How to Open Ports or Allow Programs to Run with SP2's Firewall?
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Click on Start / Run |
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Enter in firewall.cpl |
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Click on the Exceptions tab
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Adding a Port for Internet Access:
- Click on the Add Port button
- Name it whatever you want
- Enter in the ports you want to open |
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Adding a Port for Internet Access:
- Click on Add Program... button
- A list of all installed programs will be displayed
- Highlight the one you want to include for Internet access
- Click on the OK button |
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Autoexec.nt or Config.nt Errors
If you are getting errors similar to - The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications. Choose 'Close' to terminate the application.
Try copying the file from \windows\repair directory to the one that is in the \windows\system32 directory.
How to enable Guest Only Network Access?
If you try and connect to an XP computer and are shown a logins screen with only the computer name/guest, You may need to change one of the Local Security Policies:
Got to Control Panel - Administrative Tools
Go to Local Policies - Security Options
Check the Network access: Sharing and security model for local accounts
Set it to Classic - local users authenticate as themselves
How to Hide a XP Computer from Network Neighborhood?
If you want to share files from a XP computer, yet want to remove it from showing up in the Network Neighborhood, Run net config server /hidden: yes
How to Share Multiple Folders?
If you need to share multiple folders, running the program SHRPUBW.EXE will bring up a simple dialog box to let you:
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Browse to the folder you want to share |
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Enter in a Share name |
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Enter in a Share description |
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Set permissions (Several choices are available) |
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Restart the process from within the same program Go to top |
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How to Restore the Desktop Icon to the Quick launch Bar?
If you mistakenly deleted the icon for the Desktop on the Quick launch toolbar
Go to C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch
(where user_name is replaced by your login name)
Create a Text file called Show Desktop.SCF with the following contents:
[Shell]
Command=2
Icon File=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=Toggle Desktop Go to top
How to enable Network Access after Norton Anti-Virus is installed?
Sometimes you can't access a WinXP computer after installing Norton Anti-Virus.
There might be a variety of errors at the other computer depending on the operating system. On the computer running Windows XP, in the Event Viewer / System log, there will be the following error:
The server's configuration parameter "irpstacksize" is too small for the server to use a local device.
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Start Regedit |
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Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters |
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Edit the IRPStackSize |
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Give it a value of 15 |
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Reboot the computer |
How to Clean the Prefetch Directory?
Windows XP has a new feature called Prefetch. This keeps a shortcut to recently used programs. However it can fill up with old and obsolete programs.
To clean the directory:
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Start / Run / Prefetch |
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Press Ctrl-A to highlight all the shortcuts |
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Delete them Go to top |
Not Displaying Logon, Logoff, Startup and Shutdown Status Messages
To turn these off:
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Start Regedit |
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Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system |
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If it is not already there, create a DWORD value named DisableStatusMessages |
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Give it a value of 1 |
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How to Bring Up the Shutdown Dialog Box?
Create a new txt file somewhere on your system, open it and put in this one line:
(new ActiveXObject("Shell.Application")).ShutdownWindow s();
Save and Close the file. Change the extension to js and you’ve got it.
You can make a shortcut to that file to make it easy to shut down your system.
No Poweroff at Shutdown?
If your computer does not turn off the power when doing a shutdown,
you may need to edit the registry. I have all the correct BIOS and Power settings and still needed to do this.
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Start Regedit |
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Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop |
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Edit the key PowerOffActive and give it a value of 1 |
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You can do the same in HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop |
How to Disable Explorer Thumbnail View?
If you want disable the Explorer's ability to show the Thumbnail View ,
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Start Regedit |
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Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Advanced \Change ClassicViewState to 1 |
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Go to top |
How to Disable Shared Documents?
To disable the Shared Documents folder that shows up on the network
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer \
Create a new DWORD Value
Give it the name NoSharedDocuments
Give it a value of 1
Log off or reboot
How to Remove Thumbs.db Files?
When viewing a folder with the Thumbnail view, WindowsXP creates a thumbs.db file.
This is a cache of the current pictures in that directory.
If you want to turn this feature off and save a little disk space
Start the Windows Explorer
Go to Tools / Folder Options / View
In the first section under Files and Folders, check Do not cache thumbnails
Now you can search for the thumbs.db file on your computer and remove them. No more should be created.
How to Enable / Disable the Task Manager?
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Start Regedit |
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Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\System |
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Create the Dword value DisableTaskMgr |
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Give it a value of 0 to enable it |
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Give it a value of 1 to disable it Go to top |
How to clear the Page File on Shutdown
Another way to set the computer to clear the pagefile without directly editing the registry is:
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Click on the Start button |
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Go to the Control Panel |
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Administrative Tools |
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Local Security Policy |
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Local Policies |
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Click on Security Options |
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Right hand menu - right click on "Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile" |
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Select "Enable" |
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Reboot |
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If you want to clear the page file on each shutdown:
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Start Regedit |
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Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\SessionManager\MemoryManagement\ClearPageFileAtShutdown |
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Set the value to 1 |
How to change Drive Letters?
If you want to change the letters assigned to your fixed or removable drives:
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Right Click on My Computer |
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Select Manage |
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Select Disk Management |
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For a Fixed Disk:
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Select it |
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Right click |
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Select Change Drive Letter and Path |
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Click on the Edit button |
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Enter in the letter you want to use |
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For a Removable Disk:
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In the lower, right hand panel, right click on the Disk or CD ROM # |
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Select Change Drive Letter and Path |
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Click on the Edit button |
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Enter in the letter you want to use |
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How to decrease Boot Time?
Microsoft has made available a program to analyze and decrease the time it takes to boot to Windows XP. The program is called BootVis
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Uncompress the file. |
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Run BOOTVIS.EXE |
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For a starting point, run Trace / Next Boot + Driver Delays (This will reboot your computer and provide a benchmark |
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After the reboot, BootVis will take a minute or two to show graphs of your system startup. |
Note: how much time it takes for your system to load (click on the red vertical line)
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Then run Trace / Optimize System |
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Re-Run the Next Boot + Drive Delays |
Note: how much the time has decreased. (Mine went from approximately 39 to 30 seconds.)
How to Disable Hibernation?
If you don't want to use up the disk space taken by Hibernation, or don't need to use it at all, you can easily disable it.
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Open up the Control Panel / Power Options icon |
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Click on the Hibernation icon |
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Uncheck Enable Hibernation |
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Windows XP Command Line Utilities
While there are a lot of command line utilities in Windows XP, here are some that I have been using lately.
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bootcfg - Configures, queries, or changes Boot.ini file settings. |
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driverquery - Displays a list of all installed device drivers and their properties. |
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getmac - Returns the media access control (MAC) address and list of network protocols associated with each address for all network cards in each computer |
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gpresult - Displays Group Policy settings and Resultant Set of Policy (RSOP) for a user or a computer |
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netsh - You can use commands in the Netsh Interface IP context to configure the TCP/IP protocol |
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schtasks - Schedules commands and programs to run periodically or at a specific time |
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systeminfo - Displays detailed configuration information about a computer and its operating system |
Common Command Console Utilities
Windows XP comes with quite a few console utilities you can easily run from the command line:
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Computer Management - compmgmt.msc |
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Disk Managment - diskmgmt.msc |
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Device Manager - devmgmt.msc |
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Disk Defrag - dfrg.msc |
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Event Viewer - eventvwr.msc |
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Shared Folders - fsmgmt.msc |
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Group Policies - gpedit.msc |
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Local Users and Groups - lusrmgr.msc |
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Performance Monitor - perfmon.msc |
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Resultant Set of Policies - rsop.msc |
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Local Security Settings - secpol.msc |
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Services - services.msc |
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Component Services - comexp.msc |
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How to Change Programs That Start Automatically?
Windows XP has a similar program, MSCONFIG, which was available in Windows98.
This allows you to view and change what programs are automatically started each time you log in. The new version also allows you to view and edit the boot.ini file (as well as check for errors and use several advanced switches) |