Usefull Tips For Windows XP Users

You've read the reviews and digested the key feature

 enhancements and operational changes. Now it's

 time to delve a bit deeper and uncover some of 

Windows XP's secrets.

1. It boasts how long it can stay up. Whereas 

previous versions of Windows were coy about

how long they went between boots, XP is positively 

proud of its stamina. Go to the Command Prompt in the 

Accessories menu from the All Programs start button 

option, and then type 'systeminfo' . The computer 

will produce a lot of useful info, including the uptime. 

If you want to keep these, type 'systeminfo > info.

txt'. This creates a file called info.txt you can look at

 later with Notepad. (Professional Edition only).

2. You can delete files immediately, without having 

them move to the Recycle Bin first. Go to the Start 

menu, select Run... and type 'gpedit.msc' ; then select 

User Configuration, Administrative Templates, 

 Windows Components, Windows Explorer and find 

the Do not move deleted files to the Recycle Bin setting.

 Set it. Poking around in gpedit will reveal a great many

 interface and system options, but take care -- some 

 may stop your computer behaving as you wish. 

(Professional Edition only).

3. You can lock your XP workstation with two clicks of the

 mouse. Create a new shortcut on your desktop using a

 right mouse click, and enter 'rundll32.exe user32.dll,

LockWork Station' in the location field. Give the shortcut

 a name you like. That's it -- just double click on it and

 your computer will be locked. And if that's not easy 

enough, Windows key + L will do the same.

4. XP hides some system software you might want to

 remove, such as Windows Messenger, but you can 

tickle it and make it disgorge everything. Using Notepad

 or Edit, edit the text file /windows/inf/ sysoc.inf, 

search for the word 'hide' and remove it. You can then

 go to the Add or Remove Programs in the Control 

Panel, select Add/Remove Windows Components and 

 there will be your prey, exposed and vulnerable.

5. For those skilled in the art of DOS batch files, XP 

has a number of interesting new commands. These 

include 'eventcreate' and 'eventtriggers' for creating 

and watching system events, 'typeperf' for 

 monitoring performance of various subsystems, 

and 'schtasks' for handling scheduled tasks. As usual,

 typing the command name followed by /? will give 

a list of options -- they're all far too baroque to

 go into here.

6. XP has IP version 6 support -- the next generation of IP.

 Unfortunately this is more than your ISP has, so you can

 only experiment with this on your LAN. Type 'ipv6 install'

 into Run... (it's OK, it won't ruin your existing network 

setup) and then 'ipv6 /?' at the command line to find 

 out more. If you don't know what IPv6 is, don't worry 

and don't bother.

7. You can at last get rid of tasks on the computer from 

the command line by using 'taskkill /pid' and the task 

number, or just 'tskill' and the process number. Find

 that out by typing 'tasklist', which will also tell you a lot

 about what's going on in your system.

8. XP will treat Zip files like folders, which is nice if

 you've got a fast machine. On slower machines, you 

can make XP leave zip files well alone by typing 

'regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll' at the command line.. 

If you change your mind later, you can put things 

back as they were by typing 'regsvr32 zipfldr.dll' .

9. XP has ClearType -- Microsoft's anti-aliasing font 

display technology -- but doesn't have it enabled by 

default. It's well worth trying, especially if you were

 there for DOS and all those years of staring at a 

 screen have given you the eyes of an astigmatic bat. 

To enable ClearType, right click on the desktop, 

select Properties, Appearance, Effects, select Clear

Type from the second drop-down menu and enable 

the selection. Expect best results on laptop displays.

 If you want to use ClearType on the Welcome login 

screen as well, set the registry entry 

 HKEY_USERS/. DEFAULT/Control Panel/Desktop/ 

FontSmoothingTyp e to 2.

10. You can use Remote Assistance to help a friend 

who's using network address translation (NAT) on 

a home network, but not automatically. Get your pal 

to email you a Remote Assistance invitation and edit 

the file. Under the RCTICKET attribute will be a

 NAT IP address, like 192..168.1.10. Replace this with 

your chum's real IP address -- they can find this 

out by going to www.whatismyip. com -- and get them

 to make sure that they've got port 3389 open on 

their firewall and forwarded to the errant computer.

11. You can run a program as a different user without 

logging out and back in again. Right click the icon, 

select Run As... and enter the user name and password

 you want to use. This only applies for that run. 

The trick is particularly useful if you need to 

have administrative permissions to install a program,

 which many require. Note that you can have

 some fun by running programs multiple times on

 the same system as different users, but this can 

have unforeseen effects.

12. Windows XP can be very insistent about you checking

 for auto updates, registering a Passport, using Windows

 Messenger and so on. After a while, the nagging goes 

away, but if you feel you might slip the bonds of sanity 

before that point, run Regedit, go to 

HKEY_CURRENT_ USER/Software/ Microsoft/ 

Windows/Current Version/Explorer/ Advanced and 

 create a DWORD value called EnableBalloonTips

 with a value of 0.

13. You can start up without needing to enter a user

 name or password. Select Run... from the start menu 

and type 'control userpasswords2' , which will open 

the user accounts application. On the Users tab, clear

 the box for Users Must Enter A User Name And 

Password To Use This Computer, and click on OK. 

An Automatically Log On dialog box will appear; 

enter the user name and password for the 

account you want to use.

14. Internet Explorer 6 will automatically delete 

temporary files, but only if you tell it to. Start the 

browser, select Tools / Internet Options... and Advanced,

 go down to the Security area and check the box to 

Empty Temporary Internet Files folder 

when browser is closed.

15. XP comes with a free Network Activity Light, just in 

case you can't see the LEDs twinkle on your network 

card. Right click on My Network Places on the 

desktop, then select Properties. Right click on the 

description for your LAN or dial-up connection, 

select Properties, then check the Show icon in 

notification area when connected box. You'll now see a 

tiny network icon on the right of your task bar that

 glimmers nicely during network traffic.

16. The Start Menu can be leisurely when it decides to 

appear, but you can speed things along by changing

 the registry entry HKEY_CURRENT_ USER/Control

 Panel/Desktop/ MenuShowDelay from the default 

400 to something a little snappier. Like 0.

17. You can rename loads of files at once in Windows 

Explorer. Highlight a set of files in a window, then 

right click on one and rename it. All the other files 

will be renamed to that name, with individual 

numbers in brackets to distinguish them. Also, in a

 folder you can arrange icons in alphabetised groups

 by View, Arrange Icon By... Show In Groups.

18. Windows Media Player will display the cover art for 

albums as it plays the tracks -- if it found the picture 

on the Internet when you copied the tracks from the 

CD. If it didn't, or if you have lots of pre-WMP music files, 

you can put your own copy of the cover art in the same

 directory as the tracks. Just call it folder.jpg and 

Windows Media Player will pick it up and display it.

19. Windows key + Break brings up the System 

Properties dialogue box; Windows key + D brings 

up the desktop; Windows key + Tab moves

 through the taskbar buttons.