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Remove
Shared Documents
If you don't
want them to show in 'My Computer'
Run Regedit
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Explorer\My
Computer\NameSpace\ DelegateFolders
Delete
{59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}
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Control
Panel - Icons Missing
Run REGEDIT
Go to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control
Panel\don't load
Look in the
right pane and you'll see the Control Panel Icons are disabled.
Right click
on the 'don't load' subkey and select Delete.
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CD-Rom or
DVD Disappeared
Open Regedit
and find the following key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
look for the
Upperfilters and Lowerfilters values. Right click each and select
Delete.
If that
doesnt work delete the Upperfilters and lowerfilters for the
following values;
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdr4_2K
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdralw2k
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdudf
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\UdfReadr
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Repair IE
First thing
to try is start>run type SFC you may need your XP cd.
If that fails
you may have to do a repair installation of XP :-(
If you have
IE6 on a cd or as an exe file (the whole thing) you can try and
re-install but you may receive the following error message:Setup
has detected a newer version of Internet Explorer already
installed on this system.
While you are
logged on as an administrator, click Start, and then click Run>
type regedit,
and then click OK.
Locate the
registry subkey, right-click the IsInstalled (REG_DWORD) value,
and click Modify. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active
Setup\Installed Components\{89820200-ECBD-11cf-8B85-00AA005B4383}
Change the
value data from 1 to 0, and then click OK.
Quit Registry
Editor, and then install Internet Explorer 6.
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Remove
Unsigned driver warning
1. Click
start>run> then type secpol.msc
2. Browse to
local policies>security options
3. Change
Devices: Unsigned driver installation behavior setting to Silently
succeed.
4. Reboot
Computer.
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Shut Down
problem
Sometimes
windows will restart instead of shutting down and the culprit
could
be
Roxio Easy cd creator.There's info at the Roxio website about
this.
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Shut Down
Faster
Open Control
panel >Sound, Speech and Audio devices > Sounds and
Audio Devices
> Sounds.
Then in
program events and windows menu find Exit Windows and highlight
it.
Now
from sounds choose "none" and then click Apply and OK.
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Increase
system performance
Right click
my computer>Click properties>advanced>settings
Click Adjust
for best performance. Scroll to the bottom and tick
“use visual
styles on windows and buttons”.
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Speed up
explorer Icons
If you notice
big delays in viewing icons in explorer try this.
1. Open My
Computer
2. Click
Tools> Folder Options>view
3. Uncheck
"Automatically search for network folders and
printers".
5. Click
"Apply" or "OK"
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Faster
Searching
Windows XP
search is way too slow one reason being - it searches compressed
files-to turn
this feature off Type regsvr32 /u
zipfldr.dll in the run box for zips and
regsvr32 /u
cabview.dll for cabs.
This can be
enabled again but removing the /U from the command.
I also use Xp
powertoys with TweakUI which allows classic searching.
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Enable DMA
1. Open the
Device Manager.
2. Expand
"IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" and double-click on
"Primary IDE Channel"
3. Under the
"Advanced Settings" tab, check the "Device 1"
setting.
4. Set it to
"DMA if available".
Repeat for
Secondary IDE Channel
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XP wont
shutdown
Disabling the
passport .net auto sign in has helped some people with shut down
problems.
A tip from
Phil who spotted this in a PC mag-
Norton AV
2003 tries to display a message on shutdown,but some video cards
have a problem with it and the system hangs.
Browse to,
C:\Program Files\Norton Antivirus, and double-click Apmsgoff.reg.
Click OK, and
its job done.
Also Some
Nvidia 3D cards with XP drivers can cause slow shutdown problems.
The problem
is caused by the Nvidia Driver helper service,which has problems
closing down. Disable it in the services menu.
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Laggy
mouse in games?
click Start
> Run > dxdiag.exe
On the sound
tab turn down sound acceleration
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Default
opening folder
Windows
Explorer opens showing the My Documents folder. To change it.
Click Start
> Programs > Accessories, then right click Windows Explorer,
and
click
Properties.
Under Target
field, which reads %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe, add to make
the line read
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /n, /e, /select, C:\
Click OK.
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Possible
Fixes for disconnection problems with ASDL modems
Right click
on my computer>properties>hardware>device manager - find
the adapter
for the modem >properties>untick
save power.
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How to
reinstall PC Health
Log on as
administrator
Click Start
> Run >type %systemroot%\inf
Click OK to
open the INF folder.
Locate the
file pchealth.inf .
Right-click
the file, and then click Install .(you may need the winxp cd rom)
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Disable
Hibernation
Having
hibernation enabled will lose you your amount of ram in disk
space.
To disable
it-Right click on desktop >properties>screen saver
tab>power >
hibernate
-uncheck enable hibernation.
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Where's
Back-up?
Probably
still on the cd!! For some reason it isnt installed by
default.Double click
the MSI to
install it.Its called NTBACKUP.It may want you to use Floppies ,
if you
want cd's
click cancel and choose cd's.Cancel the wizard for an easy life.
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Disable
Windows Messenger
start
menu>run>type gpedit.msc
Go to
Computer Configuration>Administrative Templates>Windows
Components>Windows Messenger Right click Do not allow Windows
messenger to
be run, go to properties. Check the box next to enable.
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View
superhidden files
Open regedit
Find the
following key;
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
\SOFTWARE \MICROSOFT \WINDOWS \CURRENTVERSION
\EXPLORER
\ADVANCED
look in the
right hand pane for 'ShowSuperHidden' double click to modify
- set the
value to equal 1 to show the super hidden files and 0 to hide
them.
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Annoying
Tray Icons
Right Click
on Start Menu
Click
Properties Tab
Click Taskbar
Tab
Click Hide
inactive icons
Click on
Customize Button
Click the
Notification item you want to change under Current Items
Select Always
Hide behaviour.
Click Ok and
then click Apply.
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Avi file
fix
If you are
getting high cpu use with AVI files - remove this key from the
registry.
It will mean
that avi file properties will not display a summary.
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\
{87D62D94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}\InProcServer32"
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Remove
.NET
Click start
> control panel >user accounts >change an account.
Click Manage
my network passwords (this doesn't delete it-just stops signing
in)
In the next
box select passport.net\*passport and click remove.
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Remove
Unnecessary services
Some services
may never be of any use to you and you you may want to disable
them.Click START>RUN and type services.msc. In the right pane
is a list of
services
-they can be set to Manual-automatic or disabled. If you double
click on
any of these
you would see detailed info.
Work out
which services You need.
Set ALL your
services to manual.
Reboot
computer and use normally doing the tasks you usually do.
This will
allow any other services to start.
Go back to
the list of services, and see which ones are Started.
Change the
services that are marked as Started, to Automatic.
**************************************************************
It varies
greatly on the services each person needs to have running
therefore
working out
which ones are started on your PC will make sure you disable the
right ones
for you.I do reccomend setting the messenger service to manual to
block the
annoying pop up messages.
These are
quite often not needed by most users.
Alterter -
Only needed if you have a network
Application
Layer gateway - set to manual
Automatic
updates - Can be disabled if you visit
windows update regulary.
COM+Event
system and COM+ system application - Set
to manual
Computer
Browser - Networked PC's only.
DCHP
client -Can only be disabled if you have
a static IP.Needed for ICS.
Distributed
Link Tracking client - Unlikely to
be needed.
Distributed
Transaction co-ordinator - Unlikely to
be needed
Error
reporting service - IE error sending -I
prefer this disabled.
Help and
support - Uses lots of system resources
-can you get by without it?
Indexing
service - Another resource hogger.
Net Logon
- Do you log onto a domain? if not disable.
Netmeeting
remote desktop - A security risk.
Secondary
logon - Unlikely to be needed.
Task
scheduler - For setting up automated
tasks - possibly ok for most people
to set to
manual.
Web client
- Used for modifying files on the web -unlikely to be needed
Wireless
zero config - Only for wireless network
users.
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Support
Tools On the Xp cd-rom in afolder called 'support' are lots of great tools/utilities to be installed.These include a duplicate file finder,Clean up utility,disk usage and lots lots more. They can be installed by browsing the support/tools folder. |
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Command
Prompt To get a listing of all commands in the Recovery Console, simply type HELP at the prompt and press ENTER. When you see the command prompt , type a command and press ENTER. Here are a few useful commands: DIR -Displays a listing of the files in the directory you are currently in. Type DIR /P to tell Windows to pause if there are more than a screenful of items. Type DIR /W to show a wide list. Better yet, type DIR /P/W for a multicolumn listing that pauses before scrolling. You can use an asterisk to represent part of the filename. For example, to list all text files, type this: DIR *.txt CD -Change Directory- type CD space and the name of the folder. example- CD windows\system32 To go up a directory type CD .. CHKDSK type CHKDSK and press ENTER -- Checks drives as scandisk in win98.
Windows XP pro Type C:\WINDOWS\Help\ntcmds.chm to open the help file its full of commands. bootcfg Configures, queries, or changes Boot.ini file settings. defrag Locates and consolidates fragmented boot files, data files, and folders on local volumes. diskpart Manages disks, partitions, or volumes. driverquery Queries for a list of drivers and driver properties. getmac Obtains the media access control (MAC) address and list of network protocols . helpctr Starts Help and Support Center. ipseccmd Configures Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) logman Manages and schedules performance counter and event trace log collections. pagefileconfig Displays and configures the paging file Virtual Memory settings of a system. perfmon Enables you to open a Performance console configured with settings files from Windows NT 4.0 version of Performance Monitor. prncnfg Configures or displays configuration information about a printer. prndrvr Adds, deletes, and lists printer drivers from local or remote print servers. prnjobs Pauses, resumes, cancels, and lists print jobs. prnmngr Adds, deletes, and lists printers or printer connections. prnport Creates, deletes, and lists standard TCP/IP printer ports. prnqctl Prints a test page, pauses or resumes a printer, and clears a printer queue. schtasks Schedules commands and programs to run periodically or at a specific time. shutdown Shuts down or restarts a local or remote computer. systeminfo Queries the system for basic system configuration information. taskkill Ends one or more tasks or processes.
tasklist Displays
a list of applications, services, and the Process ID (PID)
currently running.
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How To do
a Repair Installation.
Set your
computer to boot from the CD-ROM drive.(enable first boot device
in BIOS)
Insert your
Windows XP cd into your CD-ROM drive or and then restart your
computer.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
To setup
Windows XP now, press ENTER.
Do not select
the recovery option
Press F8 to
agree to the license agreement.
Make sure
that your current installation of Windows XP is selected in the
box, and then press the R key to repair Windows XP. Follow the
instructions on the screen to complete Setup.
You need to
know which commands you can use type HELP for the list(
attrib, delete, fixboot, md type, cd, dir, fixmbr, mkdir,
systemroot, chdir disable, format more, chkdsk, diskpart, help rd,
cls enable, listsvc, ren, copy, exit, logon, rename, del, expand,
map, rmdir, )
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Create a
restore point
Making system
restore points automatically will soon fill up the hard drive.When
you know the pc is working well turn off system restore and
manually create one.
To manually
set system restore points- click start >all programs >
Accessories >system tools >system restore.
select the
box -Create a restore point-and click Next.
Type a
description for your new restore point >Click Create.
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Netmeeting
Click start
> run type conf and click ok
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System
File Checker
System file
checker is now found by first running MSCONFIG and clicking the
Expand button.
Or click
start>run>cmd> type sfc /scannow
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Dont
reboot - Refresh
When you make
changes to the registry you used to have to reboot before they
take effect.
Not any more-
all you have to do is press ctrl+alt+del click on processes >
find explorer.exe and click end process.Then click file > new
> enter explorer and click ok.
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MSN
Messenger
MSN Messenger
loads automatically when visiting Hotmail and various other sites.
Prevent this
by editing the Registry key;
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{F3A614DC-ABE0-11d2-A441-00C04F795683}\LocalServer32
back up this
Registry key first incase you want to change it back.
Delete the
entire line which shows the path to MSMSGS.EXE from the
Default
String Value: double-click on it > delete the entire Value data
line >
click OK.
To
prevent MSN Messenger from automatically signing in using a
registered Microsoft Passport account: click the Start > Run
> type
control
userpasswords2 -> press Enter > click Advanced tab >
select Manage
Passwords -> delete all Passport entries -> click OK/Apply.
Then run MSN
Messenger > sign in > untick the Sign me in
automatically box > save.
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Administrator
Login
To display
the Administrator account on the logon screen, go to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList
1. Create a
new Value: right-click on an empty spot in the right hand pane
>
select New
> DWORD Value > name it Administrator > click OK
>double-click on it > tick
the Decimal
box > type 1 > click OK.
2. Alter the
Administrator DWORD Value:
highlight it
in the right hand pane > select Modify > tick the Decimal
box > type 1> click OK.
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Re-Install
activation tip
Here is how
to get around re-activation winxp if you have to re-install.
Backup the
Wpa.dbl file after you activate from the System32 subfolder.
Just copy the
file back after you re-install.
To check if
your copy of XP is Activated.
Type
\windows\system32\oobe\msoobe /A in the run box.
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Cool Tool
select Start
and then Run, then type gpedit.msc
Gpedit,
lets you modify virtually every feature in Windows XP
without having to go into the registry.
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SafeMode
Press F8
during Windows startup to see a menu of startup modes:
Safe Mode
Windows starts by using the simplest set of drivers and hardware
devices.
If Windows
still doesn't start, try Safe Mode With Command Prompt or the
Recovery Console.
Safe Mode
With Networking Windows starts by using the simplest set of
drivers and hardware devices but also includes simple networking
components. If Safe Mode works and you need information from a
network, try this mode.
Safe Mode
With Command Prompt Windows starts by using the simplest set
of drivers and hardware devices. You need to use DOS-style
commands. This mode works the same way as the Recovery Console.
Enable
Boot Logging Windows starts normally but logs all the drivers
it loads in the file Ntbtlog.txt Use this mode if you think that a
device driver might be the problem.
Enable VGA
Mode Windows loads the standard, super-compatible Microsoft
VGA driver, which can often assist in reducing conflicts until you
can fix the problem. Use this mode if your video driver isn't
working.
Last Known
Good Configuration Windows starts using the last configuration
that
did not to
have problems. It uses backup copies of your Registry and
device driver files.
Selective
Startup isn't displayed when you press F8. You enable it by
using the System Configuration Utility. Windows prompts before
loading or running each driver or program.
Windows XP
does not support DOS, with the exception of a DOS Virtual Machine,
to run legacy applications. Because of this, Windows can not start
up in DOS mode. You can still start up DOS from a floppy disk, Zip
drive or bootable CD-ROM. When running DOS, you can't read disks
formatted with NTFS.
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Add/Remove
Hidden Programs
Browse to
C:\Windows\inf\sysoc.inf and open in notepad.Remove the word
'hide' from the list to enable the items to show up in add/remove
programs.Save changes.
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Show
Hidden Files
Start>Run>Regedit
find the key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Explorer\Advanced
Value Name:
ShowSuperHidden, Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value), Value
Data: ( 0 =
Hide Files, 1 = Show Files). Create a new DWORD value, or modify
the existing
value,
called 'ShowSuperHidden' and edit the value accordingly.
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Remove
unwanted username pics
1. Open
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application
Data\Microsoft\User Account Pictures\Default Pictures
2. Delete any
User Pictures you do not want or use
3. You can
add your own too as long as they are 48x48 pixel images
(bmp, gif,
jpg, or png)
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Bootable
xp cd with SP1
If you ever
need to reinstall windows xp it may be worth thing about making
a cd which
incorporates sp1.
You will need
your XP installation cd,the full sp1 service pack , cd-writer
and software
capable of creating boot cd's (Nero) and a program like ISObuster.
1.Copy
everything from your windows cd into a new folder named 'xp'
2.Put the
service pack exe in another folder and call it sp1.
3.Open a
Command Prompt (Start > Run > cmd), Type cd \sp1.
Type
xpsp1_en_89.exe -x. A small window will popup-make sure it says
the name of
the folder where the sp1 exe is.Click Ok and the files will be
extracted.
4.when done
type cd update and then type update /s:path to WinXP CD files.
Example
update /s:c:\XP. (where c is the path to the xp files I copied
from the cd)
5.Windows
will now merge the sp1 files with the xp files.You should get
confirmation
it was successful.
6.Open ISO
Buster, select Bootable CD >right-click Microsoft
Corporation.img.
Choose
Extract to your folder where you have your Windows XP files.
7.Start Nero
> choose CD-ROM (Boot) in the New Compilation window. On the
Boot tab, select Image file under Source of boot image data, and
browse to the location of the Microsoft Corporation.img file. Also
enable Expert Settings, choosing No Emulation, and
changing the
Number of loaded sectors to 4.
The ISO tab
should be set as screenshot below
Click New
Drag accross
all the xp files
Now burn>
make sure you select finalize cd.You then have a
bootable
slipstreamed xp cd.
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