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Fifty Tips For Windows XP User’s New and Old! Eleventh Edition!

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1. Recover A Corrupted System File In Windows XP!

2. Reboot To Safe Mode In Windows XP Even With A USB Keyboard!

3. Restore The Show Desktop Icon In Windows XP!

4. To Change System Restore Settings Using Windows XP!

5. More On System Restore! Part One!

6. More On System Restore! Part Two!

7. More On System Restore! Part Three!

8. Edit The Registry Safely In Windows XP!

9. To Turn Off System Restore In Windows XP!

10. To Turn On System Restore In Windows XP!

11. Running CHKDSK In Windows XP!

12. Did You Know About The Additional Utilities On The Windows XP Pro CD?

13. Viewing Your IP Address Information In Windows XP!

14. Changing The User Type In Windows XP Pro!

15. Opening Ports Or Adding Allowed Programs With SP2's Firewall!

16. Common Control Panel Applets In Windows XP!

17. Not Displaying Previous Network Share Shortcuts In Windows XP!

18. Running Network Diagnostics In Windows XP Pro!

19. Configure For Auto-Logon In Windows XP!

20. Cleaning The Prefetch Directory In Windows XP!

21. Doing A Repair Install In Windows XP!

22. Hiding The Last User Logged On In Windows XP!

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23. Stop Password Expiration In Windows XP!

24. Adding Environment Variables In Windows XP!

25. Disable Shared Documents In Windows XP!

26. Disable The Remote Desktop Sharing (RDS) Icon's Menu!

27. Prevent The Remote Desktop Sharing (RDS) Icon From Appearing In The Notification Tray!

28. Removing Thumbs.db Files In Windows XP!

29. Re-Installing User Login Pictures In Windows XP!

30. Search Companion Error In Windows XP!

31. Allowing Network Access With Blank Passwords In Windows XP!

32. Changing The Default DOS Window Properties In XP!

33. Creating A Boot Floppy Within Windows XP!

34. Hiding System Tray Icons In Windows XP!

35. XP Run Box Shortcuts!

36. Faster Task Switching In Windows XP!

37. Windows XP Command Line Utilities!

38. Increasing Graphics Performance In Windows XP!

39. Speeding Up The Display Of Start Menu Items!

40. Changing The Picture Displayed For A User In XP!

41. Displaying And Configuring The Classic Start Menu In XP!

42. Add Administrative Tools To Your Start Menu In XP Pro!

43. You Can Specify How Folders Open In Windows XP!

44. Compress Files And Folders In Windows XP!


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45. Change The Compression State Of A Directory In XP!

46. Use The Keyboard In Windows XP!

47. Shortcut To Shutdown In XP!

48. Add New Programs To Your Menu Alphabetically In Windows!

49. Add A Picture To A Folder In XP!

50. Skip The Recycle Bin Confirmation Message In XP! TOP!Visit The Site Index For Many How-To Tips! Recover A Corrupted System File In Windows XP! If an essential Windows file goes missing, gets whacked by a virus, or is otherwise corrupted, you can restore it from your Windows XP CD. Select Search from the Start menu and search the CD for the filename, replacing the last character with an underscore-for example, Notepad.ex_. If it's found, open a command prompt and enter the command expand followed by the full pathname of the file and of the desired destination, for example, expand D:\Setup\Notepad.ex_ C:\Windows\Notepad.exe. If either pathname contains any spaces, surround it-the full path-with double quotes. If the file isn't found, search again using the unmodified filename. It will probably be inside a CAB file, which XP treats as a folder. Then simply open the folder, drag the file to the desired location while holding down the right mouse button, and choose Copy Here. TOP! Reboot To Safe Mode In Windows XP Even With A USB Keyboard! Sometimes in the course of troubleshooting you need to reboot and start Windows in Safe Mode, which is a minimal start-up that loads only those Windows components that are absolutely essential. In theory, you can enter Safe Mode by restarting and then either holding down the Ctrl key or pressing the F8 key at the right moment. In practice, it can be difficult or, with a USB keyboard, impossible (the USB drivers aren't available in the DOS start-up environment). To configure Windows XP so its next restart will enter Safe Mode, launch the System Configuration Utility (msconfig) from the Start menu's Run dialog. Click the BOOT.INI tab and check the box titled /SAFEBOOT. Don't touch the other settings. When you reboot, XP will start in Safe Mode and will keep doing so until you uncheck that box. TOP!


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Restore The Show Desktop Icon In Windows XP! If I had a nickel for every time we've been asked how to restore this handy Quick Launch icon . . . well, I'd have a few bucks by now. The Show Desktop icon isn't a normal shortcut. If you accidentally delete it, restore it like so: Launch Notepad and type these lines: [Shell] Command=2 IconFile=explorer.exe,3 [Taskbar] Command=ToggleDesktop Save the file with the name "Show Desktop.scf", including the quotes, to the folder C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch, where username is replaced by your actual user account name. TOP!Visit The Site Index For Many How-To Tips! To Change System Restore Settings Using Windows XP! You can change System Restore settings by: - Excluding a non-system drive so System Restore does not monitor or restore it - Resuming System Restore monitoring - Allocating more disk space to System Restore - Turning off System Restore - Turning on System Restore Side Notes: - System Restore is enabled on all drives when you first start your new computer or when the operating system is installed, unless you have less than 200 MB of available space on the hard disk (or the partition that contains your operating system folder). If you do not have enough disk space available when your operating system is installed, then you must turn on System Restore, using the preceding steps, after you have made sufficient disk space available. - If you run out of disk space, System Restore becomes inactive. When you have made sufficient disk space available, System Restore is automatically activated, but all previous restore points are lost.


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- When System Restore is turned off on a partition or drive, all restore points stored on that partition or drive are deleted. Changes that are made on an excluded partition or drive are not reverted during a System Restore. TOP! More On System Restore! Part One! To Exclude A Non-system Drive Or Partition! 1. Open System Properties. 2. Ensure that the Turn off System Restore check box is cleared. 3. Under Drive settings, click the non-system drive or partition that you want to exclude, then click Settings. 4. Select the Turn off System Restore on this drive check box. This option is not available if you have selected a system drive or partition. Side Notes: - To open System Properties, click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click System. In the System Properties dialog box, click the System Restore tab. - You can choose to exclude any non-system partition or drive so that System Restore does not monitor or restore it. Changes made on an excluded partition or drive are not restored during a System Restore. TOP! More On System Restore! Part Two! To Resume System Restore Monitoring! 1. Open System Properties. 2. Ensure that the Turn off System Restore check box is cleared. 3. Under Drive settings, select the drive or partition by clicking it, and then click Settings. 4. Ensure that the Turn off System Restore on this drive check box is cleared. Side Note: - To open System Properties, click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click System. In the System Properties dialog box, click the System Restore tab. TOP!Visit The Site Index For Many How-To Tips! More On System Restore! Part Three! To Allocate More Disk Space For Archiving Restore Points!


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1. Open System Properties. 2. Select a drive from the Available drives box by clicking it, and then click Settings. If you have only one drive or partition, it is selected for you. 3. In the Drive <drive:>settings box, move the Disk space to use slider to change the disk space allocation for System Restore. Note that you cannot exceed 12 percent of the available disk space. Side Notes: - To open System Properties, click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click System. In the System Properties dialog box, click the System Restore tab. - System Restore requires at least 200 MB of available space on the hard disk (or the partition that contains your operating system folder). For best performance and protection, you should allocate more space. - By default, when the operating system installs System Restore on your computer, it allocates approximately 12 percent of the available disk space to System Restore to archive restore points. TOP! Edit The Registry Safely In Windows XP! Some of the tips in my collection require editing the Registry (Especially the advanced tips in my downloadable PDF Files). Before making any such changes, you should back up the current Registry data. This doesn't mean using the Windows XP Backup applet or even saving a system restore point. Rather, use the Registry Editor itself to back up the Registry keys that will be changed. To begin, select Run from the Start menu and enter regedit to launch the Registry Editor. Navigate to the key you're going to edit and select Export from the File menu. Don't set the Export Range to All—that would back up the entire Registry, and restoring such a backup would wipe out all later changes. Instead, choose the Selected Branch option, which will back up just the selected key, with its subkeys and values. Save it to a REG file with a name that will remind you of the purpose of the change. Open the REG file in Notepad and insert a few comment lines that describe the tip (to create a comment line, put a semicolon at the start of the line). Now go ahead and make all changes to the Registry keys and values specified by the tip you're applying. Any time you add a new key or value, make a note of it with another comment line in the REG file. When you're done, save the REG file and close Notepad. If it's necessary to undo the Registry tweak, start by double-clicking the REG file and confirming that you want to merge it into the Registry. This will restore any deleted keys or values, and will restore the original data for any changed values. Note, however, that it will not remove any keys or values that you added. To take care of those, refer to the comments you inserted in the REG file. Right-click the REG file and choose Edit, which will open the file in Notepad. Check for comments about added keys or values and, if


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found, use the Registry Editor to delete them. You can delete the REG file itself once you've completed the restore process. Here is the path to backing up the Registry for all versions on my Web Site! http://internetfixes1.brinkster.net/registry_tips/registry.htmTOP!Visit The Site Index For Many How-To Tips! To Turn Off System Restore In Windows XP! 1. Open System Properties. 2. Ensure that the Turn off System Restore check box is selected. Side Notes: - To open System Properties, click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click System. In the System Properties dialog box, click the System Restore tab. - If you cannot turn System Restore off, your domain administrator might have enforced administrative system Group Policy on System Restore. Contact your domain administrator. TOP! To Turn On System Restore In Windows XP! 1. Open System Properties. 2. Ensure that the Turn off System Restore check box is cleared. Side Note: - To open System Properties, click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click System. In the System Properties dialog box, click the System Restore tab. TOP! Running CHKDSK In Windows XP! One way to run a chkdsk (this is like Scandisk that was with Win9X), is to 1. Double click on My Computer 2. Right click on the drive you want to check 3. Select Properties 4. Click on the Tools tab 5. Click on the Check Now button 6. Check to Automatically fix file system errors - This is the same as running chkdsk /f 7. 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 8. Reboot if necessary


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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. TOP!Visit The Site Index For Many How-To Tips! Did You Know About The Additional Utilities On The Windows XP Pro CD? 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. If your PC came with a restore disk or your version of XP is stored on a Partition on your Hard Drive you may have problems accessing these. TOP!


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Viewing Your IP Address Information In Windows XP! There are several ways you can determine your IP address information: IPCONFIG 1. Start / Run / cmd Press Enter and type the next command in the new window that opens. 2. 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) TOP! Changing The User Type In Windows XP Pro! 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 others! 1. Right click on My Computer 2. Manage 3. Local Users and Groups 4. Users 5. Right click on the user you want to change 6. Properties 7. Member of tab 8. Add button 9. Advanced button 10. Find Now button 11. From here you see the full list of possibilities (e.g. Power User, Backup Operator etc.) TOP!Visit The Site Index For Many How-To Tips! Opening Ports Or Adding Allowed Programs With SP2's Firewall! 1. Click on Start / Run 2. Enter in firewall.cpl 3. Click on the Exceptions tab Adding a Port for Internet Access: 1. Click on the Add Port button 2. Name it whatever you want 3. Enter in the ports you want to open


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Adding a Program for Internet Access 1. Click on Add Program... button 2. A list of all installed programs will be displayed 3. Highlight the one you want to include for Internet access 4. Click on the OK button Caution: Open Ports At Your Own Risk! TOP! Common Control Panel Applets In Windows XP! The follow are some common Control Panel Applets that are located in the \windows\system32 directory. If you find yourself using any of these frequently, then you can simply make shortcuts to them on your desktop. appwiz.cpl Add/Remove Programs desk.cpl Display Properties firewall.cpl Firewall Settings inetcpl.cpl Internet Options mmsys.cpl Sound and Audio ncpa.cpl Network Connections nusrmgr.cpl User Accounts powercfg.cpl Power Options sysdm.cpl System Properties


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wscui.cpl Security Center wuaucpl.cpl Automatic Updates Configuration You can access any of these by Clicking on Start>Run and typing in the applet title such as desk.cpl TOP!Visit The Site Index For Many How-To Tips! Not Displaying Previous Network Share Shortcuts In Windows XP! By default, when you go to Network Places, it will scan and show shortcuts to previous network shares. To turn this off and remove any current shortcuts: 1. Open up the Windows Explorer 2. Go to Tools / Folder Options / View 3. The top section should be Files and Folders 4. Uncheck Automatically search for network folders and printers 5. Then go into Network Neighborhood and Select all the previous network connections Delete them 6. Next time you look at the Network Neighborhood, they should not repopulate. TOP! Running Network Diagnostics In Windows XP Pro! Network Diagnostics scans your system to gather information about your hardware, software, and network connections. Click on Start / Run / NETSH DIAG GUI The following is the type of information that can be displayed: - Ping - Connect - Show - Verbose - Save to Desktop - Mail Service - News Service - Internet Proxy Server - Computer Information - Operating System - Windows Version


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- Modems - Network Clients - Network Adapters - Domain Name System (DNS) - Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) - Default Gateways - Internet Protocol Address - Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS) TOP! Configure For Auto-Logon In Windows XP! If you are the only person using the computer and want to have it automatically log you on: 1. Start / Run / "control userpasswords2" - no quotes 2. Uncheck User must enter a user name and password to use this computer TOP!Visit The Site Index For Many How-To Tips! Cleaning The Prefetch Directory In Windows XP! Windows XP has a 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: 1. Star / Run / Prefetch 2. Press Ctrl-A to highlight all the files 3. Delete them. TOP! Doing A Repair Install In Windows XP! 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 Windows XP 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. 1. Insert and boot from your Windows XP CD 2. At the second R=Repair option, press the R key 3. This will start the repair


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4. Press F8 for I Agree at the Licensing Agreement 5. Press R when the directory where Windows XP is installed is shown. Typically this is C:\WINDOWS 6. It will then check the C: drive and start copying files 7. It will automatically reboot when needed. Keep the CD in the drive. 8. 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) 9. When prompted, click on the Next button 10. When prompted, enter your XP key 11. Normally you will want to keep the same Workgroup or Domain name 12. The computer will reboot 13. Then you will have the same screens as a normal XP Install 14. Activate if you want (usually a good idea) 15. Register if you want (but not necessary) 16. Finish 17. At this point you should be able to log in with any existing accounts. TOP!Visit The Site Index For Many How-To Tips! Hiding The Last User Logged On In Windows XP! If you use the standard NT style of login and want to hide the last user: 1. Start the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) 2. Go to Computer Configuration / Windows Settings / Security Settings / Local Policies / Security Options 3. Scroll down to Interactive logon: Do not display last user name 4. Set it to Enable. TOP! Stop Password Expiration In Windows XP! If you are getting an error message that your password is about to expire: 1. Right click on the My Computer icon 2. Select Manage 3. Go to Local Users and Groups / Users 4. Right-click on the user you want to change 5. Select Properties 6. On the General tab, check Password never expires 7. Click OK If you want to do this for all users, enter: Start / Run / net accounts /maxpwage:unlimited TOP!


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Adding Environment Variables In Windows XP! Since any version of NT does not use an autoexec.bat file, to add environment variables to Windows XP: 1. Right click on My Computer 2. Select Properties 3. Click on the Advanced tab 4. Click on the Environment Variables button 5. From here you can change it for the system or just the current user. TOP!Visit The Site Index For Many How-To Tips! Disable Shared Documents In Windows XP! To disable the Shared Documents folder that shows up on the network 1. Start Regedit 2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer \ 3. Create a new DWORD Value 4. Give it the name NoSharedDocuments 5. Give it a value of 1 6. Log off or reboot. Caution Using the Registry Editor incorrectly can cause data loss or even operating system failure. Be careful when directly editing the registry. TOP! Disable The Remote Desktop Sharing (RDS) Icon's Menu! To Disable the Remote Desktop Sharing (RDS) icon's menu: 1. Start regedit.exe 2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Conferencing\Mcpt 3. Create a new string value (Click on Edit > New > String Value). 4. Name the value Nx 5. Double-click on it and set it's value to 1 6. Close the registry Now the menu options will be grayed out. Caution Using the Registry Editor incorrectly can cause data loss or even operating system failure. Be careful when directly editing the registry. Go To The Following Address To Make Sure You Know How To Back Your Registry Up! http://internetfixes1.brinkster.net/registry_tips/registry.htm TOP!


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Prevent The Remote Desktop Sharing (RDS) Icon From Appearing In The Notification Tray! To Prevent the Remote Desktop Sharing (RDS) icon from appearing in the notification tray: 1. Click Start, then Run. 2. Type services.msc and then click ok. 3. Scroll down until you find the NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing service 4. Double-click on it. 5. Click on the Log On tab. 6. Uncheck Allow service to interact with desktop 7. Click OK then close the services window. 8. Reboot (You must reboot). When you return, RDS will work, but there will be no icon in the notification area. TOP!Visit The Site Index For Many How-To Tips! Removing Thumbs.db Files In Windows XP! When viewing a folder with the Thumbnail view, Windows XP 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: 1. Start the Windows Explorer 2. Go to Tools / Folder Options / View 3. In the first section under Files and Folders, check Do not cache thumbnails 4. Now you can search for the thumbs.db file on your computer and remove them. No more should be created. TOP! Re-Installing User Login Pictures In Windows XP! Normally Windows XP shows assigned pictures for each user on the system. If you have deleted your user pictures, want to know the location, or need to reinstall them, they are stored in the C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\User Account Pictures\Default Pictures directory. If you need to reinstall them, they can be expanded from the source CD. The actual files are: airplane.bmp astronaut.bmp ball.bmp butterfly.bmp


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cat.bmp fish.bmp pink flower.bmp guitar.bmp snowflake.bmp beach.bmp car.bmp chess.bmp dirt bike.bmp dog.bmp drip.bmp duck.bmp frog.bmp horses.bmp kick.bmp lift-off.bmp palm tree.bmp red flower.bmp skater.bmp TOP!Visit The Site Index For Many How-To Tips! Search Companion Error In Windows XP! This seems to be a common error. When doing a file search, if you get the error A File That Is Required to Run Search Companion Cannot Be Found. 1. Log on as an Administrator 2. Click Start 3. Select Run 4. Enter in the command - %systemroot%\inf 5. Right-click the Srchasst.inf file 6. Click Install TOP! Allowing Network Access With Blank Passwords In Windows XP! Although you can log in locally without a password, by default, Windows XP Pro does not allow network users to access the computer without a password. Typically you will receive an Unknown error 31 if this is the case. To change this setting: 1. Run gpedit.msc 2. Go to Computer Configuration / Windows Settings / Security Settings / Local Policies / Security Options


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3. Double click on Accounts: Limit local account use of blank passwords to console login only 4. Disable this option TOP!Visit The Site Index For Many How-To Tips! Changing The Default DOS Window Properties In XP! If you want to change the default DOS windows properties like: - Size - Color - Font - Buffer Size - Window / Full Screen 1. Open up a DOS window 2. Right click on the Title Bar 3. Select Defaults 4. Make any of the changes you like 5. All subsequent DOS windows will assume these defaults. TOP! Creating A Boot Floppy Within Windows XP! To create a bootable floppy from within Windows XP: 1. Insert a floppy into the A: drive 2. Open the Explorer 3. Right click on the A: Drive 4. Select Format 5. Check Create an MS-DOS startup disk 6. Click on the Start button 7. This will create a Millennium boot disk TOP! Hiding System Tray Icons In Windows XP! With Windows XP, you can manually select how you want individual icons in the System Tray to be displayed. 1. Right click on the Taskbar. 2. Select Properties. 3. Check Hide inactive icons. 4. Click on the Customize button.


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5. This will bring up a dialog box that will allow you to select one of three options for your applications: Hide when inactive, Always hide, or Always show. 6. Highlight current or past applications and make any changes you like. 7. A small arrow will now appear in the System Tray that will allow you to show or hide these icons. TOP!Visit The Site Index For Many How-To Tips! XP Run Box Shortcuts! You want what you want when you want it -- and usually, you want it immediately. That's what being a power user is all about, right? Here are 12 handy shortcuts you can type into your XP run menu to get the utilities you want and need. (Note: Some of these only work in XP Pro.) control Opens your control panel clipbrd Opens your clipboard viewer wordpad Opens a handy text editor compmgmt.msc Opens your Computer management devmgmt.msc Opens your Device manager diskmgmt.msc Opens your Disk management dfrg.msc Opens your Disk defrag eventvwr.msc Opens your Event viewer fsmgmt.msc Opens your Shared folders gpedit.msc Opens your Group policies


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lusrmgr.msc Opens your Local users and groups perfmon.msc Opens your Performance monitor rsop.msc Opens your Resultant set of policies secpol.msc Opens your Local security settings services.msc Opens your Services TOP!Visit The Site Index For Many How-To Tips! Faster Task Switching In Windows XP! If you installed Windows XP Power Tools from Microsoft, when you press Alt-Tab to switch between running applications, you get a screen that shows a small graphic of the window that is of that application along with its icon. This also takes a long time to display. You can speed this up and revert back to previous ways task switching is displayed. To Turn This Off After Your Reboot: 1. Run MSCONFIG 2. Click on the Startup tab 3. Uncheck Taskswitch 4. Click on the OK button 5. If you want to keep working, click on Exit without Restart To Turn This Off Immediately: 1. Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete 2. Click on the Processes tab 3. Highlight TaskSwitch.exe 4. Click on the End Process tab 5. Click on the Yes button TOP! 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. driverquery - Displays a list of all installed device drivers and their properties. getmac - Returns the media access control (MAC) address and list of network protocols associated with each address for all network cards in each computer. gpresult - Displays Group Policy settings and Resultant Set of Policy (RSOP) for a user or a computer. netsh - You can use commands in the Netsh Interface IP context to configure the TCP/IP protocol. schtasks - Schedules commands and programs to run periodically or at a specific time. systeminfo - Displays detailed configuration information about a computer and its operating system. TOP!Visit The Site Index For Many How-To Tips! Increasing Graphics Performance In Windows XP! By default, Windows XP turns on a lot of shadows, fades, slides, etc to menu items. Most simply slow down their display. To turn these off selectively: 1. Right click on the My Computer icon 2. Select Properties 3. Click on the Advanced tab 4. Under Performance, click on the Settings button 5. To turn them all of, select Adjust for best performance 6. My preference is to leave them all off except for Show shadows under mouse pointer and Show window contents while dragging. TOP! 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. 1. Right click on an open area of the Desktop 2. Select Properties 3. Click on the Appearance tab 4. Click on the Effects button


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5. Uncheck Show shadows under menus. TOP! Changing The Picture Displayed For A User In XP! You can change the picture that gets displayed for a particular user. 1. Go to the Control Panel. 2. Select User Accounts. 3. Click on the Account to change. 4. Click on Change my picture. 5. You can then browse to the picture you want to use. TOP!Visit The Site Index For Many How-To Tips! Displaying And Configuring The Classic Start Menu In XP! If you prefer the original Start Menu, you can easily switch it back. 1. Right click on the Taskbar. 2. Select Properties. 3. Click on the Start Menu tab. 4. Select Classic Start Menu. 5. If you click on the Customize button you can choose to display Administrative Tools, Favorites, Run, and expanding many of the sub-menus like the Control Panel. TOP! Add Administrative Tools To Your Start Menu In XP Pro! If you are an administrator to your Windows XP Professional machine, you might want to be able to perform administrative functions. Yet, it is sort of a hassle to navigate to the Control Panel and select the Administrative Tools from there. There is a way that you can make this task simpler! 1. Right–click the Start menu, and then click Properties. 2. On the Start Menu tab, click Customize. 3. Click the Advanced tab, and under Start menu items, scroll to System Administrative Tools. 4. Click Display on the All Programs and the Start menu. You can navigate through those tools right from the comforts of the Start menu. TOP!Visit The Site Index For Many How-To Tips! You Can Specify How Folders Open In Windows XP!


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When you open a folder, the default view might not be one you want to use to view content. To select the view in which you want all folders to open: 1. Open a folder, click the Views button, and then click the view you want to apply. 2. Click Tools, and then click Folder Options. 3. Click the View tab, and under Folder views, click Apply to All Folders, and then click OK. Now the view you are using in the folder you just opened will be the new default view for all the folders you open. TOP! Compress Files And Folders In Windows XP! Need some extra space to install a new program? Both Windows XP Professional and Home Edition now include a zip compression utility that you can use to compress files and folders on your hard disk. To compress a file or folder: 1. Right–click the file or folder. 2. Point to Send To. 3. Then click Compressed (zipped) Folder. This will make a compressed folder, identified by a zipper icon, which displays the same name as the file you compressed. You can also make a compressed folder from scratch, by following these steps: 1. Right–click the desktop. 2. Point to New. 3. Click Compressed (zipped) Folder. Open the new compressed folder and drag files inside that you would like compressed. TOP! Change The Compression State Of A Directory In XP! The COMPACT command is the command-line version of the NTFS file system compression feature. This command lets you see and make changes to the compression attribute of files and directories (not volumes) on NTFS partitions. If you want to get more drive space on your computer, use this command to compress your files automatically within Windows XP. First, open a command prompt by clicking Start, pointing to All Programs, pointing to Accessories, and then clicking Command Prompt. - To see the state of the current directory, type COMPACT and then press Enter.


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- To get an explanation of all compression options, at the command prompt type COMPACT /? and press Enter. To set the compression state of a directory so that files added to the directory will be automatically compressed: 1. From the current directory, open a command prompt and type COMPACT /c /s and press Enter. 2. Or from the command line, type compact /c /s:<Folder Name> (compact /c /s:c:\My folder) When you set the compression state of a directory you do not necessarily change the compression state of files that are already contained in the directory. And you cannot use COMPACT to read, write, or mount volumes that have been compressed using DriveSpace or DoubleSpace. TOP!Visit The Site Index For Many How-To Tips! Use The Keyboard In Windows XP! Highlight a file or folder and press Shift-Del to delete permanently, bypassing the Recycle Bin. Alt-Enter opens the highlighted file or folder's Properties dialog. In Windows Explorer, highlight a folder and press Shift-NumPadAsterisk to open the folder and all subfolders. Click in Windows Explorer's details pane, then press Ctrl-NumPadPlus to size each column exactly as wide as its largest item. The Windows key brings up the Start menu, of course; but it does quite a bit more when used in combination with other keys: Win-D toggles between showing the desktop and restoring all windows. Win-E invokes the Windows Explorer window. Win-L locks your system until you enter your password—or lets you switch active users, if you're using Fast User Switching. Win-M minimizes all windows. Win-R brings up the Run dialog.


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Win-S, in Microsoft Word 2002 or later, invokes Windows' text-to-speech engine, which will read either highlighted text or everything from the cursor on. Win-Pause/Break brings up the System Properties dialog. Win-U invokes the Utility Manager, which controls accessibility program options. Missing the Windows key? Ctrl-Esc will bring up your Start menu, though it won't allow you to use Windows-key combo commands like those above. You can create your own keyboard shortcuts to frequently used programs by right-clicking on their shortcut icons (in the Start menu or on the desktop), then clicking in the Shortcut key field and striking a key. Hey, presto, Ctrl-Alt-that key will now start the app. Don't want the Ctrl-Alt combo? You can press Ctrl-Shift-x, Shift-Alt-x, or Ctrl-Shift-Alt-x instead. A few x keys are verboten here: Esc, Enter, Tab, Space, Print Scr, Del, and Backspace aren't allowed. TOP! Shortcut To Shutdown In XP! We've all noted the irony of having to click on Start to shut down. But you can create a shortcut that will automatically shut down your PC, log you off, or reboot. Right-click on the desktop and choose New | Shortcut. Browse to the file C:\Windows\System32\Shutdown.exe, click Next, name the shortcut, and click Finish. Now right-click on the new shortcut and choose Properties. In the Target box, append the command line switch -l (to log off), -s (to shut down), or -r (to reboot). If you also add the switch –t xx (where xx is a number of seconds), Shutdown.exe will display a warning and countdown before activating. You can specify a comment to be displayed with the warning by adding the switch -c "Your text". The countdown behavior is particularly useful if the shutdown is launched through the Scheduled Tasks applet. Once it's activated, the only way to stop the program is to launch it again with the -a (for abort) switch on its command line—you might create a separate Cancel Shutdown shortcut for that. TOP!Visit The Site Index For Many How-To Tips! Add New Programs To Your Menu Alphabetically In Windows! Many people find it annoying that new programs and icons add themselves to the end of the start menu. If you are like me, you'd like them all to be alphabetized. Also, you may have found that opening the All Programs menu as a folder and rearranging the icons changes nothing on the menu. To arrange the items by name follow these instructions:


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1. Click Start, click All Programs, and then right-click on any folder or icon. 2. Click Sort by Name. Enjoy your organized Start menu. TOP! Add A Picture To A Folder In XP! Tired of looking at the same old folder icons? Give your folders some style! Follow these steps to change the picture that identifies a folder, but note that if your folder doesn't contain an image file, Windows won't generate a folder picture. And you can only see a picture on a folder when it's in Thumbnails view within another folder. To switch to Thumbnails view, on the View menu of the open folder, click Thumbnails. 1. Right-click a folder, and then click Properties. 2. Click the Customize tab, and then click Choose Picture. 3. Select any image on your computer, click Open, and then click OK. Your folder will have a whole new look. Place it inside another folder that uses Thumbnails view to see the display. Use pictures to remind you of the contents of folders. TOP!Visit The Site Index For Many How-To Tips! Skip The Recycle Bin Confirmation Message In XP! When you delete items by moving them to the Recycle Bin, Windows displays a message confirming the deletion: "Are you sure you want to send <filename> to the Recycle Bin?" If you're tired of clicking an answer to that question, you can configure Windows XP to skip the confirmation message whether or not you're using the Recycle Bin. 1. Right-click the Recycle Bin, and then click Properties. 2. In the Recycle Bin Properties dialog box, clear the Display delete confirmation dialog check box, and then click OK. If you don't want to use the Recycle Bin at all, in the Recycle Bin Properties dialog box, select the Do not move files to the Recycle Bin. Remove files immediately when deleted check box. TOP!Visit The Site Index For Many How-To Tips!

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