Check Event Logs

Windows XP maintains logs of application, security, and system events. When you're troubleshooting, the application and system event logs can provide valuable clues about the cause of the problem. To view these, open the Control Panel and choose Administrative Tools. Then select Event Viewer. For an overview of how to use this applet, open Event Viewer, then choose Action | Help.

Check the status of shared resources

If you're running Windows XP on a peer-to-peer network, you may occasionally want to check the status of shared resources. For example, it's possible to see what files users currently have open.

This procedure is quite easy in the Shared Folder section of the Computer Management MMC tool. Open the Start menu, right-click My Computer, and choose Manage. Expand the Shared Folders branch of the System Tools tree.

Once you open the Shared Folders branch, you'll see the following three items:

• Shares: This provides a Details view of all the shared resources on the system.
• Sessions: This provides a Details view of all the network users who are currently connected to the computer.
• Open Files: This provides a Details view of all the open files on the computer.

These three views contain several columns, with a breakdown of each connection.

Choose Your Java

On account of legal issues, Microsoft did not include its Java Virtual Machine (VM) on the original Windows XP CD-ROM. Instead, it was treated as an Install on Demand component: The first time you visited a site with Java code, you were prompted to get the VM from Microsoft's site. Microsoft's Java VM is now distributed as part of Service Pack 1.

If you prefer, download and install Sun's Java VM from http://java.sun.com/getjava. If both Microsoft's and Sun's VMs are installed on your system, you can select which one to use by opening Internet Explorer's Tools menu and selecting Internet Options. Then open the Advanced tab and scroll down to where you see Java (Sun). Place a check next to Use Java 2 for Sun's Java VM. Deselect it and Microsoft VM will be reactivated.

Clean Up Custom Notifications

Window XP's Custom Notifications feature lets you manage the icons in your System Tray. You can specify that Win XP will always hide or always show a specific icon, or show it only when it changes. Of course you can view the "hidden" icons at any time by clicking on the arrow at the left of the system tray.

Win XP remembers your settings for various programs; when a program with a tray icon launches, Win XP manages it as you've specified. The problem comes when you uninstall such a program. Win XP does not discard the Custom Notification entry for it, and if you frequently install and remove programs you can wind up with a lot of junk in the list, so managing the programs you do still use is hard.

There's no straightforward way to remove an item from the list, but you can clear the custom settings completely and start fresh. Launch Regedit from the Start menu's Run dialog. Navigate to HKEY_ CURRENT_USER\Software\ Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Explorer\TrayNotify. In the right-hand pane, locate the Binary values named IconStreams and PastIconStreams and delete them. That's not sufficient, though, because Windows Explorer still has the current list in memory.

Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to bring up the Task Manager. Click on the Processes tab, highlight the entry for Explorer, and click on the End Process button. Still in the Task Manager, select New Task from the File menu, type Explorer, and click on OK.

Clean Up the Add/Remove Box

Sometimes, when you uninstall a program, its entry remains in the Add/remove programs listing. Or you might delete something manually and find that the entry remains in the list of uninstallable programs. You can clean up the list and remove programs that you've already uninstalled. Run Regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall. From there, you can remove any unwanted items, which are in the form of Registry keys.

Clear the most recently used list

Windows XP keeps a record in the registry of applications you've launched from the Run command, called the most recently used (MRU) list. You can access the MRU list by clicking the drop-down list in the Run dialog box.

The MRU feature is designed to make it easier for you to relaunch applications at a later date. However, this list can get crowded, which makes it difficult to find the application you want.

To clear the Run command's MRU list, perform the following registry edit:

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

2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Explorer\RunMRU.

3. Right-click the RunMRU key and select Export.

4. Name the .reg file Clear Run MRU and click Save.

5. Close the Registry Editor.

6. In Notepad, open the Clear Run MRU.reg file.

7. Add a minus sign to the beginning of the key name, just inside the square brackets.

8. Delete all lines that follow the line containing the key path.

9. Save the file and close Notepad.

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

Clear the Prefetch

If you're using Windows XP, add C:\Windows\Prefetch to the list of directories to empty periodically. This folder is probably full of prefetch directions for applications you no longer use. You can safely remove these files; any files that are needed will be created again automatically.

Clear Your Passwords

If you use AutoComplete, you can easily remove saved passwords and information that you may have entered into forms (such as your credit card number). On Internet Explorer's Tools menu, select Internet Options and open the Content tab. Click AutoComplete and you will be offered the choices to Clear Forms and Clear Passwords.

Configure performance options to fit the computer

Windows XP includes several features to increase performance. However, some features actually cause your computer to run much slower, especially if your computer is older and doesn't have state-of-the-art components.

There are two places where you can disable various performance-related settings. Right-click the desktop and select Properties. On the Appearance tab, click Effect. If you have an older computer with a slower graphic card, you'll probably want to disable these options:

• Use The Following Transition Effect For Menus And Tooltips
• Show Shadows Under Menus
• Show Window Contents While Dragging

For Visual Effects, you can select from three predefined options--automatic, best appearance, and best performance--or manually enable/disable each individual setting. It's a good idea to leave the default settings on new computers, but you should alter the settings on older, slower computers.

Control Your Desktop Icons

When you temporarily change your desktop to a lower resolution—while using Safe mode, for example—Windows can wreak havoc with your careful positioning of desktop icons. A free download, available at www.pcnineoneone.com/tweaks/layout.zip, lets you save and later restore your icon layout.

Download Layout.zip and unzip it to extract two files. Move Layout.dll to the Windows\System32 folder. Double-click on Layout.reg to add it to the Registry.

If you now right-click on almost any of the standard desktop icons you'll see two new items: Save Desktop Icon Layout and Restore Desktop Icon Layout. Choose the former whenever you change the layout; choose the latter when you need to restore it.

Cool Hidden Extras

There are a lot of useful applications hidden in Windows XP. Here are a few of our favorites. Each can be launched by opening the Start | Run dialog and entering its executable name.

Private Character Editor (Eudcedit)

Run this tip by opening the Start | Run dialog and entering Eudcedit.

Create and edit a custom character to use as text: You can make a character out of your name, for example, or a company logo. The process is a bit confusing: When you open the Editor, it asks you to assign your character to a spot on a grid. Accept the default and begin editing on the 50-pixel-square workspace. To use a saved character, open the Character Map (Run | Charmap). For Font, select the top choice, All Fonts (Private Characters), then select, copy, and paste your character into a document.

IExpress 2.0 (Iexpress)

Run this tip by opening the Start | Run dialog and entering Iexpress.

Need to create a simple installation? Using a wizard, IExpress 2.0 helps you create a Self Extraction Directive (SED) file, which includes compressed files that will uncompress with a double-click. If you want, you can add a licensing agreement as well and even specify a program or INF file to run. The wizard prompts you to add messages for the users to whom you send SEDs.

Windows Media Player 6.4 (Mplayer2)

Run this tip by opening the Start | Run dialog and entering Mplayer2.

Windows Media Player for XP can be overwhelming. If you long for a simpler, more streamlined (plainer) Windows Media Player, you can always fire up Windows Media Player 6. The only update is that the app now supports the latest codecs.

NetMeeting (Conf)

Run this tip by opening the Start | Run dialog and entering Conf.

The latest souped-up Windows Messenger has all but replaced NetMeeting. But if you want to share a whiteboard or collaborate with someone using an old familiar application, don't despair. NetMeeting may not be on the Start menu, but it's not gone.

This hidden application still offers all the same functions—including file sharing, chat, and voice capabilities. And since NetMeeting is designed for business, your boss may look more favorably on it than on other mainstream chat clients.

Copying Files to CD's

I just upgraded to Microsoft Windows XP and my old CD-burning software won't work. I found the CD-burning link built into Win XP's Windows Explorer, but that doesn't work, either. I keep getting a message that says there isn't enough space on my hard drive when I try to drop files onto the CD drive. What's wrong?

Most third-party CD-burning programs let you select the files you want to burn, then they copy those files from the existing locations during the burning process. But when you drag and drop files to your CD-RW drive in Windows Explorer, Win XP actually copies the files to a temporary directory. This is handy, because you can burn the files to a CD later, even if something happens to the original. On the other hand, it means that you must have up to 700MB of free space on your hard drive to hold the copies of the files you want to burn.

But that's only half the story. If you watch the CD Writing Wizard while it's in action, you'll see that during the first several minutes, nothing is being written to the CD-RW drive, and the displayed message reads Adding data to the CD image. Before burning a CD, Win XP creates a complete image of the final CD on your hard drive. The good news is that this should help prevent the timing problems that can cause CD burn errors, because the disk heads won't have to bounce around to find your files. The bad news is that another 700MB of hard drive space will be used.

Putting those two parts of the process together, if you decide to drop a full CD's worth of files onto your CD-RW drive, you need to make sure you have 1.4GB of free hard drive space.

Create a boot log for troubleshooting

Problems that you're troubleshooting in Windows XP often originate in the boot process. As such, one of your key troubleshooting techniques should be to create a boot log. Creating such a log is a relatively easy process.

Follow these steps:

1. Restart the system.

2. When the operating system begins to load, press [F8].

3. Select the Enable Boot Logging option from the Windows Advanced menu, and press [Enter].

Every line in the file will begin with either "Loaded driver" or "Did not load driver," which makes it easy to determine what drivers or services could be causing the problem. In either case, the path and filename of the driver or service will follow.

Create a drive menu for My Computer

By default, the My Computer item on the Start menu is configured to work like a standard folder window. If you need to access a specific drive, select My Computer from the Start menu, wait a moment for the window to appear, and then double-click the icon for the drive that you need to access.

When you're in a hurry, this two-step procedure can be time-consuming and frustrating--especially if My Computer contains a large number of drive icons. However, Windows XP makes it easy for you to configure My Computer so it works like a menu, with each drive listed as a menu item.

Follow these steps:

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

2. Click Customize, which is adjacent to the Start Menu radio button, and select Advanced.

3. Scroll through the Start Menu Items list box until you see My Computer.

4. Select Display As A Menu, and click OK twice.

Now, when you select My Computer from the Start menu, you'll see a menu of individual drives. To access the contents of that drive, just select the drive letter from the menu.

Create a Print Test Page shortcut

When troubleshooting printer problems, it's a good possibility that you must print test pages several times during the procedure. But this can be a time-consuming and frustrating process. You must open Control Panel, double-click the Printers And Faxes applet, right-click the printer, and select the Properties command just to get to the Print Test Page button.

However, you can avoid all of these extra steps by creating a shortcut that runs Windows XP's Prnqctl.vbs utility.

Follow these steps:

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

2. When the Create Shortcut Wizard appears, enter the following in the Type The Location Of The Item text box:
C:\Windows\system32\cscript.exe prnqctl.vbs -e -p <Printer_name>

3. Replace <Printer_name> with the name of the printer from which you want to print the test page, and click Next.

4. Give the shortcut an appropriate name such as Print Test Page, and click Finish.

Now, whenever you need to print a test page on this particular printer, you can simply double-click the new shortcut.

Create a Run command shortcut

As you know, using the Run dialog box to quickly launch certain applications or utilities can come in handy in a number of situations. For example, suppose you regularly use the Run dialog box to open a command prompt by typing Cmd in the Open text box.

You can access the Run dialog box by clicking the Start button and then clicking Run, or by pressing [Windows]R. However, both of these methods require two steps to open the Run dialog box. Wouldn't it be nice if you could access the Run dialog box with a single click?

You can create a shortcut to the Run command. Simply select the Run command on the Start menu, and drag it to the Quick Launch toolbar. The new shortcut uses the same icon, so it's easy to identify.

However, the shortcut's name will be &Run. . ., which you'll see in a popup when you hover your mouse pointer over the shortcut. These extra characters come from the Start menu command configuration.

In this case, the ampersand character signifies that the R is underlined and acts as the hotkey. The ellipsis signifies that accessing the Run command from the Start menu opens a secondary dialog box.

You can rename the shortcut to something more appropriate, such as Run Command, by right-clicking the shortcut and selecting Rename.

Create Flexible Music Files

By default, Windows Media Player creates protected WMA files when you rip CD's. Because protected files require licenses for playback, you won't be able to listen to the files on another computer. But you can turn this feature off. In Windows Media Player, open the Tools menu and select Options. Then click on the Copy Music tab, and uncheck the box next to Protect music.

Create home directories for FTP users

By default, all Windows XP users that connect to your FTP server have access only to the FTP root folder and its subfolders. This folder is physically located in the Inetpub\ftproot folder on the FTP server.

To give these users access to other folders, you have to make them available by creating virtual directories. You can place a virtual directory anywhere on your server or another server on your network. Here's how:

1. Open Internet Information Services in the Administrative Tools folder.

2. Right-click Default FTP Site, select New | Virtual Directory, and then click Next.

3. Type the alias you want to assign to this virtual folder and click Next.

4. Specify the physical path to the folder you want to make available to the FTP user and click Next.

To achieve this, make the alias name of the virtual folder the same as the user's username. If users are able to store files in their home folders, you may also want to provide them with Write access permission.

Create Start Up Disks

There are times when you can't boot your system from the hard drive, thanks to either a system problem, a lost password, or the simple fact that the OS hasn't been installed. Windows XP offers a number of options for booting from floppy disks, but you must prepare them before they're needed.

A computer with no operating system installed will usually boot from the Windows XP CD. For that rare system that won't, Microsoft offers downloadable programs to create the necessary set of bootable floppy disks. Navigate to http://support.microsoft.com and search for article 310994. Find the download link for your Win XP version and language. The downloaded program will create six setup disks, which can be used to start your system up and begin installing the OS from a CD in a nonbootable drive.

If something goes wrong with the boot drive, you may be able to recover the system using a bootable floppy disk. Don't just format a disk with the box Create an MS-DOS Startup disk checked; you want to boot Windows XP, not MS-DOS. Start by formatting the disk without checking that box. Then copy the three files Boot.ini, Ntdetect.com, and Ntldr from the root directory of the boot drive (C:\) to the floppy disk. Boot the computer from this disk and verify that Windows XP starts (this may require that you change BIOS settings to boot from a floppy disk). Label the disk clearly and store it in a safe place.

If you ever forget your password, a password reset floppy disk can save the day. This isn't the same as writing down your password and storing it in a safe. The password reset disk lets you reset your password without revealing what the previous password was. The precise technique for creating and using a password reset disk varies by account type and log-on type. Search on password reset disk in the Help and Support applet for details specific to your situation.

Customize Move To and Copy To

Windows XP provides Windows Explorer with two file and folder management tools called Move To and Copy To. When you access any file or folder in Windows Explorer and have the Task Explorer Bar open, you'll see one of these commands appear under the File And Folder Tasks heading: Move/Copy This File or Move/Copy This Folder.

If you'd rather not use the Task Explorer Bar, you can place the Move To and Copy To commands on the standard toolbar. Here's how:

1. Launch Windows Explorer.

2. Right-click the standard toolbar, and select Customize.

3. Scroll through the Available Toolbar Buttons list, and select either Move To or Copy To.

4. Click Add.

5. Use the Move Up or Move Down buttons to position the new buttons where you want them to appear on the toolbar.

6. Select Close.

Customize the Send To Menu

You can easily add entries to the Send To menu, invoked by right-clicking on a document, folder, or other item. Navigate to C:\Windows\Sendto and create shortcuts to directories and applications where you might want to send an item. Items added to the Sendto directory will appear on the Send To menu.

Customize the Start Menu

Configuring the Start menu to match your habits can help you work more smoothly in small but noticeable ways. First, choose either the default Windows XP menu or the classic menu, which resembles earlier Windows Start menus: Right-click on the taskbar, choose Properties, then go to the Start menu tab and choose Start menu or Classic Start menu.

Whichever one you pick, follow up by choosing the Customize button that goes with it, and experiment with any options you don't understand. Also, be sure to follow the suggestions for organizing the Start menu that we talk about in the Navigation section.