Change the Start Menu Style

Does the new Windows XP Start menu take up too much space on your desktop? You can easily change the look back to the Windows Classic Start menu by following these steps:

• Right–click the Start button, and then click Properties.
• Click Classic Start menu.
• Click the Customize button to select items to display on the Start menu.

By default, selecting the Classic Start menu also adds the My Documents, My Computer, My Network Places, and Internet Explorer icons to your desktop.

Use a Shortcut to Local Area Network Connection Information

Something new in Windows XP, instead of using the command line program and typing ipconfig to find local area network information, you can use the following shortcut:

• Click Start, point to Connect to, and then click Show All Connections.
• Right–click the connection you want information about, and then click Status.
• In the connection Properties dialog box, click the Support tab.
• For even more information, click the Advanced tab.

To automatically enable the status monitor each time the connection is active, in the connection Properties dialog box, select the Show icon in taskbar notification area when connected check box.

Increase your cable modem or DSL speed in XP

This tweak is for broad band cable connections on stand alone machines with winXP professional version - might work on Home version also. It will probably work with networked machines as well but I haven't tried it in that configuration. This is for windows XP only, it does not work on win2000.
I use 3 Com cards so I don't know how it works on others at this point. It does not involve editing the registry. This tweak assumes that you have let winXP create a connection on install for your cable modem/NIC combination and that your connection has tcp/ip - QoS - file and print sharing - and client for microsoft networks , only, installed. It also assumes that winxp will detect your NIC and has in-box drivers for it. If it doesn't do not try this.
In the "My Network Places" properties (right click on the desktop icon and choose properties), highlight the connection then at the menu bar choose "Advanced" then "Advanced Settings". Uncheck the two boxes in the lower half for the bindings for File and Printer sharing and Client for MS networks. Click OK

1. From the windows XP cd in the support directory from the support cab, extract the file netcap.exe and place it in a directory on your hard drive or even in the root of your C:\ drive.
2. next, open up a command prompt window and change directories to where you put netcap.exe. then type "netcap/?". It will list some commands that are available for netcap and a netmon driver will be installed. At the bottom you will see your adapters. You should see two of them if using a 3Com card. One will be for LAN and the other will be for WAN something or other.
3. Next type "netcap/Remove". This will remove the netmon driver.
4. Open up control panel / system / dev man and look at your network adapters. You should now see two of them and one will have a yellow ! on it. Right click on the one without the yellow ! and choose uninstall. YES! you are uninstalling your network adapter, continue with the uninstall. Do not restart yet.
5. Check your connection properties to make sure that no connection exists. If you get a wizard just cancel out of it.
6. Now re-start the machine.
7. After re-start go to your connection properties again and you should have a new connection called "Local area connection 2". highlight the connection then at the menu bar choose "Advanced" then "Advanced Settings". Uncheck the two boxes in the lower half for the bindings for File and Printer sharing and Client for MS networks. Click OK.
8. Choose connection properties and uncheck the "QOS" box
9. Re-start the machine
10. after restart enjoy the increased responsivness of IE, faster page loading, and a connection speed boost.

Why it works, it seems that windows XP, in its zeal to make sure every base is covered installs two seperate versions of the NIC card. One you do not normally see in any properties. Remember the "netcap/?" command above showing two different adapters? The LAN one is the one you see. The invisible one loads everything down and its like your running two separate cards together, sharing a connection among two cards, this method breaks this "bond" and allows the NIC to run un-hindered.

Turn of CD Auto Play

• Open My Computer
• Right click on your CD ROM and choose Properties
• Click on the Auto Play tab
• In the drop down box you can choose the Action for each choice shown in the drop down box

Or

1. Go to Start->Run->gpedit.msc
2. Computer Config -> Administrative Template -> System
3. Double click Turn off Autoplay
4. Enable it.

Launch Internet Explorer.

Select the Tools from the menu bar. Then select Internet Options... from the drop down menu. Once the internet options has loaded click on the general tab. Under the temporary internet files section click the settings button. A settings window will load. Slide the slider all the way to the left so the size indicated in the text box on the right is one. Click OK Click Ok

Internet Connection Sharing

To enable Internet Connection Sharing on a network connection:

1. Open Network Connections.
2. Click the dial-up, local area network, PPPoE, or VPN connection you want to share, and then, under Network Tasks, click Change settings of this connection.
3. On the Advanced tab, select the Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection check box.
4. If you want this connection to dial automatically when another computer on your home or small office network attempts to access external resources, select the Establish a dial-up connection whenever a computer on my network attempts to access the Internet check box.
5. If you want other network users to enable or disable the shared Internet connection, select the Allow other network users to control or disable the shared Internet connection check box.
6. Under Internet Connection Sharing, in Home networking connection, select any adapter that connects the computer sharing its Internet connection to the other computers on your network.

Watch your cookies

In XP, the Documents And Settings folder holds all user information, including configuration settings, favorites, and cookies. The Documents And Settings\Username\Cookies folder is where XP stashes cookies. How do you control the number of cookies you allow on your system? Click Start > Control Panel > Network And Internet Connections > Internet Options. Click the Privacy tab, then use the slider bar to modify your cookie settings. For instance, you can block cookies from sites that use personal identification without your consent. To increase your security, try out the other privacy settings in this dialog. The lowest level is Accept All Cookies while the highest is Block All Cookies, with low, medium, medium-high, and high settings in between. (An explanation of each appears as you move between settings.) Keep in mind that rejecting cookies may limit your actions on some Web sites, and some sites use cookies to track how many times you see a popup, for example, on this website, if you blocked cookies, you would see a popup on every page.

Speed Up Browsing on Windows XP Machines

Make Internet Explorer Go Faster

Here's a great tip to speed up your browsing of Windows XP machines. Its actually a fix to a bug installed as default in Windows 2000 that scans shared files for Scheduled Tasks. And it turns out that you can experience a delay as long as 30 seconds when you try to view shared files across a network because Windows 2000 is using the extra time to search the remote computer for any Scheduled Tasks. Note that though the fix is originally intended for only those affected, Windows 2000 users will experience that the actual browsing speed of both the Internet & Windows Explorers improve significantly after applying it since it doesn't search for Scheduled Tasks anymore. Here's how :

1. Open up the Registry and go to :
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace


2. Under that branch, select the key :
   {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}
   and delete it.

This is the key that instructs Windows to search for Scheduled Tasks. You may want to export the exact branch so that you can restore the key if necessary.

This fix doesn't require a reboot and you can almost immediately notice how much it speeds up your browsing. Enjoy!

How to Disable Error Reporting in Windows XP

1. Open Control Panel


2. Click on Performance and Maintenance.


3. Click on System.


4. Then click on the Advanced tab


5. Click on the error-reporting button on the bottom of the windows.


6. Select Disable error reporting.


7. Click OK


8. Click OK

Autodisconnect doesn't work or settings change

If the settings change.... Q230142 Internet Explorer Auto Disconnect Feature Set to 5 Minutes After Using Netscape Communicator http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q230142

If auto disconnect doesn't work ....

Go to the advanced options of your dial up settings - IE tools/internet options/connections/dial up settings/advanced dial up settings and turn on the option to disconnect if connection no longer required.

Also see these links: Not Prompted to Disconnect After Closing Internet Explorer

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q153/9/65.asphttp://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q180/9/48.asphttp://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q193/5/55.asphttp://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q256/3/02.ASP

Then, if no joy shut down Internet Explorer and follow these instructions:Start Regedit and got to the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\RemoteAccess\Profile\Now look at the following DWORDS:EnableExitDisconnectEnableAutodisconnectIf either one has the data of 00 00 00 00, right click the value and select Modify.Change the data to 01 00 00 00.Also check this registry key.HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet SettingsLook at the DWORD: EnableAutodisconnect

If this value has the data of 00 00 00 00, change it to 01 00 00 00Remember to reboot the computer.

Computer keeps disconnecting from the Internet

Go to IE tools/internet options/connection/dial up settings/advanced dial up settings. Make sure that disconnect when connection may no longer be required is turned off, and that the option to disconnect if idle is turned off as well. Later Windows versions have an option to disconnect when connection speed drops below a certain percentage. Turn that off.Outlook Express options can cause problems if the programme is running. Go to Outlook Express, tools/options/connection and make sure *connect to this account using* is not selected for each mail and news account. Make sure there is no conflict in account settings - each account should show the connection option of *any available*.Next in Outlook Express go to tools/options/connection and turn off *hang up after send/receive*.

I dont hate Mozilla ! Orkut is banned !!!!!

I was asked by my friend that he is the only user in his computer, his account is having administrative rights, but he is not able to open Orkut, and it says Orkut is banned. Another friend had told that he is not able to use Mozilla Firefox and it asks him to use Internet Explorer. I just told it must be some virus, but really didn't care much about that. But none of the antivirus software could detect or remove this malware.

My friend had given me a pen drive. I remembered it while browsing net on Firefox. When I put that in my PC and double clicked, it didn't open. I knew at once: I had activated a virus. But I didn't have any idea about the kind of virus that might have come to my PC, until I switched back to Firefox. Immediately a message box was displayed: I DNT HATE MOZILLA BUT USE IE OR ELSE... with title as USE INTERNET EXPLORER U DOPE. I just remembered the experiences of my friends. I tried to locate the virus by running the Task Manager. But there were no suspicious entries there. I had to bow the owner of the virus. I used Internet Explorer to search about it. The first entry in Google took me to the Mozilla Forum page, and after going through some pages, I came to know that the same virus also displayed another message when you opened Orkut. Orkut is banned you fool, The administrators didnt write this program guess who did?? MUHAHAHA!! with title ORKUT IS BANNED. Well, a similar message was displayed for YouTube also. So I went through all the posts, and finally found a solution given here:

Press CTRL+ALT+DEL and go to the processes tab

Look for svchost.exe under the image name. There will be many but look for the ones which have your username under the username

Press DEL to kill these files. It will give you a warning, Press Yes

Repeat for more svchost.exe files with your username and repeat. Do not kill svchost.exe with system, local service or network service!

Now open My Computer

In the address bar, type C:\heap41a and press enter. It is a hidden folder, and is not visible by default.

Delete all the files here

Now go to Start --> Run and type Regedit

Go to the menu Edit --> Find

Type "heap41a" here and press enter. You will get something like this "[winlogon] C:\heap41a\svchost.exe C:\heap(some number)\std.txt"

Select that and Press DEL. It will ask "Are you sure you want to delete this value?", click Yes

Now close the registry editor.

Now the virus is gone. But be sure to delete the autorun.inf file and any folder whose name ends with .exe in the pen drive.

The Windows XP File Systems

When installing Windows XP from scratch, it prompts you to select from two different file systems: FAT32 and NTFS. As expected, it gives no real reason why you should select one or the other, and defaults to NTFS.

FAT32

If you're installing on a dual-boot system where you would have a FAT32 partition (default type for Windows 98 and SE for partitions over 2GB), you may run into problems depending on your situation. The FAT32 file system was created when the size of hard drives exceeded 2GB. The previous file system for DOS and Windows 95 was FAT16, which offered at most 2GB of allocation on your hard drive. This of course is useless for today's hard drives when you can't find anything under 10GB anymore. Where FAT16 allowed a 2GB maximum, FAT32 only allows a 32GB maximum. If your hard drive is over 32GB, you'll have to split it into separate partitions, or use NTFS.

NTFS

NTFS was introduced with Windows NT. Among the reasons why it was introduced, it allowed partitions greater than what's even offered today, and boasts better performance and security. Focusing on security, it's possible that while an NTFS hard drive is secure when running Windows XP, there's no easy way to get back into the hard drive if you boot from an emergency floppy that only sees a FAT16 or FAT32 partition, such as what you'd get from a 98 or ME emergency floppy. The security in NTFS actually prevents you from circumventing its own file system from a boot floppy. This means that if for some reason your hard drive becomes unusable and you need to move data off of it, the task won't be as easy as it was when using Windows 95, 98, and ME. The solution that the user has in this situation is to boot from the Windows XP CD and run a repair on the hard drive. This should fix any problems the user had with the system and bring it back to a bootable state. The other issue is in dual-boot situations. Running under NTFS, you can see FAT16 and FAT32 partitions, but if you boot back into Windows ME, you can't see the NTFS partition. This is a problem if you downloaded something to your XP partition and you want to move it to your ME partition while running under ME. Also, if you upgraded ME to XP and you convert your file system from FAT32 to NTFS, you cannot go back to Windows ME since ME can't run under NTFS. However, only NTFS allows you to set permissions on individual folders so that you can control who sees what.

Converting from FAT32 to NTFS at a later time

If you want, under Windows XP you can convert your FAT32 partition to NTFS using the following command from your Command Prompt:

convert c: /fs:ntfs

Conclusion

With all this information, find what suits your needs and go with it. If you're the kind of person that backs up regularly, go with NTFS. Same if you want to use a partition over 32GB without partitioning. If you want to play it safe, or if you want the ability to transfer files from one partition to another under a dual-boot situation, stick with FAT32. If you want to read more about these file systems, Microsoft has an excellent article on their web site.

Classic Look Make XP look just like older versions of Windows

If you're like me, you probably have grown way too close to the familiar Windows interface. That's OK. I don't adjust well to change either.

After installing XP you may notice the revamped interface looks nothing like the old one. I was completely thrown back when I tried using it for the first time, but I suspect that over time the new interface will begin to grow on you as it has with me.

Therefore, to ease your transition to the new OS, make a simple adjustment to XP to give it that classic look.

Here's how to do it:

Right-click your Desktop and select Properties.

On the Desktop Display properties, click the Appearance tab.

Under the Windows and buttons pull-down menu, select Windows Classic.

Click Apply to see your new look.

Click OK to close the Desktop Display properties.

Adjust various visual effects

1. Open up the control panel

2. Go under system and click on the advanced tab

3. Click settings under Performance options

4. You can now change various graphical effects (mainly animations and shadows)

Windows XP and Symmetric Multiprocessing

Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) is a technology that allows a computer to use more than one processor. The most common configuration of an SMP computer is one that uses two processors. The two processors are used to complete your computing tasks faster than a single processor. (Two processors aren't necessarily twice as fast as a single processor, though.)

In order for a computer to take advantage of a multiprocessor setup, the software must be written for use with an SMP system. If a program isn't written for SMP, it won't take advantage of SMP. Not every program is written for SMP; SMP applications, such as image-editing programs, video-editing suites, and databases, tend to be processor intensive.

SMP in Windows XP

Operating systems also need to be written for SMP in order to use multiple processors. In the Windows XP family, only XP Professional supports SMP; XP Home does not. If you're a consumer with a dual-processor PC at home, you have to buy XP Professional. Windows XP Advanced Server also supports SMP.

In Microsoft's grand scheme, XP Professional is meant to replace Windows 2000, which supports SMP. In fact, XP Professional uses the same kernel as Windows 2000. XP Home is designed to replace Windows Me as the consumer OS, and Windows Me does not support SMP.

The difference between XP Professional and XP Home is more than just $100 and SMP support. XP Professional has plenty of other features not found in XP Home; some you'll use, others you won't care about. Get more information on the differences by reading this article.

Volume Icon in Taskbar

It's really handy to have access to the Volume Control panel in the event you quickly need to move the volume slider up or down. In its default state, XP ships with almost a clean slate for both the desktop and taskbar. So, if you'd like to place the volume control icon in the taskbar, you're going to need to make a little adjustment.

To place the volume control icon in the taskbar, follow these steps:

Single-click the Start menu.
Single-click Control Panel.
Single-click Sound, Speech, and Audio Devices.
Single-click Sounds and Audio Devices to launch the Sound and Audio Devices properties.
On the Volume tab, locate the text labeled "Device Volume" and place a check mark next to the text labeled "Place volume icon in the taskbar."
Single-click Apply.

You should now have the volume icon in the taskbar. Now all you need to do is double-click this icon to bring up your Volume Control panel.

No Java in Windows XP

Microsoft has announced it will not include support for the Java programming language in the upcoming Windows XP. After settling a lawsuit with Java creator Sun Microsystems in January, the software giant decided the easiest way to prevent further litigation was to simply remove the code entirely.

The settlement stipulated that Microsoft would no longer license Java from Sun, and refrain from stating that Windows is "Java Compatible." Outdated Java support will remain available as an added download from Windows Update if required. Java's removal from the software giant's new operating system comes on the heels of announcements surrounding .NET, Microsoft Web services based on XML.

These services are accessed over the Internet from a variety of devices. Coincidentally, Sun has been developing its own Java-based version of .NET, dubbed Jini. However, Microsoft vehemently denies claims that it intends to phase out support for Java as an attack on Sun.

XP File Sharing and Permissions

File sharing and permissions in Windows XP seem complicated.

Microsoft provides a Knowledge Base article, but reading it is like walking through molasses: It describes in infinite detail a file security system based on a 1-to-5 scale. However, if you look for this 1-to-5 scale anywhere in your security-settings interface, you may come away a little confused. These numbers are nowhere to be found.

Microsoft's 1-to-5 scale means nothing to the individual user and relates in no way to the actual practice of setting your security protocols. Enter the Screen Savers. We are here to explain it to you.

The security settings the user actually sets relate to read access, write access, shared folders, and password protection. These features are available in both Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional, however the features only work if the operating system is installed with NTFS. FAT32 does not support the file permissions described here.

You can choose to install Windows XP Home using NTFS, but you should use a FAT32 file system if you are dual booting and want to see the contents of your Windows 95, 98, or Me partition from your XP partition. Your file system is not set in stone when you install Windows XP. You always can change your file system from FAT32 to NTFS without losing any of your data; however, the transition is one-way only.

There is no going back to FAT32 from NTFS unless you grab a copy of Partition Magic. Microsoft recommends you install Windows XP Home with FAT32 if you intend to install more than one OS on your computer or if your hard drive is less than 32GB.

If you have Windows XP Home or Professional running NTFS, you can hide files and entire folders from prying eyes. When you set up multiple user accounts on one machine, any user with administrator access can view the documents in another's My Documents folders. To protect a folder, right-click it, choose Properties, the Share tab, and select "make this folder private." No one, not even a fellow system administrator, can access these most secret files.

Every file or folder contained within whichever folder you choose to make private will take on the settings of the parent folder. If the administrator does not have a password to the account, Windows XP will prompt the user to make a password or risk subjecting his or her private work to public scrutiny. No Windows password means no protected files.

A person who logs in as a guest or as a user without administrator privileges cannot see the contents of any other user's My Documents folder, even if the folder has not been explicitly made private. The user with limited privileges can, however, set a password and protect his or her documents from the prying eyes of the administrators. Windows XP is all about privacy.

It is a nice feeling to keep your personal tax documents secure from the passing lookey-loo. It's about time Microsoft made snooping your computer more difficult than snooping your medicine cabinet.

XP expires

To reduce instances of "casual copying" (a nice name for software piracy), Microsoft has implemented a two-stage antipiracy scheme in its upcoming OS. The first stage is the installation and registration counter: this lets you install Windows XP only five times on the same system. (Note that you'll be able to install the final version of XP on only one machine, as opposed to the current beta, which can be installed on five machines for testing purposes.) The second stage creates a profile of the system to prevent you from reinstalling or registering the OS on different PCs.

To make this scheme work, you must activate your copy of Windows--over the Internet or by calling for an activation code--within 30 days of installation. Activation differs from a classic registration process in that no personal information is requested by or sent to Microsoft, just a record that a specific copy of Windows XP is installed on your specific PC. If you fail to activate your copy of the OS within 30 days, your login will fail. (Since XP is based on Windows NT-like privilege levels, you can't use your computer until you log on.)

Microsoft says the scheme should not prevent you from reinstalling your copy of XP on your PC as many times as you need to, as long as it's the same PC or close to it, allowing for some hardware changes. It's the "some" that has most folks worried. In theory, you might have to reactivate your OS if you upgrade significantly or swap out a lot of components because XP might think it's running on a new PC. So far, Microsoft isn't saying what system information the OS uses to determine the "same PC or close to it" status. That means we don't know to what degree you can upgrade your hardware before you cross the invisible line. We also don't know how much, if any, personally identifiable data Microsoft is gathering from your PC.

Microsoft says you can, of course, change at least one and possibly several hardware components--RAM, video or sound cards, CPUs, motherboards, and so on--without having to reactivate your OS. But if you try to reinstall your copy of Windows XP on what Microsoft calls a "different or significantly upgraded or changed PC" (again, the company declined to specify how different), the activation will most likely be rejected, requiring you to call Microsoft to explain and get a new (free) activation code.

Microsoft plans to set up a new call center for U.S.-based customers to expedite activation issues. Many non-U.S. customers will likely have to go through the existing, shared Microsoft technical support lines they currently use. Microsoft says it expects only 2 percent of the total installed base of Windows XP to have to reactivate the OS. Whether the anti-piracy initiative will present problems for consumers or result in fewer upgrades to XP remains to be seen. Remember, the final release is at least a few months off.

Make XP boot even Faster

Microsoft has chosen a completely different path for XP and it's boot features by trying to incorporate as much support for newer fastboot BIOSes that are on most current motherboards. They built XP in such a way as to make it able to take advantage of features in these new BIOSes, and one of the coolest things is a small application called bootvis. bootvis.

Bootvis watches everything that loads at boot time, from the moment the OS begins to load just after POST (Power On Self-Test) to the moment you get to a usable Desktop. Some programs, most notably Norton AntiVirus 2002, suck up valuable seconds before you can actually DO anything even though you're at the Desktop. bootvis generates a trace file that you load and can then "see" a visual representation of what's happening. Every file, driver, hard drive read/write, etc., is recorded. You can then use bootvis to optimize the loading of files during the boot sequence. bootvis will rearrange the ways these very files are stored on the hard drive, thereby improving the boot time dramatically.

Boot Defragment

A very important new feature in Microsoft Windows XP is the ability to do a boot defragment. This basically means that all boot files are placed next to each other on the disk drive to allow for faster booting. By default this option is enabled but some upgrade users have reported that it isn't on their setup.

1. Start Regedit.

2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction

3. Select Enable from the list on the right.

4. Right on it and select Modify.

5. Change the value to Y to enable and N to disable.

6. Reboot your computer.

Shutting Down Windows XP

Although the big argument used to be about saturated and unsaturated fats, today's generation has found a new source of disagreement: Should a computer be left on all the time or turned off at the end of the day? Both camps have decent arguments, and there's no real answer (except that you should always turn off your monitor when you won't be using it for a half hour or so).

However, if you decide to turn off your computer, don't just head for the off switch. First, tell Windows XP about your plans. To do that, click the Start button, choose the Turn Off Computer command, and ponder the choices Windows XP places on-screen.

Click Stand By to temporarily put the computer to sleep, click Turn Off to turn off your computer, or click Restart to make Windows XP shut down and come back to life.

Stand By: Save your work before choosing this option; Windows XP doesn't save your work automatically. Instead, it lets your computer doze for a bit to save power, but the computer wakes up at the touch of a button.

Turn Off: Clicking here tells Windows XP to put away all your programs and to make sure that you've saved all your important files. Then it turns off your computer and most of the newer monitors. Poof! Use this option when you're done computing for the day. (If your monitor doesn't turn off automatically, you'll have to push its power button yourself.)

Restart: Here, Windows saves your work and prepares your computer to be shut off. However, it then restarts your computer. Use this option when installing new software, changing settings, or trying to stop Windows XP from doing something awfully weird.

Hibernate: Only offered on some computers, this option works much like Shut Down. It saves your work and turns off your computer. However, when turned on again, your computer presents your desktop just as you left it: Open programs and windows appear in the same place. Putting your computer into hibernation mode is not as safe as shutting it down. (Don't see the Hibernate feature? Hold down Shift, and it will replace the Standby button.)

The Hibernate command takes all of your currently open information and writes it to the hard drive in one big chunk. Then, to re-create your desktop, it reads that big chunk and places it back on your desktop.

Don't ever turn off your computer unless you've chosen the Turn Off command from the Start button. Windows XP needs to prepare itself for the shutdown, or it may accidentally eat some of your important information — as well as the information of anybody else using the computer at the time.

Remember, if you're done with the computer but other people might want to use it, just click Log Off from the Start menu: Windows XP saves your work and brings up the Welcome screen, allowing other people to log on and play video games.

XP Animations

You can turn off window animation ("exploding" windows), displayed when you play around with minimizing/maximizing open windows. This makes navigating Windows 95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP a lot quicker, especially if you don't have a fast video controller, or if you got tired of seeing it all the time (like I did). :)To do this, run Regedit (or Regedt32) and go to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER Control Panel Desktop WindowMetrics or if you are the only user of your Windows computer go to:

HKEY_USERS .Default Control Panel Desktop WindowMetrics

Right-click on an empty spot in the right hand pane. Select New -> String [REG_SZ] Value. Name it MinAnimate. Click OK. Double-click on "MinAnimate" and type 0 to turn OFF window animation or 1 to turn it ON. Click OK. Close the Registry Editor and restart Windows. Done.

TweakUI, the famous Microsoft Power Toy [110 KB, free, unsupported] can also turn off animated windows. Just remove the check mark from the "Window Animation" box under the General tab.

Make your Folders Private

•Open My Computer

•Double-click the drive where Windows is installed (usually drive (C:), unless you have more than one drive on your computer).

•If the contents of the drive are hidden, under System Tasks, click Show the contents of this drive. •Double-click the Documents and Settings folder.

•Double-click your user folder.

•Right-click any folder in your user profile, and then click Properties.

•On the Sharing tab, select the Make this folder private so that only I have access to it check box.

Note

•To open My Computer, click Start, and then click My Computer.

•This option is only available for folders included in your user profile. Folders in your user profile include My Documents and its subfolders, Desktop, Start Menu, Cookies, and Favorites. If you do not make these folders private, they are available to everyone who uses your computer.

•When you make a folder private, all of its subfolders are private as well. For example, when you make My Documents private, you also make My Music and My Pictures private. When you share a folder, you also share all of its subfolders unless you make them private.

•You cannot make your folders private if your drive is not formatted as NTFS For information about converting your drive to NTFS

IP address of your connection

Go to start/run type 'cmd'

then type 'ipconfig'

Add the '/all' switch for more info.

Ports That Are Used by Windows Product Activation

Windows Product Activation uses the following ports:

80 - HTTP

443 - HTTPS

Provide Remote Assistance When Using a NAT Device

You can provide Remote Assistance to a friend who uses a Network Address Translation (NAT) device by modifying the Remote Assistance invitation using XML. Network Address Translation is used to allow multiple computers to share the same outbound Internet connection. To open a Remote Assistance session with a friend who uses a NAT device:

1. Ask your friend to send you a Remote Assistance invitation by e–mail.

2. Save the invitation file to your desktop.

3. Right–click the file, and then click Open With Notepad. You'll see that the file is a simple XML file.

4.Under the RCTICKET attribute is a private IP address, such as 192.168.1.100.

5. Over–write this IP address with your friend's public IP address. Your friend must send you his or her public IP address: they can find out what it is by going to a Web site that will return the public IP address, such as http://www.dslreports.com/ip.

6. Save the file, and then double–click it to open the Remote Assistance session.

Now, you'll be able to connect and provide them with the help they need. So that your inbound IP connection is routed to the correct computer, the NAT must be configured to route that inbound traffic. To do so, make sure your friend forwards port 3389 to the computer they want help from.

How to Rename the Recycle Bin

To change the name of the Recycle Bin desktop icon, open Regedit and go to:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/CLSID/{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

and change the name "Recycle Bin" to whatever you want (don't type any quotes).

Remove the Recycle Bin from the Desktop

If you don't use the Recycle Bin to store deleted files , you can get rid of its desktop icon all together.

Run Regedit and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/explorer/Desktop/NameSpace

Click on the "Recycle Bin" string in the right hand pane. Hit Del, click OK.

Restricting Logon Access

If you work in a multiuser computing environment, and you have full (administrator level) access to your computer, you might want to restrict unauthorized access to your "sensitive" files under Windows 95/98.One way is to disable the Cancel button in the Logon dialog box.Just run Regedit and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Network/Logon

Create the "Logon" subkey if it is not present on your machine: highlight the Network key -> right-click in the left hand Regedit pane -> select New -> Key -> name it "Logon" (no quotes) -> press Enter. Then add/modify a DWORD value and call it "MustBeValidated" (don't type the quotes). Double-click it, check the Decimal box and type 1 for value.Now click the Start button -> Shut Down (Log off UserName) -> Log on as a different user, and you'll notice that the Logon Cancel button has been disabled.

Search For Hidden Or System Files In Windows XP

The Search companion in Windows XP searches for hidden and system files differently than in earlier versions of Windows. This guide describes how to search for hidden or system files in Windows XP.

Search for Hidden or System Files By default, the Search companion does not search for hidden or system files. Because of this, you may be unable to find files, even though they exist on the drive.
To search for hidden or system files in Windows XP:

Click Start, click Search, click All files and folders, and then click More advanced options.

Click to select the Search system folders and Search hidden files and folders check boxes.

NOTE: You do not need to configure your computer to show hidden files in the Folder Options dialog box in Windows Explorer to find files with either the hidden or system attributes, but you need to configure your computer not to hide protected operating system files to find files with both the hidden and system attributes. Search Companion shares the Hide protected operating system files option (which hides files with both the system and hidden attributes) with the Folder Options dialog box Windows Explorer.

Set Permissions for Shared Files and Folders

Sharing of files and folders can be managed in two ways. If you chose simplified file sharing, your folders can be shared with everyone on your network or workgroup, or you can make your folders private. (This is how folders are shared in Windows 2000.) However, in Windows XP Professional, you can also set folder permissions for specific users or groups. To do this, you must first change the default setting, which is simple file sharing. To change this setting, follow these steps:

•Open Control Panel, click Tools, and then click Folder Options.

•Click the View tab, and scroll to the bottom of the Advanced Settings list.

•Clear the Use simple file sharing (Recommended) check box.

•To manage folder permissions, browse to the folder in Windows Explorer, right–click the folder, and then click Properties. Click the Security tab, and assign permissions, such as Full Control, Modify, Read, and/or Write, to specific users.

You can set file and folder permissions only on drives formatted to use NTFS, and you must be the owner or have been granted permission to do so by the owner.

Set Processes Priority

Follow this tip to increase the priority of active processes, this will result in prioritisation of processes using the CPU.

CTRL-SHIFT-ESC

1.Go to the second tab called Processes, right click on one of the active processes, you will see the Set Priority option

2.For example, your Run your CDwriter program , set the priority higher, and guess what, no crashed CD’s

Set up and Use Internet Connection Sharing

With Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) in Windows XP, you can connect one computer to the Internet, then share the Internet service with several computers on your home or small office network. The Network Setup Wizard in Windows XP Professional will automatically provide all of the network settings you need to share one Internet connection with all the computers in your network. Each computer can use programs such as Internet Explorer and Outlook Express as if they were directly connected to the Internet. You should not use this feature in an existing network with Windows 2000 Server domain controllers, DNS servers, gateways, DHCP servers, or systems configured for static IP addresses.

Enabling ICS

The ICS host computer needs two network connections. The local area network connection, automatically created by installing a network adapter, connects to the computers on your home or small office network. The other connection, using a 56k modem, ISDN, DSL, or cable modem, connects the home or small office network to the Internet. You need to ensure that ICS is enabled on the connection that has the Internet connection. By doing this, the shared connection can connect your home or small office network to the Internet, and users outside your network are not at risk of receiving inappropriate addresses from your network. When you enable ICS, the local area network connection to the home or small office network is given a new static IP address and configuration. Consequently, TCP/IP connections established between any home or small office computer and the ICS host computer at the time of enabling ICS are lost and need to be reestablished. For example, if Internet Explorer is connecting to a Web site when Internet Connection Sharing is enabled, refresh the browser to reestablish the connection. You must configure client machines on your home or small office network so TCP/IP on the local area connection obtains an IP address automatically. Home or small office network users must also configure Internet options for Internet Connection Sharing. To enable Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) Discovery and Control on Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium Edition computers, run the Network Setup Wizard from the CD or floppy disk on these computers. For ICS Discovery and Control to work on Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium Edition computers, Internet Explorer version 5.0 or later must be installed.

To enable Internet Connection Sharing on a network connection

You must be logged on to your computer with an owner account in order to complete this procedure. Open Network Connections. (Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double–click Network Connections.)
Click the dial–up, local area network, PPPoE, or VPN connection you want to share, and then, under Network Tasks, click Change settings of this connection.
On the Advanced tab, select the Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection check box. If you want this connection to dial automatically when another computer on your home or small office network attempts to access external resources, select the Establish a dial–up connection whenever a computer on my network attempts to access the Internet check box.
If you want other network users to enable or disable the shared Internet connection, select the Allow other network users to control or disable the shared Internet connection check box.
Under Internet Connection Sharing, in Home networking connection, select any adapter that connects the computer sharing its Internet connection to the other computers on your network. The Home networking connection is only present when two or more network adapters are installed on the computer.
To configure Internet options on your client computers for Internet Connection Sharing Open Internet Explorer. Click Start, point to All Programs, and then click Internet Explorer.)
On the Tools menu, click Internet Options.
On the Connections tab, click Never dial a connection, and then click LAN Settings. In Automatic configuration, clear the Automatically detect settings and Use automatic configuration script check boxes.
In Proxy Server, clear the Use a proxy server check box.

Speed up your browsing of Windows 2000 & XP machines

Here's a great tip to speed up your browsing of Windows XP machines. Its actually a fix to a bug installed as default in Windows 2000 that scans shared files for Scheduled Tasks. And it turns out that you can experience a delay as long as 30 seconds when you try to view shared files across a network because Windows 2000 is using the extra time to search the remote computer for any Scheduled Tasks. Note that though the fix is originally intended for only those affected, Windows 2000 users will experience that the actual browsing speed of both the Internet & Windows Explorers improve significantly after applying it since it doesn't search for Scheduled Tasks anymore. Here's how :

Open up the Registry and go to :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace

Under that branch, select the key :

{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}
and delete it.

This is key that instructs Windows to search for Scheduled Tasks. If you like you may want to export the exact branch so that you can restore the key if necessary.
This fix is so effective that it doesn't require a reboot and you can almost immediately determine yourself how much it speeds up your browsing processes.

How to make your Desktop Icons Transparent

Go to ontrol Panel > System, > Advanced > Performance area > Settings button Visual Effects tab "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the Desktop"

How to Upgrade Windows 98 or Windows Millennium Edition Profiles to Windows XP Domain User Profiles

This guide describes how to upgrade a Microsoft Microsoft Windows 98-based, or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition-based client that has user profiles to a Microsoft Windows XP-based client.
The following steps enable the Windows 98 and Windows Millennium Edition (Me) profiles to be retained throughout the process.
Your best method to retain the profiles is to join the domain during the upgrade installation process. Otherwise, you must use a workaround method to transfer the profile information over to the Windows XP profile.
During the upgrade installation process, at the networking section, the administrator is offered the choice to join a domain or a workgroup. If you join the domain at this juncture, you ensure that all the existing profiles are migrated successfully to the Windows XP-based installation.
If you did not join the computer to the domain during the upgrade process, you must use the following workaround method:Join the upgraded computer to the target domain.
All applicable users must log on and log off (which generates a profile).
Copy the appropriate Application Data folder from the Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me profiles to the newly created user profiles.

Upgrading to Windows XP

You can upgrade a computer that runs Windows 98, 98SE, or Me to Windows XP Home Edition. Those same versions, along with Windows NT Workstation 4.0 and Windows 2000 Professional, can be upgraded to Windows XP Professional.

(1).To ensure a smooth upgrade and avoid networking problems, follow these tips before starting the upgrade:

(2)Install all network cards. XP will detect them and automatically install the right drivers.

(3)Have your Internet connection available. The XP setup process will connect to a Microsoft server to download the latest setup files, including changes that have been made since XP was released.

Some programs are incompatible with XP and can cause networking problems. Un-install these programs. After the upgrade is complete and the network is working, re-install XP-compatible versions of these programs: Internet Connection Sharing, NAT, Proxy Server Anti-Virus Firewall.

New Sound Blaster Drivers

With the loads of problems reported by users with Soundblaster cards on Windows XP Creative has stepped up and offered drivers for at least some models of their Sound Blaster cards, but check your particular model closely. I have downloaded the SB128 drivers and my sound problems have been resolved..! So they do work.
http://www.creative.com/support/winxp/

Set the Search Screen to the Classic Look

When I first saw the default search pane in Windows XP, my instinct was to return it to its classic look; that puppy had to go. Of course, I later discovered that a doggie door is built into the applet. Click "Change preferences" then "Without an animated screen character." If you'd rather give it a bare-bones "Windows 2000" look and feel, fire up your Registry editor and navigate to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ CabinetState.

You may need to create a new string value labeled "Use Search Asst" and set it to "no".

How to Remove Windows XP's Messenger

Theoretically, you can get rid of it (as well as a few other things). Windows 2000 power users should already be familiar with this tweak.

Fire up the Windows Explorer and navigate your way to the %SYSTEMROOT% \ INF folder. What the heck is that thingy with the percentage signs? It's a variable. For most people, %SYSTEMROOT% is C:\Windows. For others, it may be E:\WinXP. Get it? Okay, on with the hack! In the INF folder, open sysoc.inf (but not before making a BACKUP copy first). Before your eyes glaze over, look for the line containing "msmsgs" in it. Near the end of that particular line, you'll notice that the word "hide" is not so hidden. Go ahead and delete "hide" (so that the flanking commas are left sitting next to one another). Save the file and close it. Now, open the Add and Remove Programs applet in the Control Panel. Click the Add / Remove Windows Components icon. You should see "Windows Messenger" in that list. Remove the checkmark from its box, and you should be set. NOTE: there are other hidden system components in that sysoc.inf file, too. Remove "hide" and the subsequent programs at your own risk.