time a folder is accessed.
-----------
STARTUP
-----------
Windows Prefetcher
******************
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Session Manager \ Memory Management \ PrefetchParameters]
Under this key there is a setting called EnablePrefetcher, the default setting of which is 3. Increasing this number to 5 gives the prefetcher system more system resources to prefetch application data for faster load times. Depending on the number of boot processes you run on your computer, you may get benefits from settings up to 9. However, I do not have any substantive research data on settings above 5 so I cannot verify the benefits of a higher setting. This setting also may effect the loading times of your most frequently launched applications. This setting will not take effect until after you reboot your system.
Master File Table Zone Reservation
**********************************
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ FileSystem]
Under this key there is a setting called NtfsMftZoneReservation, the default setting of which is 1. The range of this value is from 1 to 4. The default setting reserves one-eighth of the volume for the MFT. A setting of 2 reserves one-quarter of the volume for the MFT. A setting of 3 for NtfsMftZoneReservation reserves three-eighths of the volume for the MFT and setting it to 4 reserves half of the volume for the MFT. Most users will never exceed one-quarter of the volume. I recommend a setting of 2 for most users. This allows for a "moderate number of files" commensurate with the number of small files included in most computer games and applications. Reboot after applying this tweak.
Optimize Boot Files
*******************
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Dfrg \ BootOptimizeFunction]
Under this key is a text value named Enable. A value of Y for this setting enables the boot files defragmenter. This setting defragments the boot files and may move the boot files to the beginning (fastest) part of the partition, but that last statement is unverified. Reboot after applying this tweak.
Optimizing Startup Programs [msconfig]
**************************************
MSConfig, similar to the application included in Win9x of the same name, allows the user to fine tune the applications that are launched at startup without forcing the user to delve deep into the registry. To disable some of the applications launched, load msconfig.exe from the run command line, and go to the Startup tab. From there, un-ticking the checkbox next to a startup item will stop it from launching. There are a few application that you will never want to disable (ctfmon comes to mind), but for the most part the best settings vary greatly from system to system.
As a good rule of thumb, though, it is unlikely that you will want to disable anything in the Windows directory (unless it's a third-party program that was incorrectly installed into the Windows directory), nor will you want to disable anything directly relating to your system hardware. The only exception to this is when you are dealing with software, which does not give you any added benefits (some OEM dealers load your system up with software you do not need). The nice part of msconfig is that it does not delete any of the settings, it simply disables them, and so you can go back and restart a startup application if you find that you need it. This optimization won't take effect until after a reboot.
Bootvis Application
*******************
The program was designed by Microsoft to enable Windows XP to cold boot in 30 seconds, return from hibernation in 20 seconds, and return from standby in 10 seconds. Bootvis has two extremely useful features. First, it can be used to optimize the boot process on your computer automatically. Second, it can be used to analyze the boot process for specific subsystems that are having difficulty loading. The first process specifically targets the prefetching subsystem, as well as the layout of boot files on the disk. When both of these systems are optimized, it can result in a significant reduction in the time it takes for the computer to boot.
Before attempting to use Bootvis to analyze or optimize the boot performance of your system, make sure that the task scheduler service has been enabled - the program requires the service to run properly. Also, close all open programs as well - using the software requires a reboot.
To use the software to optimize your system startup, first start with a full analysis of a fresh boot. Start Bootvis, go to the Tools menu, and select next boot. Set the Trace Repetition Settings to 2 repetitions, Start at 1, and Reboot automatically. Then set the trace into motion. The system will fully reboot twice, and then reopen bootvis and open the second trace file (should have _2 in the name). Analyze the graphs and make any changes that you think are necessary (this is a great tool for determining which startup programs you want to kill using msconfig). Once you have made your optimizations go to the Trace menu, and select the Optimize System item. This will cause the system to reboot and will then make some changes to the file structure on the hard drive (this includes a defragmentation of boot files and a shifting of their location to the fastest portion of the hard disk, as well as some other optimizations). After this is done, once again run a Trace analysis as above, except change the starting number to 3. Once the system has rebooted both times, compare the charts from the second trace to the charts for the fourth trace to show you the time improvement of the system's boot up.
The standard defragmenter included with Windows XP will not undo the boot optimizations performed by this application.
-----------------------------------
General Performance Tweaks
-----------------------------------
IRQ Priority Tweak
******************
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ System \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ PriorityControl]
You will need to create a new DWORD: IRQ#Priority (where # is the number of the IRQ you want to prioritize) and give it a setting of 1. This setting gives the requisite IRQ channel priority over the other IRQs on a software level. This can be extremely important for functions and hardware subsystems that need real-time access to other parts of the system. There are several different subsystems that might benefit from this tweak. Generally, I recommend giving either the System CMOS or the video card priority. The System CMOS generally has an IRQ setting of 8, and giving it priority enhances the I/O performance of the system. Giving priority to the video card can increase frame rates and make AGP more effective.
You can give several IRQs priority, but I am not entirely certain how the system interacts when several IRQs are given priority - it may cause random instabilities in the system, although it is more likely that there's a parsing system built into Windows XP to handle such an occurrence. Either way, I would not recommend it.
QoS tweak
*********
QoS (Quality of Service) is a networking subsystem which is supposed to insure that the network runs properly. The problem with the system is that it eats up 20% of the total bandwidth of any networking service on the computer (including your internet connection). If you are running XP Professional, you can disable the bandwidth quota reserved for the system using the Group Policy Editor [gpedit.msc].
You can run the group policy editor from the Run command line. To find the setting, expand "Local Computer Policy" and go to "Administrative Templates" under "Computer Configuration." Then find the "Network" branch and select "QoS Packet Scheduler." In the right hand box, double click on the "Limit Reservable Bandwidth." From within the Settings tab, enable the setting and then go into the "Bandwidth Limit %" and set it to 0%. The reason for this is that if you disable this setting, the computer defaults to 20%. This is true even when you aren't using QoS.
Free Idle Tasks Tweak
*********************
This tweak will free up processing time from any idle processes and allow it to be used by the foreground application. It is useful particularly if you are running a game or other 3D application. Create a new shortcut to "Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks" and place it on your desktop. Double-click on it anytime you need all of your processing power, before opening the application.
Windows Indexing Services
Windows Indexing Services creates a searchable database that makes system searches for words and files progress much faster - however, it takes an enormous amount of hard drive space as well as a significant amount of extra CPU cycles to maintain the system. Most users will want to disable this service to release the resources for use by the system. To turn off indexing, open My Computer and right click on the drive on which you wish to disable the Indexing Service. Enter the drive's properties and under the general tab, untick the box for "Allow the Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching."
Priority Tweak
**************
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ PriorityControl]
This setting effectively runs each instance of an application in its own process for significantly faster application performance and greater stability. This is extremely useful for users with stability problems, as it can isolate specific instances of a program so as not to bring down the entire application. And, it is particularly useful for users of Internet Explorer, for if a rogue web page crashes your browser window, it does not bring the other browser windows down with it. It has a similar effect on any software package where multiple instances might be running at once, such as Microsoft Word. The only problem is that this takes up significantly more memory, because such instances of a program cannot share information that is in active memory (many DLLs and such will have to be loaded into memory multiple times). Because of this, it is not recommended for anyone with less than 512 MB of RAM, unless they are running beta software (or have some other reason for needing the added stability).
There are two parts to this tweak. First is to optimize XP's priority control for the processes. Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ PriorityControl and set the "Win32PrioritySeparation" DWORD to 38. Next, go into My Computer and under Tools, open the Folder Options menu. Select the View tab and check the "Launch folder windows in separate process" box. This setting actually forces each window into its own memory tread and gives it a separate process priority.
Powertweak application
**********************
xxx.powertweak.com
Powertweak is an application, which acts much like a driver for our chipsets. It optimizes the communication between the chipset and the CPU, and unlocks several "hidden" features of the chipset that can increase the speed of the system. Specifically, it tweaks the internal registers of the chipset and processor that the BIOS does not for better communication performance between subsystems. Supported CPUs and chipsets can see a significant increase in I/O bandwidth, increasing the speed of the entire system. Currently the application supports most popular CPUs and chipsets, although you will need to check the website for your specific processor/chipset combo - the programmer is working on integrating even more chipsets and CPUs into the software.
Offload Network Task Processing onto the Network Card
*****************************************************
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Services \ Tcpip \ Parameters]
Many newer network cards have the ability of taking some of the network processing load off of the processor and performing it right on the card (much like Hardware T&L on most new video cards). This can significantly lower the CPU processes needed to maintain a network connection, freeing up that processor time for other tasks. This does not work on all cards, and it can cause network connectivity problems on systems where the service is enabled but unsupported, so please check with your NIC manufacturer prior to enabling this tweak. Find the DWORD "DisableTaskOffload" and set the value to 0 (the default value is 1). If the key is not already available, create it.
Force XP to Unload DLLs
***********************
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer]
"AlwaysUnloadDLL"=dword:00000001
XP has a bad habit of keeping dynamic link libraries that are no longer in use resident in memory. Not only do the DLLs use up precious memory space, but they also tend to cause stability problems in some systems. To force XP to unload any DLLs in memory when the application that called them is no longer in memory, browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer and find the DWORD "AlwaysUnloadDLL". You may need to create this key. Set the value to 1 to force the operating system to unload DLLs.
Give 16-bit apps their own separate processes
*********************************************
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ WOW]
"DefaultSeparateVDM"="Yes"
By default, Windows XP will only open one 16-bit process and cram all 16-bit apps running on the system at a given time into that process. This simulates how MS-DOS based systems viewed systems and is necessary for some older applications that run together and share resources. However, most 16-bit applications work perfectly well by themselves and would benefit from the added performance and stability of their own dedicated resources. To force Windows XP to give each 16-bit application it's own resources, browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ WOW and find the String "DefaultSeparateVDM". If it is not there, you may need to create it. Set the value of this to Yes to give each 16-bit application its own process, and No to have the 16-bit application all run in the same memory space.
Disable User Tracking
*********************
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer]
"NoInstrumentation"=dword:00000001
The user tracking system built into Windows XP is useless to 99% of users (there are very few uses for the information collected other than for a very nosy system admin), and it uses up precious resources to boot, so it makes sense to disable this "feature" of Windows XP. To do so, browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer and find the DWORD "NoInstrumentation". You may need to create this key if it is not there. The default setting is 0, but setting it to 1 will disable most of the user tracking features of the system.
Thumbnail Cache
***************
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Advanced]
"DisableThumbnailCache"=dword:00000001
Windows XP has a neat feature for graphic and video files that creates a "thumbnail" of the image or first frame of the video and makes it into an oversized icon for the file. There are two ways that Explorer can do this, it can create them fresh each time you access the folder or it can load them from a thumbnail cache. The thumbnail caches on systems with a large number of image and video files can become staggeringly large. To disable the Thumbnail Cache, browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Advanced and find the DWORD "DisableThumbnailCache". You may need to create this key. A setting of 1 is recommended for systems where the number of graphic and video files is large, and a setting of 0 is recommended for systems not concerned about hard drive space, as loading the files from the cache is significantly quicker than creating them from scratch each time a folder is accessed.
Windows Xp Tips 'n' Tricks, Windows XP Tips 'n' Tricks
Windows Xp Tips 'n' Tricks, Windows XP Tips 'n' Tricks
Please note that some of these tips require you to use a Registry Editor (regedit.exe), which could render your system unusable. Thus, none of these tips are supported in any way: Use them at your own risk. Also note that most of these tips will require you to be logged on with Administrative rights.
Unlocking WinXP's setupp.ini
============================
WinXP's setupp.ini controls how the CD acts. IE is it an OEM version or retail? First, find your setupp.ini file in the i386 directory on your WinXP CD. Open it up, it'll look something like this:
ExtraData=707A667567736F696F697911AE7E05
Pid=55034000
The Pid value is what we're interested in. What's there now looks like a standard default. There are special numbers that determine if it's a retail, oem, or volume license edition. First, we break down that number into two parts. The first five digits determines how the CD will behave, ie is it a retail cd that lets you clean install or upgrade, or an oem cd that only lets you perform a clean install? The last three digits determines what CD key it will accept. You are able to mix and match these values. For example you could make a WinXP cd that acted like a retail cd, yet accepted OEM keys.
Now, for the actual values. Remember the first and last values are interchangable, but usually you'd keep them as a pair:
Retail = 51882 335
Volume License = 51883 270
OEM = 82503 OEM
So if you wanted a retail CD that took retail keys, the last line of your setupp.ini file would read:
Pid=51882335
And if you wanted a retail CD that took OEM keys, you'd use:
Pid=51882OEM
How do I get the "Administrator" name on Welcome Screen?
========================================================
To get Admin account on the "Welcome Screen" as well as the other usernames, make sure that there are no accounts logged in.
Press "ctrl-alt-del" twice and you should be able to login as administrator!
finally worked for me after i found out that all accounts have to be logged out first
Fix Movie Inteferance in AVI files
==================================
If you have any AVI files that you saved in Windows 9x, which have interference when opened in Windows XP, there is an easy fix to get rid of the interference:
Open Windows Movie Maker.
Click View and then click Options.
Click in the box to remove the check mark beside Automatically create clips.
Now, import the movie file that has interference and drag it onto the timeline. Then save the movie, and during the rerendering, the interference will be removed.
Create a Password Reset Disk
============================
If you're running Windows XP Professional as a local user in a workgroup environment, you can create a password reset disk to log onto your computer when you forget your password. To create the disk:
Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click User Accounts.
Click your account name.
Under Related Tasks, click Prevent a forgotten password.
Follow the directions in the Forgotten Password Wizard to create a password reset disk.
Store the disk in a secure location, because anyone using it can access your local user account
Change Web Page Font Size on the Fly
====================================
If your mouse contains a wheel for scrolling, you can change font size on the fly when viewing a Web page. To do so:
Press and hold Ctrl. Scroll down (or towards yourself) to enlarge the font size. Scroll up (or away from yourself) to reduce the font size.
You might find it useful to reduce font size when printing a Web page, so that you can fit more content on the page.
WinXP Clear Page file on shutdown
=================================
WINXPCPS.REG (WinXP Clear Page file on shutdown)
This Registration (.REG) file clears the Page file when you power off the computer.
Restart Windows for these changes to take effect!
ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR SYSTEM BEFORE MAKING ANY CHANGES!
Browse to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ System \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Session Manager \ Memory Management
and add the DWORD variable "ClearPageFileAtShutdown"=dword:00000001
You can also do this without reg hacking.
Go to Control panel Administartative tools, local security policy. then goto local policies ---> security options.
Then change the option for "Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile"
Group Policy for Windows XP
===========================
One of the most full featured Windows XP configuration tools available is hidden right there in your system, but most people don't even know it exists. It's called the Local Group Policy Editor, or gpedit for short. To invoke this editor, select Start and then Run, then type the following:
gpedit.msc
After you hit ENTER, you'll be greeted by gpedit, which lets you modify virtually every feature in Windows XP without having to resort to regedit. Dig around and enjoy!
Forgetting What Your Files Are?
===============================
This procedure works under NTFS.
As times goes along you have a lot files on your computer. You are going to forget what they are. Well here is way to identify them as you scroll through Windows Explorer in the future.
This procedure works under NTFS.
1.. Open up a folder on your system that you want to keep track of the different files you might one to identify in the future.
2.. Under View make certain that you set it to the Details.
3.. Highlight the file you want to keep more information on. Right click the file and you will get a pop up menu. Click on properties.
4.. Click on the Summary Tab (make sure it says simple not advanced on the button in the box), You should now get the following fields,
Title,Subject, Author, Category, Keywords, Comments
You will see advanced also if you have changed it to simple, Here will be other fields you can fill in.
5.. Next you can fill in what ever field you want.
6.. After you finished click the apply button then OK.
7.. Next right click the bar above your files, under the address barand you should get a drop down menu. Here you can click the fields you want to display.
8.. You should now see a list with the new fields and any comments you have done.
9.. Now if you want to sort these just right click a blank spot and then you sort the information to your liking.
Temporarily Assign Yourself Administrative Permissions
======================================================
Many programs require you to have Administrative permissions to be able to install them. Here is an easy way to temporarily assign yourself Administrative permissions while you remain logged in as a normal user.
Hold down the Shift key as you right-click on the program's setup file.
Click Run as.
Type in a username and password that have Administrative permissions.
This will also work on applications in the Start menu.
Create a Shortcut to Lock Your Computer
=======================================
Leaving your computer in a hurry but you don't want to log off? You can double-click a shortcut on your desktop to quickly lock the keyboard and display without using CTRL+ALT+DEL or a screensaver.
To create a shortcut on your desktop to lock your computer:
Right-click the desktop.
Point to New, and then click Shortcut.
The Create Shortcut Wizard opens. In the text box, type the following:
rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation
Click Next.
Enter a name for the shortcut. You can call it "Lock Workstation" or choose any name you like.
Click Finish.
You can also change the shortcut's icon (my personal favorite is the padlock icon in shell32.dll).
To change the icon:
Right click the shortcut and then select Properties.
Click the Shortcut tab, and then click the Change Icon button.
In the Look for icons in this file text box, type:
Shell32.dll.
Click OK.
Select one of the icons from the list and then click OK
You could also give it a shortcut keystroke such CTRL+ALT+L. This would save you only one keystroke from the normal command, but it could be more convenient.
Create a Shortcut to Start Remote Desktop
=========================================
Tip: You can add a shortcut to the desktop of your home computer to quickly start Remote Desktop and connect to your office computer.
To create a shortcut icon to start Remote Desktop
Click Start, point to More Programs, point to Accessories, point to Communications, and then click on Remote Desktop Connection.
Click Options.
Configure settings for the connection to your office computer.
Click Save As, and enter a name, such as Office Computer. Click Save.
Open the Remote Desktops folder.
Right-click on the file named Office Computer, and then click Create Shortcut.
Drag the shortcut onto the desktop of your home computer.
To start Remote Desktop and connect to your office computer, double-click on the shortcut
Instantly Activate a Screensaver
================================
Turn on a screensaver without having to wait by adding a shortcut to your desktop:
Click the Start button, and then click Search.
In the Search Companion window, click All file types.
In the file name box, type *.scr
In the Look in box, choose Local Hard Drives (C or the drive where you have system files stored on your computer.
Click Search.
You will see a list of screensavers in the results. Pick a screensaver you want. You can preview it by double-clicking it.
Right click on the file, choose Send To, and then click Desktop (create shortcut).
To activate the screensaver, double-click the icon on your desktop
Add a Map Drive Button to the Toolbar
=====================================
Do you want to quickly map a drive, but can't find the toolbar button? If you map drives often, use one of these options to add a Map Drive button to the folder toolbar.
Option One (Long Term Fix)
Click Start, click My Computer, right-click the toolbar, then unlock the toolbars, if necessary.
Right-click the toolbar again, and then click Customize.
Under Available toolbar buttons, locate Map Drive, and drag it into the position you want on the right under Current toolbar buttons.
Click Close, click OK, and then click OK again.
You now have drive mapping buttons on your toolbar, so you can map drives from any folder window. To unmap drives, follow the above procedure, selecting Disconnect under Available toolbar buttons. To quickly map a drive, try this option.
Option Two (Quick Fix)
Click Start, and right-click My Computer.
Click Map Network Drive.
If you place your My Computer icon directly on the desktop, you can make this move in only two clicks!
Software not installing?
========================
If you have a piece of software that refuses to install because it says that you are not running Windows 2000 (such as the Win2K drivers for a Mustek scanner!!) you can simply edit HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion/ProductName to say Microsoft Windows 2000 instead of XP and it will install. You may also have to edit the version number or build number, depending on how hard the program tries to verify that you are installing on the correct OS. I had to do this for my Mustek 600 CP scanner (compatibility mode didn''t help!!!) and it worked great, so I now have my scanner working with XP (and a tech at Mustek can now eat his words).
BTW, don''t forget to restore any changes you make after you get your software installed
You do this at your own risk.
Use your Windows Key
====================
The Windows logo key, located in the bottom row of most computer keyboards is a little-used treasure. Don''t ignore it. It is the shortcut anchor for the following commands:
Windows: Display the Start menu
Windows + D: Minimize or restore all windows
Windows + E: Display Windows Explorer
Windows + F: Display Search for files
Windows + Ctrl + F: Display Search for computer
Windows + F1: Display Help and Support Center
Windows + R: Display Run dialog box
Windows + break: Display System Properties dialog box
Windows + shift + M: Undo minimize all windows
Windows + L: Lock the workstation
Windows + U: Open Utility Manager
Windows + Q: Quick switching of users (Powertoys only)
Windows + Q: Hold Windows Key, then tap Q to scroll thru the different users on your pc
Change your cd key
==================
You don't need to re-install if you want to try the key out ... just do this:
1. Go to Activate Windows
2. Select the Telephone option
3. Click "Change Product Key"
4. Enter NOT ALLOWED ~ Zabref
5. Click "Update"
Now log off and log back in again. It should now show 60 days left, minus the number of days it had already counted down.
Note: If your crack de-activated REGWIZC.DLL and LICDLL.DLL, you are going to have to re-register them.
Remove the Shared Documents folders from My Computer
====================================================
One of the most annoying things about the new Windows XP user interface is that Microsoft saw fit to provide links to all of the Shared Documents folders on your system, right at the top of the My Computer window. I can't imagine why this would be the default, even in a shared PC environment at home, but what's even more annoying is that you cannot change this behavior through the sh*ll
: Those icons are stuck there and you have to live with it.
Until now, that is.
Simply fire up the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ My Computer \ NameSpace \ DelegateFolders
You'll see a sub-key named {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}. If you delete this, all of the Shared Documents folders (which are normally under the group called "Other Files Stored on This Computer" will be gone.
You do not need to reboot your system to see the change.
Before: A cluttered mess with icons no one will ever use (especially that orpaned one). After: Simplicity itself, and the way it should be by default.
This tip For older XP builds
===================
Edit or remove the "Comments" link in window title bars
During the Windows XP beta, Microsoft has added a "Comments?" hyperlink to the title bar of each window in the system so that beta testers can more easily send in a problem report about the user interface. But for most of us, this isn't an issue, and the Comments link is simply a visual distraction. And for many programs that alter the title bar, the Comments link renders the Minimize, Maximize, and Close window buttons unusable, so it's actually a problem.
Let's get rid of it. Or, if you're into this kind of thing, you can edit it too.
Open the Registry Editor and navigate to the following keys:
My Computer \ HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ LameButtonEnabled
My Computer \ HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ LameButtonText
The first key determines whether the link appears at all; change its value to 0 to turn it off. The second key lets you have a little fun with the hyperlink; you can change the text to anything you'd like, such as "Paul Thurrott" or whatever.
Editing either value requires a restart before the changes take effect.
Before: An unnecessary hyperlink. Have some fun with it! Or just remove it entirely. It's up to you.
Rip high-quality MP3s in Windows Media Player 8
================================================
The relationship between Windows Media Player 8 and the MP3 audio format is widely misunderstood. Basically, WMP8 will be able to playback MP3 files, but encoding (or "ripping" CD audio into MP3 format will require an MP3 plug-in. So during the Windows XP beta, Microsoft is supplying a sample MP3 plug-in for testing purposes, but it's limited to 56 Kbps rips, which is pretty useless. However, if you have an externally installed MP3 codec, you can use WMP8 to rip at higher bit rates. But you'll have to edit the Registry to make this work.
Fire up the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ MediaPlayer \ Settings \ MP3Encoding
Here, you'll see sub-keys for LowRate and LowRateSample, which of course equates to the single 56 Kbps sample rate you see in WMP8. To get better sampling rates, try adding the following keys (Using New then DWORD value):
"LowRate" = DWORD value of 0000dac0
"MediumRate" = DWORD value of 0000fa00
"MediumHighRate" = DWORD value of 0001f400
"HighRate" = DWORD value of 0002ee00
Now, when you launch WMP8 and go into Tools, then Options, then Copy Music, you will have four encoding choices for MP3: 56 Kbps, 64 Kbps, 128 Kbps, and 192 Kbps. Note that you will not get higher bit rate encoding unless you have installed an MP3 codec separately; the version in Windows Media Player 8 is limited to 56 Kbps only.
Find the appropriate location in the Registry... ...add a few DWORD values... ...And then you'll be ripping CDs in higher-quality MP3 format!
Speed up the Start Menu
=======================
The default speed of the Start Menu is pretty slow, but you can fix that by editing a Registry Key. Fire up the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ MenuShowDelay
By default, the value is 400. Change this to a smaller value, such as 0, to speed it up.
Speed up the Start Menu (Part two)
==================================
If your confounded by the slow speed of the Start Menu, even after using the tip above, then you might try the following: Navigate to Display Properties then Appearance then Advanced and turn off the option titled Show menu shadow . You will get much better overall performance.
Speed up Internet Explorer 6 Favorites
======================================
For some reason, the Favorites menu in IE 6 seems to slow down dramatically sometimes--I've noticed this happens when you install Tweak UI 1.33, for example, and when you use the preview tip to speed up the Start menu. But here's a fix for the problem that does work, though it's unclear why:
Just open a command line window (Start button -> Run -> cmd) and type sfc, then hit ENTER. This command line runs the System File Checker, which performs a number of services, all of which are completely unrelated to IE 6. But there you go: It works.
Do an unattended installation
=============================
The Windows XP Setup routine is much nicer than that in Windows 2000 or Windows Me, but it's still an hour-long process that forces you to sit in front of your computer for an hour, answering dialog boxes and typing in product keys. But Windows XP picks up one of the more useful features from Windows 2000, the ability to do an unattended installation, so you can simply prepare a script that will answer all those dialogs for you and let you spend some quality time with your family.
I've written about Windows 2000 unattended installations and the process is pretty much identical on Windows XP, so please read that article carefully before proceeding. And you need to be aware that this feature is designed for a standalone Windows XP system: If you want to dual-boot Windows XP with another OS, you're going to have to go through the interactive Setup just like everyone else: An unattended install will wipe out your hard drive and install only Windows XP, usually.
To perform an unattended installation, you just need to work with the Setup Manager, which is located on the Windows XP CD-ROM in D:\SupportTools\DEPLOY.CAB by default: Extract the contents of this file and you'll find a number of useful tools and help files; the one we're interested in is named setupmgr.exe. This is a very simple wizard application that will walk you through the process of creating an answer file called winnt.sif that can be used to guide Windows XP Setup through the unattended installation.
One final tip: There's one thing that Setup Manager doesn't add: Your product key. However, you can add this to the unattend.txt file manually. Simply open the file in Notepad and add the following line under the [UserData] section:
ProductID=RK7J8-2PGYQ-P47VV-V6PMB-F6XPQ
(This is a 60 day cd key)
Then, just copy winnt.sif to a floppy, put your Windows XP CD-ROM in the CD drive, and reboot: When the CD auto-boots, it will look for the unattend.txt file in A: automatically, and use it to answer the Setup questions if it's there.
Finally, please remember that this will wipe out your system! Back up first, and spend some time with the help files in DEPLOY.CAB before proceeding.
For Older builds or not using setupreg.hiv file
===============================================
Remove the Desktop version text
During the Windows XP beta, you will see text in the lower right corner of the screen that says Windows XP Professional, Evaluation Copy. Build 2462 or similar. A lot of people would like to remove this text for some reason, and while it's possible to do so, the cure is more damaging than the problem, in my opinion. So the following step will remove this text, but you'll lose a lot of the nice graphical effects that come in Windows XP, such as the see-through icon text.
To remove the desktop version text, open Display Properties (right-click the desktop, then choose Properties) and navigate to the Desktop page. Click Customize Desktop and then choose the Web page in the resulting dialog. On this page, check the option titled Lock desktop items. Click OK to close the dialog, and then OK to close Display Properties. The text disappears. But now the rest of your system is really ugly. You can reverse the process by unchecking Lock desktop items.
There's also a shortcut for this process: Just right-click the desktop and choose Arrange by then Lock Web Icons on the Desktop.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enable ClearType on the Welcome Screen!
=======================================
As laptop users and other LCD owners are quickly realizing, Microsoft's ClearType technology in Windows XP really makes a big difference for readability. But the this feature is enabled on a per-user basis in Windows XP, so you can't see the effect on the Welcome screen; it only appears after you logon.
But you can fix that. Fire up the Registry Editor and look for the following keys:
(default user) HKEY_USERS \ .Default \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ FontSmoothing (String Value)
HKEY_USERS \ .Default \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ FontSmoothingType (Hexadecimal DWORD Value)
Make sure both of these values are set to 2 and you'll have ClearType enabled on the Welcome screen and on each new user by default.
Stop Windows Messenger from Auto-Starting
=========================================
If you're not a big fan of Windows Messenger simply delete the following Registry Key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\MSMSGS
Display Hibernate Option on the Shut Down dialog
================================================
For some reason, Hibernate may not be available from the default Shut Down dialog. But you can enable it simply enough, by holding down the SHIFT key while the dialog is visible. Now you see it, now you don't!
Add album art to any music folder
=================================
One of the coolest new features in Windows XP is its album thumbnail generator, which automatically places the appropriate album cover art on the folder to which you are copying music (generally in WMA format). But what about those people that have already copied their CDs to the hard drive using MP3 format? You can download album cover art from sites such as cdnow.com or amguide.com, and then use the new Windows XP folder customize feature to display the proper image for each folder. But this takes time--you have to manually edit the folder properties for every single folder--and you will lose customizations if you have to reinstall the OS. There's an excellent fix, however.
When you download the album cover art from the Web, just save the images as folder.jpg each time and place them in the appropriate folder. Then, Windows XP will automatically use that image as the thumbnail for that folder and, best of all, will use that image in Windows Media Player for Windows XP (MPXP) if you choose to display album cover art instead of a visualization. And the folder customization is automatic, so it survives an OS reinstallation as well. Your music folders never looked so good!
Album cover art makes music folder thumbnails look better than ever!
Change the location of the My Music or My Pictures folders
==========================================================
In Windows 2000, Microsoft added the ability to right-click the My Documents folder and choose a new location for that folder in the sh*ll
. With Windows XP, Microsoft has elevated the My Music and My Pictures folders to the same "special sh*ll
folder" status of My Documents, but they never added a similar (and simple) method for changing those folder's locations. However, it is actually pretty easy to change the location of these folders, using the following method.
Open a My Computer window and navigate to the location where you'd like My Music (or My Pictures) to reside. Then, open the My Documents folder in a different window. Drag the My Music (or My Pictures) folder to the other window, and Windows XP will update all of the references to that folder to the new location, including the Start menu.
Or use Tweak UI
Add/Remove optional features of Windows XP
==========================================
To dramatically expand the list of applications you can remove from Windows XP after installation, navigate to C:\WINDOWS\inf (substituting the correct drive letter for your version of Windows) and open the sysoc.inf file. Under Windows XP Professional Edition RC1, this file will resemble the following by default:
[Version] Signature = "$Windows NT$"
DriverVer=06/26/2001,5.1.2505.0
[Components]
NtComponents=ntoc.dll,NtOcSetupProc,,4
WBEM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wbemoc.inf,hide,7
Display=desk.cpl,DisplayOcSetupProc,,7
Fax=fxsocm.dll,FaxOcmSetupProc,fxsocm.inf,,7
NetOC=netoc.dll,NetOcSetupProc,netoc.inf,,7
iis=iis.dll,OcEntry,iis.inf,,7
com=comsetup.dll,OcEntry,comnt5.inf,hide,7
dtc=msdtcstp.dll,OcEntry,dtcnt5.inf,hide,7
IndexSrv_System = setupqry.dll,IndexSrv,setupqry.inf,,7
TerminalServer=TsOc.dll, HydraOc, TsOc.inf,hide,2
msmq=msmqocm.dll,MsmqOcm,msmqocm.inf,,6
ims=imsinsnt.dll,OcEntry,ims.inf,,7
fp_extensions=fp40ext.dll,FrontPage4Extensions,fp40ext.inf,,7
AutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,au.inf,hide,7
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
msnexplr=ocmsn.dll,OcEntry,msnmsn.inf,,7
smarttgs=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,msnsl.inf,,7
RootAutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,rootau.inf,,7
Games=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,games.inf,,7
AccessUtil=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,accessor.inf,,7
CommApps=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,communic.inf,HIDE,7
MultiM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,multimed.inf,HIDE,7
AccessOpt=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,optional.inf,HIDE,7
Pinball=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,pinball.inf,HIDE,7
MSWordPad=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wordpad.inf,HIDE,7
ZoneGames=zoneoc.dll,ZoneSetupProc,igames.inf,,7
[Global]
WindowTitle=%WindowTitle%
WindowTitle.StandAlone="*"
The entries that include the text hide or HIDE will not show up in Add/Remove Windows Components by default. To fix this, do a global search and replace for ,hide and change each instance of this to , (a comma). Then, save the file, relaunch Add/Remove Windows Components, and tweak the installed applications to your heart's content.
Cool, eh? There are even more new options now under "Accessories and Utilities" too.
Remove Windows Messenger
========================
It seems that a lot of people are interested in removing Windows Messenger for some reason, though I strongly recommend against this: In Windows XP, Windows Messenger will be the hub of your connection to the .NET world, and now that this feature is part of Windows, I think we're going to see a lot of .NET Passport-enabled Web sites appearing as well. But if you can't stand the little app, there are a couple of ways to get rid of it, and ensure that it doesn't pop up every time you boot into XP. The best way simply utilizes the previous tip:
If you'd like Windows Messenger to show up in the list of programs you can add and remove from Windows, navigate to C:\WINDOWS\inf (substituting the correct drive letter for your version of Windows) and open sysoc.inf (see the previous tip for more information about this file). You'll see a line that reads:
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
Change this to the following and Windows Messenger will appear in Add or Remove Programs, then Add/Remove Windows Components, then , and you can remove it for good:
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,7
Please note that some of these tips require you to use a Registry Editor (regedit.exe), which could render your system unusable. Thus, none of these tips are supported in any way: Use them at your own risk. Also note that most of these tips will require you to be logged on with Administrative rights.
Unlocking WinXP's setupp.ini
============================
WinXP's setupp.ini controls how the CD acts. IE is it an OEM version or retail? First, find your setupp.ini file in the i386 directory on your WinXP CD. Open it up, it'll look something like this:
ExtraData=707A667567736F696F697911AE7E05
Pid=55034000
The Pid value is what we're interested in. What's there now looks like a standard default. There are special numbers that determine if it's a retail, oem, or volume license edition. First, we break down that number into two parts. The first five digits determines how the CD will behave, ie is it a retail cd that lets you clean install or upgrade, or an oem cd that only lets you perform a clean install? The last three digits determines what CD key it will accept. You are able to mix and match these values. For example you could make a WinXP cd that acted like a retail cd, yet accepted OEM keys.
Now, for the actual values. Remember the first and last values are interchangable, but usually you'd keep them as a pair:
Retail = 51882 335
Volume License = 51883 270
OEM = 82503 OEM
So if you wanted a retail CD that took retail keys, the last line of your setupp.ini file would read:
Pid=51882335
And if you wanted a retail CD that took OEM keys, you'd use:
Pid=51882OEM
How do I get the "Administrator" name on Welcome Screen?
========================================================
To get Admin account on the "Welcome Screen" as well as the other usernames, make sure that there are no accounts logged in.
Press "ctrl-alt-del" twice and you should be able to login as administrator!
finally worked for me after i found out that all accounts have to be logged out first
Fix Movie Inteferance in AVI files
==================================
If you have any AVI files that you saved in Windows 9x, which have interference when opened in Windows XP, there is an easy fix to get rid of the interference:
Open Windows Movie Maker.
Click View and then click Options.
Click in the box to remove the check mark beside Automatically create clips.
Now, import the movie file that has interference and drag it onto the timeline. Then save the movie, and during the rerendering, the interference will be removed.
Create a Password Reset Disk
============================
If you're running Windows XP Professional as a local user in a workgroup environment, you can create a password reset disk to log onto your computer when you forget your password. To create the disk:
Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click User Accounts.
Click your account name.
Under Related Tasks, click Prevent a forgotten password.
Follow the directions in the Forgotten Password Wizard to create a password reset disk.
Store the disk in a secure location, because anyone using it can access your local user account
Change Web Page Font Size on the Fly
====================================
If your mouse contains a wheel for scrolling, you can change font size on the fly when viewing a Web page. To do so:
Press and hold Ctrl. Scroll down (or towards yourself) to enlarge the font size. Scroll up (or away from yourself) to reduce the font size.
You might find it useful to reduce font size when printing a Web page, so that you can fit more content on the page.
WinXP Clear Page file on shutdown
=================================
WINXPCPS.REG (WinXP Clear Page file on shutdown)
This Registration (.REG) file clears the Page file when you power off the computer.
Restart Windows for these changes to take effect!
ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR SYSTEM BEFORE MAKING ANY CHANGES!
Browse to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ System \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Session Manager \ Memory Management
and add the DWORD variable "ClearPageFileAtShutdown"=dword:00000001
You can also do this without reg hacking.
Go to Control panel Administartative tools, local security policy. then goto local policies ---> security options.
Then change the option for "Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile"
Group Policy for Windows XP
===========================
One of the most full featured Windows XP configuration tools available is hidden right there in your system, but most people don't even know it exists. It's called the Local Group Policy Editor, or gpedit for short. To invoke this editor, select Start and then Run, then type the following:
gpedit.msc
After you hit ENTER, you'll be greeted by gpedit, which lets you modify virtually every feature in Windows XP without having to resort to regedit. Dig around and enjoy!
Forgetting What Your Files Are?
===============================
This procedure works under NTFS.
As times goes along you have a lot files on your computer. You are going to forget what they are. Well here is way to identify them as you scroll through Windows Explorer in the future.
This procedure works under NTFS.
1.. Open up a folder on your system that you want to keep track of the different files you might one to identify in the future.
2.. Under View make certain that you set it to the Details.
3.. Highlight the file you want to keep more information on. Right click the file and you will get a pop up menu. Click on properties.
4.. Click on the Summary Tab (make sure it says simple not advanced on the button in the box), You should now get the following fields,
Title,Subject, Author, Category, Keywords, Comments
You will see advanced also if you have changed it to simple, Here will be other fields you can fill in.
5.. Next you can fill in what ever field you want.
6.. After you finished click the apply button then OK.
7.. Next right click the bar above your files, under the address barand you should get a drop down menu. Here you can click the fields you want to display.
8.. You should now see a list with the new fields and any comments you have done.
9.. Now if you want to sort these just right click a blank spot and then you sort the information to your liking.
Temporarily Assign Yourself Administrative Permissions
======================================================
Many programs require you to have Administrative permissions to be able to install them. Here is an easy way to temporarily assign yourself Administrative permissions while you remain logged in as a normal user.
Hold down the Shift key as you right-click on the program's setup file.
Click Run as.
Type in a username and password that have Administrative permissions.
This will also work on applications in the Start menu.
Create a Shortcut to Lock Your Computer
=======================================
Leaving your computer in a hurry but you don't want to log off? You can double-click a shortcut on your desktop to quickly lock the keyboard and display without using CTRL+ALT+DEL or a screensaver.
To create a shortcut on your desktop to lock your computer:
Right-click the desktop.
Point to New, and then click Shortcut.
The Create Shortcut Wizard opens. In the text box, type the following:
rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation
Click Next.
Enter a name for the shortcut. You can call it "Lock Workstation" or choose any name you like.
Click Finish.
You can also change the shortcut's icon (my personal favorite is the padlock icon in shell32.dll).
To change the icon:
Right click the shortcut and then select Properties.
Click the Shortcut tab, and then click the Change Icon button.
In the Look for icons in this file text box, type:
Shell32.dll.
Click OK.
Select one of the icons from the list and then click OK
You could also give it a shortcut keystroke such CTRL+ALT+L. This would save you only one keystroke from the normal command, but it could be more convenient.
Create a Shortcut to Start Remote Desktop
=========================================
Tip: You can add a shortcut to the desktop of your home computer to quickly start Remote Desktop and connect to your office computer.
To create a shortcut icon to start Remote Desktop
Click Start, point to More Programs, point to Accessories, point to Communications, and then click on Remote Desktop Connection.
Click Options.
Configure settings for the connection to your office computer.
Click Save As, and enter a name, such as Office Computer. Click Save.
Open the Remote Desktops folder.
Right-click on the file named Office Computer, and then click Create Shortcut.
Drag the shortcut onto the desktop of your home computer.
To start Remote Desktop and connect to your office computer, double-click on the shortcut
Instantly Activate a Screensaver
================================
Turn on a screensaver without having to wait by adding a shortcut to your desktop:
Click the Start button, and then click Search.
In the Search Companion window, click All file types.
In the file name box, type *.scr
In the Look in box, choose Local Hard Drives (C or the drive where you have system files stored on your computer.
Click Search.
You will see a list of screensavers in the results. Pick a screensaver you want. You can preview it by double-clicking it.
Right click on the file, choose Send To, and then click Desktop (create shortcut).
To activate the screensaver, double-click the icon on your desktop
Add a Map Drive Button to the Toolbar
=====================================
Do you want to quickly map a drive, but can't find the toolbar button? If you map drives often, use one of these options to add a Map Drive button to the folder toolbar.
Option One (Long Term Fix)
Click Start, click My Computer, right-click the toolbar, then unlock the toolbars, if necessary.
Right-click the toolbar again, and then click Customize.
Under Available toolbar buttons, locate Map Drive, and drag it into the position you want on the right under Current toolbar buttons.
Click Close, click OK, and then click OK again.
You now have drive mapping buttons on your toolbar, so you can map drives from any folder window. To unmap drives, follow the above procedure, selecting Disconnect under Available toolbar buttons. To quickly map a drive, try this option.
Option Two (Quick Fix)
Click Start, and right-click My Computer.
Click Map Network Drive.
If you place your My Computer icon directly on the desktop, you can make this move in only two clicks!
Software not installing?
========================
If you have a piece of software that refuses to install because it says that you are not running Windows 2000 (such as the Win2K drivers for a Mustek scanner!!) you can simply edit HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion/ProductName to say Microsoft Windows 2000 instead of XP and it will install. You may also have to edit the version number or build number, depending on how hard the program tries to verify that you are installing on the correct OS. I had to do this for my Mustek 600 CP scanner (compatibility mode didn''t help!!!) and it worked great, so I now have my scanner working with XP (and a tech at Mustek can now eat his words).
BTW, don''t forget to restore any changes you make after you get your software installed
You do this at your own risk.
Use your Windows Key
====================
The Windows logo key, located in the bottom row of most computer keyboards is a little-used treasure. Don''t ignore it. It is the shortcut anchor for the following commands:
Windows: Display the Start menu
Windows + D: Minimize or restore all windows
Windows + E: Display Windows Explorer
Windows + F: Display Search for files
Windows + Ctrl + F: Display Search for computer
Windows + F1: Display Help and Support Center
Windows + R: Display Run dialog box
Windows + break: Display System Properties dialog box
Windows + shift + M: Undo minimize all windows
Windows + L: Lock the workstation
Windows + U: Open Utility Manager
Windows + Q: Quick switching of users (Powertoys only)
Windows + Q: Hold Windows Key, then tap Q to scroll thru the different users on your pc
Change your cd key
==================
You don't need to re-install if you want to try the key out ... just do this:
1. Go to Activate Windows
2. Select the Telephone option
3. Click "Change Product Key"
4. Enter NOT ALLOWED ~ Zabref
5. Click "Update"
Now log off and log back in again. It should now show 60 days left, minus the number of days it had already counted down.
Note: If your crack de-activated REGWIZC.DLL and LICDLL.DLL, you are going to have to re-register them.
Remove the Shared Documents folders from My Computer
====================================================
One of the most annoying things about the new Windows XP user interface is that Microsoft saw fit to provide links to all of the Shared Documents folders on your system, right at the top of the My Computer window. I can't imagine why this would be the default, even in a shared PC environment at home, but what's even more annoying is that you cannot change this behavior through the sh*ll
: Those icons are stuck there and you have to live with it.
Until now, that is.
Simply fire up the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ My Computer \ NameSpace \ DelegateFolders
You'll see a sub-key named {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}. If you delete this, all of the Shared Documents folders (which are normally under the group called "Other Files Stored on This Computer" will be gone.
You do not need to reboot your system to see the change.
Before: A cluttered mess with icons no one will ever use (especially that orpaned one). After: Simplicity itself, and the way it should be by default.
This tip For older XP builds
===================
Edit or remove the "Comments" link in window title bars
During the Windows XP beta, Microsoft has added a "Comments?" hyperlink to the title bar of each window in the system so that beta testers can more easily send in a problem report about the user interface. But for most of us, this isn't an issue, and the Comments link is simply a visual distraction. And for many programs that alter the title bar, the Comments link renders the Minimize, Maximize, and Close window buttons unusable, so it's actually a problem.
Let's get rid of it. Or, if you're into this kind of thing, you can edit it too.
Open the Registry Editor and navigate to the following keys:
My Computer \ HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ LameButtonEnabled
My Computer \ HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ LameButtonText
The first key determines whether the link appears at all; change its value to 0 to turn it off. The second key lets you have a little fun with the hyperlink; you can change the text to anything you'd like, such as "Paul Thurrott" or whatever.
Editing either value requires a restart before the changes take effect.
Before: An unnecessary hyperlink. Have some fun with it! Or just remove it entirely. It's up to you.
Rip high-quality MP3s in Windows Media Player 8
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The relationship between Windows Media Player 8 and the MP3 audio format is widely misunderstood. Basically, WMP8 will be able to playback MP3 files, but encoding (or "ripping" CD audio into MP3 format will require an MP3 plug-in. So during the Windows XP beta, Microsoft is supplying a sample MP3 plug-in for testing purposes, but it's limited to 56 Kbps rips, which is pretty useless. However, if you have an externally installed MP3 codec, you can use WMP8 to rip at higher bit rates. But you'll have to edit the Registry to make this work.
Fire up the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ MediaPlayer \ Settings \ MP3Encoding
Here, you'll see sub-keys for LowRate and LowRateSample, which of course equates to the single 56 Kbps sample rate you see in WMP8. To get better sampling rates, try adding the following keys (Using New then DWORD value):
"LowRate" = DWORD value of 0000dac0
"MediumRate" = DWORD value of 0000fa00
"MediumHighRate" = DWORD value of 0001f400
"HighRate" = DWORD value of 0002ee00
Now, when you launch WMP8 and go into Tools, then Options, then Copy Music, you will have four encoding choices for MP3: 56 Kbps, 64 Kbps, 128 Kbps, and 192 Kbps. Note that you will not get higher bit rate encoding unless you have installed an MP3 codec separately; the version in Windows Media Player 8 is limited to 56 Kbps only.
Find the appropriate location in the Registry... ...add a few DWORD values... ...And then you'll be ripping CDs in higher-quality MP3 format!
Speed up the Start Menu
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The default speed of the Start Menu is pretty slow, but you can fix that by editing a Registry Key. Fire up the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ MenuShowDelay
By default, the value is 400. Change this to a smaller value, such as 0, to speed it up.
Speed up the Start Menu (Part two)
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If your confounded by the slow speed of the Start Menu, even after using the tip above, then you might try the following: Navigate to Display Properties then Appearance then Advanced and turn off the option titled Show menu shadow . You will get much better overall performance.
Speed up Internet Explorer 6 Favorites
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For some reason, the Favorites menu in IE 6 seems to slow down dramatically sometimes--I've noticed this happens when you install Tweak UI 1.33, for example, and when you use the preview tip to speed up the Start menu. But here's a fix for the problem that does work, though it's unclear why:
Just open a command line window (Start button -> Run -> cmd) and type sfc, then hit ENTER. This command line runs the System File Checker, which performs a number of services, all of which are completely unrelated to IE 6. But there you go: It works.
Do an unattended installation
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The Windows XP Setup routine is much nicer than that in Windows 2000 or Windows Me, but it's still an hour-long process that forces you to sit in front of your computer for an hour, answering dialog boxes and typing in product keys. But Windows XP picks up one of the more useful features from Windows 2000, the ability to do an unattended installation, so you can simply prepare a script that will answer all those dialogs for you and let you spend some quality time with your family.
I've written about Windows 2000 unattended installations and the process is pretty much identical on Windows XP, so please read that article carefully before proceeding. And you need to be aware that this feature is designed for a standalone Windows XP system: If you want to dual-boot Windows XP with another OS, you're going to have to go through the interactive Setup just like everyone else: An unattended install will wipe out your hard drive and install only Windows XP, usually.
To perform an unattended installation, you just need to work with the Setup Manager, which is located on the Windows XP CD-ROM in D:\SupportTools\DEPLOY.CAB by default: Extract the contents of this file and you'll find a number of useful tools and help files; the one we're interested in is named setupmgr.exe. This is a very simple wizard application that will walk you through the process of creating an answer file called winnt.sif that can be used to guide Windows XP Setup through the unattended installation.
One final tip: There's one thing that Setup Manager doesn't add: Your product key. However, you can add this to the unattend.txt file manually. Simply open the file in Notepad and add the following line under the [UserData] section:
ProductID=RK7J8-2PGYQ-P47VV-V6PMB-F6XPQ
(This is a 60 day cd key)
Then, just copy winnt.sif to a floppy, put your Windows XP CD-ROM in the CD drive, and reboot: When the CD auto-boots, it will look for the unattend.txt file in A: automatically, and use it to answer the Setup questions if it's there.
Finally, please remember that this will wipe out your system! Back up first, and spend some time with the help files in DEPLOY.CAB before proceeding.
For Older builds or not using setupreg.hiv file
===============================================
Remove the Desktop version text
During the Windows XP beta, you will see text in the lower right corner of the screen that says Windows XP Professional, Evaluation Copy. Build 2462 or similar. A lot of people would like to remove this text for some reason, and while it's possible to do so, the cure is more damaging than the problem, in my opinion. So the following step will remove this text, but you'll lose a lot of the nice graphical effects that come in Windows XP, such as the see-through icon text.
To remove the desktop version text, open Display Properties (right-click the desktop, then choose Properties) and navigate to the Desktop page. Click Customize Desktop and then choose the Web page in the resulting dialog. On this page, check the option titled Lock desktop items. Click OK to close the dialog, and then OK to close Display Properties. The text disappears. But now the rest of your system is really ugly. You can reverse the process by unchecking Lock desktop items.
There's also a shortcut for this process: Just right-click the desktop and choose Arrange by then Lock Web Icons on the Desktop.
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Enable ClearType on the Welcome Screen!
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As laptop users and other LCD owners are quickly realizing, Microsoft's ClearType technology in Windows XP really makes a big difference for readability. But the this feature is enabled on a per-user basis in Windows XP, so you can't see the effect on the Welcome screen; it only appears after you logon.
But you can fix that. Fire up the Registry Editor and look for the following keys:
(default user) HKEY_USERS \ .Default \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ FontSmoothing (String Value)
HKEY_USERS \ .Default \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ FontSmoothingType (Hexadecimal DWORD Value)
Make sure both of these values are set to 2 and you'll have ClearType enabled on the Welcome screen and on each new user by default.
Stop Windows Messenger from Auto-Starting
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If you're not a big fan of Windows Messenger simply delete the following Registry Key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\MSMSGS
Display Hibernate Option on the Shut Down dialog
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For some reason, Hibernate may not be available from the default Shut Down dialog. But you can enable it simply enough, by holding down the SHIFT key while the dialog is visible. Now you see it, now you don't!
Add album art to any music folder
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One of the coolest new features in Windows XP is its album thumbnail generator, which automatically places the appropriate album cover art on the folder to which you are copying music (generally in WMA format). But what about those people that have already copied their CDs to the hard drive using MP3 format? You can download album cover art from sites such as cdnow.com or amguide.com, and then use the new Windows XP folder customize feature to display the proper image for each folder. But this takes time--you have to manually edit the folder properties for every single folder--and you will lose customizations if you have to reinstall the OS. There's an excellent fix, however.
When you download the album cover art from the Web, just save the images as folder.jpg each time and place them in the appropriate folder. Then, Windows XP will automatically use that image as the thumbnail for that folder and, best of all, will use that image in Windows Media Player for Windows XP (MPXP) if you choose to display album cover art instead of a visualization. And the folder customization is automatic, so it survives an OS reinstallation as well. Your music folders never looked so good!
Album cover art makes music folder thumbnails look better than ever!
Change the location of the My Music or My Pictures folders
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In Windows 2000, Microsoft added the ability to right-click the My Documents folder and choose a new location for that folder in the sh*ll
. With Windows XP, Microsoft has elevated the My Music and My Pictures folders to the same "special sh*ll
folder" status of My Documents, but they never added a similar (and simple) method for changing those folder's locations. However, it is actually pretty easy to change the location of these folders, using the following method.
Open a My Computer window and navigate to the location where you'd like My Music (or My Pictures) to reside. Then, open the My Documents folder in a different window. Drag the My Music (or My Pictures) folder to the other window, and Windows XP will update all of the references to that folder to the new location, including the Start menu.
Or use Tweak UI
Add/Remove optional features of Windows XP
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To dramatically expand the list of applications you can remove from Windows XP after installation, navigate to C:\WINDOWS\inf (substituting the correct drive letter for your version of Windows) and open the sysoc.inf file. Under Windows XP Professional Edition RC1, this file will resemble the following by default:
[Version] Signature = "$Windows NT$"
DriverVer=06/26/2001,5.1.2505.0
[Components]
NtComponents=ntoc.dll,NtOcSetupProc,,4
WBEM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wbemoc.inf,hide,7
Display=desk.cpl,DisplayOcSetupProc,,7
Fax=fxsocm.dll,FaxOcmSetupProc,fxsocm.inf,,7
NetOC=netoc.dll,NetOcSetupProc,netoc.inf,,7
iis=iis.dll,OcEntry,iis.inf,,7
com=comsetup.dll,OcEntry,comnt5.inf,hide,7
dtc=msdtcstp.dll,OcEntry,dtcnt5.inf,hide,7
IndexSrv_System = setupqry.dll,IndexSrv,setupqry.inf,,7
TerminalServer=TsOc.dll, HydraOc, TsOc.inf,hide,2
msmq=msmqocm.dll,MsmqOcm,msmqocm.inf,,6
ims=imsinsnt.dll,OcEntry,ims.inf,,7
fp_extensions=fp40ext.dll,FrontPage4Extensions,fp40ext.inf,,7
AutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,au.inf,hide,7
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
msnexplr=ocmsn.dll,OcEntry,msnmsn.inf,,7
smarttgs=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,msnsl.inf,,7
RootAutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,rootau.inf,,7
Games=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,games.inf,,7
AccessUtil=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,accessor.inf,,7
CommApps=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,communic.inf,HIDE,7
MultiM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,multimed.inf,HIDE,7
AccessOpt=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,optional.inf,HIDE,7
Pinball=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,pinball.inf,HIDE,7
MSWordPad=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wordpad.inf,HIDE,7
ZoneGames=zoneoc.dll,ZoneSetupProc,igames.inf,,7
[Global]
WindowTitle=%WindowTitle%
WindowTitle.StandAlone="*"
The entries that include the text hide or HIDE will not show up in Add/Remove Windows Components by default. To fix this, do a global search and replace for ,hide and change each instance of this to , (a comma). Then, save the file, relaunch Add/Remove Windows Components, and tweak the installed applications to your heart's content.
Cool, eh? There are even more new options now under "Accessories and Utilities" too.
Remove Windows Messenger
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It seems that a lot of people are interested in removing Windows Messenger for some reason, though I strongly recommend against this: In Windows XP, Windows Messenger will be the hub of your connection to the .NET world, and now that this feature is part of Windows, I think we're going to see a lot of .NET Passport-enabled Web sites appearing as well. But if you can't stand the little app, there are a couple of ways to get rid of it, and ensure that it doesn't pop up every time you boot into XP. The best way simply utilizes the previous tip:
If you'd like Windows Messenger to show up in the list of programs you can add and remove from Windows, navigate to C:\WINDOWS\inf (substituting the correct drive letter for your version of Windows) and open sysoc.inf (see the previous tip for more information about this file). You'll see a line that reads:
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
Change this to the following and Windows Messenger will appear in Add or Remove Programs, then Add/Remove Windows Components, then , and you can remove it for good:
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,7
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