Windows XP General Tips Page 6

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Error Message When You Shut Down Computer: DEVLDR Not Responding (Q315327)

When you try to shut down your computer, you may receive an error message similar to the following:
DEVLDR not responding.
If you click End Now , your computer stops responding.
This error may occur if you have the Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live installed on your computer.
Click here for the article.

IntelliMouse: The Mouse Pointer Moves Erratically or Does Not Respond with Windows XP (Q321122)

When you are using a Microsoft Mouse or Microsoft IntelliMouse, you may experience one or more of the following symptoms:

If you connect a Microsoft Plug and Play Serial Mouse, Microsoft EasyBall, or Microsoft IntelliMouse to your computer, the new device may not be detected by Microsoft Windows. Running the Add New Hardware Wizard does not resolve the issue.
Click here for the article.

HOW TO: Install or Remove a Font in Windows XP (Q314960)

Windows supports TrueType fonts or fonts that are specially designed for Windows, and these fonts are available commercially. Some programs also include special fonts that are installed as part of the program installation.

Additionally, printers frequently come with TrueType or special Windows fonts. Follow the directions that come with these products to install these fonts.

To prevent a font from loading without removing it from the hard disk, move the font from the Fonts folder into another folder. Use this method for troubleshooting purposes.

This process does not completely remove the font, because font registry information is not deleted. However, it prevents the font from loading.
Click here for the article.

Windows XP: Kernel Improvements Create a More Robust, Powerful, and Scalable OS

Found this article from December on Microsoft's site, some pretty good readying, if you like this kind of stuff.

The Windows XP kernel includes a number of improvements over Windows 2000 that promote better scalability and overall performance. This article covers these changes and explains how they improve startup time, increase registry size limits, and promote more efficient disk partitioning.

Windows XP provides support for 64-bit processors, which is covered here along with a discussion of how side-by-side assemblies end DLL Hell. Also new in the Windows XP kernel is a facility that will roll back driver installations to the Last Known Good state of the registry, making driver installation safer. Other topics include the new volume shadow copy facility, which provides for more accurate backups and improvements in remote debugging.

Although the number of changes to the Windows XP kernel is small compared to the changes between Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 (the internal version number confirms this—Windows 2000 was originally Windows NT 5.0; Windows XP was version 5.1, not NT 6.0), there are a number of important changes that make Windows XP more reliable, more scalable, and more broadly compatible with existing applications.

This article focuses on the kernel changes made to achieve these improvements. It does not cover many other user-mode enhancements in areas such as usability (improved shell and remote assistance), consumer features (CD burner support and DirectX 8.0), and other changes (terminal services with Windows XP Professional, fast user switching, and the new Windows XP Home Edition).

Also, with the exception of System Restore, everything in this article applies to the upcoming Windows .NET Server family of products, since it will be based on the Windows XP kernel (with some additional features).
Click here for the article.

How to Add OEM Plug and Play Drivers to Windows XP (Q314479)

This article describes the steps required to add original equipment manufacturer (OEM)-supplied drivers to Microsoft Windows installations.

This article includes only those drivers that are typically installed during graphical user interface (GUI)-mode Setup or post-Setup by standard Plug and Play enumeration. This permits you to pre-load OEM Plug and Play drivers that you can use later, when the associated hardware is introduced in the system.

Drivers that are installed during the "Installing Devices" portion of GUI-mode Setup have to be found in certain locations. At this point, Setup installs the devices (by using Plug and Play IDs) that have been enumerated by Windows Plug and Play.

Setup searches a predefined path on the drive, looking in .inf files to find the best match for the Plug and Play ID of the device. Click here for the article.

How to Log On to Windows XP If You Forget Your Password (Q318033)

Here's one a lot of people have been looking for. This article explains how to log on to Windows XP if you forget your password, or if your password expires and you are not able to create a new one.
Method 1: Use a Password Reset Disk
If you created a password reset disk on a Microsoft Windows XP Professional-based computer, reset your password by using the password reset disk.
Method 2: Log on as Administrator and Reset the Password
Click here for the article.

Windows XP Application Compatibility Update (April 10, 2002) (Q319580)

Windows XP was designed to allow it to support additional programs even after you install it. The Windows XP Application Compatibility Update is a package of software updates that expand program compatibility support in Windows XP.

This can help to avoid common issues with certain programs. Microsoft recommends that you download this compatibility update if you are having problems with any of the programs that this update is designed to support.
Click here for the article.

How to Move a Windows XP Installation to Different Hardware (Q314070)

IMPORTANT : The issues that are discussed in this article and in the linked articles are the most common problems and limitations that you may encounter when you try to restore a backup copy to different hardware. Other issues can also appear because of the variations in software and hardware configurations.

You may be able to resolve any of these issues by troubleshooting the specific problems that occur, but compatibility issues may limit the success of the restore of a backup to dissimilar hardware.

Windows Backup (Ntbackup.exe) can handle differences in hardware configuration information between computers and maintain critical registry entries that are unique to the computer to which you are migrating information.

This capability means that you can migrate to new hardware by performing a full backup of the source computer and then restoring the backup over a fresh installation of Windows XP on the destination computer.
Click here for the article.

HOW TO: Change the Windows Logon Screen Saver in Windows XP (Q314493)

This step-by-step article describes how to change the default logon screen saver in Microsoft Windows XP. Specifically, the article discusses how to change the type of screen saver that starts, the timeout before the screen saver starts, and whether a screen saver is turned on before the logon process.

When you start Windows, you may be presented with the Windows XP welcome screen, which prompts you click your user name to begin, or you may be presented with a Welcome to Windows dialog box that prompts you to press CTRL+ALT+DEL to log on.

By default, if you do not press a key for 10 minutes, the Windows logon screen saver (Logon.scr) starts.
Click here for the article.

Hard Disk Performance Is Slower Than You Expect (Q308219)

After you install Microsoft Windows XP, hard disk performance may be slower than you expect.

NOTE : Hard disk performance may be even slower when your computer performs many small hard disk read/write operations.

This behavior may occur in the following situation:
You use Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) hard disks in the computer. -and- The hard disks are formatted as NTFS. Click here for the article.

Taskbar Is Missing When You Log On to Windows (Q318027)

When you start Windows XP, you may experience one or more of the following behaviors:
When you log on normally, the taskbar does not appear.

If you press CTRL+ESC, the Start menu does not appear.
If you log on to Windows in Safe mode, the taskbar does appear.

This behavior can occur if the Windows settings for a particular user account are corrupted.
Click here for the article.

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP (Q315341)

This article explains how to perform an in-place upgrade , or reinstallation, of Windows XP. This can also be called a repair installation.
When you perform an in-place upgrade of Windows XP, you reinstall Windows to the same folder.

You may want to do this if you need to repair your installation of Windows XP. To reinstall Windows XP, use either of the following methods.
Click here for the article.

REBOOT INSTEAD OF SHUTDOWN

The majority of Win XP shutdown problems reported thus far have been that it reboots when shutdown is attempted. This may be a global symptom emerging from several distinct causes, because, by default, XP executes an automatic restart in the event of a system failure. Therefore, more or less anything compromising the operating system during the shutdown process could force this reboot.

Disabling the restart on system failure feature may permit the exact cause to be isolated: Right-click on My Computer, click Properties, click the Advanced tab. Under Startup & Recovery, click Settings. Under System Failure, uncheck the box in front of System reboot.

Here are some things that have produced this reboot-instead-of-shutdown symptom: By now, the Roxio/Adeptec Easy CD / Direct CD software is well documented as being the major cause of this undesirable shutdown behavior. SOLUTION: Roxio has released new drivers here to solve this problem in both the Platinum and Basic editions of Easy CD Creator 5. As expected, at least half of the Win XP shutdown problems went away with the release of these patches.

One warning about this patch: Be sure to read the directions! Roxio Easy CD Creator Platinum 5.0 can be a real hassle to get working under Win XP, and there is the risk of your computer not booting if you blindly go ahead and install it without first consulting the Roxio Web site.

It should also be mentioned that Roxio’s Take Two backup program (normally part of Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum) is uninstalled when the Roxio patch is applied. Direct CD. Many Easy CD users (but not all) found that installing Easy CD 5.0 does not cause the shutdown problem, provided they do not install the Direct CD component.

UDFRINST. Several people solved this reboot-on-shutdown problem by deleting the UDFRINST file. This file is part of the Roxio CD-RW software for systems not using Direct CD.

CDRALW2K.SYS. file (version 1.0.0.1048) has been identified as the Roxio file causing a shutdown problems and error conditions. When the file is deleted or renamed, the problems went away. (Of course, you lose your CD functionality that way, too.) Whether or not APM is enabled makes a difference — but the effect could go two ways.

Some users report that XP reboots on shutdown if APM is enabled, but shuts Windows down just fine if APM is disabled. Other users report exactly the opposite behavior. The issue seems related to the computer’s specific hardware or BIOS — so, as with all NT operating systems, stick to the Hardware Compatibility List where possible. Meaning, update your bios.

Y-SB3 Logitech Internet Keyboard can also cause this problem. If you use it as a simple generic keyboard, there’s no problem; but, if you install the Key Commander software that drives the special Internet functions, Win XP will restart instead of shut down. Unfortunately, Logitech has decided that they will not be updating this driver for this keyboard.

Logitech MouseWare 8.6. Windows reboots when shutdown is attempted. The software caused a BSOD with KBDCLASS.SYS. Removing the software solved the BSOD the problem.

SHUTDOWN HANGS ON SAVING YOUR SETTINGS

During shutdown or reboot, Win XP may hang (stop responding) at the saving your settings screen. During such a hang, there is no response to Ctrl+Alt+Del; the mouse may or may not work. The problem may be intermittent.

This is a known bug in Windows XP, for which Microsoft has a supported fix. Because this patch is scheduled for further quality assurance testing in the future, Microsoft only recommends that you install it if you have a serious problem; otherwise, they recommend waiting for Service Pack 1, which will include the more permanent version of the fix. To learn how to get this patch, see Windows XP Stops Responding (Hangs) During Windows Shutdown.

NOTE: The article says the patch may only be obtained by contacting Microsoft. However, it is now available on the Windows Update site under Recommended Updates for Win XP Professional, titled Restarting Windows XP.
As a workaround, you may resolve this problem by dismantling the Windows XP logon Welcome screen. In the Control Panel, click User Accounts, then click Change the way users log on or off. Uncheck the box that says Use the Welcome screen.

This removes the initial logon screen with individual icons for each user and, instead, pops up the classic logon prompt that requires each user to type a user name and password.

SHUTDOWN WORKS, BUT IT’S REAL SLOW

If it appears that Win XP is not shutting down, give it some time. Some users report a minute or longer for shutdown to visibly start. Generally, this is a consequence of software that is running when shutdown is attempted; it also may have something to do with particular hardware.

If you experience 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. In Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services, stop the Nvidia Driver Helper service. (You can also get this by launching SERVICES.MSC from a Run box.) Many other newsgroup participants quickly confirmed that this solved this extremely slow shutdown problem for them.

Another possible solution: In Win XP Professional, the Group Policy Editor has a security option to clear the pagefile at system shutdown. The same setting also forces the hibernation file to be wiped at shutdown. These processes take long enough that users may think that shutdown has hung.

Since someone actually has to have set this policy, the problem will be pretty rare, but is worth mentioning. To change the setting, click Start | Run, type GPEDIT.MSC, click OK. Drill down to Computer Configuration | Windows Settings | Security Settings | Local Policies | Security Options. In the right pane, find Shutdown: Clear virtual memory pagefile.

Remove Windows Messenger

It seems that a lot of people are interested in removing Windows Messenger for some reason, though I strongly recommend against this: In Windows XP, Windows Messenger will be the hub of your connection to the .NET world, and now that this feature is part of Windows, I think we're going to see a lot of .NET Passport-enabled Web sites appearing as well. But if you can't stand the little app, this will allow you to uninstall Messenger.

If you'd like Windows Messenger to show up in the list of programs you can add and remove from Windows, navigate to C:\WINDOWS\inf (substituting the correct drive letter for your version of Windows) and open sysoc.inf (see the previous tip for more information about this file).

You'll see a line that reads: smsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
Change this to the following and Windows Messenger will appear in Add or Remove Programs, then Add/Remove Windows Components, then , and you can remove it for good: msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,7

Compress Files and Folders in Windows XP

Running out of room on your hard disk? Need some extra space to install a new program? Don't worry, Windows XP comes to the rescue. Both Windows XP Professional and Home Edition now include a zip compression utility that you can use to compress files and folders on your hard disk. To compress a file or folder:

  1. Right–click the file or folder.
  2. Point to Send To.
  3. Then click Compressed (zipped) Folder.

This will make a compressed folder, identified by a zipper icon, which displays the same name as the file you compressed. You can also make a compressed folder from scratch, by following these steps:

  1. Right–click the desktop.
  2. Point to New.
  3. Click Compressed (zipped) Folder.

Open the new compressed folder and drag files inside that you would like compressed.

Enable Services to Work Through Internet Connection Firewall

When people are having trouble getting to specific programs or services on your Windows XP machine after you enable Internet Connection Firewall (ICF), you may need to enable the program or service to work through the firewall. To do so, follow these steps:

  1. Click Control Panel, click Network and Internet Connections, and then click Network Connections.
  2. Right-click your Internet connection, and then click Properties.
  3. Click the Advanced tab in the Properties dialog box.
  4. Click Settings, and the Advanced Settings dialog box opens.
  5. From there you can enable most common services just by clicking them, or add your own by clicking the Add button.


Getting an Older Program to Run on Windows XP

If an older application gives you trouble when running Windows XP, you can set the compatibility properties manually so that the program runs in a different mode, such as Windows 95, or in a different display or resolution setting. To set the compatibility properties for a program:

  1. Right–click the executable or the program shortcut to the executable, and then click Properties.
  2. Select the Run this program in compatibility mode check box.
  3. From the list, select an operating system that the program runs in comfortably.
  4. If necessary, also change the display settings and/or resolution, or disable the Windows XP visual themes.

Run the program again when you’re finished changing the settings. Adjust the compatibility settings again if the program is still not running smoothly: a program that’s unhappy on Windows 2000 may flourish on Windows 98.

Turn of Indexing

Windows XP keeps a record of all files on the hard disk so searching for files is faster, but, it is unnesecary if you do not search for files on your hard drive much, and will slow down other file operations, such as open, or close.


Kill XP splash screen

You can disable the windows XP splash screen, but you should be aware that removing the splash screen will also cause you not to see any boot-up messages, such as chkdsk, but it should boot a little quicker also.

If you need to go back, or have trouble, you can simply remove the new switch from your boot.ini file.

Fast Boot / Fast Resume Design

Customer research shows a frequently requested feature that users want from their PCs is fast system startup, whether from cold boot or when resuming from standby or hibernation.

The Windows development team at Microsoft has taken bold steps in making fast startup PCs a reality with the Microsoft® Windows® XP operating system.
The design goals for Windows XP on a typical consumer PC are:

Boot and resume times are measured from the time the power switch is pressed to being able to start a program from a desktop shortcut.
Click here to download files, whitepapers, etc .

TCP/IP and NBT Configuration Parameters for Windows XP

This article defines all of the registry parameters that are used to configure the protocol driver, Tcpip.sys, that implements the standard TCP/IP network protocols.

The TCP/IP protocol suite implementation for Windows XP reads all of its configuration data from the registry. This information is written to the registry by the Network tool in Control Panel as part of the Setup process. Some of this information is also supplied by the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Client service if the DHCP Client service is enabled.

The implementation of the protocol suite should perform properly and efficiently in most environments by using only the configuration information that is gathered by DHCP and by the Network tool in Control Panel. Optimal default values for all other configurable aspects of the protocols have been encoded into the drivers.

There may be some unusual circumstances in customer installations where changes to certain default values are appropriate. To handle these cases, optional registry parameters can be created to modify the default behavior of some parts of the protocol drivers.

CAUTION: The Windows XP TCP/IP implementation is largely self-tuning. Adjusting registry parameters without careful study may adversely affect system performance. Click here for more.

Fix Movie Interference in AVI Files

If you have any AVI files that you saved in Windows 9x, which have interference when opened in Windows XP, there is an easy fix to get rid of the interference:

  1. Open Windows Movie Maker.
  2. Click View and then click Options.
  3. Click in the box to remove the check mark beside Automatically create clips.

Now, import the movie file that has interference and drag it onto the timeline. Then save the movie, and during the rerendering, the interference will be removed.

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