Notepad Starts-When You Start Your Computer

SYMPTOMS

When you start the computer, Notepad starts and one or more text documents that contain the following lines appears on the Windows desktop:

[.ShellClassInfo]
LocalizedResourceName=@%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,-21787

Method 1: Delete the Desktop.ini File

1. Open Run ( Short Key Window Key + R)
2. Type shell:startup
   
3. Locate the file named desktop.ini -Delete it and close the window.
4. Again open Run (Short Key Window Key + R)
5. Type shell:common startup
   
6. Locate the same named file desktop.ini - Delete it and close the window.
   
7. Restart the computer.

Method 1: Delete the Desktop.ini File

1. Start Windows Explorer.
2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, and then click the View tab.
3. In the Advanced settings box, click to clear the Hide extensions for known file types check box and the Hide protected operating system files check box (if they are not already cleared), and then click OK.
4. Delete any occurrences of the Desktop.ini file that contains the lines described earlier in the "Symptoms" section of this article. To do so:
   1. Locate each of the following folders, right-click the Desktop.ini file (if the file exists in that folder), and then click Open:
      • drive:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
      • drive:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs
      • drive:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu
      where drive is the drive on which Windows is installed.
   2. Verify that the file contains the following lines:

      [.ShellClassInfo]
      LocalizedResourceName=@%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,-21787

      If the file contains these lines, right-click the file, click Delete, and then click Yes when you are prompted to confirm the deletion.
5. Restart your computer and verify that the issue is resolved.

Method 2: Use the System Configuration Utility (Msconfig.exe) to Disable the Startup Item

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type msconfig, and then click OK.
3. Click the Startup tab.
4. Click to clear the check box beside any desktop entries in the Startup Item column that are listed as Common Startup in the Location column, and are also located in any of the following locations (as indicated in the Command column):
   • drive:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
   • drive:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs
   • drive:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu
5. Click OK to quit the System Configuration Utility.
6. Restart your computer and verify that the issue is resolved.

How to Join PC to Your Active Directory Domain

We have shown you how to install Active Directory on your network, but it’s pointless to have a Domain Controller unless you add your machines to the Domain, so today we’re going to cover how to do that.
Note: this is part of our ongoing series teaching IT administration basics, and might not apply to everybody.
Adding a Computer to an Active Directory Domain is not hard by any means, but there are 3 things you should always remember:

• Rename the machine to a user friendly, recognizable name before adding it to the Domain.
• Make sure your DNS settings are pointing to the correct DNS Server for the domain.
• You have to have access to a Domain account that is part of the Domain Admins security group.

Joining a Machine To a Domain

Open Computer and click on the System Properties button.

Now click on the Advanced system settings link on the left hand side.

When the advanced system settings open, switch to the computer name tab.

Click on the change button, from here you can change your Computers Name to a more friendly name.


Now switch the radio button, in the bottom section, from Workgroup to Domain. This will make the text box become available.

Now type in the name of your domain, ours is howtogeek.local, but yours will be whatever you made it when you set up Active Directory.

When you hit enter, or click ok, you will be asked for the user name and password of a Domain Admin user account.

If you specify the correct credentials you will be welcomed to the Domain.

 

Information Grabbed from www.howtogeek.com (Thank you)

Create Bootable USB - Install Windows 7 and Later

Step 1. Search for Command Prompt. Now run Command Prompt, by right-clicking on it and choosing Run as administrator. If it’s required, insert the password of your Administrator account. This tutorial will make a bootable USB Flash Drive. Copy the whole disc of your operating system installation. Now you have a portable and bootable USB drive.
Note: Using this method, you can install only the following Windows OS: Vista, 7, 8 or 8.1.

Step 2. Run the Disk Management service. Do it, by writing down diskpart and hit Enter.

Step 3. List the available disks by running the command listdisk and hit Enter. Now you will be able to see a list of your connected drives on your PC. Your USB Flash drive should be also here. Notice the number of it.

Step 4. Select your USB from the list. Type in select disk [and the number of it without “[" "]” ]. Hit Enter.

Step 5. Clean the USB Flash Drive. Type in the word clean and hit Enter. It will delete all files.

Step 6. Create a primary partition on your USB Flash Drive. Run the command create partition primary. You will be welcomed by the message Diskpart succeed in creating the specified partition.

 
Step 7. Choose the partition. Type in select partition 1 and hit Enter. After this to complete the process, type in active, so you can use it.

 Step 8. Format the USB Flash Drive. Run the command format fs=fat32 and hit Enter.
Note: For small drives it will take only few minutes. For 64Gb USB Thumb Drives it may take hours. So, be patient. If you can’t wait, you may use the command format fs=fat32 quick, but we don’t recommend it.

Step 9. Allocate a letter to your bootable drive.  Run the command assign and hit Enter.
To exit from Diskpart simply run exit command.

Step 10. Final step. Choose one of the Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 OS and copy the installation files on your USB.
Well done! Now you can enjoy the installation of your manual bootable USB Flash Drive!

Convert FAT32 to NTFS Without Formatting or Losing Data

You have a flash drive or probably an external hard drive that currently has FAT32 file system and you want to change it to NTFS, because FAT32 does not support handling large files (over 4GB) or it is just simply old for your taste but there is just one problem, you don't want to lose your saved data. This article is for you then as it explains exactly how you can achieve seamless transition from FAT to NTFS without involving any data loss.

While it is generally recommended to use the NTFS file system because of its stability, security and lesser defragmentation time, most of us end up using FAT32 because that is what most disks are preformatted with. Unless, we notice the “Not enough disk space error” despite disk space being available, we don't bother to change the file system. Moreover, most of us don't change it because of the risk of losing important data and lack of time (read laziness). As Microsoft was aware of this scenario, they added a capability in the command prompt to overcome this by executing a simple command. There are many software that support this too but the Convert command is one of the easiest ways to do so. Follow the steps below to know how:-

Important: While this method works perfectly, I would still advise you to backup your data in case anything goes wrong.

FAT 32 to NTFS Conversion Steps

1) Go to Computer, and note the name of the drive whose file system you wish to convert.
2) Click on Start.
3) Type cmd in the search bar if you use Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 or Windows Vista. If you use Windows XP, click on Run and then execute cmd.
4) Execute "chkdsk h: /f " (without quotes) where H is the letter of the drive to undergo conversion. This checks the drive for errors and fixes them automatically.
5) Execute "Convert H: /FS:NTFS" (without quotes). H is again the letter of the drive to be converted.
6) The command prompt will start the conversion process and after a few minutes, CMD will say that conversion was successful.
7) You can check it in the properties of the drive through right click<Properties.

This command can also be used to convert FAT16 disks and works on Windows 8, Windows 8.1,Windows 7, Windows XP and Windows Vista. I converted my flash drive's file system using these steps and it worked flawlessly. It is interesting to note that this method cannot be used to reconvert NTFS file system back to FAT32. To reconvert back to FAT32, you will need to format the entire drive which will definitely cause data loss.