Make services shut down faster in Windows XP and Windows Vista.
1. Click Start (Then Run in Windows XP) and type REGEDIT.
2. Click the plus sign next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
then SYSTEM
then CurrentControlSet
then Control
3. Double click the WaitToKillServiceTimeout key. The default value is 20000 which is 20 seconds. You can change this to 8000 or 8 seconds.
NET SEND commands don’t usually work once Windows XP SP2 has been installed because SP2 disabled the Messenger Service. This service needs to be re-enabled on the sending and receiving computers in order to use it. You might get the error:
An error occurred while sending a message to Computer Name/Username.
The message alias could not be found on the network.
More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2273.
1. Right-click My Computer, and click Manage.
2. Click the plus sign next to Services and Applications, and then click Services.
3. double-click Messenger.
4. Click the General tab and select Automatic from the Startup type list, and then click Apply.
5. Under Service status, click Start, and click OK.
6. Click OK, then OK again.
Be sure to perform these steps on both the sending computer and the receiving computer.
Windows setup freezes or restarts the computer at the point when it is “Installing Devices”.
This usually happens when there is a problem with one or more drivers already installed on the previous XP installation. The solution is to rename the drivers folder.
1. Use a boot disk to boot into DOS. If you don’t have one, you can get one from Bootdisk.com.
2. Rename the Drivers folder at %SystemRoot%\System32\Drivers
3. Restart the computer and continue installing Windows.
When you try to use Internet Explorer under Windows XP you get the error:
The page cannot be displayed. Additionally, you may have no IP address or no Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA) address, and you may be receiving IP packets but not sending them.
Fixing Winsock 2 may fix this problem.
1. Click on START>RUN
2. Type the following command:
netsh winsock reset catalog
This should reset Winsock 2 registry entries. See if you have the same problem.
When you run Windows Automatic Updates under Windows XP you get the error:
The instruction at “0×745f2780″ reference memory at “0×00000000″. The memory could not be ‘read’.
You may also have an event in the Event Log that says the following:
Faulting application svchost.exe, version 5.1.2600.2180, faulting module msi.dll, version 3.1.4000.2435, fault address 0×00012780.
Read more… »
Many people don’t know that they cannot upgrade their existing Windows XP Professional installation to Windows Vista Home.
I find it shocking that I would’ve been better off purchasing Windows XP Home when it comes to upgrading to Windows Vista. I purchased Windows Vista Home and found that I had to start with a clean install because you cannot upgrade an XP Pro box to Vista Home according to this page. I thought it would be a no-brainer that Microsoft would allow any Windows XP user to upgrade to any version of Vista. I mean after all, it is supposed to be an “upgrade” no matter what, right?
I also found that I’m not the only one that is shocked by this. Everybody I work with was planning to get the Home version of Vista because they don’t feel the need to have all the other features that are sold with the Ultimate and Business versions, but the only choices for us are the Vista Business or Vista Ultimate editions.
Add the option to Open with Notepad to the right-click menu.
Right click here and save the file. Then run it. It will import the following information into your system registry.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\Open with Notepad]
@=”"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\Open with Notepad\command]
@=”notepad.exe %1″
There can be a problem in Windows where the options to Rotate Clockwise or Rotate Counter Clockwise are grayed out when you right click on a JPG, GIF or any other type of image file.
To fix this”
1. Click START–>RUN
2. type regsvr32 shimgvw.dll
3. You will get a popup that the registration suceeded. Click OK.
You should then be able to select the Rotate Clockwise and Rotate Counter Clockwise options the next time you try.
You get an error when accessing Network Properties:
You do not have sufficient privileges for accessing connection properties
This can happen in Windows XP and Windows 2003 if the Default Impersonation Level setting is set to Anonymous.
To fix this problem…
1. Click Start–>Run, type dcomcnfg, and click OK.
2. Expand Component Services, expand Computers, right-click the computer that you want to configure, and click Properties.
3.Click the Default Properties tab, and then click to select the Enable Distributed COM on this computer check box, if it is not already selected.
4. In the Default Impersonation Level box, click Identify, and click OK.
5. Restart the computer.
et CPU priority for each of your applications or processes that are running. This is very handy for handling applications that take most of your resources. It works in Windows Vista and Windows XP.
1. Right-click on the taskbar and select Task Manager.
2. Right-click the Process you wish to change.
3. Select Set Priority.
4. Now select the priority you wish to assign to this process.
5. Click Yes to the Task Manager Warning.
Why do Files and Folder names show up in blue instead of black in Windows XP?
If file names or folder names show up in blue, it is because file compression is enabled on that file or folder. This can cause some applications to not function properly when enabled.
The option is located when following these steps.
1. Right-click the file or folder and click PROPERTIES
2. Click ADVANCED
3. There is a check box for Compress contents to save disk space
How to fix the problem when your Administrative Tools folder is empty and contains no icons to click on.
1. Click START–>RUN and type REGEDIT. Click OK.
2. Click the plus sign next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
then SOFTWARE
then Microsoft
then Windows
then CurrentVersion
then Explorer
then User Shell Folders
3. Delete the value named Common Administrative Tools
4. Open Shell Folders under the Explorer tree. Delete the value named Common Administrative Tools there also.
How to send a remote shutdown command to a remote computer under Windows XP.
You have to be an administrator to perform these actions:
1. Open Computer Management, click Start, and then click Control Panel. Click Performance and Maintenance, click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.
2. Open Computer Management (Local)
3. In the console tree, right-click Computer Management (Local), and then click Connect to another computer.
4. In the Select Computer dialog box, click Another computer, type the name of the computer that you want to restart or shut down, and then click OK. You can also click Browse to search for the name of the computer.
5. In the console tree, right-click Computer Management (Remote computer name), and then click Properties.
6. On the Advanced tab, click Startup and Recovery.
7. Click Shut Down to open the Shut Down dialog box.
8. Under Action, select the actions you want to perform on the computer to which you are connected.
9.Under Force Apps Closed, select the circumstances under which you want to force applications to close when you shut down or restart the computer, and then click OK.
How to update the group policy in Windows Vista and Windows XP.
If you need to apply the group policy changes immediately, you can use the following command to trigger the updating process: gpupdate /force This command compares the currently applied GPO to the GPO that is located on the domain controllers. If nothing has changed since the last time the GPO was applied, then the GPO is skipped. If Windows Vista accepts the request, it will display the following message:
“Updating Policy…
User Policy update has completed successfully.
Computer Policy update has completed successfully.”
Windows XP will display this message:
“Refreshing Policy…
User Policy Refresh has completed.
Computer Policy Refresh has completed.”
After installing SP2 on Windows XP, you receive an error:
Delayed Write Failed
Windows was unable to save all the data for the file drive_letter:
The full error message is:
Windows was unable to save all the data for the file drive_letter:\file_path\file_name. The data has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection. Please try to save this file elsewhere.To restore normal behavior:
1. Open a CMD.exe window.
2. Type the following command and press Enter: REG ADD “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\3ware Storage Controller” /V CacheControl /T REG_DWORD /D 0 /F
3. When you receive the The operation completed successfully message, shutdown and restart Windows XP.
Disable the mode in Windows XP where it saves the desktop configuration while shutting down.
1. Click START–>RUN and type REGEDIT
2. Click the plus sign next to HKEY_CURRENT_USER
then SOFTWARE
then Microsoft
then Windows
then CurrentVersion
then Policies
then Explorer
Double-click on NoSaveSettings if it exists. If it doesn’t, right-click on ADVANCED and Select
NEW–>DWORD VALUE and name it NoSaveSettings
Give it a value of 0 to disable this setting.
Give it a value of 1 to enable this setting
Disable the annoying Search Assistant in Windows XP.
1. Click START–>RUN.
2. type regsvr32 /u “%Systemroot%\System32\omniband.dll”
Now the Search assistant should be disabled, and the classic search should be enabled.
You get the following error when trying to open a file in Windows:
“Windows has blocked access to these files to help protect your computer”
You get this error because of the security settings within Windows. You can solve the problem by right-clicking the file, selecting PROPERTIES and selecting UNBLOCK FILE.
You can find more information on this feature here.
Set which desktop icon appears first.
1. Click START–>RUN and type REGEDIT
2. Click the plus sign next to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
then CLSID
then {450D8FBA-AD25-11D0-98A8-0800361B1103}
Create a new DWORD value, or modify the existing value, called “SortOrderIndex” and set it according to the value.
0×48 = My Documents
0×54 = My Computer
The “Hide Inactive Icons” option is Grayed out in Taskbar Properties.
1. Click START–>RUN and type REGEDIT
2. Click the plus sign next to HKEY_CURRENT_USER
then SOFTWARE
then Microsoft
then Windows
then CurrentVersion
then Policies
then Explorer
Create a DWORD value called EnableAutoTray
Set the value to 00000001 to enable the “Hide Inactive Icons” option again.
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