A few Tips for Windows users

The idea hit me the other day when my wife Mahuya scornfully yelled at me - “Why don’t you open up a website and give free technical support to the whole world, giving up your day’s foods and night’s sleep?” while I was helping one of my friends over the telephone to fix the problem in his laptop.

True… ‘Friends’ and ‘Friends of Friends’ do bug me sometimes to solve their software and hardware problems. But, I understand how they feel when their computers go mad. A few simple tips surely helps more often then not when your computer is behaving weirdly. I’m proud that they find me worthy of giving them the right advice.

As I had mentioned before- The idea is truly to give some tips and tricks to computer users over the internet so that they can get better performance out of their ‘Machine’ and also get some ‘self help’ if in case their computers go ‘Mad’. How best could I’ve done that other than writing a ‘Blog’?

By now you must've thought me a crazy guy who's having a lot's of time to give advises and write blogs. On the contrary, I'm not having enough time even to go out for a cofee with my wife on the evenings (I would love to, if I'd have that time). My whole day goes by sitting in front of my desktop at my office and giving online advises to my clients or helping my team members of my company- 'Brethren Infotech Solutions' to solve problems of our clients. More often than not I've to login into my home PC at 11 o'clock night after getting a ring from my office, because there's some critical problem on some client desktop which my juniors couldn't solve. Still I've got time to write this blog only because although I'm always online, but most of the time I'm not the one who's on work (thank's to my team members who handle it well on most of the occasions). Hence, this way I'm trying to utilize my 'spare time'.

I’ll start with problems related to Windows XP and then gradually, whenever I get time and if I get good response to boost up my spirit, I’ll add other issues too, like issues on Outlook Express, Media Player, Spreadsheets like MS-Excel or even other O/S like Linux. Thus, please watch out for the next updates! I expect many…many emails, from computer users who’s experiencing problems and also from those who are problem solvers. I must admit first that I may not have enough time to answer all of your emails personally, but I'll keep the solutions to your proablems in my next updates. Also, If I ever find a problem that I can't solve myself, I'll keep them online for problem solvers to give a solution. I promise to keep name of the problem solvers along with their solution if they find a suitable solution to the problem. I also expect emails from ‘corporate houses’ and ‘serious users’ who’re my sole bread earning source, who’d like to have my and my team’s services to solve their or their company’s systems. Also, I would expect emails from software vendors who’d like their software to be ‘tested’ and provide service to their users. Here we go…

1.Speed up the Start Menu
2.Changing Programs That Start Automatically
3.Editing the Boot.ini file
4.Viewing Your IP Address Information
5.Re-Installing WindowsXP without loosing anything
6.Speeding Up Network Browsing
7.Edit or remove program sounds
8.Navigate the taskbar without a mouse
9.Install Backup on Windows XP Home Edition
10.Microsoft Messenger Removal
11.Messenger Service Pop-Up Advertising
12.Windows Firewall
13.Windows AntiSpyware
14.Windows XP Installation Troubleshooting
15.Solving program ‘Not Responding’ problem or 'sluggish' window problem


1.Speed up the Start Menu
The default speed of the Start Menu is pretty slow, but you can fix that by editing a Registry Key. Fire up the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ MenuShowDelay
By default, the value is 400. Change this to a smaller value, such as 0, to speed it up.
If this doesn't work for some reason, then you might try the following: Navigate to Display Properties then Appearance then Effects and turn off the option titled Show menu shadow. You will get much better overall performance


2.Changing Programs That Start Automatically
WindowsXP has a program, MSCONFIG, similar to that was available in Windows98.This allows you to view and change what programs are automatically started each time you log in. The new version also allows you to view and edit the boot.ini file (as well as check for errors and use several advanced switches)

3.Editing the Boot.ini file
The boot.ini file is a simple text file that is on the root of the boot drive. You can edit this with any plain text editor like Notepad (may need to unhide the file first)
Right click on My Computer
Select Properties
Click on the Advanced tab
Under Startup and Recovery, click on the Settings button
Click on the Edit button


4.Viewing Your IP Address Information
There are several ways you can determine your IP address information:
IPCONFIG
Start / Run / cmd
IPCONFIG /ALL
This opens a command window. One advantage is that you can send the information to a text file (IPCONFIG /ALL > c:\ip.txt)


5.Re-Installing WindowsXP without loosing anything
If you need to reinstall WindowsXP and want to keep all your current installed applications and settings:
1. Start WindowsXP
2. Go to the location of your source files
3. Run WINNT32 /unattend


6.Speeding Up Network Browsing
There’s a lot of things which can negatively impact how fast XP will browse network shares. Some of the things you can try, especially when there’s slow browsing to network shares with a lot of files:
1. Remove current shortcuts in My Network Places
2. Change the registry so that the shared folders on remote computers are not automatically added to ‘My Network Places’ when you open a document from that shared folder
Start Regedit
Create a DWORD value: HKEY_Current_User \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer \ NoRecentDocsNetHood to 1.
You can also set the following as well.HKEY_Current_User \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer \ UseDesktopIniCache to 1.
3. Increase the amount of data buffered at one time to send to a client.
Start Regedit Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters Create a DWORD Key called SizReqBuf
Give it a value of Hex FFFF


7.Edit or Remove Program Sounds
For example, if you want to get rid of the 'welcome sound', when windows starts and want to create a more silent environment.
Go to the Control Panel ("Start Settings Control Panel" menu item)
Double click on Sounds icon
Scroll through the list of event sounds and select the program and the related event that you want to modify
Use controls at the bottom to disable (set sound name to "None") or select a different sound
Click "OK" and close the Control Panel before testing the event sound


8.Navigate The Taskbar Without a Mouse
If you find yourself using Windows without a mouse or simply prefer using the keyboard for task switching, here are the keyboard combinations you'll need:
CTRL+ESC
ESC
TAB
Now you can navigate the taskbar using LEFT, RIGHT and TAB keys


9.Install Backup on Windows XP Home Edition
Users of XP Home Edition that have tried to back up their systems may have been surprised to find that the Backup utility is not included in the default installation of Windows XP Home Edition. To Manually Install the Backup Utility-
Insert the CD Rom and navigate to CD-ROM Drive:
[x]:\VALUEADD\MSFT\NTBACKUP (where x is the Drive letter)
Double-click the Ntbackup.msi file to start the wizard that installs Backup ·
When the wizard is complete, click Finish.


10.Microsoft Messenger Removal
One of the most sought after tweaks at the moment is the ability to remove Windows Messenger from Windows XP installations. But, before going into details of how to do that, I’d like to clear a misconception. In none of the cases below is Messenger actually 'removed' from the system. You can hide it, prevent it from starting, disguise it, and fool the system into thinking it's not available - but it isn't removed. It's still on the computer and a part of the operating system.

Official Microsoft Messenger Removal Method
Microsoft issued Knowledge Base Article Q302089 that details methods to prevent Windows Messenger 4.0, 4.5 and 4.6 from running on Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional. Check out Knowledge Base Article Q302089. FYI: Messenger is installed by default in XP Home and Professional.

Unofficial Windows Messenger Removal - Method I
Note: For Windows XP with SP1 Installed Use Add/Remove Programs to remove Messenger
If SP1 is not installed in your system:
To add Messenger to the Add/Remove Programs feature accessible via Control Panel:
1)Navigate to C:\Windows\inf (If your Windows directory is different, substitute the proper drive letter)
2)Open sysoc.inf
3)Find the line that reads:
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
4)Change it to read:
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,,7
Windows Messenger will now appear in Add/Remove Windows Components section of Add/Remove Programs accessible through Control Panel.

Unofficial Windows Messenger Removal - Method II
1)Click Start/ Run
2)In the [Open:] box type or copy/paste the following command:
RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove
3)Click OK

Unofficial Windows Messenger Removal - Method III
The default location for Windows Messenger is C:\Program Files\Messenger. When XP wants to fire up Messenger it will try and access the files at the default location. You can prevent Messenger from loading by just renaming the Messenger folder to something new, like Disabled Messenger. If you want to use Messenger at some point down the road, simply rename the folder to Messenger and you're back in business.


11.Messenger Service Pop-Up Advertising
The latest trend of spammers is using the messenger service to send pop up advertising spam to unprotected computers.I’d like to point out that these messages have no relation to MSN or Windows Messenger. Messenger service is used via the 'net send' command to send messages between networked computers. If you don't have network access or use the 'net send' command it's easy to disable the messenger service and eliminate the popup activity. For more information on the Messenger service, see Knowledge Base Article Q168893. To disable Messenger Service:
1)Click Start /Run and type "services.msc" and click OK
2)In the right pane, scroll down to Messenger
3)Double click Messenger and click the General tab
4)Under Service Status: click the Stop button
5)In the Startup Type: drop down box, select Disable
6)Click Apply and OK
Another method to free your system from this annoyance is to block NetBIOS ports 135, 137, 138. and 139 through the firewall. Windows XP (with SP2) has a default firewall, but if you’re using a different firewall, please check with your system-admin on how to do it. You can also email me with your firewall details so that I can help.


12.Windows Firewall
A few years ago the majority of home and small business computer users had likely never heard of a firewall. Today you can't ignore the need to be protected by a firewall as the computing environment has become increasingly hostile. The initial release of Windows XP contained a product called Internet Connection Firewall(ICF). It was fairly well hidden away and really received very little attention. Many users weren't even aware it existed, much less had it enabled. Times have changed dramatically and running a computer today without a firewall is equivalent to computing suicide. So much so, in fact, that with the release of Service Pack 2 for XP, ICF has been renamed Windows Firewall and it is now enabled by default.
If you aren't familiar with a firewall and what it does, think of it as a fence that surrounds a yard. It provides an area of protection around a specific area, in this case your computer, and limits access to the area to one specific location that you control. In an ideal situation the access point would be controlled in both inward and outward directions, similar to having guards on the inside and outside of the gate. The easiest way to tell if Windows Firewall is enabled and actively protecting the system is:
Start > Control Panel and then click the Security Center icon.
The first item listed in Security Center will be Firewall.
As you can see, Security Center reports "Windows Firewall is ON", the default setting.
For those that want to modify the default firewall settings or turn it off completely, the [Manage Security Settings For] section at the bottom of Security Center contains a Windows Firewall icon. Clicking it will open the Windows Firewall property sheet.
The General Tab - The On and Off settings are self-explanatory. One question that does come up rather frequently is whether or not Windows Firewall should be on if there is another firewall installed and in use on the system. The answer is no. Use one or the other, but not both. Using both will just lead to conflicts and confusion between the two firewalls. In this case, more is not better.


13.Windows AntiSpyware
Microsoft made available a beta release of its Windows AntiSpyware application On Thursday, January 6, 2005. Later, it released Windows Defender which still can be downloaded for free.
Like many of the other spyware prevention and removal applications already on the market, the primary goals of AntiSpyware are to reduce the number of spyware applications that find their way onto user systems thereby causing serious performance issues, threats to user privacy, and unauthorized system modifications.
Please note that Microsoft asks that you go through a validation process to ensure you are are running an authentic and fully-licensed copy of Windows. Once the application (WindowsDefender.msi) has been downloaded, navigate to where the executable was saved and double click on the file to begin the installation. As with every application released by Microsoft, there is the License Agreement to accept or decline. Click the accept option and you move forward.
The only installation option available at this point is the location where AntiSpyware is installed. If you want to select an alternate location, click the Change... button.
If you screwed up anything already, which is unlikely since there was really nothing to screw up to this point, click the Back button and make some changes. If not, go ahead and click Install and let the wizard do its thing.


14.Windows XP Installation Troubleshooting
I’ve handled many queries from users who experience trouble installing Windows XP. By the time they get around to writing me or calling me, the old operating system is long ago trashed and they’ve tried everything possible they knew under computing theory. Well, almost everything.
If you're in the above category, give this a try.
Remove everything that’s installed or connected to your computer so that the only things remaining in the case are:
Motherboard, processor, and cooling fan, Graphics card, One stick of RAM, One hard drive, One CD ROM drive That's it.
No sound card, no network interface card, no modem, no extra hard drives or CD ROM drives.
Especially important is not to have more than one memory stick, and it should be a minimum of 128MB.
Connect up the monitor, the keyboard and the mouse and power up the machine.
Go into the BIOS settings and look for a setting for the basic BIOS default configuration.
Select it, then make sure that if you're booting from a CD ROM that the CD drive is the first boot device.
Reboot and let the installation process begin.
Once you have the basic operating system in place it's a simple matter to start adding back in the extra memory, drives, and devices that were stripped out initially.
A final tip. I know it's tempting to add everything else back in at once after a successful install. Don't do it. Something was causing a problem initially or you wouldn't be using this procedure.
Add the pieces back one memory stick, one hard drive, one network interface card at a time and test the system for proper operation after each addition.


15.Tweaking with Task Manager (Solving program ‘Not Responding’ problem or sluggish window problem)
How often you found that while you're working on several different applications, suddenly one of the applications just cease to respond. For example suppose you're copying some information (like contact information) from various internet websites into your spreadsheet (MS-Excel). You've kept your outlook express open to receive emails. Suddenly you found that your browser is "Not Responding". If you ever found this problem what you'd do. Shut down Windows? Not at all!
Simply click these 3 buttons together: Ctrl + Alt + Delete.
Now you should have the Windows XP Task Manager on your screen? You'll find Four Tabs on the 'Windows Task Manager' namely 'Applications', 'Processes', 'Performance' and 'Networking'. I won't discuss in detail of each 'Tab' here but will surely guide you to find your solution.
Click on the 'Application' Tab. Do you see a number of applications 'Running'? There can you find one application as 'Not Responding'? This is the culprit.
Just select the application that's 'Not Responding' by clicking once and then click 'End Task' button at the bottom of the window to end the program.
Close the Task manager and then everything is fine. If you need to open the application once again, just start it normally.

Windows Task manager is a great help for the following issues:

1)Killing an application
(I've discussed above)

2)Killing a process or application in the Processes tab
The Processes tab is very useful as it tells us what .exe programs are running on your system and how much CPU/memory they are consuming. If you find an unwanted program is running and you can't find anything by which you can stop it. Even the help in previous section (killing the application) is not working, you can click on the 'Processes' tab and search for the program exe. If you find the .exe who's the culprit, just select it by clicking once and 'End Process'.
Caution: Please be very very sure that the program that you're trying to close is not a 'System File' which is an integral part of your o/s. If you shut down a system file, your Windows may shut down, may be non functional or my become corrupt.

3)Checking out the CPU usage
Suddenly your Windows may become 'sluggish'. If it is so, you can go to the task manager and go to the 'Performance' tab. How much 'CPU usage' is it showing? Is it 100%? Then it must be a program which is eating up all your CPU. Just go to the Processes tab again to find which program is using most of your CPU. You can even 'kill' the culprit by 'End Process'.