tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18340146517094564062024-02-06T19:02:29.343-08:00Windows XPWindows xp tips and tricks
registry repair installation operating system
windows error generic host processTDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834014651709456406.post-31460553785325024102007-12-16T14:53:00.001-08:002007-12-16T14:58:49.470-08:00<span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://windows-xp-tricks.blogspot.com/"> Click here to enter</a></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />.<br /></span>TDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834014651709456406.post-49585098410737856442007-12-16T14:53:00.000-08:002007-12-16T14:54:25.051-08:00<span style="font-size:130%;">Blog is moved!<br /><a href="http://windows-xp-tricks.blogspot.com/">Click here to enter</a></span>TDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834014651709456406.post-11672613398581924742007-05-19T06:14:00.000-07:002007-05-19T06:18:34.472-07:00Minimize Background Applications and Services<p style="font-family: arial;" face="arial">Press CTRL-ALT-DEL while in Windows and bring up the Task Manager. Notice how many programs are running in the background. Each program steals memory and CPU cycles. Offenders include: Adobe Gamma Loader, Fast Find, msmsgs (Messenger), Office Startup, qttask (Quicktime), System Agent, Real Player, Norton. To stop programs from automatically starting, remove the file from the Programs - Startup folder, left click on the icons in the System tray and turn off automatic loading, or consult the help file of each program to turn it off. Run <a href="http://windowsxpsp2pro.blogspot.com/2007/05/like-versions-of-windows-9x-from-98-on.html">MSCONFIG</a> to get a list of programs that run on startup and remove unnecessary ones.</p><p style="font-family: arial;" face="arial"> Disable Alerter, File and Print, FTP Publishing, Indexing Service, World Wide Web Publisher, Messenger, Computer Browser, Routing and Remote Access, Smart Card, Smart Card Helper, Terminal services, Uninterruptible Power Supply if they are not being used. You can always turn them off and test your machine, before setting them to be disabled on startup. Run "services.msc" from the Run.. menu and Disable any services that are unncessary.</p>TDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834014651709456406.post-83089966740947920732007-05-18T08:52:00.000-07:002007-08-04T01:53:59.381-07:00SFC - description<span style="font-family: arial;">Windows XP has the ability to protect itself from system instability caused by 3rd party software overwriting important system files. This used to be (and still is in fact), a problem with Windows 95 and Windows 98. With the introduction of Windows Millennium Edition, Microsoft made a real effort to stop this from happening Windows File Protection By default, Windows File Protection is always enabled and allows Windows</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">digitally signed files to replace existing files safely. Currently, signed files are distributed</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">through:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"># Windows Service Packs </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"># Hotfix distributions </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"># Operating system upgrades </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"># Windows Update </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"># Windows Device Manager</span><br /> <br /><span style="font-family: arial;">If you introduce a file replacement in any other way, Windows File protection will overwrite your file! An important part of Windows File Protection is the command line utility: System File Checker (sfc.exe) You will often see references to scannow sfc in online newsgroups etc. This is a great tool for troubleshooting Windows XP problems.</span>TDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834014651709456406.post-50440003678343896452007-05-18T06:56:00.000-07:002007-08-04T01:54:57.191-07:00How to use SFC<span style="font-family: arial;">The main reason for using this utility is when you suspect there may be a problem with a Windows XP system file.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Perhaps you get a dialog box appear informing you of a problem with a .dll file, or your program will just not load! It is therefore worth checking to see if there are any corrupt system files using scannow sfc.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">To do this simply go to the Run box on the Start Menu and type in: sfc /scannow This command will immediately initiate the Windows File Protection service to scan all protected files and verify their integrity, replacing any files with which it finds a problem. The following should appear to give an indication of how long the process is taking.</span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDZY4DdNS_eflAJZQ7xV4haZmBNQn21RIcPBbILgS9sOdQqXQl4AjUrmJKXKiSiyXJovdIQWcYF2RwGMwyPR9Mo0jRJUR6Uq491rahYLBk6mTYuy60O_QQS6DShN2WiYgC2OY_IJlE7xY/s1600-h/sfc+1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDZY4DdNS_eflAJZQ7xV4haZmBNQn21RIcPBbILgS9sOdQqXQl4AjUrmJKXKiSiyXJovdIQWcYF2RwGMwyPR9Mo0jRJUR6Uq491rahYLBk6mTYuy60O_QQS6DShN2WiYgC2OY_IJlE7xY/s320/sfc+1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5092648932590888162" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: arial;"> In an ideal world that would be the end of the story...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Any corrupt, missing or incorrect files would be replaced by this process. However, things can go wrong and the following guide should help!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">The #1 complaint with scannow sfc is the following dialog box appearing:</span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbKkRixmxyWfA7Mf1AQ40lFVsH7NX19zcXQgyfwP_cfSGA8cclzUSalP1obCuPW5DaBCMhnASEbrCRNa3fFLPGtxyrYk1kvPUyXEFhNW0f5G7SPs3wn6irJUeUJJPuwc6_pevo32oJNdU/s1600-h/sfc+2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbKkRixmxyWfA7Mf1AQ40lFVsH7NX19zcXQgyfwP_cfSGA8cclzUSalP1obCuPW5DaBCMhnASEbrCRNa3fFLPGtxyrYk1kvPUyXEFhNW0f5G7SPs3wn6irJUeUJJPuwc6_pevo32oJNdU/s320/sfc+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5092649267598337266" border="0" /></a> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><b><span style=";font-family:";font-size:10;" ></span></b></p><span style="font-family: arial;">Why does this happen? </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Well, in your computer's registry, are several settings that are checked when you run scannow sfc. As mentioned earlier in this article, the Windows File Protection service constantly monitors for any changes to the main system files.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Well Windows XP keeps a cache (copy) of these essential files at the following location: C:WINDOWS\System32\Dllcache (assuming C: is your system root which it probably is.) NB - The dllcache folder is extremely important so Windows XP hides it from you!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">To view it go to:</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">My Computer > Tools > Folder Options > View > "uncheck" Hide protected operating system files. If that's the case on your computer then there is normally no need for the original XP CD to be inserted as your computer has a "copy" it can get hold of in this cache... </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">But, if the Dllcache folder, or part of it, has become corrupted for some reason then you will be prompted for the XP CD - so your computer can get a clean copy! Having said that not ALL installations of Windows XP have ALL the system files cached into this folder! You may only have around 50MB of files in this folder under Windows XP depending on the quota settings in the registry. (Under Windows 2003 Server the default is 300MB of system files!) </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Annoying, YES! </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Is there a workaround</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">YES! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">As well as having a cache of all the system files on your PC, I like to have the I386 folder from the XP CD installed on the computer as well. After doing this I then modify the registry to tell it the source path for these files... Why? Well not only does this prevent 99% of request for the the XP CD with Windows File Protection.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">But the I386 folder also contains many other files that are sometimes needed by the operating system and this stops those requests for the XP CD too! NB - With today's large hard drives you are not going to notice this 475 MB folder on your computer, but older systems may not have the space for this... </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">You will need to get your XP CD and locate the folder called: I386 This is a major folder and should be one of the first you see, now copy this onto your hard drive into the system root. For most of you that is going to be C:\ so you should end up with a folder that looks like: C:\I386 </span><br /><br /> <span style="font-family: arial;">Now you will need to tell your computer you now have the files on your PC.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">We do this is the registry (type regedit in the Run box on the start menu) by navigating to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">CurrentVersion\Setup You will see various entries here on the right hand side.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">The one we want is called: SourcePath It probably has an entry pointing to your CD-ROM drive, and that is why it is asking for the XP CD.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">All we need to do is change it to: C:\ Simply double click the SourcePatch setting and a new box will pop up allowing you to make the change. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Now restart your computer and try scannow sfc again!</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:10;" ></span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style=""></span><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p>TDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834014651709456406.post-53724496891689213892007-05-17T15:50:00.000-07:002007-05-17T15:52:23.054-07:00NTFS vs FAT<span style="font-family: arial;font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;" >To NTFS or not to NTFS—that is the question. But unlike the deeper questions of life, this one isn't really all that hard to answer. For most users running Windows XP, NTFS is the obvious choice. It's more powerful and offers security advantages not found in the other file systems. But let's go over the differences among the files systems so we're all clear about the choice. There are essentially three different file systems available in Windows XP: FAT16, short for File Allocation Table, FAT32, and NTFS, short for NT File System.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;" ><b>FAT16</b><br /> The FAT16 file system was introduced way back with MS–DOS in 1981, and it's showing its age. It was designed originally to handle files on a floppy drive, and has had minor modifications over the years so it can handle hard disks, and even file names longer than the original limitation of 8.3 characters, but it's still the lowest common denominator. The biggest advantage of FAT16 is that it is compatible across a wide variety of operating systems, including Windows 95/98/Me, OS/2, Linux, and some versions of UNIX. The biggest problem of FAT16 is that it has a fixed maximum number of clusters per partition, so as hard disks get bigger and bigger, the size of each cluster has to get larger. In a 2–GB partition, each cluster is 32 kilobytes, meaning that even the smallest file on the partition will take up 32 KB of space. FAT16 also doesn't support compression, encryption, or advanced security using access control lists.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;" ><b>FAT32</b><br /> The FAT32 file system, originally introduced in Windows 95 Service Pack 2, is really just an extension of the original FAT16 file system that provides for a much larger number of clusters per partition. As such, it greatly improves the overall disk utilization when compared to a FAT16 file system. However, FAT32 shares all of the other limitations of FAT16, and adds an important additional limitation—many operating systems that can recognize FAT16 will not work with FAT32—most notably Windows NT, but also Linux and UNIX as well. Now this isn't a problem if you're running FAT32 on a Windows XP computer and sharing your drive out to other computers on your network—they don't need to know (and generally don't really care) what your underlying file system is.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;" ><b>The Advantages of NTFS</b><br /> The NTFS file system, introduced with first version of Windows NT, is a completely different file system from FAT. It provides for greatly increased security, file–by–file compression, quotas, and even encryption. It is the default file system for new installations of Windows XP, and if you're doing an upgrade from a previous version of Windows, you'll be asked if you want to convert your existing file systems to NTFS. Don't worry. If you've already upgraded to Windows XP and didn't do the conversion then, it's not a problem. You can convert FAT16 or FAT32 volumes to NTFS at any point. Just remember that you can't easily go back to FAT or FAT32 (without reformatting the drive or partition), not that I think you'll want to.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;" >The NTFS file system is generally not compatible with other operating systems installed on the same computer, nor is it available when you've booted a computer from a floppy disk. For this reason, many system administrators, myself included, used to recommend that users format at least a small partition at the beginning of their main hard disk as FAT. This partition provided a place to store emergency recovery tools or special drivers needed for reinstallation, and was a mechanism for digging yourself out of the hole you'd just dug into. But with the enhanced recovery abilities built into Windows XP (more on that in a future column), I don't think it's necessary or desirable to create that initial FAT partition.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;" ><b>When to Use FAT or FAT32</b><br /> If you're running more than one operating system on a single computer, you will definitely need to format some of your volumes as FAT. Any programs or data that need to be accessed by more than one operating system on that computer should be stored on a FAT16 or possibly FAT32 volume. But keep in mind that you have no security for data on a FAT16 or FAT32 volume—any one with access to the computer can read, change, or even delete any file that is stored on a FAT16 or FAT32 partition. In many cases, this is even possible over a network. So do not store sensitive files on drives or partitions formatted with FAT file systems.</span>TDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834014651709456406.post-51814201013924510342007-05-17T05:10:00.000-07:002007-05-17T05:12:23.887-07:00How to Repair Installation?<span style="font-family: arial;font-family:Arial, Arial, Helvetica;font-size:100%;" ><p>Configure your computer to start from the CD-ROM drive. For more information about how to do this, please refer to your computer's documentation or contact your computer manufacturer. <span style="color:#000000;"><br /><br /></span> Insert your Windows XP compact disc (CD) into your CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive, and then restart your computer.<br />(You can also boot with a Windows 98/Me Startup disk with CD support and run WINNT.EXE in the I386 folder on the CD)<span style="color:#000000;"><br /><br /></span> When the "Press any key to boot from CD" message is displayed on your screen, press a key to start your computer from the Windows XP CD.<br /><span style="color:#000000;"><br /></span> When you see the following message displayed on the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER: </p></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> At this point an option to press R to enter the Recovery Console is displayed. Do not select this option. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> On the Windows XP Licensing Agreement screen, press F8 to agree to the license agreement. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> Make sure that your current installation of Windows XP is selected in the box, and then press the R key to repair Windows XP. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> Follow the instructions on the screen to complete Setup.</span></span>TDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834014651709456406.post-20089082131804423742007-05-16T17:44:00.000-07:002007-05-16T17:45:49.741-07:00To Turn on System Restore<p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Click start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">If System Restore was turned of on your computer, you will see the following dialog :</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><img src="http://www.windows-help-central.com/image-files/system_restore.jpg" alt="Turn on System Restore" height="133" width="248" /></span> </p> <span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If Windows shows you the System Restore wizard screen instead of the above image ...... </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">STOP ! You already have it enabled on your computer. Else ... </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">... click yes to enable it. Windows shows this screen : </span></span> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><img src="http://www.windows-help-central.com/image-files/system_restore2.jpg" alt="Turn on System Restore" height="486" width="419" /></span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Make sure to UN-check the check box that says "Turn of System Restore on all drives" and click ok.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">That's all ! The next time you launch System Restore, you will see the "Welcome to System Restore" wizard.</span> </p>TDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834014651709456406.post-23234486006489701702007-05-16T17:28:00.000-07:002007-05-16T17:31:33.397-07:00How to create a boot disk<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> This is quite simple.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> 1: Go into MY COMPUTER</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> 2: Have a floppy disk in your drive and then RIGHT click on on the floppy drive and then click on FORMAT</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> 3: You will be greeted with a number of options. The one you need to select is "Create an MS-DOS start up disk".</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> 4: Click ok</span></span><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:100%;" ><br /> <br /> <img src="http://www.freepctech.com/pc/xp/tip022.jpg" border="0" height="492" width="298" /><br /> <br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Note: This requires up to 5 floppy disks and DOES NOT contain ANY CD-ROM drivers to boot from. A proper CD-ROM boot up disk is going to be release by Microsoft after the Windows XP public release. You can however use you old Windows Me start-up disk if you would prefer, as long as you have not upgraded to an NTFS drive.</span></span>TDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834014651709456406.post-63425997493613923562007-05-16T17:22:00.000-07:002007-05-16T17:23:38.942-07:00The system has recovered from a serious error?<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Whenever Windows XP encounters a problem (that it thinks is serious even if you did not do anything unusual) it creates a dump file. Next time you reboot, you most likely see this error message. Clicking on </span><b style="font-family: arial;">more information</b><span style="font-family: arial;"> shows error signature and other clumsy details. Typically minidump would be stored in \WINDOWS\MINIDUMP directory. It is not so easy to decipher this information. Best thing to do is to go to </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://oca.microsoft.com/welcome.asp"></a><span style="font-family: arial;">Windows Online Crash Analysis site at http://oca.microsoft.com and submit report ( or check status if you have already submitted the report). You may need to signon with Microsoft .Net Passport and if you don't have you may need to create one by supply some basic information about yourself..</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> Following are some of actions that you can take to avoid this error from cropping up. </span><br /><b style="font-family: arial;"><br />Temporarily disabling error reporting:</b><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> Right-clock on my computer, select properties, advanced tab, error reporting button - turn on the "no error reporting" check box and turn off the "but notify me" option. </span><br /><b style="font-family: arial;"><br />Disable Virtual Memory:</b><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> Right-click on my computer, select properties, advanced tab, performance settings, advanced tab, virtual memory "change" button. Note down the current VM settings (system managed or any customized size. Turn on the "no paging file" bullet, and press the set tab. </span><br /><b style="font-family: arial;"><br />Delete the paging file:</b><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> Reboot. Verify that the option reads 0 kb for page file. Use folder options on control panel or explorer "tools" pulldown menu & go to "view" tab. Turn off check box to permit viewing of system files. Now explorer on the root of C drive (or what ever drive letter you page file was set to use), should show a pagefile.sys entry. Delete this. You will get a warning message about this being a system file. Since you have disabled virtual memory, this entry is not being used. Delete it. Go empty the trash bin to make sure this entry is cleared. </span><br /><b style="font-family: arial;"><br />Re-enable Virtual Memory:</b><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> Right-click on my computer, select properties, advanced tab, performance settings, advanced tab, virtual memory "change" button , turn on the system-managed or customized paging file with the same settings as you noted down earlier. Be sure to press the set button. Reboot and verify that the paging file is active. Re-enable error reporting that was disabled earlier. Reboot to verify that the repetitive error message has indeed "left the building" </span><br /></span>TDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834014651709456406.post-68726583917075998992007-05-16T16:16:00.000-07:002007-05-16T16:17:13.874-07:00Enabling and Disabling The Windows XP Firewall<p style="font-family: arial;">Windows XP contains its own firewall. A firewall is a security system that acts as a protective boundary between a network and the outside world. Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) is firewall software that is used to set restrictions on what information is communicated from your home or small office network to and from the Internet to your network. </p><p style="font-family: arial;">If your network uses Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) to provide Internet access to multiple computers, ICF should be enabled on the shared Internet connection. However, ICS and ICF can be enabled separately. You should enable ICF on the Internet connection of any computer that is connected directly to the Internet. To check to see if ICF is enabled or to enable the firewall, see Enable or disable Internet Connection Firewall. </p><p style="font-family: arial;">ICF also protects a single computer connected to the Internet. If you have a single computer connected to the Internet with a cable modem, a DSL modem, or a dial-up modem, ICF protects your Internet connection. You should not enable ICF on VPN connections because it will interfere with the operation of file sharing and other VPN functions. </p><h4 style="font-family: arial;">Enable the ICF by right clicking on your Internet or Network connection and then going to the ADVANCED option and ticking the ICF enable box</h4> <p style="font-family: arial;" align="center"><img src="http://www.tunexp.com/pics/tips/firewall.jpg" alt="Enabling and Disabling The Windows XP Firewall" border="0" height="450" width="367" /></p>TDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834014651709456406.post-9497317082003547432007-05-16T16:15:00.001-07:002007-05-16T16:15:54.673-07:00Disabling Unnecessary Services<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Services are programs that start up when your computer boots. They continue to run in the background while your PC is on, some services load automatically, some when a program is used. Some of these services are not needed by various users and can be safely disabled. But BE WARNED there are some of these services that MUST not be disabled. To get a good idea what can and can't be removed check out for a very detailed list. Remember, you can always turn the service back on if you find out that you need it in the future. Below is the procedure to turn off a service.</span></span> <ul><li style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Click the start button. </span></li><li style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Click on Control Panel. </span></li><li style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Click on Administrative Tools. </span></li><li style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Click Services. </span></li><li style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Once the services window has loaded you are now able to turn off any unneeded services. </span></li><li style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">For instructional purposes we are going to turn off the Printer Spooler (Which isn't needed if you don't have a printer installed) service. </span></li><li style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Find this service in the list and select it with the mouse. </span></li><li style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Right click and select Properties. </span></li><li style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Once the properties windows has loaded find the Start up type drop down box and select disable. </span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Then finally click ok and the next time the computer starts the service will no longer be loaded.</span></span> </li></ul>TDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834014651709456406.post-87143491264030508052007-05-16T16:13:00.000-07:002007-05-16T16:14:17.068-07:00Save Space on Your Hard Disk<p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Concerned about your hard disk space? Windows XP is designed to minimize the space on your hard disk taken up by audio recordings, and you can reduce the amount even more by choosing to save music at a slightly lower reproduction standard. It’ll still sound great but it won’t use up as much of your hard disk.</span></p> <h3 style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">To set the level of recording quality</span></h3> <ol style="font-family: arial;"><li><span style="font-size:100%;">On the <b>Tools</b> menu in Windows Media Player, click <b>Options</b>.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;">On the <b>Copy Music</b> tab, move the sliding control to where you'd like it—to the left to use the least amount of your hard disk, to the right for best audio reproduction.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.tunexp.com/pics/tips/CopyMusicquality.gif" alt="Copy music quality options" height="435" vspace="10" width="365" /></span> </li><li><span style="font-size:100%;">Click <b>Apply</b>.</span></li></ol> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">You can quickly glance at all the media files on your computer using the Windows Media Player.</span></p> <span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">To view all media files</span></span> <ol style="font-family: arial;"><li><span style="font-size:100%;">Click <b>Start</b>, and then click <b>Windows Media Player</b>.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;">Click <b>Media Library</b>.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;">Click <b>All Audio</b> in the <b>Media Library</b> directory.</span></li></ol> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">You’ll see a list of audio recorded on your computer on the right side of the player. Double-click any file to play it. To delete any file, right-click it and then click Delete from Library.</span></p>TDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834014651709456406.post-86947663558166290402007-05-16T16:10:00.000-07:002007-05-16T16:11:28.944-07:00Use Ctrl+Alt+Del Without Pushing All the Buttons<p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">For some people, pushing Ctrl, ALT and Delete (Ctrl+Alt+Del) at the same time can be an inconvenience, if not a complete impossibility. With Windows XP, there are two ways to get around this.<br /><br /><b></b> First option: Configure the system so that you do not need to press Ctrl+Alt+Del at all during logon (assuming you're not using the Welcome screen, in which case this key combo is not required).</span> </p> <ul style="font-family: arial;"><li><span style="font-size:100%;">Open Control Panel then User Accounts. </span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;">Navigate to the Advanced tab. </span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;">Uncheck the Require users to press Ctrl+Alt+Del checkbox under Secure Logon. </span></li></ul> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b></b> Second option: Configure XP's accessibility options so that "sticky keys" will be activated at the secure desktop: That way, you may "press" ALT, Ctrl, and DEL sequentially rather than simultaneously. You can turn that on via the Accessibility control panel. (Control Panel then Accessibility Options):</span> </p> <ul><li style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Bring up the Accessibility Control panel and navigate to the Keyboard tab. </span></li><li style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Check Use Sticky keys. </span></li><li style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Navigate to the General Tab. </span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Check Apply all settings to logon desktop.</span></span> </li></ul>TDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834014651709456406.post-37606353458176327092007-05-16T12:07:00.000-07:002007-05-16T12:09:59.518-07:00Registry Hacks<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Editing the Windows Registry, while much more common now than in years past, is still not to be entered into lightly. You can break Windows, cause boot failure, yada, yada. I know you're gonna do it anyway; why else would you be reading this. Just be careful, OK?</span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br /> <br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> These are few because, for the most part WinXP can be customized through the interlace or with third-party freeware (as above).</span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br /> <br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> All of the tips below require running regedit. To do so, hit 'Start/Run' then type 'regedit' and follow the instructions.</span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br /> <br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Naturally, I take no responsibility for any damage or loss of data incurred in the remote possibility that something goes terribly wrong.</span><br /></span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br /> <b></b></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">Outlook Explorer Splash</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">If it's important enough to you to edit the registry in order to get rid of the OE splash page, here's how. With regedit open, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{long number here will vary}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0. left-click on 5.0 then right-click on a blank space in the pane on the right side. Choose 'New' DWORD and name it NSplash with a value of 1.</span></span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br /> <br /> <b></b></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">Unload DLLs</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">To prevent Windows from caching DLLs after the program using them has closed, follow this procedure: Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ then left-click on Explorer. Right-click (as above) and create the DWORD AlwaysUnloadDLL with a value of 1. This requires a reboot to take effect. This will allow memory to be used more efficiently.</span></span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br /> <br /> <b></b></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">Hack IE Title Bar</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">This can be an impressive bit of personalization. Use your name or moniker to brand Internet Explorer. Go to</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ and left-click on Main to change the string "Window Title" to whatever you wish.</span></span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br /> <br /> </span><span style="font-family: arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Encode MP3s with WiMP</span><br /> Install an MP3 codec (compression/decompression, required for this operation). You can download it here. Once installed, navigate to the following string in regedit:<br /> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Settings\ then to MP3Encoding and set the following:<br /> "LowRate"=dword:0000dac0<br /> "MediumRate"=dword:0001f400<br /> "MediumHighRate"=dword:0003e800<br /> "HighRate"=dword:0004e200<br /> After reboot, you'll be in the MP3 business without third-party software.</span>TDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834014651709456406.post-82092091115728616372007-05-16T10:13:00.000-07:002007-05-16T14:11:48.752-07:00XP Secrets<p style="font-family: arial;"> <img src="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/Icons/Defrag.jpg" alt="Defrag" border="0" /> <b>Defrag</b><br /><br /><i>Secret</i> - <b>Hidden Command Line Switch</b><br /><i>Instructions</i> - Go to "Start", "Run" and Type <b>defrag c: -b</b> to defragment the Boot and Application Prefetch information. <br /><br /><i>Notes</i> - Windows XP will run this automatically every three days or so, during system idle periods. BootVis will evoke this when you run the "Optimize System" function. There is no need to manually run this unless you wish to immediately optimize a newly installed application's load time.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/Icons/Notepad.jpg" alt="Notepad" border="0" /> <b>Notepad</b><br /><br /><i>Secret</i> - <b>Create a Log File</b><br /><i>Instructions</i> - Launch Notepad, Type .LOG on the first line, and then press Enter to move to the next line. On the File menu, click Save As, type a descriptive name for your file in the File name box, and then click OK. When you next open the file, note that the date and time have been appended to the end of the log, immediately preceding the place where new text can be added. You can use this functionality to automatically add the current date and time to each log entry. <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/260563" target="_blank"></a><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/Icons/Paint.jpg" alt="Paint" border="0" /> <b>Paint</b><br /><br /><i>Secret</i> - <b>Image Trails</b><br /><i>Instructions</i> - Open an image and hold down <b>Shift</b> then drag the image around to create an image trail.<br /><br /><i>Secret</i> - <b>10x Zoom</b><br /><i>Instructions</i> - Open an image and select the magnifying glass icon. Left-Click exactly on the line below the 8x. </p> <a style="font-family: arial;" class="topOfPage" href="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/XPSecrets.html#top" title="Go to the top of this page"></a> <h1 style="font-family: arial;" id="Games">Game Secrets</h1> <p style="font-family: arial;"><script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "pub-4949297748371281"; google_alternate_ad_url = "http://ads.clicksor.com/showAlter.php?pid=7923&sid=11218&img=1&adtype=2&cbor=%23FFFFFF&cbg=%23FFFFFF&clink=%230066CC&ctxt=%23000000"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60; google_ad_format = "468x60_as"; google_ad_channel =""; google_color_border = "FFFFFF"; google_color_bg = "FFFFFF"; google_color_link = "0066CC"; google_color_url = "003399"; google_color_text = "000000"; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script><br /><br /><img src="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/Icons/FreeCell.jpg" alt="FreeCell" border="0" /> <b>FreeCell</b><br /><br /><i>Secret</i> - <b>Instant Win</b><br /><i>Instructions</i> - Hold down <b>Ctrl + Shift + F10</b> during game play. Then you will be asked if you want to Abort, Retry or Ignore. Choose Abort, then move any card to instantly win.<br /><br /><i>Secret</i> - <b>Hidden Game Modes</b><br /><i>Instructions</i> - In the "Game" menu choose "Select Game". Enter <b>-1</b> or <b>-2</b> to activate the hidden game modes.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/Icons/Hearts.jpg" alt="Hearts" border="0" /> <b>Hearts</b><br /><br /><i>Secret</i> - <b>Show All Cards</b><br /><i>Instructions</i> - Edit this registry key: <b>HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Hearts</b> and create a new String value named <b>ZB</b> with a Data value of <b>42</b>. Start Hearts and Press <b>Ctrl + Alt + Shift + F12</b> to show all the cards.<br /><br /><i>Background - This secret is a reference to Douglas Adams' book the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. 'ZB' is the initials of the character Zaphod Beeblebrox, the Galactic President. '42' is the answer to The Ultimate Question Of Life, the Universe and Everything.</i><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/Icons/Minesweeper.jpg" alt="Minesweeper" border="0" /> <b>Minesweeper</b><br /><br /><i>Secret</i> - <b>Reveal Mines</b><br /><i>Instructions</i> - Minimize or close all running applications. Launch Minesweeper, then type <b>xyzzy</b>. Next hold down either shift key for one second. Now when you move the mouse cursor over a Minesweeper square you will see a tiny white pixel in the top left corner of your desktop screen. This pixel will change to black when your mouse moves over a mine. You may need to change you desktop background to a solid color other then white or black to see the pixel.<br /><br /><i>Secret</i> - <b>Stop Timer</b><br /><i>Instructions</i> - Launch Minesweeper and start a game so the timer starts counting, then press the <b>Windows Key + D</b> to show the desktop. Now when you select minesweeper from the taskbar you can continue playing with the timer stopped.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/Icons/Pinball.jpg" alt="Pinball" border="0" /> <b>Pinball</b><br /><br /><i>Secret</i> - <b>Extra Balls</b><br /><i>Instructions</i> - Type <b>1max</b> at the start of a new ball to get extra balls.<br /><br /><i>Secret</i> - <b>Gravity Well</b><br /><i>Instructions</i> - Type <b>gmax</b> at the start of a new game to activate the Gravity Well.<br /><br /><i>Secret</i> - <b>Instant Promotion</b><br /><i>Instructions</i> - Type <b>rmax</b> at the start of a new game to go up in ranks.<br /><br /><i>Secret</i> - <b>Skill Shot</b><br /><i>Instructions</i> - Launch the ball partially up the chute past the third yellow light bar so it falls back down to get 75,000 points. There are six yellow light bars that are worth a varying amount of points:<br /><br />First: 15,000 points<br />Second: 30,000 points<br />Third: 75,000 points<br />Fourth: 30,000 points<br />Fifth: 15,000 points<br />Sixth: 7,500 points<br /><br /><i>Secret</i> - <b>Test Mode</b><br /><i>Instructions</i> - Type <b>hidden test</b> at the start of a new ball to activate Test Mode. No notification will be given that this is activated but you can now left-click the mouse button and drag the ball around. While in test mode press the following keys for more secrets:<br /><br /><b>H</b> - Get a 1,000,000,000 High Score<br /><b>M</b> - Shows the amount of system memory<br /><b>R</b> - Increases your rank in game<br /><b>Y</b> - Shows the Frames/sec rate<br /><br /><i>Secret</i> - <b>Unlimited Balls</b><br /><i>Instructions</i> - Type <b>bmax</b> at the start of a new ball. No notification will be given that this is activated but when a ball is lost a new ball will appear from the yellow wormhole indefinitely. Once this is activated you will be unable to activate other secrets without restarting the game.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/Icons/Solitaire.jpg" alt="Solitaire" border="0" /> <b>Solitaire</b><br /><br /><i>Secret</i> - <b>Instant Win</b><br /><i>Instructions</i> - Press <b>Alt + Shift + 2</b> during game play to instantly win.<br /><br /><i>Secret</i> - <b>Draw single cards in a Draw Three game</b><br /><i>Instructions</i> - Hold down <b>CTRL + ALT + SHIFT</b> while drawing a new card. Instead of drawing three cards you will only draw one. </p> <a style="font-family: arial;" class="topOfPage" href="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/XPSecrets.html#top" title="Go to the top of this page"></a> <h1 style="font-family: arial;" id="OS">OS Secrets</h1> <img style="font-family: arial;" src="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/Icons/Add_Remove.jpg" alt="Add/Remove" border="0" /><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span><b style="font-family: arial;">Add/Remove</b><br /><br /> <i style="font-family: arial;">Secret</i><span style="font-family:arial;"> - </span><b style="font-family: arial;">Hidden Uninstall Options</b><br /> <i style="font-family: arial;">Instructions</i><span style="font-family:arial;"> - </span><b style="font-family: arial;">Warning: Proceed at your own risk!</b><span style="font-family:arial;"> Browse to </span><b style="font-family: arial;">C:\Windows\inf\</b><span style="font-family:arial;"> and make a backup copy of </span><b style="font-family: arial;">sysoc.inf</b><span style="font-family:arial;">. Then open the original file </span><b style="font-family: arial;">C:\Windows\inf\sysoc.inf</b><span style="font-family:arial;"> in notepad. Go to "Edit" and select "Replace". In "Find what:" type </span><b style="font-family: arial;">,hide</b><span style="font-family:arial;"> and in "Replace with:" type </span><b style="font-family: arial;">,</b><span style="font-family:arial;"> then select "Replace All", save and close the file. Go to the "Control Panel", "Add/Remove", select "Add/Remove Windows Components". You will now see many more Windows components to uninstall. Do not remove anything with no label or that you do not recognize or fully understand what it does. Doing so can break certain functionality in Windows.</span><br /><br /><br /> <img style="font-family: arial;" src="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/Icons/Control_Panel.jpg" alt="Control Panel" border="0" /><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span><b style="font-family: arial;">Control Panel</b><br /><br /> <i style="font-family: arial;">Secret</i><span style="font-family:arial;"> - </span><b style="font-family: arial;">Hidden Control Panel Extensions</b><br /> <i style="font-family: arial;">Instructions</i><span style="font-family:arial;"> - Download and install </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://download.microsoft.com/download/f/c/a/fca6767b-9ed9-45a6-b352-839afb2a2679/TweakUiPowertoySetup.exe"></a>TweakUI, l<span style="font-family:arial;">aunch, go to "Control Panel" and check any item not selected, then "Apply" and "OK". You will now see the hidden control panel extensions.</span><br /><br /><br /> <img style="font-family: arial;" src="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/Icons/Device_Manager.jpg" alt="Device Manager" border="0" /><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span><b style="font-family: arial;">Device Manager</b><br /><br /> <i style="font-family: arial;">Secret</i><span style="font-family:arial;"> - </span><b style="font-family: arial;">Hidden Devices</b><br /> <i style="font-family: arial;">Instructions</i><span style="font-family:arial;"> - Go to the "Control Panel", "System" icon, "Hardware" tab and select "Device Manager". Select "View" and </span><b style="font-family: arial;">Show hidden devices</b><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span><br /><br /> <i style="font-family: arial;">Secret</i><span style="font-family:arial;"> - </span><b style="font-family: arial;">Phantom Devices</b><br /> <i style="font-family: arial;">Instructions</i><span style="font-family:arial;"> - Go to "Start", "Programs", "Accessories" and select "Command Prompt". At the command prompt, type "</span><b style="font-family: arial;">set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1</b><span style="font-family:arial;">" and press Enter. At the command prompt, type "</span><b style="font-family: arial;">start devmgmt.msc</b><span style="font-family:arial;">" and press Enter. Select "View" and </span><b style="font-family: arial;">Show hidden devices</b><span style="font-family:arial;">. You can see devices that are not connected to the computer. </span><br /> <i style="font-family: arial;"><br />Notes</i><span style="font-family:arial;"> - When you close the command prompt window, Windows clears the "devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1" variable that you set and prevents phantom devices from being displayed when you select "Show hidden devices".</span><br /><br /><br /> <img style="font-family: arial;" src="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/Icons/Music.jpg" alt="Music" border="0" /><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span><b style="font-family: arial;">Music</b><br /><br /> <i style="font-family: arial;">Secret</i><span style="font-family:arial;"> - </span><b style="font-family: arial;">Music from the Installer</b><br /> <i style="font-family: arial;">Instructions</i><span style="font-family:arial;"> - Browse to </span><b style="font-family: arial;">C:\Windows\system32\oobe\images\title.wma</b><span style="font-family:arial;"> and play.</span><br /><br /> <i style="font-family: arial;">Notes</i><span style="font-family:arial;"> - "OOBE" stands for "Out-of-Box Experience". </span><br /><br /> <img style="font-family: arial;" src="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/Icons/Shutdown.jpg" alt="Shutdown" border="0" /><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span><b style="font-family: arial;">Shutdown</b><br /><br /> <i style="font-family: arial;">Secret</i><span style="font-family:arial;"> - </span><b style="font-family: arial;">Display Hibernate Option on the Shut Down dialog</b><br /> <i style="font-family: arial;">Instructions</i><span style="font-family:arial;"> - Go to "Start", "Turn Off Computer..." and press either </span><b style="font-family: arial;">Shift</b><span style="font-family:arial;"> key to change the "Stand By" button to "Hibernate".</span><br /><br /><br /> <img style="font-family: arial;" src="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/Icons/Support_Tools.jpg" alt="Support Tools" border="0" /><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span><b style="font-family: arial;">Support Tools</b><br /><br /> <i style="font-family: arial;">Secret</i><span style="font-family:arial;"> - </span><b style="font-family: arial;">Over 100 Windows XP Support Utilities are on the install CD</b><br /><br /> <i style="font-family: arial;">Instructions for Pre-SP2 users</i><span style="font-family:arial;"> - If you do not have </span><acronym style="font-family: arial;" title="Service Pack Version 2">SP2</acronym><span style="font-family:arial;"> installed, put the original Windows XP CD in the CD-ROM Drive, run the </span><b style="font-family: arial;">D:\Support\Tools\setup.exe</b><span style="font-family:arial;"> file.<br /><br /><script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "pub-3582960354375385"; google_ad_width = 180; google_ad_height = 60; google_ad_format = "180x60_as_rimg"; google_cpa_choice = "CAAQ24Oy0QEaCH9Si1cjMAnSKMu293MwAA"; google_ad_channel = ""; //--><br /></script><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"><br /></script><br /></span>TDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834014651709456406.post-38436669309428523972007-05-16T05:06:00.001-07:002007-05-16T05:07:39.937-07:00Perform a clean install of Windows XP<script type="text/javascript">loadTOCNode(2, 'summary');</script><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">A clean installation refers to removing all data from your hard disk by repartitioning and reformatting your hard disk and reinstalling the operating system and programs to an empty (clean) hard disk. You should back up all important information before you perform a clean installation of Windows XP.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> For additional information about important things to consider before you partition and format you hard disk and how to partition and format your hard disk by using the Windows XP Setup program. How to partition and format a hard disk in Windows XP After you have backed up all your important information, follow these steps to install Windows XP:</span></span><table class="list ol" style="font-family:arial;"><tbody><tr><td class="number"><span style="font-size:100%;">1.</span></td><td class="text"><span style="font-size:100%;">Start your computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM. To do this, insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into your CD drive or DVD drive, and then restart your computer.</span></td></tr><tr><td class="number"><span style="font-size:100%;">2.</span></td><td class="text"><span style="font-size:100%;">When you see the "Press any key to boot from CD" message, press any key to start the computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM.</span></td></tr><tr><td class="number"><span style="font-size:100%;">3.</span></td><td class="text"><span style="font-size:100%;">At the <strong class="uiterm">Welcome to Setup</strong> screen, press ENTER to start Windows XP Setup.</span></td></tr><tr><td class="number"><span style="font-size:100%;">4.</span></td><td class="text"><span style="font-size:100%;">Read the End-User License Agreement, and then press F8.</span></td></tr><tr><td class="number"><span style="font-size:100%;">5.</span></td><td class="text"><span style="font-size:100%;">Follow the instructions on the screen to select and format a partition where you want to install Windows XP.</span></td></tr><tr><td class="number"><span style="font-size:100%;">6.</span></td><td class="text"><span style="font-size:100%;">Follow the instructions on the screen to complete Windows XP Setup.</span></td></tr></tbody></table>TDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834014651709456406.post-69846149607659671972007-05-15T17:35:00.000-07:002007-05-15T17:37:46.813-07:00Uninstall "Hidden" Windows ComponentsApparently, Microsoft didn't want you to be able to remove useless garbage like Windows Messenger. It's installed by default, and it doesn't appear in the Add/Remove Program applet in Control Panel. <p>Thankfully, you can force the issue by editing the SYSOC.INF file, which is located in the C:\WINDOWS [or your Windows XP directory]\INF folder. Open it with Notepad. </p><p>Under the [Components] heading, you'll see a whole bunch of parameters for various Windows applets. Some of them contain the word "hide." Those particular programs, which include Windows Messenger (msmsgs), Terminal Server, Pinball, and others, are installed on your XP system, but their entries are hidden from and Add/Remove dialog. </p><p> <table align="center"> <tbody><tr> <td class="bgcolor5"> <pre><span class="content">To remove Windows Messenger, edit <i>hide</i> out of the line that reads<br /><br /><p>msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7<br /><br /></p><p>so that it looks like this:<br /><br /></p><p>msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,7<br /></p></span></pre> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </p><p>Save the file, close it, and open the Add/Remove Program applet. Click on Windows Components button and you'll see Windows Messenger listed. Uncheck it and click Next to purge that silly program from your system. </p><p>Feel free to edit <i>hide</i> everyw</p><p>here it appears in the SYSOC.INF file to reveal other removable Windows XP components. </p><p><span class="content9">Offer DMA To <i>All</i> Your ATAPI Drives</span><br />By default, slave drives on ATAPI channels are often set to PIO mode--even when the device attached is capable of much more efficient UltraATA (or DMA) mode data transfers. This can hurt the performance of ROM burners, DVD movie playback, and other drive functions. Plus, DMA mode data transfers require much less CPU overhead than PIO-mode transfers. </p><p>You can set this atrocity straight through the Device Manager. Open the System Properties dialog and select the Hardware tab. Click the Device Manager button. Expand the entry for IDE/ATAPI controllers.</p> <p> Select the primary channel and click on Properties, and then choose the Advanced Settings tab. For each device listed, change the transfer mode to "DMA if possible." Don't worry; devices that aren't capable of DMA mode will still work just fine. Repeat the process for the secondary channel.</p><pre><span><span class="content"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSOGP47zudWkDXx70pJYoK1ljiiPIrIS5f9pGFZXjrWA9fcPuUcyvp7P8gHVDbiMb2MLvFJMD9khOZSoAxP-0LqRjk4hUTvKcR8zRCeQoDYuRdJZ1-skWL1_fTED74etBUnyPisIAEjd4/s1600-h/0,1425,i%3D7375,00.gif"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSOGP47zudWkDXx70pJYoK1ljiiPIrIS5f9pGFZXjrWA9fcPuUcyvp7P8gHVDbiMb2MLvFJMD9khOZSoAxP-0LqRjk4hUTvKcR8zRCeQoDYuRdJZ1-skWL1_fTED74etBUnyPisIAEjd4/s320/0,1425,i%3D7375,00.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5064951131778566866" border="0" /></a></span></span></pre> <p> </p>TDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834014651709456406.post-43589574886686804692007-05-15T17:29:00.000-07:002007-05-15T17:34:19.669-07:00MSCONFIG<span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><span id="intelliTXT">Like versions of Windows </span></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><span id="intelliTXT">9x, from 98 on, XP contains the System Configuration Utility (or SCU). Invoke it by running MSCONFIG at the Run command line. It's great for experimenting with startup applications.<br /><br /></span></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><span id="intelliTXT"><p>The SCU main interface contains several tabs that allow users to selectively and non-permanently alter several startup parameters. The first two, SYSTEM.INI and WIN.INI, are included for the purpose of legacy compatibility; there's very little chance you'll ever need to tweak them. </p><p>The BOOT.INI tab lets you play with the file that defines how Windows XP boots. The entire file is displayed in a text box in which you can select individual lines, which in turn you may be able to alter through checkboxes, but there's little advantage in doing so unless you're troubleshooting something. </p><p>The Services tab lets you check and uncheck XP services, but there's a better way to go about enabling and disabling them that we'll get to later.<br /></p><p><span id="intelliTXT">Under the Startup tab, you'll find a listing of each program that's called to start after Windows XP is booted up. It's here that you can disable things that you suspect are unnecessary, such as Microsoft Office's TSR, Quicken Agent, launchers employed by multimedia programs like RealPlayer and WinAmp, and other such nonsense. The beauty of the SCU is that disabled items aren't permanently deleted: you can uncheck pa</span><span id="intelliTXT">rticular components, reboot, and then test your applications and hardware. If you determine that something has ceased to function, you can fire the SCU back up, recheck the box next to the startup item in question, and reboot.</span></p></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;">You can often improve system performance vastly by experimenting with the SCU and eliminating everything that isn't absolutely n</span><span style="font-size:100%;">ecessary. Once you've determined a particular startup item to be useless, you can purge it from wherever it's being called by checking its location in the SCU listing. Items shown to be in "Common Startup" are called through the Start Menu's Startup group--delete their icons and they won't be launched anymore. </span><p style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Items launched via the registry can be purged through the REGEDIT program (after, of course, you've carefully backed up the registry in case you</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> accidentally alter something critical). They're most often located HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run key. Simply delete their values to prevent them from being launched on subsequent Windows boots. </span></p><!-- start ziffimage //--><table face="arial" align="center" border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" width="590"><tbody><tr height="5"><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><span><span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><span id="intelliTXT"><span><span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><span id="intelliTXT"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvtMAGmBX_UTYTOYL248slZlCQNbecT10YMDLGrWsIlG7jsg7UtUgWy9XidLmz_PCkeFXv5UOfSuE-DdUBv2jVZvN2xCWVZ_ZvvED9_3IEHF5S5ea0ZylCEGDarW4Pkp0TJWw8EkQOaPM/s1600-h/0,1425,i%3D7372,00.gif"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvtMAGmBX_UTYTOYL248slZlCQNbecT10YMDLGrWsIlG7jsg7UtUgWy9XidLmz_PCkeFXv5UOfSuE-DdUBv2jVZvN2xCWVZ_ZvvED9_3IEHF5S5ea0ZylCEGDarW4Pkp0TJWw8EkQOaPM/s320/0,1425,i%3D7372,00.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5064950238425369282" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;"><img src="http://www.extremetech.com/images/spacer.gif" alt="" border="0" height="5" width="1" /></span></td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /></td><td><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><span id="intelliTXT"></span></span>TDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834014651709456406.post-14434778655235250702007-05-15T17:24:00.000-07:002007-05-15T17:26:47.880-07:00Windows XP's Built-In Optimization<span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span id="intelliTXT"><p><span style="font-size:100%;">Of everything you can do to optimize Windows XP, one of the simplest is just to use it. As you launch and exploit applications, Windows observes your behavior and updates a dynamic file called Layout.ini. After every three days, when it senses that the computer is idle, it rearranges the locations of programs on the system hard drive to optimize their launch and execution. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:100%;">XP also speeds up and the boot process and optimizes the launch of programs by using prefetching. Windows observes the code and programs that are used immediately upon bootup and creates a list of data to prefetch very early in the boot process. Similarly, as individual programs are launched, Windows keeps track of different files and components are accessed. The next time the application is accessed, Windows prefetches the necessary items to expedite the application's launch.</span></p><p><span id="intelliTXT"><p><span style="font-size:100%;">he prefetch optimizing code exists both within the XP kernel and the task scheduler service. The kernel keeps track of pages that are referenced by a given process immediately after the process is created. The service transforms the recorded pages into prefetch instructions for that process. The next time the process is created, the kernel executes the prefetch instructions, speeding up the creation of the process. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:100%;">Disk optimization and application/boot prefetching work in tandem. That is, when XP optimizes file system for faster program access, the data it recorded for the application and bootup prefetch processes is factored in to determine optimal file placement on the disks.</span> </p></span> </p></span></span>TDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834014651709456406.post-84612448424931772412007-05-15T17:13:00.000-07:002007-05-15T17:17:15.022-07:00Make your own icons<h2 face="arial" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></h2>It's shockingly easy to create your own icons in Windows XP. Let's do it: Click <b>Start</b>, click <b>All Programs</b>, click <b>Accessories</b>, and then click <b>Paint</b>. On the Image menu, click <b>Attributes</b>. Type <b>32</b> for both the <b>Width</b> and <b>Height</b> of the document, and make sure that <b>Pixels</b> is selected under <b>Units</b>. Click <b>OK</b> to create a new 32x32-pixel document: the size of an icon.<br /><br /><p style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Now add type, color, or do whatever you'd like to your image. I like to shrink photos (headshots work best) to 32x32 and simply paste them into my Paint document. When you're finished, open the File menu and click Save As. Use the dialog box to choose where you want to save your file, then give it a name followed by ".ico" (without the quotes), and click Save. (The extension ".ico" tells Windows that it's an icon file.) You just created an icon! Now you can change any shortcut or folder to your own icon—just browse to it on your hard drive.</span></p><span style="font-size:100%;"><img style="font-family: arial;" src="http://www.microsoft.com/library/media/1033/athome/images/moredone/5xptricks_img5.gif" alt="Attributes screenshot" border="0" height="233" width="359" /></span>TDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834014651709456406.post-59829691029258715592007-05-15T17:00:00.000-07:002007-05-15T17:02:06.248-07:00How to backup the Windows XP Registry?<h3 style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Introduction</span></h3> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Registry Editor is an advanced tool for viewing and changing settings in your system registry, which contains information about how your computer runs. Almost the entire settings are stored in the registry. For example, when you resize an application window, the window position (<i>x</i>,<i>y</i> points) is stored in the registry so that the settings are retained permanently. This is just an example, there are much more data stored in the registry, right from your user account names and passwords (if configured to store in the registry).</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Although Registry Editor enables you to inspect and modify the registry, it's advisable to use Registry Editor only if the GUI does not provide the option you're looking for. Making incorrect changes in the registry can break your system. It's highly advisable to backup the registry before editing any portion of it.</span></p> <h3 style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Backing up the XP Registry - Three methods</span></h3> <h4 style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Method 1: Using System Restore</span></h4> <p style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">One way to backup the registry is to create a System Restore snapshot. System Restore returns your computer to a previous snapshot without losing recent personal information, such as documents, history lists, favorites, or e-mail. It monitors the computer and many applications for changes and creates restore points. You restore these snapshots when your configuration isn't working. This method is unreliable in case you want to rollback the registry changes made a longtime ago, in which case the System Restore might have purged that particular restore point - due to space constraints or due to a recent system restore point or even a Restore point corruption. Please remember, System Restore points get deleted for many reasons, making it unreliable, especially in the long run. </span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.winxptutor.com/rollback.htm"></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Method 2: Backing up the selected branch of the registry by exporting (Reliable)</span></span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">This method is preferred if you're making changes to a specific key/area of the registry. To backup a selected branch/key in the registry, try this:</span></p> <ul style="font-family: arial;"><li><span style="font-size:100%;">Click Start, and then click Run.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;">In the Open box, type <i><b>regedit</b></i>, and then click OK</span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;">Locate and then click the key that contains the value that you want to edit</span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;">On the File menu, click <i>Export</i>.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;">In the <i>Save in</i> box, select a location where you want to save the Registration Entries (.reg) </span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;">In the File name box, type a file name, and then click Save.</span></li></ul> <p style="text-align: center; font-family: arial;"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://windowsxp.mvps.org/images/REGISTRY1.JPG"> <img src="http://windowsxp.mvps.org/REGISTRY1_small.JPG" alt="REGISTRY1.JPG (37886 bytes)" border="2" height="36" width="100" /></a> <a href="http://windowsxp.mvps.org/images/REGISTRY2.JPG"> <img src="http://windowsxp.mvps.org/REGISTRY2_small.JPG" alt="REGISTRY2.JPG (41671 bytes)" border="2" height="90" width="100" /></a><br />(Backing up a selected branch/key of the registry)</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Now that you've created a Registry backup for that particular key. Save the REG file in a safer location in case you want to undo the registry changes made. You can restore the settings by just double-clicking the REG file. It automatically merges the contents to the Registry.</span></p> <h4 style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Method 2 (a) : Export registry keys using a command-line (Console Registry Tool)</span></h4> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">You can use the Console Registry Tool for Windows (Reg.exe) to edit the registry. For help with the Reg.exe tool, type <i><b>reg /?</b></i> at the Command Prompt, and then click OK.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Example: To export the key [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\IOLO] and it's sub-keys, try this from Command Prompt:</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">REG EXPORT HKCU\Software\IOLO C:\IOLO.REG</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">To view the REG contents type notepad C:\iolo.reg in Start, Run dialog. Console Registry Tool is extremely handy for network admins and also for home users.</span></p> <h4 style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Method 3: Backing up the whole registry ("System state")</span></h4> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">For backing up the whole registry, use the NTBackup utility to back up the System State. The System State includes the registry, the COM+ Class Registration Database, and your boot files. See section "Back Up the Whole Registry" in the following article:</span></p>TDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834014651709456406.post-4161458485880434182007-05-15T16:57:00.001-07:002007-05-15T16:57:58.308-07:00How can I change the physical location of "My Documents" folder?<div style="font-family: arial;" id="contentColumn"> <div id="innerContentColumn"> <p>By default, the My Documents folder for your user account resides in the <b>%Userprofile%</b> folder:</p> <p><b>Example:</b> C:\Documents and Settings\Robert\My Documents<br />(Assuming your user account name is Robert)</p> <p>If the system drive is running out of space and you want to redirect the My Documents folder to a different partition, follow this method:</p> <ul><li> Create a folder in a different drive</li><li> Assign appropriate folder permissions</li><li> Open My Computer window.</li><li> From Common Tasks pane, right-click My Documents and choose Properties.</li><li> Type the target folder path and click Apply</li></ul> <p align="center"> <img src="http://www.winxptutor.com/images/movemydoc.JPG" border="0" height="239" width="148" /> </p><p align="center"> <img src="http://www.winxptutor.com/images/movemydoc1.JPG" border="0" height="73" width="276" /></p></div> </div>TDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834014651709456406.post-21866562693772185152007-05-15T16:50:00.000-07:002007-08-19T03:33:37.561-07:00Removing invalid entries from Add or Remove Programs<h2><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ></span></h2>Sometimes when you uninstall a program, corresponding entry in the Add or Remove ProgramsAdd or Remove Programs applet, follow these steps: listing may not be removed. This may be due to incomplete uninstall or poorly designed uninstaller itself. To manually remove the orphaned entries from the Click Start, Run and type regedit.exe<ul><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><b></b></span><br /></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;">Navigate to the following key:</span></li></ul> <blockquote> <blockquote> <p class="registry"><span style="font-size:100%;">HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Uninstall</span></p> </blockquote> </blockquote> <ul><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://windowsxp.mvps.org/registry.htm"></a></span>Backup the branch to a file</li></ul> <blockquote> <p><span style="font-size:100%;"><b>Note:</b> Each subkey represents a program that you've installed. To determine which program that each key represents, click the key, and then view the <b>DisplayName</b></span> value data in the right pane</p> </blockquote> <ul><li><span style="font-size:100%;">Select the subkey that you want to delete</span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;">Right-click on the subkey and choose <b>Delete</b></span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;">Close Registry Editor</span></li></ul> <h3><span style="font-size:100%;">Still unable to remove an entry?</span></h3> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">If the program was installed using Windows Installer, then you may us</span>e Windows Installer Cleanup Utility to <span style="font-size:100%;">remove the installer information for that program, and also the corresponding entry in <i>Add or Remove programs</i>.</span></p>TDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834014651709456406.post-24958217622863151672007-05-15T16:44:00.000-07:002007-05-15T16:49:46.521-07:00Configure Windows XP to Automatically Login<p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">After downloading fixes from Windows Updates page or via Automatic Updates, you may notice that Windows XP no longer logs into your account automatically. This is usually caused after the installation of <i>.NET Framework</i> from Microsoft. It creates an additional user account called ASP.NET, which you can see in the Control Panel User Accounts applet. But, you neither need to remove this update nor delete this account. You can still configure Windows XP to automatically login using these methods:</span></p> <h3 style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Method 1</span></h3> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://windowsxp.mvps.org/images/autologon.JPG"> <img src="http://windowsxp.mvps.org/images/autologon_small.JPG" align="left" border="1" height="111" hspace="10" width="100" /></a>Click Start, Run and type <b>CONTROL USERPASSWORDS2</b>, and click Ok. Select the user account from the list (the account to which you want to automatically logon). Uncheck <i>Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer</i> option, and click Ok. Type the user account password and complete the process.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">For Windows XP Home, don't try to auto-login as the built-in Administrator, as you'll receive an error message.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></p> <h3 style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Method 2: Using TweakUI</span></h3> <p><span style="font-family: arial;font-size:100%;" ><a href="http://windowsxp.mvps.org/images/autologon2.JPG"> <img src="http://windowsxp.mvps.org/images/autologon2_small.JPG" align="left" border="1" height="79" hspace="10" width="100" /></a>Open TweakUI (Click Start, Programs, Powertoys for Windows XP). Expand the Logon branch, and click Autologon. Turn on the "Log on automatically at......" option, type your username and password, and click O</span>k.</p>TDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03693269967837762659noreply@blogger.com