05.27.08

Speed up your browsing of Windows 2000 & XP machines

Posted in Windows Xp Tips, windows xp tricks at 10:16 pm by admin

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.

How to Upgrade Windows 98 or Windows Millennium Edition Profiles to Windows XP Domain User Profiles

Posted in Windows Xp Tips, XP tricks at 10:10 pm by admin

This guide describes how to upgrade a Microsoft Microsoft Windows 98-based, or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition-based client that has user profiles to a Microsoft Windows XP-based client.

The following steps enable the Windows 98 and Windows Millennium Edition (Me) profiles to be retained throughout the process.

Your best method to retain the profiles is to join the domain during the upgrade installation process.
Otherwise, you must use a workaround method to transfer the profile information over to the Windows XP profile.

During the upgrade installation process, at the networking section, the administrator is offered the choice to join a domain or a workgroup.
If you join the domain at this juncture, you ensure that all the existing profiles are migrated successfully to the Windows XP-based installation.

If you did not join the computer to the domain during the upgrade process, you must use the following workaround method:

Join the upgraded computer to the target domain.

All applicable users must log on and log off (which generates a profile).

Copy the appropriate Application Data folder from the Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me profiles to the newly created user profiles.

How to Remove Windows XP’s Messenger

Posted in Windows Xp Tips, XP tricks at 6:52 am by admin

Theoretically, you can get rid of it (as well as a few other things). Windows 2000 power users should already be familiar with this tweak.

Fire up the Windows Explorer and navigate your way to the %SYSTEMROOT% \ INF folder. What the heck is that thingy with the percentage signs? It’s a variable. For most people, %SYSTEMROOT% is C:\Windows. For others, it may be E:\WinXP. Get it? Okay, on with the hack! In the INF folder, open sysoc.inf (but not before making a BACKUP copy first). Before your eyes glaze over, look for the line containing “msmsgs” in it. Near the end of that particular line, you’ll notice that the word “hide” is not so hidden. Go ahead and delete “hide” (so that the flanking commas are left sitting next to one another). Save the file and close it. Now, open the Add and Remove Programs applet in the Control Panel. Click the Add / Remove Windows Components icon. You should see “Windows Messenger” in that list. Remove the checkmark from its box, and you should be set. NOTE: there are other hidden system components in that sysoc.inf file, too. Remove “hide” and the subsequent programs at your own risk.

05.26.08

XP to directly access WebDAV “internet disks”

Posted in Windows Xp Tips, XP tricks at 7:43 am by admin

Windows XP can directly access WebDAV “internet disks” such as Apple’s iDisk.

In Internet Explorer, use the “Open…” command, type the name of the WebDAV server you want to access (e.g., http://idisk.mac.com/username) and select the “Open as Web Folder” checkbox. Enter the password when prompted and you’re in!

This trick also works on Windows Me and Windows 2000. Interestingly, Windows XP doesn’t seem to support iDisk via the “Add a Network Place” command, possible with these other operating systems.

Once set up using the “Open” command, however, the idisk can be accessed by simply double-clicking its icon in the Network Places folder.

Make your own icons in Windows XP

Posted in Windows Xp Tips at 7:39 am by admin

It’s shockingly easy to create your own icons in Windows XP. Let’s do it: Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, and then click Paint. On the Image menu, click Attributes. Type 32 for both the Width and Height of the document, and make sure that Pixels is selected under Units. Click OK to create a new 32×32-pixel document: the size of an icon.

Now add type, color, or do whatever you’d like to your image. I like to shrink photos (headshots work best) to 32×32 and simply paste them into my Paint document. When you’re finished, open the File menu and click Save As. Use the dialog box to choose where you want to save your file, then give it a name followed by “.ico” (without the quotes), and click Save. (The extension “.ico” tells Windows that it’s an icon file.) You just created an icon! Now you can change any shortcut or folder to your own icon—just browse to it on your hard drive.

Attributes screenshot

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