Added 2/6/07
If you start the Task Manager and menu bar and tabs are missing,
the Task Manager is running in Tiny Footprint mode.
To fix this, simply double click on an empty space in the top border
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Network Connection Always Shows Access Denied
Added 2/6/07
If you are always getting Access Denied errors when trying to connect to a XP computer,
and you know you have the correct user names and passwords on the computer,
the solution may be a simple registry edit.
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SYSTEM / CurrentControlSet / Control / Lsa
Change the value of a key called "restrictanonymous" to 0 instead of 1
Don't change "restrictanonymoussam" value.
Reboot
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Hiding Manage My Computer
Added 11/25/05
If you want to remove Manage My Computer from My Computer
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Software / Microsoft / Windows / CurrentVersion / Policies / Explorer
Create a DWORD value called NoManageMyComputerVerb
Set the value to 1
Reboot
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Finding Your XP Product ID
Added 11/25/05
There is a great little utility available to help you find your currently installed product ID
http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml
It also works for Windows 95, 98, ME, NT4, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Office 97, and Office XP
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Forgotten Admin or User's Password
Added 11/25/05
You do not need to reinstall if you forgot the admin password.
There is a boot disk you can download at:
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/
that will let you reset the password of any account on NT4, Windows2000 or XP.
Just follow all the default settings which are for the admin account. Used it many
times with great success.
They also have a bootable CD image you can download.
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Showing Common Tasks in Window
Added 11/25/05
When you open a window from My Computer or the Control Panel, and you don't see the blue bar with additional options on the left side, you may simply need to turn on Common Tasks
From that same windows, go to Tools / Folder Options
Check Show common tasks in folders
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Renaming Multiple Files in a Directory
Added 11/19/05
If you want to rename multiple files in the same directory:
Using the Windows Explorer, select all the files you want to rename
Press F2 or right click and select Rename
Enter the prefix for the name you want (e.g. Newname)
This will automatically rename the rest of the files Newname (1).jpg, Newname (2).jpg etc.
Make sure you include the extension if you have the Explorer configured to show them.
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Disable Windows Tour
Added 11/19/05
If you want to disable the Take Tour of Windows XP that comes up after you install WindowsXP:
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Tour
Create a new DWORD key called RunCount
Give it a value of 0
Download Reg File
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Windows Help and Support Error
Added 11/19/05
If you get an error Windows cannot find HELPCTR.EXE, it may be that a registry entry has gotten corrupted.
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\HELPCTR.EXE
If the key isn't there, right click and create a new key HELPCTR.EXE
It should have a value of C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\HelpCtr.exe
Reboot
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Speeding Up Network Browsing
Added 11/14/05
There are a lot of things which can negatively impact how fast XP will browse network shares.
One has been previously covered regarding browsing to Win9x computers.
Other things you can try, especially when there is slow browsing to network shares with a lot of files:
1. Remove current shortcuts in My Network Places
2. Change the registry so shared folders on remote computers are not automatically added to My Network Places when you even open a document from that shared folder
Start Regedit
Create a DWORD value:
HKEY_Current_User \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer \ NoRecentDocsNetHood to 1.
I have also seen setting the following help as well.
HKEY_Current_User \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer \ UseDesktopIniCache to 1.
Download Reg file to do both
3. Increase the amount of data is buffered at one time to send to a client. On the computer with the shared directory:
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters
Create a DWORD Key called SizReqBuf
Give it a value of Hex FFFF
Download Reg file
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Editing the Boot.ini file
Added 10/18/05
The boot.ini file is a simple text file that is on the root of the boot drive.
You can edit this with any plain text editor like Notepad (may need to unhide the file first)
Right click on My Computer
Select Properties
Click on the Advanced tab
Under Startup and Recovery, click on the Settings button
Click on the Edit button
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Running CHKDSK
Added 8/17/05
One way to run a chkdsk (this is like Scandisk that was with Win9X), is to
Double click on My Computer
Right click on the drive you want to check
Select Properties
Click on the Tools tab
Click on the Check Now button
Check to Automatically fix file system errors - This is the same as running chkdsk /f
If you want to Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors, check that box - This is the same as running chkdsk /R. It can also add a lot of time to the scan
Reboot if necessary
You can also run chkdsk from the command line with will give you more options.
The following switches are available:
/F - fix any errors
/R - identifies bad sectors
/V - with FAT32, displays a verbose output
With NTFS Volumes:
/I - Performs simpler check (stage 2)
/C - Skips the checking of cycles within folder structures
/X - Forces the volume to dismount if necessary. Intended for server administrators and should be avoided for normal use
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Opening Shared Folders Snap-In
Added 8/17/05
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
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Additional Utilities
Added 8/17/05
On the XP CD in the \Support\Tools directory, there are a lot of additional support and troubleshooting utilities.
You can run SETUP from that directory to install them.
Just a few are:
diruse Shows Disk Usage
dupfinder Finds Duplicate files
getmac Get's MAC address of the network card
hostname Shows the host name of the computer
netdiag Diagnoses a variety of network components
pviewer Show a list of process and allows you to get a memory detail or kill any process
windiff Compare files and directories
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Viewing Your IP Address Information
Added 8/17/05
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
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Make Pictures Smaller Unavailable
Added 8/17/05
When you try and send pictures through e-mail, you should normally be given the option to make them smaller.
If this option is not available, a DLL file may need to be registered.
Start
Run
regsvr32 shimgvw.dll
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Creating a Suspend Shortcut
Submitted 3/2/05
If you would like to create an icon to suspend your computer,
Right click on the Desktop
New / Shortcut
Enter in rundll32.exe PowrProf.dll, SetSuspendState
Give it whatever name you want
Now when you click on that shortcut, your computer will shutdown and suspend
Submitted by Gabe
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Changing the User Type
Added 3/2/05
Normally in XP Pro, through the Control Panel / User Accounts icon, you are only allowed to create administrators or limited users.
If you want to create
Right click on My Computer
Manage
Local Users and Groups
Users
Right click on the user you want to change
Properties
Member of tab
Add button
Advanced button
Find Now button
From here you see the full list of possibilities (e.g. Power User, Backup Operator etc.)
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Determining Which Services are Associated with SVCHOST
Added 3/2/05
Since so many critical services are run with each svchost,
You can see which ones are being used by opening a cmd prompt and running:
tasklist /svc /fi "imagename eq svchost.exe"
Note: This is available only with XP Pro
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