Understand the processor speed report

Has this ever happened to you? You open the System Properties dialog box and notice that the processor speed reported in the Computer section on the General tab is slower than the actual speed.

If so, don't worry. One of the adjustments made to the operating system from a January 2002 patch configures Windows XP to use the currentspeed value reported by the CPU rather than the maxspeed value. Microsoft made this change because the maxspeed value was reporting inconsistent values.

There are two situations where the currentspeed value would be slower than the maxspeed value:

• If you open the System Properties dialog box immediately after booting the computer, no programs have really used all the processor cycles. Therefore, the CPU itself hasn't really reached maximum speed.
• If you're running a laptop on battery power, the laptop may be using a system (such as Intel SpeedStep or AMD PowerNow! Technology) that throttles back the CPU in order to reduce power consumption.

1. Go to Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | System Information.

2. Select System Summary in the left pane, and locate Processor in the right pane.

Use a VPN to gain network access

If you disable Client For Microsoft Networks and File And Printer Sharing For Microsoft Networks, you won't be able to participate in the Microsoft network across that particular network interface. To gain access to remote shared folders and printers in a more secure way, you can set up your computer to use a virtual private network (VPN) server.

With a VPN, you can use secure Microsoft networking over unsecured network connections, such as the Internet. First, you'll need a computer that works as a VPN server on the other side of your network that's connected to the Internet. Once you have a VPN server, you can create a connection to it on your local computer. Here's how:

1. In Control Panel, open Network Connections.

2. Choose Create A New Connection.

3. Click Next in the Network Connection Wizard's Welcome screen.

4. Select Connect To The Network At My Workplace and click Next.

5. Choose Virtual Private Network Connection and click Next.

6. If you use dial-up connection to the Internet, you'll be prompted if you want to automatically dial the connection.

7. Type the name for the connection, such as my VPN, and click Next.

8. On the VPN Server Selection screen, type the host name or IP address of the VPN server and click Next.

9. Specify Anyone's Use or My Use Only for VPN-connection access.

10. Click Finish.

Once you're connected to the Internet and initiate the VPN connection, you'll receive a prompt to type the username and password for the VPN server. This will create a secure path between your computer and the VPN server.

Use ARP to track remote MAC addresses

Windows XP comes with the Getmac command-line tool, which you can use to quickly ascertain the physical or media access control (MAC) address assigned to a network interface adapter in a local or remote computer. Knowing the MAC address comes in handy for a number of troubleshooting operations.

Another XP command-line tool that can provide you with remote MAC addresses is Address Resolution Protocol (ARP). When used with the -a parameter, it displays the ARP cache, which stores the IP addresses and MAC addresses of the computers that most recently accessed the system.

To use it, enter the following at the command line:

Arp - a

You can even populate the ARP cache with remote MAC addresses by first pinging the remote system. Once the ping operation is complete, type Arp -a, and you'll see the MAC address of the system that you just pinged.

Use DMA Mode For All ATAPI Drives

Slave drives on ATAPI channels are often set to PIO mode by default, even if they are capable of modes such as UltraATA or DMA, which allow more efficient data transfers. This means CD/DVD burning, DVD playback, and other performance may suffer unnecessarily.

To fix this problem, in Windows 2000 or XP, open the System applet in the Control Panel and select Device Manager in the Hardware tab. Expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers section and double click on the Primary IDE Channel. Choose Advanced Settings, and change the transfer mode for each drive to DMA if possible. Repeat this with the Secondary IDE Channel. For Windows 98 or Me, go to Device Manager, then Disk Drives | Hard disk properties and click the Settings tab. Click the DMA box. There's no harm done if a device can't handle DMA mode.

Use IIS to create an FTP server

Internet Information Server (IIS) 5.1 is available in Windows XP Professional, but not in Windows XP Home Edition. One of the benefits of IIS 5.1 is that it's capable of acting as an FTP server.

If you didn't install the FTP module during IIS installation, it's not too late. Here's how:

1. In Control Panel, open Add Or Remove Programs.

2. Select Add/Remove Windows Components.

3. Choose Internet Information Services (IIS) and click Details.

4. Check File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Service and click OK.

5. Click Next to continue the installation.

6. Select Finish.

FTP server in XP has limitations similar to those of the Web server. You can have only one FTP site, and it's limited by 10 concurrent connections.

Use NBTStat to load the contents of the LMHosts file

If you're using an LMHosts file, you know that it maps NetBIOS names to IP addresses for hosts not located on the local subnet. You can also use an LMHosts file to back up WINS when it comes to resolving NetBIOS names for small networks.

After you create or edit the LMHosts file, you might think that you have to restart the computer in order to load the contents of the file into the NetBIOS name cache. However, there's an easier method that doesn't require restarting the computer. You can use the NBTStat command instead.

Follow these steps:

1. Open the Run dialog box by pressing [Windows]R.

2. Type Cmd.exe in the Open text box.

3. Type NBTStat -R in the resulting command prompt.

This command forces Windows XP to purge the contents of the NetBIOS name cache and then reload the #PRE-tagged entries from the LMHosts file.

Use Network Bridging

Windows XP has a new feature called Network Bridge, which lets you connect disparate media types into one seamless LAN. For example, if you have a network PC connected to a LAN, cable modem, or DSL modem via Ethernet, you can create a bridge between the Ethernet connection and your PC's FireWire connection.

When you connect a laptop to the desktop via FireWire, the Network Bridge provides an IP connection to the laptop, even though the laptop isn't connected directly into the network. To create a bridge, select two connections in the Network Connections control panel, then right-click on them and select Bridge Connections.

If you are bridging an Ethernet connection to a FireWire connection, you must manually set the IP address information (including IP address, gateway address, and DNS server address) on the FireWire-connected laptop, even if the LAN is configured to assign IP addresses automatically using a DHCP server. If you frequently connect the same laptop to the same desktop, you can use the alternate IP address configuration feature to set the IP address to use for the FireWire connection.

Use Shortcut Keys to Launch Your Applications

Using this mostly overlooked feature of Windows, you can launch folders and applications with keyboard shortcuts. Create an icon shortcut to any application or folder you want. Right-click on the shortcut and choose Properties. Note the Shortcut keys text box. Click on it and hold down the Ctrl key, the Alt key, or both, and strike another key (for example, Ctrl-Alt-J). Click OK. To use the shortcut, just press the key combination.

Use the Alternate IP Configuration Feature

If you routinely move your laptop between two locations, you should know about Windows XP's alternate IP configuration feature. If one location (your office, for example) requires a fixed IP address configuration, you can specify the office IP address, gateway address, and DNS server address information in the Alternate Configuration tab of the TCP/IP Properties page.

When your computer starts, it automatically attempts to obtain an address from a DHCP server. If no DHCP server is found, Windows uses the alternate IP address information. If a DHCP server is found (as would happen on a home LAN with an Internet gateway device), the system uses the DHCP-provided address instead.

Use the Hosts

Whenever your computer connects to a resource on the Internet, it uses a Domain Name System (DNS) server to convert the human-friendly host name (such as \\Mailserver) or URL (such as www.pcmag.com) into an IP address. A little-known feature (lifted directly from Unix) in Windows 98 SE or later lets you keep a table of host names and IP addresses on your own computer. If this file—called the Hosts file—is present, Windows uses the IP address from the file without consulting a DNS server.

The Windows Hosts file can be found in C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc. (In Windows 98 SE, the Hosts file is located in \Windows\.) The plain-text Hosts file contains one line for each entry.

Even if you haven't created the Hosts file, it's there—with one lonely entry that defines localhost. (Localhost is an alias used for testing, and it always refers to 127.0.0.1, the IP standard loopback address.)

You can add your own entries to the Hosts file using any text editor, such as Notepad. The first (and less useful) way you might use this is to add the names and IP addresses of commonly used Internet hosts, so that Windows does not have to look up the address each time it connects to a given host. But most DNS lookups are so fast that you won't notice any performance increase.

The second, more useful way to use Hosts is to create a dead-end address, known as a hacker IP address, for ad servers or for Web sites that you want to block. For example, the entry 127.0.0.1 adserver .annoying.com tells Windows to use 127.0.0.1 to connect to Adserver.annoying.com. Since that address doesn't exist, you'll never see the ad. You can use the Hosts file as a cheap and dirty content filter in the same way: Simply create an entry for each host you want to block, using the address 127.0.0.1.

Use the Image Toolbar

When you hover over an image in IE 6, a new toolbar pops up in the top-left-hand corner of the image. The toolbar's buttons save, print, or e-mail images, and open your My Pictures folder. The toolbar has an interesting use. You may have noticed that some sites don't let you right-click on an image and save it. We don't condone the theft of images, but you should be aware that the Image toolbar's Save button isn't disabled on these sites.

Use the Recovery Console

The Recovery Console, which has a DOS-like interface, is a flexible tool that lets you access and save data when your system won't boot. Using the Recovery Console, you can copy and delete files on FAT32 and NTFS partitions or even access the CD-ROM drive.

There are three main ways to load the Recovery Console. You can install it on your hard drive and access it when booting your system, you can launch it from the Windows XP start-up disks, or you can use the Windows XP CD.

To install the Recovery Console on your system, put your Windows XP installation CD in your CD drive, click on Start | Run, and type d:\ i386\winnt32.exe/cmdcons, where d is your CD-ROM drive letter. Press OK and you will be asked whether you want to install the Recovery Console. Click on Yes. Once this application is installed, it will add Microsoft Windows Recovery Console as an option on the boot menu.

To start the Recovery Console using the Windows XP CD, boot your system from the CD (be sure your BIOS is set to boot from CD-ROM before the hard drive). Once you're past the welcome screen, press R and the Recovery Console will start.

Inside the Recovery Console you can obtain a list of possible commands by typing recovery console commands or help at the command prompt and pressing Enter. For more information about a specific command, type help commandname. From here, you can copy important data off your hard drive or, if you are a more advanced user, troubleshoot and replace corrupt files that are preventing your system from booting properly.

Use the Registry Favorites Menu

If you repeatedly tweak the same keys in the Registry, use the Registry's Favorites menu. Choose Favorites | Add To Favorites. The next time you need to edit the key, open the Registry Editor, select Favorites, and pick from the list.

Use Windows Messenger behind NAT/firewalls

Windows Messenger allows you to communicate in real time over the Internet. You can use Windows Messenger to make phone and video calls, share applications, transfer files, and more. But before you get too excited, you should know about problems that may occur when you have a firewall and Network Address Translation (NAT).

Behind the scenes, NAT masks the private IP address of your machine to protect the internal network from the outside world. The packets that contain the IP address don't translate from private to public, so outside users aren't able to find you.

In addition, NAT must be configured to support Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), or you won't be able to use certain features, such as voice, video communication, and file transfer.

Firewalls must also support UPnP. Fortunately, you have two options. You can use a UPnP-enabled firewall device or manually open the following UDP ports on your firewall:

• 5004 - 65535: audio and video communication
• 6891: file transfer
• 6891 - 6900: 10 simultaneous file transfers
• 1503: application and whiteboard sharing
• 3389: remote assistance

If you're using Microsoft's solutions, such as Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) and Internet Connection Firewall (ICF), you're completely safe. ICS and ICF support UPnP and allow you to use all Windows Messenger features.

Use Your Computer

This sounds like a no-brainer, but it's worth understanding. Windows keeps a record of the applications you use most often and reorders them on your hard drive to optimize their launch. This record is continually updated in the file Layout.ini; the actual file moving takes place every few days, while the computer is idle.

In addition to moving files, Windows tracks the programs and processes initiated immediately after your system boots up, creating a list of files to prefetch during boot-up (meaning that Windows anticipates your next move and grabs necessary files before the computer even needs them). Windows performs a similar task each time you use an application, because when you launch an app, you're not just running the executable file; a number of files and program components load. In theory, these actions will make Windows run faster the more you use it.

Using IR in XP

Before Windows XP, getting your infrared port to work probably took its toll on even the most seasoned IT staffers. Driver issues were many, and even when your IR was functioning, your coworker's IR probably wasn't.

With Windows XP, things have changed. For the first time, many users are realizing that their notebooks have IR ports. On a notebook, IrDA is a line-of sight connection that can work up to 2 meters away. In most newer notebooks, it can transfer data at up to 4 Mbps. Now that you have a working IR port, what are you going to do with it?

• Sync. Perhaps the most popular use is for syncing to Palm devices and handheld PCs without cradles. It takes a little longer but gets the job done.
• Print. Some printers also have IR ports, letting you print files from your notebook without connecting over a network. To set this up, use the Add Printer wizard, found by clicking the Printers and Faxes icon in the Control Panel. Follow the wizard and choose your local IR port to load the printer driver.
• Transfer. You can use IR to transfer files between notebooks if you have no network to connect over. Place the two notebooks so the IR ports are within sight of each other. Then grab the files and send them from one to the other notebook. As a security measure, the receiving notebook will ask whether the owner wants to receive the files. Just okay the transfer and let it go.

Many of you may also be wondering about Bluetooth. It's also a wireless technology; it has a longer range but a maximum througHPut of 1 Mbps. It most likely will supplant IR, but for now, IR is on just about every notebook, and Bluetooth is not.

Utilize Internet Information Server 5.1

Windows XP Professional ships with simple Web server software, Internet Information Server (IIS) 5.1. This software is the little brother of the full-blown version of IIS in Windows 2000 Server, and it's designed for simple Web sites and Web application development.

IIS 5.1 is not installed by default. Here's how to manually install it:

1. Double-click the Add/Remove Programs icon in Control Panel.

2. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.

3. Select Internet Information Services (IIS) and click Details.

4. Specify which subcomponents you want to install. If you're not familiar with them, leave the defaults and click OK.

5. Click Next on the Windows Components dialog box and Finish to close the wizard.

For more robust Web software on your XP computer, look at purchasing another product, such as Apache. But even if you use a different Web server, don't expect wonders. Windows XP Professional was designed as a desktop OS and not as a server. If you're serious about a Web server, consider Windows 2000 Server.