To prevent creation of the administrative shares on Microsoft Windows NT/2000/XP do the following.

Create/Modify values for AutoShareServer and AutoShareWks:

1. In the registry, locate the following key:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters
2. On the Edit menu, click Add Value.
3. Type AutoShareServer, click REG_DWORD, and then click OK.
4. Type 0, and then click OK.
5. On the Edit menu, click Add Value.
6. Type AutoShareWks, click REG_DWORD, and then click OK.
7. Type 0, and then click OK.Note: Sometimes the values are already present, especially after use of a policy that affects these entries. In addition, on Windows 2000 you are not required to add the AutoShareWks value.
8. Quit the registry, and then restart the computer.

To re-enable those default shares change the value of AutoShareServer and AutoShareWks to 1.
This process can easily be done through a policy. The path for the system policy is System Policy Editor\Windows NT Network\Sharing\Create Hidden Drive Shares.

For more information refer to th following Microsoft KB articles :

1. Q245117 – Administrative Shares Do Not Appear on Server
2. Q288164 – How to Prevent the Creation of Administrative Shares on Windows NT Server 4.0

Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP : PowerToys add fun and functionality to the Windows experience. What are they? PowerToys are additional programs that developers work on after a product has been released.

Current PowerToy options:

Color Control Panel Applet
Professional-level photographers and designers know that getting consistent, accurate color from file to screen to print and beyond is a requirement for great results. This new tool helps you manage Windows color settings in one place.
SyncToy
With new sources of files coming from every direction (such as digital cameras, e-mail, cell phones, portable media players, camcorders, PDAs, and laptops), SyncToy can help you copy, move, and synchronize different directories.
RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer
Are you a serious photographer? Now you can organize and work with digital RAW files in Windows Explorer (much as you can with JPEG images). This tool provides thumbnails, previews, printing, and metadata display for RAW images.
ClearType Tuner
» Read more: Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP

Windows Live Writer is a desktop application that makes it easier to compose compelling blog posts using Windows Live Spaces or your current blog service. It includes a WSYIWYG blog editor as well as tools for publishing photos, maps. An included SDK allows developers to extend the capabilities of Writer to publish additional content types. Windows Live Writer is a great client for Windows Live Spaces but also works with other weblogs including Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress (and many others).

Blogging has turned the web into a two-way communications medium. Our goal in creating Writer is to help make blogging more powerful, intuitive, and fun for everyone.

Writer has lots of features which we hope make for a better blogging experience such as WYSIWYG authoring and seamless photo and map publishing. You can also extend the types of rich content that can be inserted into your blog post by creating plug-ins using the Writer SDK.

Download : Windows Live Writer Beta

Overview
Microsoft Photo Info allows photographers to add, change and delete common “metadata” properties for digital photographs from inside Windows Explorer.

When installed, a new “Photo Info” item appears on the context menu for files selected in Windows Explorer. To use, simply select one or more image files, right-click and choose “Photo Info” to open the Photo Info properties editor. You can edit metadata for files individually, or all together as a batch. Photo Info reads and writes metadata in IPTC and XMP formats (depending on file type). It also provides enhanced “hover tips” and additional sort properties for digital photographs in Windows Explorer.

Microsoft Photo Info runs on 32-bit versions of Windows XP (with Service Pack 2 or later) and the Windows Vista operating systems.

System Requirements

* Supported Operating Systems: Windows Vista; Windows XP

Microsoft Photo Info requires 32-bit versions of Windows Vista or Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or later and the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 runtime installed.

Download : Microsoft Photo Info 1.0

Grandpa and Grandma always got very excited when they recalled the old days they were together. They made a decision, one day to make it “yesterday once more“.

They made a date on the riverbank they used to go when they were young. The next day, Grandpa got up 6 a.m. in the morning, dashed to the bank, picked up a big bunch of wild flowers before sunrise, waited there for his sweetheart to come.

But grandpa ended in disappointment grandma never showed up even after sunset.

Grandpa went home in such anger. He opened the door, seeing grandma lying on the sofa with her pillow. He threw the flowers on the floor and questioned: “Why didn’t you come to our date?”

Grandma hid her head in the pillow and replied shyly: “Mom didn’t allow me to go…”

I asked my wife, “Where do you want to go for our anniversary?”

She said,”Somewhere I have never been!”

I told her, “How about the kitchen?”

1 – Live to relax!

2 – Love your bed, it is your temple!

3 – Relax in the day, so that you can sleep at night!

4 – Work is holy, so don’t attack it!

5 – Don’t do something tomorrow, that you can do the day afterwards!

6 – Work as little as possible. Let the others do what needs to be done!

7 – Don’t worry, nobody died from doing nothing, but you could get hurt at work!

8 – If you feel like doing work, sit down and wait until that feeling goes away!

9 – Don’t forget: working is healthy! So leave it for the sick people!

1. Rule 1. – The Boss is always right.

2. Rule 2. – If the Boss is wrong, see rule 1.

3. Those who work get more work. Others get pay, perks, and promotions.

4. Ph.D. stands for “Pull Him Down”. The more intelligent a person, the more hardworking a person, the more committed a person; the more number of persons are engaged in pulling that person down.

5. If you are good, you will get all the work. If you are really good, you will get out of it.

6. When the Bosses talk about improving productivity, they are never talking about themselves.

7. It doesn’t matter what you do, it only matters what you say you’ve done and what you are going to do.

8. A pat on the back is only a few centimeters from a kick in the butt.

9. Don’t be irreplaceable. If you can’t be replaced, you can’t be promoted.

10. The more crap you put up with, the more crap you are going to get.

11. If at first you don’t succeed, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it.

12. When you don’t know what to do, walk fast and look worried.

13. Following the rules will not get the job done.

14. If it weren’t for the last minute, nothing would get done.

15. Everything can be filed under “Miscellaneous”.

16. No matter how much you do, you never do enough.

17. You can do any amount of work provided it isn’t the work you are supposed to be doing.

18. In order to get a promotion, you need not necessarily know your job.

19. In order to get a promotion, you only need to pretend that you know your job.

20. The last person that quit or was fired will be held responsible for everything that goes wrong

Can you guess which of the following are true and which are false?

• Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.
• Alfred Hitchcock didn’t have a belly button. (I don’t see how this could be true.)
• A pack-a-day smoker will lose approximately 2 teeth every 10 years.
• People do not get sick from cold weather; it’s from being indoors a lot more.
• When you sneeze, all bodily functions stop, even your heart!
• Only 7 per cent of the population are lefties.
• Forty people are sent to the hospital for dog bites every minute.
• Babies are born without kneecaps. They don’t appear until they are 2-6 years old.
• The average person over 50 will have spent 5 years waiting in lines.
• The toothbrush was invented in 1498.
• The average housefly lives for one month.
• 40,000 Americans are injured by toilets each year.
• A coat hanger is 44 inches long when straightened.
• The average computer user blinks 7 times a minute.
• Your feet are bigger in the afternoon than any other time of day.
• Most of us have eaten a spider in our sleep.
• The REAL reason ostriches stick their head in the sand is to search for water.
• The only two animals that can see behind themselves without turning their heads are the rabbit and the parrot.
• John Travolta turned down the starring roles in “An Officer and a Gentleman” and “Tootsie.”
• Michael Jackson owns the rights to the South Carolina State anthem.
• In most television commercials advertising milk, a mixture of white paint and a little thinner is used in place of the milk.
• Prince Charles and Prince William NEVER travel on the same airplane, just in case there is a crash.
• The first Harley Davidson motorcycle built in 1903 used a tomato can for a carburetor.
• Most hospitals make money by selling the umbilical cords cut from women who give birth. They are used in vein transplant surgery.
• Humphrey Bogart was related to Princess Diana. They were 7th cousins.
• If coloring weren’t added to Coca-Cola, it would be green.
• If someone sends you a email saying you can make lots of money for nothing, then don’t expect to see any.

See answers below:

They are all true….Now go back and think about #16

The Stratosphere Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada. While many tourists consider its location to be inconvenient, others feel the location is an advantage since it is equidistant between the more popular strip casinos and the downtown area. It is most notable for its tower, which at 1,149 ft (350 m) is not only the tallest structure in Las Vegas, but also the second-tallest free-standing structure in the United States west of the Mississippi River, after the Kennecott Smokestack near Tooele, Utah.

The top of the tower has an observation deck, revolving restaurant and the following rides:

• The Big Shot at 1,081 feet (329 m) is the highest thrill ride in the world;
• Insanity the Ride, opened in 2005, at 900 feet (274 m) is the second highest thrill ride in the world, it dangles riders over the edge of the tower and then spins in a circular pattern at approximately forty miles per hour. Since its public opening, the ride has stopped twice with passengers onboard (upwards of an hour each time), due to high winds that trigger a “safety mechanism” which shuts down the machine immediately without bringing the passengers back to the loading dock. The hotel is currently being sued by the first set of passengers who were trapped on the ride dangling over the edge.
• XSCREAM at 866 feet (264 m) is the third highest thrill ride in the world. This ride also “drops” people over the edge, and has also stopped while people were on it, though it is not clear what triggered this ride’s failure.
• The High Roller at 909 feet (277 m) was the second highest ride in the world and the highest roller coaster. It was closed on December 30, 2005 and dismantled to make space for a new attraction.

Here are a few pics :