Windows Xp Tips and Tricks

To run any of these apps go to Start > Run and type the executable name, for example: charmap

WINDOWS XP HIDDEN APPLICATIONS:

1. Character Map = charmap.exe (very useful for finding unusual characters)

2. Disk Cleanup = cleanmgr.exe

3. Clipboard Viewer = clipbrd.exe (views contents of Windows clipboard)

4. Dr Watson = drwtsn32.exe (Troubleshooting tool)

5. DirectX diagnosis = dxdiag.exe (Diagnose & test DirectX, video & sound cards)

6. Private character editor = eudcedit.exe (allows creation or modification of characters)

7. IExpress Wizard = iexpress.exe (Create self-extracting / self-installing package)

8.
Mcft Synchronization Manager = mobsync.exe (appears to allow
synchronization of files on the network for when working offline.
Apparently undocumented).

9. Windows Media Player 5.1 = mplay32.exe (Retro version of Media Player, very basic).

10. ODBC Data Source Administrator = odbcad32.exe (something to do with databases)

11.
Object Packager = packager.exe (to do with packaging objects for
insertion in files, appears to have comprehensive help files).

12.
System Monitor = perfmon.exe (very useful, highly configurable tool,
tells you everything you ever wanted to know about any aspect of PC
performance, for uber-geeks only )

13. Program Manager = progman.exe (Legacy Windows 3.x desktop shell).

14. Remote Access phone book = rasphone.exe (documentation is virtually non-existant).

15. Registry Editor = regedt32.exe [also regedit.exe] (for hacking the Windows Registry).

16. Network shared folder wizard = shrpubw.exe (creates shared folders on network).

17. File siganture verification tool = sigverif.exe

18. Volume Contro = sndvol32.exe (I've included this for those people that lose it from the System Notification area).

19. System Configuration Editor = sysedit.exe (modify System.ini & Win.ini just like in Win98! ).

20.
Syskey = syskey.exe (Secures XP Account database - use with care, it's
virtually undocumented but it appears to encrypt all passwords, I'm not
sure of the full implications).

21. Mcft Telnet Client = telnet.exe

22.
Driver Verifier Manager = verifier.exe (seems to be a utility for
monitoring the actions of drivers, might be useful for people having
driver problems. Undocumented).

23. Windows for Workgroups
Chat = winchat.exe (appears to be an old NT utility to allow chat
sessions over a LAN, help files available).

24. System configuration = msconfig.exe (can use to control starup programs)

25. gpedit.msc used to manage group policies, and permissions

Services You Can Disable

There are quite a few services you can disable from starting automatically.
This would be to speed up your boot time and free resources.
They are only suggestions so I suggest you read the description of each one when you run Services
and that you turn them off one at a time.

Some possibilities are:
Alerter - Sends alert messages to specified users that are connected to the server computer.
Application
Management - Allows software to tap directly into the Add/Remove
Programs feature via the Windows Installer technology.
Background
Intelligent Transfer Service - The Background Intelligent Transfer
service is used by programs (such as Windows AutoUpdate) to download
files by using spare bandwidth.
Clipbook - ClipBook permits you to cut and paste text and graphics over the network.
Error Reporting Service - Allows applications to send error reports to Microsoft in the event of an application fault.
Fast User Switching - Windows XP allows users to switch quickly between accounts, without requiring them to log off.
Help and Support - Allows the XP Built-in Help and Support Center to run.
IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service - You don't need this if you have other software to create CDs.
Indexing
Service - Indexes contents and properties of files on local and remote
computers; provides rapid access to files through flexible querying
language.
IP SEC - Manages IP security policy and starts the
ISAKMP/Oakley (IKE) and the IP security driver. If you are not on a
domain, you likely don't need this running.
Messenger - Transmits
net send and Alerter service messages between clients and servers. This
is how a lot of pop-up windows start appearing on your desktop.
Net
Logon - Supports pass-through authentication of account logon events
for computers in a domain. If you are not on a domain, you don't need
this running
Network DDE - Provides network transport and security
for Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) for programs running on the same
computer or on different computers.
NT LM Security Support Provider
- Provides security to remote procedure call (RPC) programs that use
transports other than named pipes.
Performance Logs and Alerts -
Collects performance data from local or remote computers based on
preconfigured schedule parameters, then writes the data to a log or
triggers an alert. If you don't need to monitor your performance logs,
then you don't need this service.
Portable Media Serial Number - Retrieves the serial number of any portable music player connected to your computer
QOS RSVP - Provides network signaling and local traffic control setup functionality for QoS-aware programs and control applets.
Remote
Desktop Help Session Manager - Manages and controls Remote Assistance.
If you are not using Remote Desktop you don't need this service.
Remote Registry - Enables remote users to modify registry settings on this computer.
Routing
& Remote Access - Offers routing services to businesses in local
area and wide area network environments. Allows dial-in access.
Secondary
Login - Enables starting processes under alternate credentials. This is
what allows you to run an application as another user.
Smart Card - Manages access to smart cards read by this computer.
Smart Card Helper - Enables support for legacy non-plug and play smart-card readers used by this computer.
SSDP Discovery Service - Enables discovery of UPnP devices on your home network.
TCP/IP
NetBIOS Helper - Enables support for NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT)
service and NetBIOS name resolution. This should not be needed in
today's network environment.
Telnet - Enables a remote user to log on to this computer and run programs, and supports various TCP/IP Telnet clients.
Uninterruptible Power Supply Service - Manages an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) connected to the computer.
Universal Plug and Play Device Host - Provides support to host Universal Plug and Play devices
Upload Manager - Manages synchronous and asynchronous file transfers between clients and servers on the network.
Volume Shadow Copy Service - Manages and implements Volume Shadow Copies used for backup and other purposes.
Web Client - Enables Windows-based programs to create, access, and modify non-local files across the Internet.
Wireless Zero Configuration - Provides automatic configuration for the 802.11 adapters
WMI Performance Adapter - Provides performance library information from WMI HiPerf providers.

Stopping the Messenger Service


To remove the ability for anyone in the world to pop up messages on your computer,
you can disable the Messenger service.
Click Start->Settings ->Control Panel
Click Performance and Maintenance
Click Administrative Tools
Double click Services
Scroll down and highlight "Messenger"
Right-click the highlighted line and choose Properties
Click the STOP button
Select Disable or Manual in the Startup Type scroll bar Click OK

Faster DOS Printing


If you are experiencing slow printing for DOS programs with Windows2000
Go Start | Run | Regedit
Click Hkey_Local_Machine
Click on System
Click CurrentControlSet
Click Control
Go to the bottom of this part of the list and click WOW
Click LPT timeout and change it to a 3

Cleaning the Prefetch Directory


WindowsXP 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 this periodically go to:
Star / Run / Prefetch
Press Ctrl-A to highlight all the files
Delete them

Not Displaying Logon, Logoff, Startup and Shutdown Status Messages


To turn these off:
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system
If it is not already there, create a DWORD value named DisableStatusMessages

Increasing the Folder Cache


The default setting for WindowsXP is to cache the Explorer settings for 400 folders.
To increase it:
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam
Change the vaule of BagMRU to whatever size you want (hex)

1000 - 3e8
2000 - 7d0
3000 - bb8
4000 - fa0
5000 - 1388

You can Dowload a reg file that will set it for 5000

Increasing Graphics Performance

By default, WindowsXP turns on a lot of shadows, fades, slides etc to menu items.
Most simply slow down their display.

To turn these off selectively:
Right click on the My Computer icon
Select Properties
Click on the Advanced tab
Under Performance, click on the Settings button
To turn them all of, select Adjust for best performance
My preference is to leave them all off except for Show shadows under mouse pointer and Show window contents while dragging

Speeding Up the Display of Start Menu Items


An easy way to speed up the display of the Start Menu Items is to turn off the menu shadow.

Right click on an open area of the Desktop

Select Properties

Click on the Appearance tab

Click on the Effects button

Uncheck Show shadows under menus

Increasing System Performance


If you have 512 megs or more of memory, you can increase system performance
by having the core system kept in memory.
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\DisablePagingExecutive
Set the value to be 1
Reboot the computer

Download Reg File

Opening Shared Folders Snap-In

To manage all your shared folders, you can run the snap-in directly

Start / Run / fsmgmt.msc

This will show you all your shared folders in a single window
You can also see what other computers are connected and what files they have open

Viewing Your IP Address Information


There are several ways you can determine your IP address information:

IPCONFIG
Start / Run / cmd
IPCONFIG /ALL

This opens a command window. One advantage is that you can send the information to a text file (IPCONFIG /ALL > c:\ip.txt)
But sometimes the window shows show much information you need to scroll around to fine it.

VIEW STATUS
Control
Panel / Network Connections / Double click the icons for your network
(If the network has an icon in the system tray you can also just double
click on that icon)
Click on the Support tab
Click on the Details button

Opening Ports or Adding Allowed Programs with SP2's Firewall

Click on Start / Run
Enter in firewall.cpl
Click on the Exceptions tab

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

Adding a Program 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

Repairing Damaged Winsock2

The symptoms when Winsock2 is damaged show when you try to release and renew the IP address using IPCONFIG.

And you get the following error message:
An error occurred while renewing interface 'Internet': An operation was attempted on something that is not a socket.

Also Internet Explorer may give the following error message:
The
page cannot be displayed Additionally, you may have no IP address or no
Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA) address, and you may be
receiving IP packets but not sending them.

There are two easy ways to determine if Winsock2 is damaged:

From the XP source files, go to the Support / Tools directory

Winsock Test Method 1
Run netdiag /test:winsock

The end should say Winsock test ..... passed

Winsock Test Method 2
Run Msinfo32
Click on the + by Components
Click on the by Network
Click on Protocol
There should be 10 sections if the Winsock2 key is ok

MSAFD Tcpip [TCP/IP]
MSAFD Tcpip [UDP/IP]
RSVP UDP Service Provider
RSVP TCP Service Provider
MSAFD NetBIOS [\Device\NetBT_Tcpip...
MSAFD NetBIOS [\Device\NetBT_Tcpip...
MSAFD NetBIOS [\Device\NetBT_Tcpip...
MSAFD NetBIOS [\Device\NetBT_Tcpip...
MSAFD NetBIOS [\Device\NetBT_Tcpip...
MSAFD NetBIOS [\Device\NetBT_Tcpip...

If the names are anything different from those in this list, then likely Winsock2 is corrupted and needs to be repaired.
If you have any 3rd party software installed, the name MSAFD may be changed.
There should be no fewer than 10 sections.

To repair Winsock2
Run Regedit
Delete the following two registry keys:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock2

Restart the computer
Go to Network Connections
Right click and select Properties
Click on the Install button
Select Protocol
Click on the Add button
Click on the Have Disk button
Browse to the \Windows\inf directory
Click on the Open button
Click on the OK button
Highlight Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
Click on the OK button
Reboot

Uninstall hidden XP apps

1. Navigate to C:\WINDOWS\inf
2.
Open the sysoc.inf file in Notepad or another plain text editor. If you
can't find the inf directory, it's probably hidden. Unhide it. Click
Tools and choose Folder Options. Under View, enable Show Hidden Files
& Folders.
3. In sysoc.inf, look for the section called
"components" in XP or "old base components" in 2000. What looks like a
bunch of gibberish is actually pretty easy to read. You'll see a
component name, followed by an equals sign, followed by a list of
parameters separated by commas.
For example:
Games=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,games.inf,HIDE,7 The deal: the "HIDE" between
the two last commas indicates a hidden component. Remove "HIDE" to
unhide the component.
For example: Games=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,games.inf,,7
4. Unhide any component you want.
5. Save the file.
6. Reopen the Windows Component Wizard to see your new Add/Remove options

ReInstalling WindowsXP

If you need to reinstall WindowsXP and want to keep all your current installed applications and settings:

Start WindowsXP

Go to the location of your source files

Run WINNT32 /unattend

I've often need to do this to repair something that had gotten corrupted and didn't want to do a clean install.

Stop Password Expiration

If you want to do this for all users, enter:

Start / Run / net accounts /maxpwage:unlimited

Added 3/18/02

If you are getting an error message that your password is about to expire:
Right click on the My Computer icon
Select Manage
Go to Local Users and Groups / Users
Right-click on the user you want to change
Select Properties
On the General tab, check Password never expires
Click OK

Repair Install

If XP is corrupted to the point where none of the previous solutions get it to boot,
you can do a Repair Install that might work as well as keep the current settings.
Make sure you have your valid WindowsXP key.
The whole process takes about half an hour depending on your computer
If you are being prompted for the administrator's password, you need to choose the 2nd repair option, not the first.
Insert and boot from your WindowsXP CD
At the second R=Repair option, press the R key
This will start the repair
Press F8 for I Agree at the Licensing Agreement
Press R when the directory where WindowsXP is installed is shown. Typically this is C:\WINDOWS
It will then check the C: drive and start copying files
It will automatically reboot when needed. Keep the CD in the drive.
You
will then see the graphic part of the repair that is like during a
normal install of XP (Collecting Information, Dynamic Update, Preparing
Installation, Installing Windows, Finalizing Installation)
When prompted, click on the Next button
When prompted, enter your XP key
Normally you will want to keep the same Workgroup or Domain name
The computer will reboot
Then you will have the same screens as a normal XP Install
Activate if you want (usually a good idea)
Register if you want (but not necessary)
Finish
At this point you should be able to log in with any existing accounts.

Stop Noise In Copying Audio Cd

When
using 3rd party burning software (eg, Nero Burning Rom) to copy audio
CD,some noise may be heard at the end of each track. To prevent
this,try the following method:

01. Enter System Properties\device manager

02. Select IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers

03. Double click on thee CD writer IDE channel

04. Select advance setting

05. Change the transfer mode to 'PIO Only'

06. Restart Computer

REPAIR IN WIN2K
(WIN 2K) You will need the OS reinstallation CD for this. Insert the OS reinstallation CD and reboot the computer.
· Start computer with CD Rom support, then start windows set-up in CD Rom
· Just follow the prompt until you see the windows 2000 professional set-up screen
· Press R, to repair a windows 2000 installation
· Press R again to repair a windows 2000 installation using the emergency repair process
· Press F, to do a fast repair
· Press L if they don’t have the emergency repair disk, press ENTER if they do
· Press ENTER to continue the repair

Remove Shutdown button from Logon Screen

To remove the shutdown button from the logon screen in WinXP and 2K, use regedit and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system
change the value of the dword 'shutdownwithoutlogon' to '0'. exit regedit. that's it!

Removing 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.

Changing the Picture Displayed for a User

You can change the picture that gets displayed for a particular user
Go to the Control Panel
Select User Accounts
Click on the Account to change
Click on Change my picture
You can then browse to the picture you want to use

Disabling Error Reporting

By default, WindowsXP will request to report application errors to Microsoft.
To turn this off:
Right click on the My Computer icon on the desktop
Select Properties / Advanced
Click on the Error Reporting tab
Check Disable error reporting

Increasing File System Caching

To increase the amount of memory Windows will locked for I/O operations:
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management
Edit the key IoPageLockLimit

4096 - 32megs of memory or less
8192 - 32+ megs of memory
16384 - 64+ megs of memory
32768 - 128+ megs of memory
65536 - 256+ megs of memory

Changing Text On your XP start button
Step 1 - Modify Explorer.exe File

In
order to make the changes, the file explorer.exe located at C:\Windows
needs to be edited. Since explorer.exe is a binary file it requires a
special editor. For purposes of this article I have used Resource
Hacker. Resource HackerTM is a freeware utility to view, modify,
rename, add, delete and extract resources in 32bit Windows executables
and resource files (*.res). It incorporates an internal resource script
compiler and decompiler and works on Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME,
Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems.

get this from h**p://delphi.icm.edu.pl/ftp/tools/ResHack.zip

The
first step is to make a backup copy of the file explorer.exe located at
C:\Windows\explorer. Place it in a folder somewhere on your hard drive
where it will be safe. Start Resource Hacker and open explorer.exe
located at C:\Windows\explorer.exe.

The category we are going to
be using is "String Table". Expand it by clicking the plus sign then
navigate down to and expand string 37 followed by highlighting 1033. If
you are using the Classic Layout rather than the XP Layout, use number
38. The right hand pane will display the stringtable. We’re going to
modify item 578, currently showing the word “start” just as it displays
on the current Start button.

There is no magic here. Just double
click on the word “start” so that it’s highlighted, making sure the
quotation marks are not part of the highlight. They need to remain in
place, surrounding the new text that you’ll type. Go ahead and type
your new entry. In my case I used Click Me!

You’ll notice that
after the new text string has been entered the Compile Script button
that was grayed out is now active. I won’t get into what’s involved in
compiling a script, but suffice it to say it’s going to make this
exercise worthwhile. Click Compile Script and then save the altered
file using the Save As command on the File Menu. Do not use the Save
command – Make sure to use the Save As command and choose a name for
the file. Save the newly named file to C:\Windows.


Step 2 – Modify the Registry

!!!make a backup of your registry before making changes!!!

Now
that the modified explorer.exe has been created it’s necessary to
modify the registry so the file will be recognized when the user logs
on to the system. If you don’t know how to access the registry I’m not
sure this article is for you, but just in case it’s a temporary memory
lapse, go to Start (soon to be something else) Run and type regedit in
the Open field. Navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows NT\ CurrentVersion\ Winlogon

In
the right pane, double click the "Shell" entry to open the Edit String
dialog box. In Value data: line, enter the name that was used to save
the modified explorer.exe file. Click OK.

Close Registry Editor
and either log off the system and log back in, or reboot the entire
system if that’s your preference. If all went as planned you should see
your new Start button with the revised text.

NTLDR or NTDETECT.COM Not Found

If you get an error that NTLDR is not found during bootup,

If you have FAT32 partitions, it is much simpler than with NTFS.
Just boot with a Win98 floppy and copy the NTLDR or NTDETECT.COM files
from the i386 directory to the root of the C:\ drive.

For NTFS:
Insert and boot from your WindowsXP CD.
At the first R=Repair option, press the R key
Press the number that corresponds to the correct location for the installation of Windows you want to repair.
Typically this will be #1
Enter in the administrator password when requested
Enter in the following commands (X: is replaced by the actual drive letter that is assigned to the CD ROM drive.
COPY X:\i386\NTLDR C\:
COPY X:\i386\NTDETECT.COM C:\
Take out the CD ROM and type exit

Corrupted or Missing \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG

If you get the error:
Windows could not start because the following files is missing or corrupt
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM or \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE
Insert and boot from your WindowsXP CD.
At the first R=Repair option, press the R key
Press the number that corresponds to the correct location for the installation of Windows you want to repair.
Typically this will be #1
Enter in the administrator password when requested
cd \windows\system32\config
Depending on which section was corrupted:
ren software software.bad or ren system system.bad
Depending on which section was corrupted
copy \windows\repair\system
copy \windows\repair\software
Take out the CD ROM and type exit

How to bypass Windows Genuine crap
Okey i didnt figure out this but its a good way:
1. Download Trixie and install http://www.bhelpuri.net/Trixie/Trixie.htm
2. Download this and put it in your scripts folder (where you installed Trixie)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZGEH6KYZ
3. Go to IE and click Tools -> Trixie Options -> check WGA workaround
There you go!
Another way is to paste this java script:void(window.g_sDisableWGACheck='all';
into IE before you click custom or express, but you have to do it everytime.

or another way

You can disable the WGA check for Windows Update in IE.
1.) Click tools | Manage Add Ons.
2.) Click on WGA and then disable it.

This does not work with IE 7.