* Astronomy

Start Killer removes the Start button from your taskbar. When you run Start Killer it remove the Start button from taskbar and give you additional space on taskbar, when you close Start Killer the Start button is again shows.

Read more

Shut down Windows in an instant
Some programs just don't know how to say goodbye. To speed up force-closing them at shutdown, open the Registry Editor (in Vista, press the Windows key, type regedit, and press Enter; in XP, click Start > Run, type regedit, and press Enter), and navigate in the left pane to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/desktop (or Desktop). Double-click WaitToKillAppTimeout in the right pane, and change the value data (measured in milliseconds) to 1000-if you're in a real hurry--or something larger, if you want to give your recalcitrant apps a little more time to call it quits. Click OK when you're done.

Read more

A New Zealand-based security consultant has released a tool with which a Windows computer can be unlocked in seconds, without having to enter the password.
Adam Boileau, a consultant with Immunity Inc., first unveiled the hack at a security conference in Sydney in 2006, where he revealed that it could affect Windows XP computers.
The tool, however, has yet not been tested on Windows Vista.

Read more

Microsoft Corp. will change how users activate Windows XP when Service Pack 3 launches in the first half of 2008, a company white paper said.
New installations of Windows XP SP3 will give users the same 30-day grace period currently offered to Windows Vista customers before they're required to enter a product activation key, the 25-character code that proves the copy is legitimate.

"As in Windows Server 2003 SP2 and Windows Vista, users can now complete operating system installation without providing a product key during a full, integrated installation of Windows XP SP3. The operating system will prompt the user for a product key later as part of Genuine Advantage."

Read more