Turning Off the Guest Account

Turning Off the Guest Account

For security purposes, you might want to turn off the Guest account

Open up the Control Panel

Click on User Accounts

Click on Change an account

Click on the Guest account

Click Turn off the guest account

Original NT Style Logon Screen

Original NT Style Logon Screen

If you want to have the original NT style windows logon screen with XP,
simply hold the Ctrl-Alt keys and press the delete key twice.

To make a permanent change so the logon screen is always like the traditional NT4/2000 style:

Go to the Control Panel

Open up User Accounts

Click Change the way users log on and off

Uncheck Use the Welcome screen

Click on Apply Options

Turning Off the Built-In CD Burner

Turning Off the Built-In CD Burner

If you want to turn off the ability to using the built-in CD burner software that comes with WindowsXP:

Open up the Explorer

Right click on the drive that is your CD burner

Select Properties

Click on the Recording tab

Uncheck Enable CD recording on this drive

Hiding System Tray Icons

Hiding System Tray Icons

With WindowsXP, you can manually select how you want individual icons in the System Tray to be displayed.

Right click on the Taskbar

Select Properties

Check Hide inactive icons

Click on the Customize button

This will bring up a dialog box that will allow you to select one of three options for your applications:

Hide when inactive, Always hide, or always show

Highlight current or past applications and make any changes you like. 

A small arrow will now appear in the System Tray that will allow you to show or hide these icons.

Faster Task Switching

Faster Task Switching

If you installed WindowsXP Power Tools from Microsoft, when you press Alt-Tab to switch between running applications,
you get a screen that shows a small graphic of the window that is of that application along with its icon.
This also takes a long time to display. (Or at least longer than I'm comfortable with)

You can speed this up and revert back to previous ways task switching is displayed.

To Turn This Off After Your Reboot:

Run MSCONFIG

Click on the Startup tab

Uncheck Taskswitch

Click on the OK button

If you want to keep working, click on Exit without Restart

To Turn This Off Immediately:

Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete

Click on the Processes tab

Highlight TaskSwitch.exe

Click on the End Process tab

Click on the Yes button

WindowsXP Command Line Utilities

WindowsXP Command Line Utilities

While there are a lot of command line utilities in WindowsXP, here are some that I have been using lately.

bootcfg - Configures, queries, or changes Boot.ini file settings.

driverquery - Displays a list of all installed device drivers and their properties.

getmac - Returns the media access control (MAC) address and list of network protocols associated with each address for all network cards in each computer

gpresult - Displays Group Policy settings and Resultant Set of Policy (RSOP) for a user or a computer

netsh - You can use commands in the Netsh Interface IP context to configure the TCP/IP protocol

schtasks - Schedules commands and programs to run periodically or at a specific time

systeminfo - Displays detailed configuration information about a computer and its operating system

Creating a Shutdown/Reboot Icon

Creating a Shutdown/Reboot Icon

WindowsXP has a program called SHUTDOWN.EXE which allows you to easily create icons to shutdown or restart your computer.

To create a shutdown shortcut on the desktop:

Right click on an open area of the desktop 

Select New / Shortcut 

Enter in "shutdown -s -t 00" - no quotes 

Press the Next button 

For the name, enter in anything you like. I just use shutdown. Click on the Finish button.

For a reboot, enter "shutdown -r -t 00"

Shutdown [{-l|-s|-r|-a}] [-f] [-m [\\ComputerName]] [-t xx] [-c "message"] [-d[u][p]:xx:yy] 

Parameters 
-l - Logs off the current user, this is also the defualt. -m ComputerName takes precedence. 
-s - Shuts down the local computer. 
-r - Reboots after shutdown. 
-a - Aborts shutdown. Ignores other parameters, except -l and ComputerName. You can only use -a during the time-out period. 
-f - Forces running applications to close. 
-m [\\ComputerName] - Specifies the computer that you want to shut down. 
-t xx - Sets the timer for system shutdown in xx seconds. The default is 20 seconds. 
-c "message" - Specifies a message to be displayed in the Message area of the System Shutdown window. You can use a maximum of 127 characters. You must enclose the message in quotation marks.

Using the System File Checker

Using the System File Checker

You can run the System File Checker to verify protected system files. 

Command line switches are:

sfc [/scannow] [/scanonce] [/scanboot] [/revert] [/purgecache] [/cachesize=x] 
/scannow - Scans all protected system files immediately. 
/scanonce - Scans all protected system files once. 
/scanboot - Scans all protected system files every time the computer is restarted. 
/revert - Returns the scan to its default operation. 
/purgecache - Purges the Windows File Protection file cache and scans all protected system files immediately. 
/cachesize=x - Sets the size, in MB, of the Windows File Protection file cache.

Adding / Removing Additional Programs

Adding / Removing Additional Programs

By default, WindowsXP does not display all the programs you can add or remove.
To show this list:

Edit the \Windows\Inf\sysoc.inf file

In the Components section, simply remove the word hide.

This will leave two commas together (like on the rest of the items).

Then you can go to the Control Panel / Add or Remove Programs / Add/Remove Windows Components and the new items will be displayed.

[Components]
NtComponents=ntoc.dll,NtOcSetupProc,,4
WBEM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wbemoc.inf,hide,7
Display=desk.cpl,DisplayOcSetupProc,,7
Fax=fxsocm.dll,FaxOcmSetupProc,fxsocm.inf,,7
NetOC=netoc.dll,NetOcSetupProc,netoc.inf,,7
iis=iis.dll,OcEntry,iis.inf,,7
com=comsetup.dll,OcEntry,comnt5.inf,hide,7
dtc=msdtcstp.dll,OcEntry,dtcnt5.inf,hide,7
IndexSrv_System = setupqry.dll,IndexSrv,setupqry.inf,,7
TerminalServer=TsOc.dll, HydraOc, TsOc.inf,hide,2
msmq=msmqocm.dll,MsmqOcm,msmqocm.inf,,6
ims=imsinsnt.dll,OcEntry,ims.inf,,7
fp_extensions=fp40ext.dll,FrontPage4Extensions,fp40ext.inf,,7 
AutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,au.inf,hide,7
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
msnexplr=ocmsn.dll,OcEntry,msnmsn.inf,,7
smarttgs=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,msnsl.inf,,7
RootAutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,rootau.inf,,7


Games=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,games.inf,,7
AccessUtil=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,accessor.inf,,7
CommApps=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,communic.inf,HIDE,7
MultiM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,multimed.inf,HIDE,7
AccessOpt=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,optional.inf,HIDE,7
Pinball=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,pinball.inf,HIDE,7
MSWordPad=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wordpad.inf,HIDE,7
ZoneGames=zoneoc.dll,ZoneSetupProc,igames.inf,,7

Enabling NumLock on by Default

Enabling NumLock on by Default

To have numlock turned on for each user:

Start Regedit

Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Keyboard\InitialKeyboardIndicators

Change the value from 0 to 2

Turn Numlock on manually

Log off and back on again.

For all users, make the same change to HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Keyboard\InitialKeyboardIndicators

Increasing File System Caching

Increasing File System Caching

To increase the amount of memory Windows will locked for I/O operations:

Start Regedit

Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

Edit the key IoPageLockLimit

4096 - 32megs of memory or less
8192 - 32+ megs of memory
16384 - 64+ megs of memory
32768 - 128+ megs of memory
65536 - 256+ megs of memory

Displaying and Configuring the Classic Start Menu

Displaying and Configuring the Classic Start Menu

If you prefer the original Start Menu, you can easily switch it back.

Right click on the Taksbar

Select Properties

Click on the Start Menu tab

Select Classic Start Menu

If you click on the Customize button you can choose to display Administrative Tools, Favorites, Run, and expanding many of the sub-menus like the Control Panel.

Configuring the Firewall

Configuring the Firewall

WindowsXP has firewall capabilities built into the operating system.

For your network connection to the Internet, select Properties

Click on the Advanced tab

Check the Internet Connection Firewall section

Click on the Settings button to change the settings

Changing System Restore Settings

Changing System Restore Settings

By default, WindowsXP uses a large amount of hard drive space for storing system restore points.
If this is not necessary, you can change the settings.

Go to Start / Programs / Accessories / System Tools 

Run System Restore

For each drive or partition, you can click on the Setting button to change how much hard drive space is devoted to each one.

There is even the option to turn it off for all drives.

Changing Visual Effects

Changing Visual Effects

To change visual effects such as fade menus, mouse shadow, visual styles on buttons, drop shadows for icons, slide open boxes and buttons etc.:

Right click on My Computer

Select Properties

Click on the Advanced tab

Under Performance, click on the Settings button

From here you have a list of items you can select