Secrets about WINXP

Speed up your browsing of Windows 2000 & XP machines:

Here's a great tip to speed up your browsing of Windows XP machines. Its actually a fix to a bug installed as default in Windows 2000 that scans shared files for Scheduled Tasks. And it turns out that you can experience a delay as long as 30 seconds when you try to view shared files across a network because Windows 2000 is using the extra time to search the remote computer for any Scheduled Tasks. Note that though the fix is originally intended for only those affected, Windows 2000 users will experience that the actual browsing speed of both the Internet & Windows Explorers improve significantly after applying it since it doesn't search for Scheduled Tasks anymore. Here's how :

Open up the Registry and go to :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace

Under that branch, select the key :

{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}

and delete it.

This is key that instructs Windows to search for Scheduled Tasks. If you like you may want to export the exact branch so that you can restore the key if necessary.

This fix is so effective that it doesn't require a reboot and you can almost immediately determine yourself how much it speeds up your browsing processes.
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What is the difference between Home and Professional editions:

The features of Windows XP Home and Pro are very similar. Most home users have no need to the Professional version. Windows XP Pro has support for multiple processors and an encrypted file system.
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How to create a boot disk:

This is quite simple.
1: Go into MY COMPUTER
2: Have a floppy disk in your drive and then RIGHT click on on the floppy drive and then click on FORMAT
3: You will be greeted with a number of options. The one you need to select is "Create an MS-DOS start up disk".
4: Click ok



Note: This requires up to 5 floppy disks and DOES NOT contain ANY CD-ROM drivers to boot from. A proper CD-ROM boot up disk is going to be release by Microsoft after the Windows XP public release. You can however use you old Windows Me start-up disk if you would prefer, as long as you have not upgraded to an NTFS drive.
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Adjust various visual effects:

1. Open up the control panel
2. Go under system and click on the advanced tab
3. Click settings under Performance options
4. You can now change various graphical effects (mainly animations and shadows)
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"STOP” ERROR MESSAGES AT SHUTDOWN:

Some users have gotten an error message similar to the following when attempting either to shutdown or restart Win XP:

STOP 0000009F, DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
STOP 0x0000001E: KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
STOP 0x000000D1: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

TechNet and the Microsoft Knowledge Base have numerous articles discussing this type of error condition; for example, these. As a review of these articles will show, these are commonly device driver problems, but may also be caused by troublesome software (such as the notorious CrashGuard), or a problem in a system service. MSKB article Q262575 discusses a shutdown problem of this type, known to exist in Windows 2000 due to a resource (IRQ) conflict, if you have PACE Interlok anti-piracy software installed. This problem may occur in Windows XP as well.
Microsoft advises the following as one approach to these problems: Restart the computer. Press F8 during the restart and select “Last Known Good Configuration.” If you catch the problem when it first occurs (meaning you likely have installed only one or two drivers or new service), this will return you to a previous working condition. (Would System Restore accomplish the same thing? I don’t know, and don’t have a broken system to test it on.)

Microsoft reported similarly that these STOP code error message occur when Windows XP is trying to shut down devices. He says that he has seen this twice: once with Logitech Quickcam installed (with an unsupported driver), and once with a USB DSL modem that would hang if it wasn’t disconnected before shutdown.

SHUTDOWN WORKS, BUT IT’S REAL SLOW.

If it appears that Win XP is not shutting down, give it some time. Some users have reported a minute or longer for shutdown to visibly start. Thus far, it appears that this is a consequence of software that is running when shutdown is attempted, and it also may have something to do with particular hardware. If you are experiencing this problem, be sure to close all running programs before attempting shutdown and see if this solves your problem. If so, then you can determine, by trial and error, which program(s) are involved.
One specific solution for this was provided by Microsoft support. ” In Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services. (You can also get this by launching SERVICES.MSC from a Run box. This utility is also built into the Computer Management console.) Stop the Nvidia Driver Helper service. Many other friends quickly confirmed that this solved this “extremely slow shutdown” problem for them.

POWERDOWN ISSUES.

“Powerdown issues” are quite distinctive from “shutdown issues.” I define a shutdown problem as one wherein Windows doesn’t make it at least to the “OK to shut off your computer” screen. If Windows gets that far, or farther, then it has shut down correctly. However, the computer may not powerdown correctly after that. This is a different problem, and I encourage that people reporting these issues to make a very clear distinction in their labeling.

When Windows XP won’t powerdown automatically, the APM/NT Legacy Power Node may not be enabled. To enable this, right-click on the My Computer icon, click Properties | Hardware | Device Manager | View. Check the box labeled “Show Hidden Devices.” If it’s available on your computer, there will be a red X on the APM/NT Legacy Node. Try enabling it and see if this resolves the powerdown problem.

This should resolve the powerdown issue in most cases. However, other factors can sometimes interfere with correct powerdown functioning. In that case, consider the following tips:
· If you are changing the default power settings in the BIOS, it can lead to a powerdown problem. Restoring all BIOS power settings to default will likely fix it.

OTHER KNOWN ISSUES & HINTS.

· BIOS UPGRADE.
As with every new operating system that comes along - especially one that is as much of a “step up” as Windows XP is from Windows 9x - the recommendation is made to be sure your BIOS is updated. Many people have reported that this has solved their shutdown problems (and had other advantages) with Win XP, just as it has in earlier versions of Windows.
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Make XP boot even Faster:

Microsoft has chosen a completely different path for XP and it's boot features by trying to incorporate as much support for newer fastboot BIOSes that are on most current motherboards. They built XP in such a way as to make it able to take advantage of features in these new BIOSes, and one of the coolest things is a small application called bootvis. bootvis.

Bootvis watches everything that loads at boot time, from the moment the OS begins to load just after POST (Power On Self-Test) to the moment you get to a usable Desktop. Some programs, most notably Norton AntiVirus 2002, suck up valuable seconds before you can actually DO anything even though you're at the Desktop. bootvis generates a trace file that you load and can then "see" a visual representation of what's happening. Every file, driver, hard drive read/write, etc., is recorded. You can then use bootvis to optimize the loading of files during the boot sequence. bootvis will rearrange the ways these very files are stored on the hard drive, thereby improving the boot time dramatically.
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Speed Up Browsing:

When you connect to a web site your computer sends information back and forth. Some of this information deals with resolving the site name to an IP address, the stuff that TCP/IP really deals with, not words. This is DNS information and is used so that you will not need to ask for the site location each and every time you visit the site. Although Windows XP and Windows XP have a pretty efficient DNS cache, you can increase its overall performance by increasing its size. You can do this with the registry entries below:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters]
"CacheHashTableBucketSize"=dword:00000001
"CacheHashTableSize"=dword:00000180
"MaxCacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000fa00
"MaxSOACacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000012d

Make a new text file and rename it to dnscache.reg. Then copy and paste the above into it and save it. Merge it into the registry.
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Make Web Pages Available for Offline Viewing:

With Internet Explorer 6 in Windows XP, you can make a Web page available offline and view it when your computer is not connected to the Internet—for example on your laptop during a flight. This feature is also handy for viewing Web pages at home without tying up a phone line if you have a dial–up Internet connection.

To make the current Web page available offline

On the Favorites menu, click Add to Favorites.

Select the Make available offline check box.

To specify a schedule for updating that page, and how much content to download, click Customize.

Follow the instructions on your screen.
To make an existing favorite item available offline

On the Favorites menu, click Organize Favorites.

Click the page you want to make available offline.

Select the Make available offline check box.

To specify a schedule for updating that page, and how much content to download, click Properties.
To view Web pages without being connected to the Internet

After you mark your favorite pages for viewing offline, you can view them offline by following these steps

Before you disconnect from the Internet, on the Tools menu, click Synchronize.

When you're ready to work offline, on the File menu, click Work Offline. Internet Explorer will always start in Offline mode until you click Work Offline again to clear the check mark.

In your Favorites list, click the item you want to view.
You can also make Web pages available offline without adding them to your Favorites list, by saving the pages on your computer.

Follow these steps

On the File menu, click Save As.

Double–click the folder you want to save the page in.

In the File name box, type a name for the page.

In the Save as type box, select a file type.

Do one of the following:

To save all of the files needed to display this page, including graphics, frames, and style sheets, click Web Page, complete. This option saves each file in its original format.

To save all of the information needed to display this page in a single MIME–encoded file, click Web Archive. This option saves a snapshot of the current Web page. This option is available only if you have installed Outlook Express 5 or later. When you choose Web Page, complete, only the current page is saved. With Web Page, complete and Web Archive, you can view all of the Web page offline, without adding the page to your Favorites list and marking it for offline viewing.

To save just the current HTML page, click Web Page, HTML only. This option saves the information on the Web page, but it does not save the graphics, sounds, or other files.

To save just the text from the current Web page, click Text Only. This option saves the information on the Web page in straight text format.
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-Use Offline Files When You're off the Network:

Offline Files in Windows XP Professional can help you be more productive. You can use this feature on a portable computer, or on a desktop computer that occasionally connects to your workplace network. For example, this feature is useful if you are working at home on a desktop computer, and need to automatically get files off the network whenever you connect.

The files that you select are automatically downloaded from shared folders on the network and stored on your computer. When you disconnect, the files are available to use. When you reconnect to the network, your changes are added to the files on the network in a process called synchronization. If someone else on the network made changes to the same file, you can save your version, keep the other version, or save both.

To set up your computer to use offline files

1. Open My Computer. (Click Start, and then click My Computer.)

2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.

3. On the Offline Files tab, make sure that the Enable Offline Files check box is selected as shown below.

4. Select Synchronize all offline files before logging off to get a full synchronization. Leave it unselected for a quick synchronization. A full synchronization ensures that you have the most current version of every shared network file that you work with offline. A quick synchronization ensures that you have complete versions of your offline files, although they may not be the most current versions. You might select a quick synchronization if you are the only person working on a file or if you do not need the most current version of a file.

If you want to control which offline files are synchronized, when they are synchronized, and whether Windows prompts you before synchronizing your files, you can use Synchronization Manager.
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To make a file or folder available to you offline:

After you set up your computer to use offline files, you need to make shared network files available to you offline.
1. Open My Computer. (Click Start, and then click My Computer.)

2. Double–click a network drive to view its contents. If My Computer does not contain links to any network drives, you need to assign a drive letter to a shared network resource.

3. Click the shared network file or folder that you want to make available offline.

4. On the File menu, click Make Available Offline. This option appears on the File menu only after you set up your computer to use offline files as described above.

5. To make a network file or folder unavailable offline, right–click the item, and click Make Available Offline again to clear the check mark.

To view a list of all of the shared network files that are available offline

1. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.
2. On the Offline Files tab, click View Files.