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Codecs
Audio codecs are required to play
music & video. Different format files require different
codecs.
To find out about the codecs installed:
Start.Control
Panel.Sound, Speech and Audio Devices.Sound and Audio Devices
Properties
Select the 'Hardware' tab.
Scroll down and
select 'Audio Codecs'
Click the 'Properties' button
Select
the 'Properties' tab.
Finally, after all that, you'll see
a list of the codecs !
DOS Command Window
To save typing long names, try this:
"cd te<tab>". Pressing the tab key will fill in the name if it
can.
See How to Create a Website
for more details.
ping www.google.com
tracert www.google.com
Or, for testing your FTP connection, ping or tracert
ftp.angelfire.com
To check your IP address:
Goto Start -> Run... and type in cmd
Then ipconfig
How to switch on the Windows XP Firewall
Start.Control Panel.Network &
Internet Connections.Network Connections
Right-click your ISP
connection, for example AOL.net
Select
Properties.Advanced
Tick Protect Computer with Firewall
Internet
Explorer Icons
If you want a desktop icon that gives
you an Internet Explorer window of a specific web address, then:
Copy the Internet Explorer icon, and
create a new desktop icon.
Right-click it and select
'properties'.
In the 'target' field, and add for example
“https://www.angelfire.com/hi5/neuralnetwriter”
OK
out, and click on the icon. You should be viewing the specified
web site.
Moving
the Windows XP Address Book
With Outlook Express not
running.
Search for *.wab files with hidden files
included.
You should find something like:
C:\Documents and Settings\Fred
Bloggs\Application Data\Microsoft\
Address Book\Fred
Bloggs.wab
Copy the file to the required place.
In my case that's:
D:\Data\Fred\My Documents\Mail\Fred
Bloggs.wab
Make a restore point just in case you
muck up the next bit !
Start.Run Regedit
Find
hkey_current_user\software\microsoft\wab\wab4\wab
file name
Double-click on 'default'.
Change
the filename to where you put the address book file:
In my
case that's:
D:\Data\Fred\My Documents\Mail\Fred
Bloggs.wab
The address book on it's own will
work OK, but for Outlook Express to pick up the new
location
it is necessary to reboot.
Test the result by adding a new
contact and then double-click on the address book file itself.
How to move
the mail folder
In Outlook Express.
Go to
Tools.Options.Maintenance.Store Folder
To
move your 'My Documents' folder
'My Documents' is a folder with links
to it all over the place.
The following explains how to move
the data so all the links are right.
Go to 'desktop' by
clicking on the 'up' icon
Then right click on My
Documents.
Select properties.
Change the target from:
C:\Documents and Settings\Fred\My Documents
to:
D:\Data\Fred\My Documents
Do you create the folder ???
Do
you copy contents ???
How to Reinstate 'My Documents' after a new XP install
If you have moved 'My Documents' as
suggested above, and have just installed a new
Windows XP, you
will find that 'My Documents' is empty. All the links point to
the
new folder in C: that doesn't have your data in it. You
need to move the new folder
to D: and then put your data into
it.
1) Move D:\Data\Fred\My Documents to say
D:\Data\Fred\xxx
2) Now follow the procedure above to move
what XP thinks is the real 'My Documents'.
3) Delete the
contents of that folder.
4) Move the contents of 'xxx' into
'My Documents'.
To move
your 'Favorites' folder
'Favorites' is a folder with links to
it like 'My Documents'.
To move it do the following:
1)
Goto: C:\Documents and Settings\Fred
2) Use cut & paste to
move Favorites to: D:\Data\Fred\My Documents
How to Reinstate 'Favorites' after a new XP install
A similar problem to 'My
Documents'.
1) Copy the contents of D:\Data\Fred\My
Documents\Favorites to
D:\Data\Fred\My Documents\Backup of
Favorites
2) Delete D:\Data\Fred\My Documents\Favorites
3)
Move 'Favorites' from C: to D: as above.
4) Delete the links
in 'Favorites'
5) Copy the contents of 'Backup of Favorites'
into 'Favorites'.
How
to Export Your Favorites to a file
You can create a file with links in
it that matches your 'favorites'.
In Internet
Explorer
Select File.Import/Export
Select the source of the
favorites you want to export.
How to Set the Drive Letters in Windows XP
Goto Control Panel.Performance &
Maintenance.Administration Tools
Then Computer Management.Disk
Management
I've used W: for CD-RW & R: for DVD.
This
avoid partitions being moved around.
How
to move the Windows Swap File
When Windows needs more memory to run
a program, it swaps some of what's in memory
onto disk. It
puts it in the swap file. If that swap file is in the operating
system partition, and
you copy that as I have done to 4x other
partitions, that's 4 x 1.6GB = 6.4GB wasted.
Also, XP will
stick the swap file right in the middle of the partition, making
defragenting
the partition less than perfect !
The answer
is a dedicated partition for the swap file. It will make your
system 'go better'
and reduce the partition size for XP from
7GB to say 4GB. I've only used 2.35GB.
So, heres how to do
it:
1) Create a new partition 1,630,597 in size in RPM of type
0x0C (Windows FAT32 LBA)
2) Right-click MyComputer
3)
Select Properties.Advanced
4) Select
Performance.Settings.Advanced.Change
5) Click on C:
6)
Click 'No paging file'. Click 'Set'
7) Click on D:
8) Click
'No paging file'. Click 'Set'
9) Click on E: (the swap
partition)
10) Click on 'Custom size'
11) Set 'Initial
size' to 1486 and 'Maximum size' to 1589.
12) Click 'Set'
13)
Reboot
Radio –
Online
RedFM asks to save a file
asxgenerate.asf
Windows Media Player file types can be
changed here:
In WMP, select Tools->Options...->File
Types
Resizing
a Windows XP NTFS Partition
I haven't managed to do it yet
!!!!
Useful URLs:
http://mlf.linux.rulez.org/mlf/ezaz/ntfsresize.html
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Partition/index.html
Recommended
File Structure
C:
For the XP operating system, and
applications that install themselves 'into' the
operating
system.ie that change the registry and will not work
if the operating system is restored to
a point before they
were installed.
D:
For your data and applications that
can be run independently of the state of the operating
system.
I suggest the following folders:
(with example usernames)
D:\Data
D:\Data\Fred
D:\Data\Joe
D:\Data\Jim
D:\Apps
D:\Downloaded
Apps
D:\Downloaded XP Updates
Within D:\Data\Fred I suggest:
D:\Data\Fred\My Documents
And, within that all your user data,
including:
D:\Data\Fred\My Documents\Desktop
Backup
D:\Data\Fred\My Documents\Favorites
D:\Data\Fred\My
Documents\Mail
Install all programs onto C:. That
way when you copy your XP partition, you get a backup
of the
entire setup.
D:\Downloaded Apps for applications download
from the internet which need backing up
to save downloading
again.
Some applications should definately be put in the
operating partition on C:.
These include
Firewall software
Anti-virus
software
The reason is that a fault with these
would stop you using the internet with all
versions of XP.
Installing them with the operating
system means that a fault would only affect one OS.
In order
to install applications in a non-standard place it is nearly
always necessary to use
the 'custom' route.
Stand alone
programs & things like Java Documentation that need to be
extracted from
a compressed folder, but not backed up because
they can easily be recreated, can be
put into D:\Apps.
Creating a
bootup floppy
Put floppy in drive
Goto
MyComputer
Right click on A:
Select Format
Tick “Create
an MS-DOS startup disk”
Click on Start
Creating
Self-Extracting Archives
You can create a self-extracting
archive with a little known Windows program.
Run the IExpress
wizard from the Start.Run box.
Type iexpress.exe
Accept the
“Create new self extraction directive file” option
unless you have already created a SED file.
etc
Microsoft updates
If you go through the normal update
path everything is updated and you get no files.
A better if
more difficult route is:
Goto www.microsoft.com & click on
'Windows update' which will take you to
http:/v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp.
If
you want you can go via 'start.help & support.updates'.
Click
on 'Personalize windows update' in the left pane.
Check the
new option 'Display the link to the Windows Update Catalog under
See Also'.
Click on 'Save settings'.
Under 'See also' click
on 'Windows update catalog' on the left pane.
Download the
files to D:\Downloaded XP updates
Then update.
It's quicker
and easier to re-install XP and re-update.all
When
updates are downloaded information is stored in C:\Program
Files\WindowsUpdate
Starting XP in
Safe Mode
This can be useful for fixing
bootup/virus problems.
Immediately after pressing '0' at the
RPM boot menu, as windows starts to boot hold
down the F8 key.
Synchronising Time
You may want to synchronise your
computer time to an accurate clock on the internet.
For
instance if bidding on ebay, to the ebay clock.
A free
program for Windows 95/98 (you don't need this for XP or
2000)
http://nettime.sourceforge.net/
National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Physics
Laboratory
Configuring Windows 2000/XP to use NIST time
servers
http://www.boulder.nist.gov/timefreq/service/pdf/win2000xp.pdf
“Windows
Time Service”
307897 - How to synchronise the time
with windows
xp
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307897
One
XP synchronisation point:
Right-click the time in the task
bar.
Select the 'Internet Time' tab
You can enter the
server name from which you want to get the time eg
ntp2a.mcc.ac.uk for ebay
How to Synchronize an Internal
Time Server with an External Source:
1. Click Start, point to
All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command
Prompt.
2. Type the following line, where peerlist is a
comma-separated list of Domain Name System (DNS) names or IP
addresses of the appropriate time sources, and then press ENTER:
w32tm /config /syncfromflags:manual
/manualpeerlist:peerlist
3. Type w32tm /config /update, and
then press ENTER.
ebay = ntp2a.mcc.ac.uk ???
Official
ebay time
http://cgi3.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?TimeShow
Disabling
Windows Messenger
In explorer:
Tools.Windows Messenger
In Windows Messenger:
Tools.Options.Preferences
Untick “Run this program when
Windows starts”
Removing Temp files
Temp files are files that are only
needed temporarily while a program does something. Afterwards
they aren't needed, and just take up space.
These articles
explain how to remove
them:
Aaarp
http://www.aarp.org/learntech/computers/howto/Articles/a2002-07-15-tempfiles.html
In
summary: Start->Programs->Accessories->System
Tools->Disk Cleanup
Or:
Start->Run->cleanmgr
PersonalComputerTutor –
This seems more detailed and complete & includes a way to
automate the
process
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/deletingtempfiles.htm
Removing Viruses
The virus/trojan horse could be saved
safely in your system restore data.
To ensure that all
occurrences can be eliminated and not brought back from
the
dead unwittingly, do the following:
1) Right-click MyComputer, Select
Properties.System.Restore, Turn of system restore.
2) Do a
live update of your virus software.
3) Do a full system virus
scan
4) Switch system restore back on
Start Menu
The 'Start.All Programs' menu system
is the result of combining the contents of several folders:
C:\Documents and Settings\All
Users\Start Menu\Programs
C:\Documents and Settings\Fred\Start
Menu\Programs
The default is defined in:
C:\Documents and Settings\Default
User\Start Menu\Programs
You can customise this menu system,
and tidy it up, by moving & renaming items in the folders,
and by creating & deleting folders. If you have folders in
'All Users' & 'Fred' for the same subject, then make sure
they have the same names, and you will get one entry in the Start
menu, combining the contents of the folders.
Sorting by Name
While in the Start.All Programs menu
you can reorder the items by name by right-clicking and selecting
'sort by name'.
My Folder Structure
Before I started organising my
Start.All Programs menu, I had 2 columns of menu. It was
unusable, being out of order, and full of everything I'd loaded
since installing Windows. Having spent half an hour creating new
folders and moving things about, I now have less than a full
column, and it's easy to what's where. This is the structure I've
used.
Accessories
Administration
Tools
Audio Tools
Browsers
Canon Camera Tools
CD
Tools
Email Tools
Epson Printer Tools
Graphics
Tools
HTML Editors
Microsoft Tools
Misc (for all those
things that don't yet fit anywhere else)
Multi Media
Players
Music Composition Tools
Photo Album
Tools
Programming (for C,C++ and Java programming)
Radio
Players
Security and Maintenance
Firewall
Anti-Virus
Spyware
Video Editors
Web Tools
You can customise the Start menu by
right-clicking on 'Start' and selecting properties. Click on
'Customize...'. Select the 'Advanced' tab.
Setting the 'path' environment variable
Go to Start -> Control Panel -> Performance
and Maintenance -> System
Select Advanced
Click on
“Environment Variables”
Click on 'path' line
Click
on 'edit' and change it, then click OK.
You can also see the environment variables in a DOS window with
SET.
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