Archives for Windows XP Tips category
How to find how long a Windows XP system has been running since the last restart or shut down.
Note: This works for Windows XP Professional.
1. Click Start > Run.
2. Type cmd and click OK.
3. Type systeminfo and press the Enter key.
4. Scroll back toward the top of the screen and look on the line that says System Up Time.
When you boot up your computer, you get the following error:
The instruction at 0×745f2780 referenced memory at 0×00000000. The memory could not be read.
To try to solve this issue, try the following steps:
1. Hold down the Windows Key on your keyboard and press R.
2. Type regsvr32 wuapi.dll /s and click OK.
3. Repeat step 2, but substitute wuapi.dll with the following filenames instead:
atl.dll
wuaueng.dll
wuaueng1.dll
wucltui.dll
wups.dll
wups2.dll
wuweb.dll
4. Hold down the Windows Key on your keyboard and press R.
5. Type net stop WuAuServ and click OK.
6. Hold down the Windows Key on your keyboard and press R.
7. Type %windir% and click OK.
8. Right-click the folder SoftwareDistribution and select Rename. Rename it to SDold.
9. Hold down the Windows Key on your keyboard and press R.
10. Type net start WuAuServ and click OK.
You’re done! Hopefully this error doesn’t bother you anymore when you start your computer.
In Windows XP or Windows Vista, the My Documents folder is missing from the My Computer view.
To fix this problem try the following steps:
1. Hold down the Windows key and press R.
2. Type regedit and click OK.
3. Click the plus sign next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
then Software
then Microsoft
then Windows
then CurrentVersion
then Explorer
4. Right click on the DocFolderPaths entry and click New > String Value.
5. Give the string value the username you use to login to Windows.
6. Set the Value data to the path to where the My Documents folder belongs. It would be C:\Documents and Settings\Windows username. Click OK.
When you try to disable a Local Area Connection in Windows XP, you get an error:
It is not possible to disable the connection at this time. This connection maybe using one or more protocols that do not support Plug and play, or it may have been initiated by another user or the system account.
1. Click Start > Run, type cmd and click OK.
2. Type netsh winsock reset catalog and press the Enter key.
3. Type netsh int ip reset reset.log and press the Enter key.
4. Restart the computer.
Check to see if you can disable the Local Area Connection now. If not, try the following steps:
1. Click Start > Run, type cmd and click OK.
2. Type net stop cryptsvc and press the Enter key.
3. Type ren %systemroot%\System32\Catroot2 oldcatroot2 and press the Enter key.
4. Restart the computer.
When you open a file in Windows XP that has a corrupted video, image files, HTML pages, or MP3 file, Windows Explorer crashes.
You will need to somehow access this folder so that you can delete the offensive file. You will need to unregister 2 DLL’s to prevent the Windows from previewing the file, which is what is actually causing Windows Explorer to crash.
1. Click Start > Run and type regsvr32 /u shimgvw.dll and click OK.
2. Click Start > Run and type regsvr32 /u shmedia.dll and click OK.
3. Delete the file that is corrupted.
4. Click Start > Run and type regsvr32 shimgvw.dll and click OK.
5. Click Start > Run and type regsvr32 shmedia.dll and click OK.
Disable the annoying message in Windows XP and Windows Vista that says:
This page has an unspecified potential security risk
You can receive this message when you access a file on a network resource.
In order to disable this message, you have to add the UNC path to the server where the files are stored to your trusted sites in Internet Options within Internet Explorer. Here’s how:
1. Open Internet Explorer and click Tools > Internet Options.
2. Click the Security tab.
3. Click Trusted Sites.
4. Click Default Level.
5. Set the Allowed levels for this zone to Low.
6. Click Sites. Read more… »
There can be a problem with the Remote tab missing from System Properties screen when you right-click on My Computer and go to Properties.
To solve this problem try the following:
1. Click Start > Run.
2. Type regsvr32 remotepg.dll
3. Click OK, then OK when the dialog appears.
Now give it a try. The Remote tab should now appear.
When viewing Folder Options in Windows XP, the General and View tabs are missing. To try to fix this problem, try the following steps:
1. Click Start > Run, type regsvr32 browseui.dll and click OK
2. Click Start > Run, type regsvr32 shell32.dll and click OK.
Check to see if that worked. If not, continue with the following steps:
3. Go to Start > Run, type msconfig and click OK.
4. Click the Expand File button.
5. Type browseui.dll in the File to Restore field.
6. In the Restore From filed, enter the path to your XP CD or the I386 folder on the C drive (if present).
7. In the Restore To field, type C:\Windows\System32
8. Repeat steps 5 through 7 but restore the shell32.dll file instead.
Repeat steps 1 and 2 and hopefully you will be able to see the General and View tabs now.
I recently hit a problem where CHKDSK was running at startup and it would finish, then the computer would restart and it would try to run CHKDSK again. It would do this in an endless loop and never get to the point where you could boot into Windows XP. Luckily I was able to find a workaround.
1. When the computer is first turning on, press and hold the F8 key.
2. Select the option for Safe Mode with Command Prompt.
3. At the prompt, type chkntfs /x c: and press Enter.
Now restart the computer and see if the problem is resolved. The C drive should be excluded from the scan and should boot right into Windows if the disk drive is still readable.
When you try to perform file searches in Windows XP, only the dog appears and the options, fields or buttons are missing. Follow these steps to try to solve this problem.
1. Click Start > Run and type regsvr32 wshom.ocx
2. Click Start > Run and type regsvr32 jscript.dll
3. Click Start > Run and type regsvr32 urlmon.dll
Restart the computer and try to search. It should work with no problems.
When installing Windows XP or Windows Vista. You get a blue screen of death error:
STOP: c0000218 {Registry File Failure}
The most likely cause of this is the hard drive is damaged and must be repaired. CHKDSK /R will need to be run to try to repair it. To do so, try the following steps:
1. Boot the computer with your Windows installation disc.
2. When you are prompted to select Repair or Recover, press R.
3. Type the Administrator password when prompted.
4. At the command prompt, type CHKDSK /R, and then press Enter.
5. Read the results, and then take any steps that you must take to complete the process. You may need to run CHKDSK /F instead to fix the problem.
6. Restart the computer, and see if Windows works now.
If this didn’t fix the problem, you may have to replace the hard drive.
How to turn off the annoying printer notification messages that appears when an event occurs on your printer in Windows XP.
1. Click the Start > Settings > Printers and Faxes.
2. Click the File > Server Properties.
3. Click the Advanced tab.
4. Uncheck the following boxes:
5. Click OK.
Now those annoying printer notification warnings should be turned off.
How to prevent Windows Update from downloading and installing Windows XP Service Pack 3 automatically.
1. Click Start > Run.
2. Type regedit and click OK.
3. Click the plus sign next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
then Software
then Policies
then Microsoft
then Windows
then click WindowsUpdate
4. Look for an entry on the right side for DoNotAllowSP. If it doesn’t exist, you will need to create it. To do so, right-click on WindowsUpdate and select New > DWORD Value. Give the value a name of DoNotAllowSP. Press the Enter key when you are done.
5. Right-click the DoNotAllowSP entry and click Modify.
So you have a Windows XP installation disc. Why not make a new one with Windows XP Service Pack 3 included on it? This way you won’t have the extra step of installing SP3 when you install Windows XP. Here’s how to combine Service Pack 3 with your current version of Windows to create a new bootable installation CD.
1. Download Windows XP SP3 Network Installation to your Desktop.
3. Run the nLite installer. Follow the menus by clicking Next and eventually you will be asked where your Windows XP installation information is. In this example, I have selected the CD-ROM drive that has my Windows XP installation CD in it.
If any of the System Icons such as the Speaker, Network, or Power icons are missing from the Taskbar Notification Area (Systray) in Windows Vista or Windows XP, try the following steps to try to bring them back.
1. Open Regedit by holding down the Windows Key and press the R key. Type regedit in the box and click OK.
2. Click My Computer on the top left side.
3. Click Edit > Find.
4. Type iconstreams and click Find.
5. If Regedit finds an entry named iconstreams, press the Delete button on your keyboard to delete it.
6. Press the F3 key on your keyboard to continue searching the registry. If Regedit finds any additional entries, delete those as well.
7. Repeat steps 2 through 6, only this time instead of searching for iconstreams, search for PastIconStreams instead, and delete any of those entries.
8. Close the registry editor and restart the computer. See if your System icons have reappeared in the Taskbar Notification Area (Systray).
See also: Systray icons missing
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