Sunday, 16 November 2014

WINDOWS XP - TIPS [ 6 ]


 Set the Online Registration as Being Completed

Added 3/4/02
You can set WindowsXP to assume the online registration has been completed.
  1. Run Regedit
  2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion
  3. Create a String Value called RegDone
  4. Give it a value of 1
Download reg file

Decreasing Boot Time

Added 3/4/02
Microsoft has made available a program to analyze and decrease the time it takes to boot to WindowsXP
The program is called BootVis
  1. Uncompress the file.
  2. Run BOOTVIS.EXE
  3. For a starting point, run Trace / Next Boot + Driver Delays
  4. This will reboot your computer and provide a benchmark
  5. After the reboot, BootVis will take a minute or two to show graphs of your system startup.
  6. Note how much time it takes for your system to load (click on the red vertical line)
  7. Then run Trace / Optimize System
  8. Re-Run the Next Boot + Drive Delays
  9. Note how much the time has decreased
  10. Mine went from approximately 39 to 30 seconds.

 Re-Enabling System Restore

Added 3/3/02
If you previously disabled system restore through the Group Policy Editor,
the option to start it again does not show in the System Properties.
You can re-enable it again by:
  1. Run the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc)
  2. Go to Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / System / System Restore
  3. Set Turn off System Restore and Turn off Configuration to Disable
  4. Right click on My Computer
  5. Select Manage
  6. Go to Services and Applications / Services
  7. Scroll down to System Restore Service
  8. Set it for Automatic
  9. Click on the Start button to start the service
  10. Close down this window
  11. Go back to the Group Policy Editor and configure both to Not configured
  12. Now when you right click on My Computer, there should be a tab for System Restore and you can configure how much space will be used.

 Hide/Unhide Logon Names

Added 3/3/02
If you want to hide or unhide the names of users that are displayed on the initial logon screen:
  1. Start Regedit
  2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon \ SpecialAccounts \ UserList
  3. Add a DWORD with the name of the user account you want to hide
  4. Make sure it has a value of 0
  5. If there is an existing account, you can unhide it by giving it a value of 1

 Reinstalling the TCP/IP Protocol

Added 3/2/02
If you've worked on previous versions of Windows,
there are times when you need to completely reinstall the TCP/IP protocol stack.
This is typically due to corrupted files.
To do this with XP,
you need to run a small script:
netsh int ip reset [ log_file_name ]
the log_file_name needs to be specified.
e.g.
netsh  int  ip  reset  ip_reset.txt

 Renaming the Start Button

Added 2/25/02
To rename the start button, you will need a hex editor.
My preference is UltraEdit
  1. Copy the \windows\explore.exe file to a new name (e.g. explorer_1.exe)
  2. With the hex editor, open that file and go to offset 412b6
  3. You will see the word start with blanks between each letter
  4. Edit it be any 5 characters or less
  5. Save the file
  6. Boot to DOS
  7. Copy the existing c:\windows\explorer.exe to explorer.org
  8. Copy explorer_1.exe to explorer.exe
  9. You will also need to replace the explorer.exe in the c:\windows\system32\dllcache file as well with the new one.
Note: If the partition is NTFS and you can't access the files from DOS:
  1. Start Regedit
  2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon.
  3. Change the value of Shell from Explorer.exe to explorer_1.exe

Rollback a Device Driver

Added 2/18/02
If you install a device drive that does not work correctly,
you can restore the previous one fairly easily.
  1. Log in with an administrator account
  2. Right click on My Computer
  3. Select Properties
  4. Click on the Hardware tab
  5. Click on the Device Manager button
  6. Go to the device you want to reconfigure
  7. Click on the Driver tab
  8. Click on the Roll Back Drive button

 Selecting What Details to Display in the Explorer

Added 2/3/02
To add or remove items to be displayed in the Explorer when using the Details View
  1. Start the Explorer
  2. Go to View / Choose Details
  3. Right click on the columns by Name and check or uncheck any item you want displayed
Available options are:
  • Owner
  • Name
  • Size
  • Type
  • Date Modified
  • Status
  • Attributes
  • Author
  • Title
  • Subject
  • Category
  • Pages
  • Comments
  • Copyright
  • Date Created
  • Date Accessed
  • Attributes
  • Artist
  • Album Title
  • Year
  • Track Number
  • Genre
  • Duration
  • Bit Rate
  • Protected
  • Camera Model
  • Date Picture Taken
  • Dimensions
  • Company
  • Description
  • File Version
  • Product Name
  • Product Version

 Closing Multiple Taskbar Items

Submitted 2/3/02
If you hold down the Control Key when you click on the taskbar icons,
it selects multiple tasks. Then you can simply right-click on the selected items and choose close group.
This tip works with all windows, not just one applications. If you have the cal, ie, notepad and solitaire open, it will close them all, unlike the group similar items command that only lets you close all of one type (ex: all IE or all notepads).
Submitted by Terry Cadieux

 Remembering Outlook / Outlook Express Password

Submitted 1/26/02
On systems, Outlook or Outlook Express will not remember the e-mail password,
which would then need to be entered in each time.
To solve the problem:
  1. Open Registry Editor
  2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft
  3. Right Click Protected Storage System Provider
  4. Choose the Permissions option
  5. Click the Advanced box near the bottom right hand corner. This should open another box, Towards the bottom of this box there should be two tick boxes, make sure that both of them are ticked. Click Apply, another box will open Click Yes, then Click OK and OK again.
  6. Left Click the + next to Protected Storage System Provider and Delete any sub folder in this tree. (Right clicking and choose the delete option or press the delete key and choosing yes to delete)
  7. Shutdown and Restart Computer.
Submitted by Naste

 Turning Off the Firewall

Added 1/26/02
If you want to turn off the firewall for your computer:
  1. Go to Start / Settings / Network Connections
  2. Right click on the network connection you want to change
  3. Select Properties
  4. Click on the Advanced tab
  5. Uncheck the box in Internet Connection Firewall

 Grouping Similar Taskbar Buttons

Added 1/26/02
When you open more than one document in the same program and then minimize each document,
rather that  showing separate icons on the taskbar for each document, WindowsXP groups them under a single icon for that application.
If you want to group, or ungroup, similar taskbar buttons,
  1. Right click on the Taskbar
  2. Select Properties
  3. Check or Uncheck Group similar taskbar buttons

 Turning Off the Guest Account

Added 1/22/02
For security purposes, you might want to turn off the Guest account
  1. Open up the Control Panel
  2. Click on User Accounts
  3. Click on Change an account
  4. Click on the Guest account
  5. Click Turn off the guest account

 Original NT Style Logon Screen

Updated 1/19/02
If you want to have the original NT style windows logon screen with XP,
simply hold the Ctrl-Alt keys and press the delete key twice.
The following Update Submitted by:
Steven Pennypacker
To make a permanent change so the logon screen is always like the traditional NT4/2000 style:
  1. Go to the Control Panel
  2. Open up User Accounts
  3. Click Change the way users log on and off
  4. Uncheck Use the Welcome screen
  5. Click on Apply Options
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