How to make Email notification bell

Wish your computer had all the bells and whistles?  You can get at least half-way there with this project, a USB-powered and -controlled bell that can be used for email notification or a manner of other things that require a satisfying "ding".

This project essentially consists of a microcontroller affixed inside the base of a counter bell, that pulls on the bell's clapper with an electromagnet, and communicates with the computer over USB.  WAIT! COME BACK! Don't run away, I haven't told you how easy this project is yet!

This project is reasonably easy,

Here's a video of the bell in action, I am sending myself some emails, and as they appear in Thunderbird, the bell goes ding.

Some skills required:
1. soldering - you'll need to solder just six electrical components together
2. electronics knowledge
3. knowledge of programming is entirely optional if you use the same microcontroller as I do since I've made all the code and firmware online so you can quickly download it and load onto the microcontroller over USB

Materials required (details to follow):
1. A counter bell of some sort with a steel clapper
2. A short bolt (to make a solenoid/electromagnet)
3. Some thin (less than 26 AWG) enamelled wire (about 2m)
3. A transistor
4. A resistor
5. A large capacitor (because USB probably won't supply enough power in one go to fire the electromagnet
6. A diode (flyback diode, as safety to avoid things blowing up)
7. A Forebrain (LPC1343 microcontroller) dev board (or you can use an alternative microcontroller/dev board if you want to have a go at coding it yourself)
8. Some prototyping board and wires

You will also need a soldering iron, some type of tape or adhesive to attach things to other things, and possibly some kind of cutting tool to cut a slot out of the base of the bell for the USB plug.  And of course a computer (sorry, I only supply source and binaries for WIndows, the bell appears on a computer as a generic USB HID device, for which all modern operating systems have drivers built in for, so it would be relatively easy to code it for Linux or Mac).

Note: the bell does not check your email for you; you will need some sort of program on your computer to check your email and then activate the bell when you receive new mail.  For Windows, the Thunderbird mail client works perfectly for this, or alternatively a utility called POP Peeper (more on this later).

Here is another video where I am triggering the bell manually from the computer. The bell plunger occasionally gets stuck, but I've since fixed that with some WD40.

WARNING: This project involves powering a home-made solenoid via the USB port, which may risk damage to your computer if your solenoid draws too much current.  I highly recommend using a cheap powered USB hub.  I accept no responsibility for any injury to you or damage to your equipment or property should you choose to attempt this.  Please proceed AT YOUR OWN RISK. 

Step 1Parts: The Bell

You'll need to get your hands on a bell of sorts.  Most importantly, it needs to have a clapper that you can easily activate with an electromagnet.  The one I purchased from eBay turned out to be absolutely perfect.

Pushing down on the top arm of the clapper would send the bottom half kicking out and striking the stainless steel bell.  I figured I could place an electromagnet underneath top arm of the clapper and attract that downwards to ding the bell.

If your bell is different from this, you'll need to figure out a way to mount your electromagnet, and if the clapper isn't steel or iron, you may be able to get around it by affixing a magnet to the clapper and attracting/repelling that instead.

Step 2Parts: Electromagnet

You will need something to use as an electromagnet.  I've found that winding your own solenoid coil using a short bolt and a length of copper wire is perfect for this.

Make sure that your electromagnet will fit in the space between the clapper and the base!

I used a spare steel bolt I found somewhere (thought it transpired that the bolt was not spare and was in fact the missing bolt from my chair), and wrapped about a meter and a half to two meters of enamelled copper wire onto it, using double-sided tape between the layers to ensure that they didn't slip off while I was winding the copper.

Without some archaic electromagnetism equations and careful measurement, it is difficult to predict how many turns of copper is required to make an adequate and safe solenoid/electromagnet.  For this reason, I highly recommend testing the solenoid before using it, and finding the current draw if possible.

Just to reiterate in case you missed it at the first step: WARNING: This project involves powering a home-made solenoid via the USB port, which may risk damage to your computer if your solenoid draws too much current. I highly recommend using a cheap powered USB hub. I accept no responsibility for any injury to you or damage to your equipment or property should you choose to attempt this. Please proceed AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Step 3Parts: Electronics

You need four electrical components.  I will be describing these very briefly, but ultimately I will have to leave it to you to make your own educated decisions on which components to use (or use exactly the same ones that I did).

A transistor
Choosing the right transistor for a project is a whole book in itself.  Fortunately, for this project, most transistors with a pulse current rating of at least a few amps, and an hFE above 40 should probably work.  I'm using a BDX53B Darlington transistor which I had lying around from other projects, it's not ideal, but it does the job.  A TIP29 transistor would probably also work.

If you are using a MOSFET, you should add a pull-down transistor of about 1k after the gate resistor, otherwise the pull-up current of Forebrain in programming mode may be enough to fire the MOSFET.

If you don't know your transistors, I would suggest learning about how to choose the right transistor or asking someone about whether a certain transistor is suitable for this application or not before continuing, as the wrong choice might not work, damage something, or in the worst case blow up in your face.

A capacitor
A largeish aluminium electrolytic capacitor is required to supply some of the peak pulse currents required when the solenoid activates.  The voltage rating must be above 5V, and I would recommend at least 470uF.  I am using a 10V 2200uF capacitor

A diode
A diode is necessary to avoid flyback voltage spikes when the solenoid is switching.  I'm using a 1N4004 general purpose diode

A resistor
Is needed to allow the microcontroller to drive the transistor.  The value you should use depends on the the transistor you are using, if you don't know which resistor to use, I would suggest that 150ohms would probably work for most BJT devices, or 10ohms for a MOSFET.  I am using a 150ohm resistor

Step 4Parts: Microcontroller

This bit is easy, I'm using a Forebrain dev board, which contains a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller.

For those of you who don't know what microcontrollers are, they are little chips that can be programmed to carry out a whole number of things - from keeping time inside a digital watch, to running a microwave, to running your car.  Forebrain is a development board carrying a microcontroller, it is designed so that you can easily use these useful little chips in your project without having to spend too much time soldering to impossibly small pins on the chip.

When you get a new Forebrain unit (the can be purchased from http://www.universalair.co.uk/ , they will be blank, and will not do anything useful.  Software needs to be written and compiled (on a PC), and then downloaded onto the Forebrain unit before they start doing anything.  The software that runs on microcontrollers is typically called "firmware", and the act of loading firmware onto a microcontroller is sometimes called "flashing", and has nothing to do with indecent exposure.

Because I've already written the software to make Forebrain act as a USB-controlled bell, you can simply download my compiled firmware (I'll tell you how later), and load it directly onto Forebrain over USB without ever having to look at a line of code. The whole process should take minutes, does not require any new software, and does not require you to learn any new skills or see a line of code.

Step 5Build: Install the stripboard

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Ok, time to start building.

I cut down some stripboard in a rough circle, to fit into the space in the base of the bell.  All the components will be soldered onto this circle of stripboard, and Forebrain will sit underneath it.

To secure it in place, I actually pushed some thumb tacks through the rivet holes in the bell base and into the pin holes on the stripboard and then soldered them in place (sorry, no photos of this, you'll notice the thumb tacks in later pictures).  An alternative would be to use hot glue or epoxy resin.

Step 6Build: Install the electromagnet

Mount the electromagnet onto the stripboard somehow, and position it under the clapper so that there is enough room for the clapper to swing at the bell.  If your solenoid is too long, you might have to cut a hole in the stripboard, if it's too short, you will had to add some spacers in there.

To secure it, hot glue or epoxy resin would be a good choice, I cut up some plastic, and used that to anchor mine down (didn't have any glue)

At this point, you could try to test to see the if the solenoid will pull the clapper down, you may need to screw the plunger in first otherwise the clapper will be too far away.  Use a regulated power supply if you can (or one that won't be damaged if the solenoid draws too much current, three or four old alkaline AA batteries would work).

For the third time: WARNING: This project involves powering a home-made solenoid via the USB port, which may risk damage to your computer if your solenoid draws too much current. I highly recommend using a cheap powered USB hub. I accept no responsibility for any injury to you or damage to your equipment or property should you choose to attempt this. Please proceed AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Step 7Build: Install the other electronics

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The three pins on the lower right of the Forebrain board is where you can get the GND and 5V supply from, and the firmware is set up to use Port 2, Pin 11 to drive the transistor.  See the circuit diagram attached.

Careful of the polarity of the capacitor, and the pinout of the transistor!

Solder the other components in based on the circuit diagram.  Make sure the bell does not touch any of the components when it is replaced.  Bend the pins and install components horizontally if necessary

Step 8Build: Install Forebrain

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A small gap needs to be cut into the base for the USB cable to pass through.  I did this with a dremel, but feasibly you could use a file, or a small saw.

In my case I also ground down the front corners of Forebrain to fit the curvature of the base better.  This isn't for the faint of heart to cut into your dev boards like that, but I can tell you with reasonable certainty that as long as you don't go too far, you won't hit anything vital (worst case is that the USB LED stops working).

Then solder the remaining wires connecting Forebrain to the board as per the circuit diagram in the previous page, there should only be three: 5V and GND from the USB, and Port 2 Pin 11 to the resistor.

Step 9Build: Flashing the Firmware

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Now would be a good time to load the firmware onto Forebrain since you still have access to the buttons.

1. Gingerly connect the USB cable from Forebrain to the computer (Forebrain comes supplied with a retractable cable!).  Make sure the solenoid hasn't come on, if it does, you will want to immediately disconnect the USB and check your circuits.

2. Once the USB is connected, and the solenoid hasn't come on, and nothing has broken, you can make Forebrain enter programming mode by holding down the button marked PRG while pressing the button marked RST (with the USB port facing upwards, PRG is on the left, the RST is on the right).  You may need to do this twice for it to work.

3. If all goes well, the top-right LED on Forebrain should light up, and Forebrain will appear on your computer as a flash drive called "CRP DISABLED".   Opening up this drive will reveal a single solitary "firmware.bin" file, delete this from the drive (you have to delete this otherwise the computer will complain about there not being enough space).

4. Download the firmware file that I wrote from: https://github.com/downloads/meseta/Ding-for-Forebrain/firmware.bin or alternatively if you want to play around with the code itself, you can find all the sources at https://github.com/meseta/Ding-for-Forebrain , Instructions on how to use Forebrain can be found at: http://www.universalair.co.uk/guides

5. Now drag this downloaded "firmware.bin" file into Forebrain's drive (the one called "CRP DISABLED"), if it complains about there not being any space, make sure the "firmware.bin" file already in the drive is deleted first.

6. Once the file has copied, you can now unplug Forebrain, or hit reset (RST button).  The next time you plug Forebrain into the computer (or press RST), Windows will recognise it as a "USB Input Device".  Windows may attempt to search online for the drivers, before eventually realising that it actually already has them pre-installed.  Forebrain is using a generic USB HID profile, so no special drivers are required.

Step 10Build: Finish the hardware

Once the hardware is loaded, you can install Forebrain more permanently (hot glue is a good choice).  I have duct-taped mine since I plan on installing some LEDs as well (I will add steps to this instructable if I do).

You won't need access to the buttons again since I've thoughtfully added an extra command in the ding.exe to tell Forebrain to go back to programming mode.

Once you have plugged Forebrain in and it's recognised as a generic USB device, you can get the app that'll make the bell go ding from here: https://github.com/downloads/meseta/Ding-for-Forebrain/ding1.zip

Unzip this somewhere, you will get a ding.exe, and a dll file. Running the ding.exe program will send a signal to Forebrain to ding the bell. If something like this happens, then congratulations!

Step 11Configure (Optional)

If you hear some movement when you run ding.exe, but no ding, then you can try increasing the pulse time that drives the solenoid.  To do this, ding.exe can be used to tune the signal time.  Fire up a command line, navigate to where you are keeping ding.exe, and launch ding.exe with some parameters:

ding.exe 254 50

Will set forebrain to drive the solenoid with a 50ms pulse.  Likewise, ding.exe 254 10 will use a 10ms pulse, and ding.exe 254 99 will use a 99ms pulse.  The maximum pulse duration that can be set is 100ms to avoid drawing too much current from the USB port.  Once you set the pulse duration, it is stored on Forebrain's EEPROM, so it will be remembered until you change it.

You can also tell Forebrain to re-enter programming mode by running ding.exe 255 , on receiving this command, Forebrain will disconnect itself from USB, wait a few seconds, and then reconnect in programming mode.  After you load the firmware, you will want to hit RST, or if you can't reach that, simply unplug and replug the USB cable.

Step 12Configure: Email notifications with Thunderbird

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Now that you have a USB controlled bell, you'll want to configure it to be used for something!  Any program that'll let you run the ding.exe program as a method of notification will work.

For Thunderbird users, here are some instructions:
1. Download the FiltaQuilla extension, this will give you access to new filter options, including launching an application

2. Go to Tools>Message Filters

3. Create a new filter to match "Status is New" (and maybe also "Not Junk" would be helpful)

4. Set the perform actions to "Run file" (made available by the FiltaQuilla extension), and set the file to the ding.exe application.

5. Also remove the "@SUBJECT@,@MESSAGEID@" part that gets appended to the end of the ding.exe location

6. Repeat for other mail accounts if necessary

7. Sit back, and start sending yourself emails

Step 13Configure: Email notifications with POP Peeper

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For those who don't use Thunderbird as a mail client, another option is to have a small utility like POP Peeper sit in your task tray checking your emails and launching ding.exe when it gets any new ones.  POP Peeper supports IMAP.

POP Peeper has the ability to launch an "E-mail Client" when you get new mail.  We will tell POP Peeper that ding.exe is an "E-mail Client" to make it do our bidding.
1. Download and install POP Peeper from http://download.cnet.com/POP-Peeper/3000-2369_4-10069858.html or http://www.poppeeper.com/ (don't forget to check the "SSL" option during install if you intend to connect to any mail servers via SSL or TLS)

2. Set up the mail accounts that you want to check (or import them).

3. If you're using IMAP, you can have it accept real-time (i.e. Push) email notifications by checking the "Use IDLE" in the account details, otherwise you can change the mail check period in the options.

4. In Options>General, set ding.exe as the email client

5. In Options>Noitification, set "When I receive new Email:" to "Run E-Mail Client"

6. Minimise, sit back and start sending yourself emails.

Step 14Links

Some links in previous steps all in one place:

Notification bell Firmware for Forebrain: https://github.com/downloads/meseta/Ding-for-Forebrain/firmware.bin

Bell trigger app for Windows: https://github.com/downloads/meseta/Ding-for-Forebrain/ding1.zip

Source code: https://github.com/meseta/Ding-for-Forebrain

Where to buy Forebrain: http://www.universalair.co.uk

How to use Forebrain: http://www.universalair.co.uk/guides

Thunderbird mail client: http://www.mozilla.org/thunderbird/

Filtaquilla plugin for Thunderbird: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/thunderbird/addon/filtaquilla/

POP Peeper utility: http://www.poppeeper.com/

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How to make USB PCB Business Card

This is a business card that will type out some text when you plug it into a USB port.

It uses a ATtiny85 microcontroller with V-USB based code to emulate a keyboard. The typing is triggered by the CAPS LOCK status LEDs being toggled 3 times.

This instructable will focus on using CadSoft EAGLE to create your own USB PCB business card. I want you to be creative in the design, so some minor steps I've taken may have been omitted.

Code download is provided on step 8.

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Code download is provided on step 8.

Step 1Circuit

The circuit is based on V-USB's recommended circuitry. It's powered by the 5V from the USB port. There's two 68 ohm resistors, one on each of the USB data lines, these act as terminating resistors which suppress reflected signals. There is a 1.8 kilo ohm resistor on the D+ line, which allows the computer to detect when something connects to the USB port, and it identifies the device as a low speed device. Two Zener diodes with Vz of 3.6V are on the data lines to clamp the voltage on those lines. There is a 0.1 uF capacitor between the 5V and GND as a decoupling capacitor.

Since the business card should be a compact and thin design, 0604 surface mount packaging is selected for most of the components. The diodes are Mini MELF packaging (they look cool in my opinion).

The microcontroller is an ATtiny85, which is a 8 pin AVR microcontroller. The SOIC package version is chosen to keep the design compact and thin.



To program the microcontroller, in-circuit serial programming is used, which requires the signals: reset, SCK, MOSI, MISO, along with power and ground. The SCK and MOSI are exposed by the USB connector, while two pads are provided for the MISO and reset signals. This allows for a programming adapter to be made.

Step 2USB Connector

For the business card, the USB connector is actually the PCB itself. This saves on cost, looks great, and it keeps the card thin.

This connector will be a USB male "A" connector, which plugs into a USB female "A" port (the kind found on computers). First, measurements are taken from the USB port. I create an Eagle component with the dimensions (you need to create a library file first), and also place the pads. It is important to use pads because Eagle will remove the soldermask from pad areas by default. We need the pads to be exposed (not covered by soldermask) in order to make a connection with the USB port.





The created connector component is placed onto the PCB layout. The dimension layer must be a continuous line that follows the outline of the business card and the connector. The dimension layer is what the manufacture will follow when milling your PCB outline.

Step 3Layout

Layout the component as shown, or you can be creative, as long as your layout matches the circuit. For low speed USB, you don't have to worry too much about how the traces are layed out. For high speed designs, you should try to keep the differential D+ and D- signals together and away from noise, but our design is low speed.

Make it look nice! Personally, I like seeing symmetry, parallel or perpendicular angles, and even spacing, but that's my personal preference. You might like curves, abstractness, and chaos. This is all personal preference.

Step 4Artwork

For my design, I placed my name and some instructions using the text tool in Eagle CAD.


The tStop and bStop layers in Eagle control the soldermask. Soldermask will not be present on the areas covered by tStop or bStop. The "t" and "b" mean "top" and "bottom. This fact can be used to your advantage.



Remember that areas with copper and soldermask will look light green, areas with no copper but with soldermask will look dark green, areas with no copper and with no soldermask will look sort of yellowish. Also remember that more light will go through if the bottom layer is uncovered.


Area with no soldermask but with copper will become tinned. This will be silver if you get your board tinned with regular tin or lead solder. If you want to spend more money, you can ask the PCB manufacture for gold plating instead.

On my own card, you can see that I've placed my own name in both the top copper layer and the tStop layer, thus creating the silver text effect by placing text under an area without any soldermask.



You can also ask the manufacture for other colours aside from green. Here is my friend's University of Waterloo PCB Ruler, created with black solder mask and gold plating (black and gold are my school's colours):


Here are some other possible PCB colour combinations:


Silk screen is the layer usually used for text, it goes over the soldermask. It is usually specified using the "tSilk" and "bSilk" layers in Eagle. It is important to remember that silk screen cannot exist without being on top of soldermask. You can usually ask the manufacture for a specific silk screen colour, the default is usually white silk screen with green soldermask.

Another neat trick is to import bitmap images as components so you can have bitmaps on your PCB, you can do this for any of the layers. Create a component in a library file, and then run the user script called "import-bmp". Save the library and add the component to your PCB.

Step 5Manufacturing the PCB

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You can achieve a really nice "DIY" feel if you etch the PCB yourself, but I choose to go for a "professional" look by sending my PCB design to a PCB manufacture.

Seeed Studio offers a service that can get me 10 pieces for $28 plus shipping, and it takes 5 days to manufacture, plus shipping time. I think this is an extremely good deal.

I have a CAM job (see attached) that you need to load into the CAM processor inside Eagle, running this CAM job will generate a collection of PCB Gerber files that you need to send to Seeed Studio (or another company) in order to get your PCB manufactured. Zip up the file, and email them to the company (after you pay).



Please be aware of the file that your bitmap layer goes into! If you select the bitmap layer in the copper gerber file, then the bitmap will become a part of the PCB's copper. If you select the bitmap layer in the silkscreen gerber file, then the bitmap will become a part of the PCB's silkscreen.

Please use a Gerber file previewing tool before sending it off to manufacturing. I personally useGerbv http://gerbv.sourceforge.net/

For kicks, I also made some non-USB business cards/keychains, see picture above (I forgot why I blurred the picture). The smaller size made these dirt cheap.

frank_pcb_cam_job.cam11 KB

Step 6Fixing the Connector

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It's a good idea to add some solder to the pads of the connector. This makes it more resistant to wear and tear.

Ideally you want 2.4mm thick PCB material, but apparently this costs extra, so the default 1.6mm was used. The USB connector needs to be thicker than 1.6mm so green electrical tape was applied to the back of the connector to add some thickness to it. See above diagram for my technique for applying the tape.

Step 7Circuit Assembly

Solder all of the electrical components. 0604 sized components are very easy to solder if you have a pair of tweezers.



Put some solder on one pad, keep heating that pad and move the component into that pad, make sure it's aligned correctly, then remove the heat and let the first joint cool. Then you are able to solder the 2nd joint very easily.

Remember, flux can make the difference between a fun project and quitting the electronics hobby. I suggest you get a flux pen.

Step 8Programming the AVR

You need to download the code provided here.

Open up the file "main.c" and find the place where the string is stored, look for the function "puts_P". You need to edit this string before compiling (or else it will print my text instead of yours). You'll notice that the string is stored in flash memory, and if you compile a longer string, the size of the flash compilation increases. Please be advised that you cannot exceed the memory capacity of the ATtiny85, which is 8KB of flash memory.

After editing the string, compile the code. The ".avrproj" file is a file format that can be opened by AVR Project IDE (a IDE I made for myself), which makes compiling the project very easy.

A hex file is generated and you can write the hex file into the AVR. You need an AVR programmer of some kind, and connected to the business card as shown in the schematic below. Remember to connect those hidden connections!

Also please note that the programmer must be set to use a low speed due to the 68 ohm resistors on the D+ and D- signals. This means the AVRDUDE option "-i <delay>" must be included, so the command looks something like: "avrdude -c programmer_name -p attny85 -i 100 -U flash:w:file_name.hex"

How do you connect the programmer? First take a look at the schematic:


I made a not-so-neat looking programming adapter using a USB port, a AVR ISP connector, and some wire:


Here it is, connected to my USBtinyISP:


This is what the card looks like while being programmed:

usbpcbbusinesscard-20101016.zip132 KB

Step 9Explaination of the Code

The code uses V-USB to create a USB keyboard. V-USB is a software package that allows you to make USB devices out of AVR microcontrollers.

Instead of explaining using text, I have a video tutorial about how to build a USB keyboard:

http://frank.circleofcurrent.com/index.php?page=usnoobie_rfid_keyboard

Please note that this two part video is over 15 minutes in total. I've put an incredible amount of effort into the video. Please watch it in 720p full screen so you can read all the text.

I also have another Instructable that will explain more USB and V-USB stuff to you: http://www.instructables.com/id/USB-Wii-Classic-Controller/

The differences between the RFID USB Keyboard and this USB PCB Business Card is that the ATtiny85 is used instead, and the text comes from internal flash memory instead of a serial port. One important aspect to note is the fact that the ATtiny85 uses an internal PLL to generate the clock speed that V-USB requires.

Also read my other USB instructable involving creating more USB devices, where I explain the USB bus, descriptors, and other aspects in more detail.

Step 10Using the Card

Plug into an USB port, making sure that the pads on the card will connect with the contacts inside the USB connector.

Your operating system may start install a driver automatically, if this happens, wait for it to finish installing.

Open a text editor such as "Notepad".

Press CAPS-LOCK on your keyboard a few times.

Watch the magic happen as the card types out text into the text editor.

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What if it doesn't work

Did you try taking it out and plugging it back in?

Did you plug it in right-side-up? Follow this diagram:

If CAPS-lock doesn't trigger it, then try NUM-lock and scroll-lock (this seems to be a problem with Linux).

If it causes your computer to act weird after unplugging the card, just hit both of your shift keys a few times. This should only be a problem if you unplug the card before it finishes typing, because it may have "held down" the shift key.

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Recover Corrupt System Files

Got your Windows whacked by a virus ? Especially antivirus like Norton and Avira are especially brutal towards the viruses and even nuke out the system files of windows.Bang comes the error dialog regarding a missing windows file or a dll.And as a last resort,common users tend to format their windows installation . However,If an essential Windows file gets deleted by a virus or otherwise corrupted,you can restore it from the Windows CD.

Here is how to do it -

• Search the Windows CD for the filename, replacing the last character with an underscore for example: Notepad.ex_ .
• If it's found, open a command prompt and enter the command EXPAND, followed by the full pathname of the file and of the desired destination
• for example: EXPAND D:\SETUP\NOTEPAD.EX_ C:\Windows\NOTEPAD.EXE
• If either pathname contains any spaces, surround it with double quotes.
• If the file isn't found, search on the unmodified filename. It will probably be inside a CAB file, which Win XP treats as a folder.
• Simply right-drag and copy the file to the desired location. In other Windows platforms, search for a file matching *.cab that contains the filename.
• When the search is done, open a command prompt and enter EXTRACT /L followed by the desired location, the full pathname of the CAB file, and the desired filename
• for example: EXTRACT /L C:\Windows D:\I386\Driver.cab Notepad.exe
• Again, if the destination or CAB file pathname contains spaces, surround it with double quotes.
• Replace the file or exe with the one found in Windows CD. And restart to see the changes. 

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How to Copy From Copy Paste disabled Websites

This is a small trick for those who are pissed with pages which say -

“YOU CANT RIGHT CLICK HERE !!!”

“SORRY..COPY PASTING IS DISABLED !!!”

“RIGHT CLICK IS DISABLED !!!”

Here is the code to disable COPY PASTING in your website -


<!-- Disable Copy and Paste--> 
<script language='JavaScript1.2'> 
function disableselect(e){ 
return false 
} 
function reEnable(){ 
return true 
} 
document.onselectstart=new Function (&quot;return false&quot;) 
if (window.sidebar){ 
document.onmousedown=disableselect 
document.onclick=reEnable 
} 
</script>


As you can see,its a javascript code.What if we disable the javascript functionality in our browser and then surf the net ? and then view that website you wanna see/copy ?
Yup,just disable the javascript in your browser and you can happily right click/copy paste/just bpass every javascript restriction on that page.


DISABLE JAVASCRIPT IN MOZILLA


go to Tools –> options –> Open Content Tab –> Uncheck ENABLE JAVASCRIPT –> Click on OK


DISABLE JAVASCRIPT IN INTERNET EXPLORER

• Open Internet Explorer.
• On the Tools menu, click Internet Options.
• On the Security tab, click Internet.
• Click Custom Level.
• Scroll down to Active scripting.
• Click Disable (on Prompt).
• Click OK.
• Click Yes.
• Click OK.

Hide Your Files In A JPEG


Well, did you know you could hide your files in a JPEG file? For this, you will only need to download WinRAR. You just need to have a little knowledge about Command Prompt and have WinRAR installed.


Ok, lets begin…
Gather all the files that you wish to hide in a folder anywhere in your PC (make it in C:\hidden - RECOMMENDED).
Now, add those files in a RAR archive (e.g. secret.rar). This file should also be in the same directory (C:\hidden).
Now, look for a simple JPEG picture file (e.g. logo.jpg). Copy/Paste that file also in C:\hidden.
Now, open Command Prompt (Go to Run and type ‘cmd‘). Make your working directory C:\hidden.
Now type: “COPY /b logo.jpg + secret.rar output.jpg” (without quotes) - Now, logo.jpg is the picture you want to show, secret.rar is the file to be hidden, and output.jpg is the file which contains both. :D
Now, after you have done this, you will see a file output.jpg in C:\hidden. Open it (double-click) and it will show the picture you wanted to show. Now try opening the same file with WinRAR, it will show the hidden archive...
This hack will allow you to hide files in jpegs's without software installed.

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How To Delete An - Undeletable" File

Delete An - Undeletable" File

Ever had such an annoying message given by Windows?
“ Cannot delete Folder: It is being used by another person or program.
Close any programs that might be using the file and try again.”
It has many other flavors: Cannot delete file: Access is denied There has been a sharing violation. The source or destination file may be in use. The file is in use by another program or user. Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use.

Method 1

• Open a Command Prompt window and leave it open.
• Close all open programs.
• Click Start, Run and enter TASKMGR.EXE
• Go to the Processes tab and End Process on Explorer.exe.
• Leave Task Manager open.
• Go back to the command prompt window and change to the directory the AVI (or other undeletable file) is located in.
• At the command prompt type DEL <filename> where <filename> is the file you wish to delete.
• Go back to Task Manager, click File, New Task and enter EXPLORER.EXE to restart the GUI shell.
• Close Task Manager.

Method 2

You can try this

• Open Notepad.exe
• Click File>Save As..>
• locate the folder where ur undeletable file is
• Choose 'All files' from the file type box
• click once on the file u wanna delete so its name appears in the 'filename' box
• put a " at the start and end of the filename (the filename should have the extension of the undeletable file so it will overwrite it)
• click save,
• It should ask u to overwrite the existing file, choose yes and u can delete it as normal

Method 3
Here's a manual way of doing it.

1. Start
2. Run
3. Type: command
4. To move into a directory type: cd c:\*** (The stars stand for your folder)
5. If you cannot access the folder because it has spaces for example Program Files or Kazaa Lite folder you have to do the following. instead of typing in the full folder name only take the first 6 letters then put a ~ and then 1 without spaces. Example: cd c:\progra~1\kazaal~1
6. Once your in the folder the non-deletable file it in type in dir - a list will come up with everything inside.
7. Now to delete the file type in del ***.bmp, txt, jpg, avi, etc... And if the file name has spaces you would use the special 1st 6 letters followed by a ~ and a 1 rule. Example: if your file name was bad file.bmp you would type once in the specific folder thorugh command, del badfil~1.bmp and your file should be gone. Make sure to type in the correct extension.

Method 4


Download Unlocker from Here .
Install it .Now go to folder where the “Undeletable” file is located.

1. Simply right click the folder or file and select Unlocker
2. If the folder or file is locked, a window listing of lockers will appear
3. Simply click Unlock All and you are done! Enjoy !!!

For More Helps Click Here

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Create your own customized Windows XP CD

Create Windows XP CD using NLITE

Here is the easiest way to create your own customized Windows XP CD.
You will need

• Nlite
• Latest Service pack (Service Pack 3 as of now).
• Windows Hot-fixes and updates
• Add-ons
• Your (original) Windows XP CD
• Blank CD
• Free Time :P

Here is How to do that
First of all download the above mentioned softwares,collect your drivers and get as much as hot-fixes and add-ons which you want to integrate in your Windows XP CD.
Run Nlite and insert your XP CD. Choose your language and click Next.

Choose your drive and make a new folder on your hard disk. Choose that folder and Nlite will copy all your XP cd there.

Choose your options about integrations and add-ons and user configuration and click next.

Select your service pack and click next. Nlite will integrate service pack into your XP.

Choose the hotfixes to be applied on your windows.

Choose the components you want to remove – like MSN messenger and outlook express 6 (I don't think any body uses them).

Now  finally configure the windows and the miscellaneous options like the background and boot screen and various configurable options.

Now finally apply the speed hacks using the preconfigured options and then hit next.

The process of integration will start and after it ends,You will be provided with the configuration screen where you can enter your CD key,User account settings and network settings and then it will create an ISO file for you which you can burn on any CD with Nero or Alcohol 120% or any CD/DVD burner.
Congrats.. you have created your ultimate Windows XP CD without any hassles.

Create a Zip Bomb - Zip of Death

A zip bomb, also known as a Zip of Death, is a malicious archive file designed to crash or render useless the program or system reading it. It is often used by virus writers to disable antivirus software, so that a more traditional virus sent afterwards could get into system undetected. A zip bomb is usually a small file (up to a few hundred kilobytes) for ease of transport and to avoid suspicion. However, when the file is unpacked its contents are more than the system can handle.You can make your own zip bomb to annoy your friends or just out of curiosity (or wilderness) to experiment with it. Make sure you don't detonate it on yourself.

Here is how to make your own Zip of Death -
Create a new text file,name it a.txt

Open and type the null character (alt + 255) in it.
Now press Ctrl + A then Ctrl + V a couple times to make some null bytes.If u have a hex editor,then make the hex 00 for about 50 kilobytes.
Now make several copies of a.txt in the same directory and name them accordingly.

Open Command prompt and navigate to the folder containing a.txt . Type -
copy /b *.txt b.txt

This will write all the contents of a.text and its copies into a new text file called b.txt,hence making every copy is a super copy. Repeat the above steps from the beginning again and again to make a really big text file.
Once u have a nice empty big text file like 1gb or more,then compress it using Winrar or Winzip into a zip file.
You will find that it will be compressed to very small size (about 1MB ). It is because of the simple construction of the file as the text file contains 1gb of null bytes.

For added fun,open the compressed zip file file into a hex editor. You will see a bunch of hex 5555.Just add some more and the file will expand amazingly.

Make sure that YOU DONT OPEN THIS afterwards.
You can make the same file in Linux by typing -
dd if=/dev/zero bs=1000 count=1000000 | gzip > test.gz
Send it to your friends (or foes) and it will definitely annoy them . Use some creativity and rename the text file into some thing like Angelina Jolie.jpg and compress it and email to your friends. Once they download it,they will never be able to download again (sarcasm..sarcasm).More disastrous combinations can be made by experimenting with it.I mean..you get the idea :)
Also,you can check out the one of the most famous zip bombs alive today – 42.zip (only 42 KB) which will uncompress to about 4 Petabytes (1 Peta byte = 1024 TB and 1 TB = 1024 GB ) of file size. Dangerous huh..?

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