Defrag from the command line

Windows XP comes with Disk Defragmenter, which is a slimmed down version of Executive Software's Diskeeper disk defragmentation program. This utility is accessible via the Computer Management Microsoft Management Console (MMC) and as a stand-alone utility on the Tools tab of each hard drive's Properties dialog box.

There's also a command-line version of this utility called Defrag. If you want to quickly configure and launch a defragment operation, it's easier to use the command line rather than accessing the GUI version and then drilling down through a number of options.

To run Defrag, open a command prompt window and type the following command:

Defrag x: [/parameter]

In this example, x is the drive letter of the hard disk you want to defragment, and parameter is one of three optional settings that you can use to configure Defrag:

• /a: Analyzes the volume and displays a summary of the analysis report.
• /v: Displays the complete analysis and defragmentation report. It can be used in combination with /a to display only the analysis report.
• /f: Forces defragmentation of the volume, regardless of whether it needs to be defragmented.

Defrag x: [/parameter] > Defrag-Results.txt

Defrag

This shouldn't be news. We have huge hard drives with tons of data and programs, and they need to be organized periodically—we recommend at least once a month. Schedule disk defragging using the Task Scheduler (in the Accessories section of the Start menu) and you'll never have to think about defragging again.

Delete an undeletable file

Have you ever tried to delete a file in Windows Explorer and received the error message that it could not delete the file because it was in use? This can happen even when you know for a fact that the file is not in use.

You may open a command prompt and try to delete the file with the Delete command. But this method also fails.

Here's how you can delete an "undeletable" file. Follow these steps:

1. Close all open programs.

2. Open a command prompt.

3. Right-click the taskbar, and select Task Manager.

4. On the Processes tab, select Explorer.exe, and click the End Process button.

5. Minimize Task Manager, but don't close it.

6. At the command prompt, use the Delete command to remove the file, and close the command prompt.

7. In Task Manager, go to File | New Task (Run).

8. In the Create New Task dialog box, enter Explorer.exe, and click OK.

9. Close Task Manager.

Delete files from the Recent File List in WMP

Windows Media Player (WMP) is a built-in application that allows you to play multimedia files. Like many other applications, WMP remembers the most recently played files and displays them in the Recent File List under the File menu.

This feature is useful if you regularly play certain files, but you may want to clear the list if you share the computer and a user account. There are two ways you can clear the list. The ClearMRU.exe utility is available for free in the Windows Media Player Bonus Pack, but Microsoft doesn't support this tool. You can also manually delete the list through the registry. Here's how:

1. Start the Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).

2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Player\
RecentFileList.

3. Delete the RecentFileList subkey.

4. If you've also streamed content from the Internet, you can delete the RecentURLList subkey.

5. Exit the Registry Editor.

6. Restart the computer.

Note: Editing the registry is risky, so be sure you have a verified backup before saving any changes.

Delete Stubborn AVI Files

Occasionally you won't be able to delete or even move an AVI file, because as soon as you click on the file, Explorer hangs while trying to offer a preview of it. This usually happens when the AVI file is incomplete or corrupt. A quick Registry fix will unlock your AVIs so you can move or delete them.

Click on Start | Run; now type Regedit and click on OK. Browse to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\System FileAssociations\.avi\shellex\PropertyHandler and delete the Default key contained in this folder.

Direct Windows Explorer to a specific folder

Have you ever wished that a specific folder would open whenever you launched Windows Explorer? Well, you can configure your Windows XP computer to do just that with a specially configured shortcut and a little creative use of Windows Explorer's command-line parameters.

For example, suppose that you want Windows Explorer to automatically open a folder called Downloads, which is located in the root directory of drive D. Follow these steps:

1. Right-click the desktop and select New | Shortcut.

2. When the Create Shortcut wizard appears, click the Browse button.

3. Locate the Windows folder, select Explorer.exe, and click OK.

4. Position your cursor at the end of the command line, press [Spacebar], and type the parameters /e, d:\Downloads.

5. Click Next, give the shortcut a name, and select Finish.

If you want to limit Windows Explorer to a specific folder or subfolder, use the parameters /e, /root, d:\Downloads.

Disable Error Reporting to Microsoft

If you'd rather not take the time to send error reports to Microsoft when things go wrong, you can disable the feature. To turn it off, run Msconfig. Choose the Services tab and remove the check from the Error Reporting Service check box. Starting with the next time you reboot your system, the error-reporting service will no longer load.

Disable Error Reporting

There is some benefit to allowing Win XP to send the error report to Microsoft; the company can see whether a patch is needed to make Win XP more compatible with applications. On the other hand, if your programs do this often enough, having to answer the error-report prompt constantly gets annoying.

If you right-click on My Computer and select Properties or open the System icon in the Control Panel, you'll see the System Properties dialog. Select the Advanced tab and click on Error Reporting. This brings up a dialog that lets you disable error reporting altogether. Even better, click on Choose Programs and disable error reporting for specific programs. That way, if you have an application that causes a lot of errors and you've already sent Microsoft half a dozen reports, you can disable the feature for that program and never see the prompts again.

Disable IE's downloading capability

Do you support Windows XP users who insist on downloading files from the Web via Internet Explorer--regardless of what you tell them? If so, you'll be glad to know that you can disable Internet Explorer's ability to download files by tweaking the Security settings.

To disable IE's downloading capability, follow these steps:

1. Launch Internet Explorer.

2. From the Tools menu, select Internet Options.

3. On the Security tab, select the Internet Web content zone (if it isn't already selected), and click the Custom Level button.

4. Scroll through the Settings list box, and locate the Downloads heading.

5. Under File Download, select the Disable radio button.

6. Click OK twice.

The next time the user attempts to download a file, Internet Explorer will display a warning message stating that the current security settings do not allow the downloading of files.

Disable Microsoft Messenger Service in Windows XP

The Microsoft Windows Messenger Service can be a useful communications tool or an annoyance, as one user posting in our Technical Q&A forums discovered. When you enable the Microsoft Windows Messenger Service, it allows anyone to send pop-up messages to your computer when you're online. Marketers are now using use the Messenger Service to display ads on user systems—just another annoyance most of us can do without. The good news is that you have a couple of options available for disabling the service and avoiding the problems this user encountered.

Disable permission inheritance

In Windows XP Professional, if you disable Simple File Sharing or join the computer to a domain, you can manually assign individual permissions for every file or folder on an NTFS partition. This allows for great flexibility, but assigning permissions explicitly on every file would take too much time.

By default, XP lets you assign the permissions on the parent folder. These permissions then propagate down to all child files and folders. Just right-click a file or folder, select Properties, and go to the Security tab.

On the Security tab, you'll see several inherited permissions. If you select one and click the Remove button, a dialog box will inform you that you can't remove the permission because it's inherited from the parent.

To disable permission inheritance, click the Advanced button in the Security tab. In the resulting dialog box, deselect this option: Inherit From Parent The Permission Entries That Apply To Child Objects. Include These With Entries Explicitly Defined Here.

A dialog box will then appear with the following options:

• Copy: Clicking this option disables inheritance and copies the permissions that were inherited.
• Remove: Clicking this option disables the inheritance and deletes all previously inherited permissions.
• Cancel: Clicking this option allows you to cancel the action without making any changes.

Disable the 8.3 filename creation process

Are you using the NTFS file system on your hard disk? If you've ever used the DIR command along with the /x parameter in a command prompt window, you've seen firsthand that Windows XP creates an 8.3 filename for each long filename that you create. The OS does this to maintain backwards compatibility with older 16-bit applications.

However, the process of creating and maintaining 8.3 filenames adds a lot of overhead that can significantly degrade the overall performance of the NTFS file system. Chances are good that you're not using any of these older 16-bit applications, so why suffer the performance hit?

Here's how to disable the 8.3 filename creation process:

1. Launch the Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).

2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\
Control\FileSystem.

3. Double-click the NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation value.

4. Type 1 in the Value Data text box, and click OK.

5. Close the Registry Editor, and restart the computer.

Note: Editing the registry is risky, so be sure you have a verified backup before making any changes.

Disable the Log Off and Turn Off Computer buttons

Do you support users who, regardless of what you tell them, insist on logging off or shutting down public computers in common areas? If so, you'll be glad to know that you can disable the Log Off and Turn Off Computer buttons on the Start menu.

Follow these steps:

1. Open the Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).

2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.

3. Right-click the Explorer key, and select New | DWORD value.

4. Name the value StartMenuLogoff, and press [Enter] twice to access the Edit DWORD Value dialog box.

5. Type 1 in the Value Data text box, and click OK.

6. Right-click the Explorer key, and select New | DWORD value.

7. Name the value NoClose, and press [Enter] twice to access the Edit DWORD Value dialog box.

8. Type 1 in the Value Data text box, and click OK.

9. Close the Registry Editor.

Note: Editing the registry is risky, so be sure you have a verified backup before saving any changes.

Disable the new program highlight feature

Windows XP user interface enhancements are designed to make the operating system easy to work with for users at all levels. However, some features are distracting for intermediate to advanced users, such as the new program highlight feature.

When you install new applications in XP, the corresponding shortcuts on the Start menu are highlighted so you can quickly locate them. Until you actually use these shortcuts, they remain highlighted. If there are numerous shortcuts on the application's menu, you have to access each one to turn off the highlighting.

Here's how to disable this feature:

1. Right-click the Start button and select Properties.

2. Click the Customize button.

3. On the Advanced tab, deselect the Highlight Newly Installed Programs check box.

4. Click OK twice.

You may need to restart the system or log out of XP for the change to take effect.

Disable the Windows XP Tour prompt

As you may know, when you install Windows XP on a computer, it prompts you to take the Windows XP Tour. This prompt appears as a balloon that pops up from the Windows XP Tour icon in the notification area of the taskbar. By default, the prompt appears the first three times that someone logs on to the system.

If you've been using Windows XP for a while but have recently reinstalled the operating system, you may find this prompt annoying. If so, you can prevent it from appearing.

Follow these steps:

1. Open the Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).

2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Applets\Tour.

3. Double-click the RunCount DWORD value.

4. Enter 0 in the Value Data text box, and click OK.

5. Close the Registry Editor, and restart Windows XP.

Note: Editing the registry is risky, so be sure you have a verified backup

Disable XP's splash screen

Have you ever been in the process of troubleshooting a Windows XP startup problem and wondered what goes on behind the Windows XP splash screen while the system boots up? To find out, you can disable the splash screen by making a small change to the Boot.ini file.

Follow these steps:

1. Press [Windows][Break] to open the System Properties dialog box.

2. On the Advanced tab, click the Settings button in the Startup And Recovery section.

3. In the Startup And Recovery dialog box, select the Edit button in the System Startup section.

4. The Boot.ini file will open in Notepad; locate the line that ends with the /fastdetect switch.

5. Position your cursor right after the parameter, press the spacebar, and add the /SOS switch.

6. Save the Boot.ini file, and close Notepad.

7. Click Cancel to close both the Startup And Recovery dialog box and the System Properties dialog box.

8. Restart the system.

To revive the splash screen, simply repeat the above steps to edit the Boot.ini file and remove the /SOS switch.

Don't forget the Forgotten Password Wizard

Windows XP's Forgotten Password Wizard helps create a Password Reset Disk that you can use to gain access to your computer if you forget your password.

There are different steps, depending on your computer's connection to the network and the type of account you have. For example, follow these steps if your computer is on a workgroup and you have an administrator account:

1. Open Control Panel and the User Accounts tool.

2. Click your account.

3. Within Related Tasks, select Prevent A Forgotten Password.

4. Follow the instructions provided by the wizard.

Keep in mind that the Password Reset Disk only works on the computer on which it was created. In addition, within a domain environment, the Password Reset Disk will only allow you to gain access to the local computer. You'll still have to ask your domain administrator to change your domain password in order to regain access to the network.

Don't Reactivate After Reinstalling

If you reinstall Windows XP, you normally have to reactivate it, but there's a way around reactivation. Windows XP maintains the activation information in the file Wpa.dbl, which you'll find in the Windows\System32 folder. After you activate, and any time you add hardware to your system, back up the file to another disk. If you need to reinstall Windows XP for any reason, go through the installation routine, then copy the latest version of Wpa.dbl to the Windows\system32 folder.

Double Your Desktop

Current notebooks running Windows XP let you expand your desktop space by connecting an external monitor. The notebook LCD and external monitor work together, letting you view the same desktop on each, or different desktops, or an expanded desktop that stretches across the two displays.

First, connect the second monitor to your laptop. Then right-click on your desktop and select the Settings tab. You should see icons for two monitors. Right-click on Monitor 2 and click on Attached. Use the slider to adjust the resolution.

Right-click again on Monitor 2, click on Properties, select Monitor, and adjust the refresh rate. It defaults to a flickery 60 Hz, the same as the LCD panel. Try a higher refresh—say 75 Hz—then click on OK. Finally, click and drag the Monitor icon to match how you have the notebook and monitor arranged.