XP Setup and Maintanence tips [MS] [Archive]

Halo

09-24-05, 08:34

Had this link in a Technet Email yesterday, not a bad collection fo tips for XP, ok alot of them will not be new to a great deal of the members here but will be great for new users to XP, lists alot of hints and tips on one convenient page :)

XP Setup and Maintanence tips (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/tips/default.mspx)

scouse

09-24-05, 19:12

Very good find..Some good tips there Dave. :)

BoredOutOfMyMind

09-24-05, 21:47

Adrynalyne

09-24-05, 23:08

I stopped visiting Blackviper's site when I noticed a glaring fault with a piece of his advice. Call me weird, but I am a perfectionist. If you are making a site thats for tweaking, get it right, or get it off the web.

abri

06-29-06, 15:18

XP Tips and Tricks
XP Setup and Maintanence tips (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/tips/default.mspx)

wow! I wish it didn't take me weeks to run into fun stuff like this lol
:)
what makes a change to XP legal and what makes it illegal?
abri

abri

06-29-06, 15:32

I tried the XP setup and maintenance tips, the one to change where my windows explorer opens up and it didn't work. Win Explorer always opens at the Start menu under Documents and Settings. I've never been able to get it to open with just the main drives showing.
abri

Matacumbie

06-29-06, 23:10

Great link Halo. Thank's :)

Steve

infoseeker

06-29-06, 23:27

additional info

Thanks Halo :p

Rikky

06-30-06, 13:31

I stopped visiting Blackviper's site when I noticed a glaring fault with a piece of his advice

Please tell:) Most obvious are when they copy entire sections from elswhere and put them up without even trying them and worst case even reading the to check spelling :rolleyes:

bigbazza

06-30-06, 15:15

Not sure if this is what you are after, but create a shortcut to Windows Explorer.
c:\WINDOWS\explorer.exe /n,/e,c:
Note the space between .exe and /n
This will show all drives with an expanded "C" drive
Bazza

===

I tried the XP setup and maintenance tips, the one to change where my windows explorer opens up and it didn't work. Win Explorer always opens at the Start menu under Documents and Settings. I've never been able to get it to open with just the main drives showing.
abri

bigbazza

06-30-06, 15:20

Sorry Halo. Link does not work for me, just now.

MS message.
"We’re sorry, but we were unable to service your request. You may wish to choose from the links below for information about Microsoft products and services."
Bazza

===

Had this link in a Technet Email yesterday, not a bad collection fo tips for XP, ok alot of them will not be new to a great deal of the members here but will be great for new users to XP, lists alot of hints and tips on one convenient page :)

XP Setup and Maintanence tips (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/tips/default.mspx)

bigbazza

06-30-06, 15:23

Original link by Halo is over 9 month's old. Did not notice this first up. :o Bazza

Rikky

06-30-06, 17:29

Original link by Halo is over 9 month's old. Did not notice this first up. :o Bazza

Thought I'd seen this before :o

abri

07-01-06, 01:29

Not sure if this is what you are after, but create a shortcut to Windows Explorer.
c:\WINDOWS\explorer.exe /n,/e,c:
Note the space between .exe and /n
This will show all drives with an expanded "C" drive
Bazza

===
hmmm ... no, this is not what I'm looking for. When I push on the Start button, right click and open Explorer, it lands me at Documents and Settings / my name / Start. I would like to land at the top of the hard drives, just beneath My Desktop where all the hard drive names (C, D, E, etc.) are my first choice, for instance, just to land at C with everything closed. I've never found a way to change this. To see the other hard drives, I have to first close everything. I've always found this a pain.
abri

Bladesofhalo

07-01-06, 03:18

Thanks for the handy tools Halo ;)

Halo

07-01-06, 07:14

Original link by Halo is over 9 month's old. Did not notice this first up. :o Bazza

Bazza link is back live again, may have been maintainence day on parts of the website.

Bold Eagle

07-01-06, 07:45

Excellent link Halo. To return the favor here is a link for any interested for the "Reinstallation of XP without the loss of any data and or settings", it's by Fred Langa and he has several earlier links within the thread on empowering and optimising the "Recovery Console". Basically all the links offer how to overcome almost any OS dillemas that 1 may experience (it certainly has saved my bacon already):

http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2006/2006-06-22.htm

Basically this advice as well as UBCD (avail at MG) and you will be able to resolve almost any probs by yourself and these combined are the ULTIMATE MAINTANANCE toolbox imho.

bigbazza

07-01-06, 16:44

Thanks Halo. Just visited there, link is OK. :cool:
You are probably correct.
End of the month,or start of a month, site maintenance as you suggested.
Even MS has to close down for maintenance occasionally, I guess.:D Bazza

===

Bazza link is back live again, may have been maintainence day on parts of the website.

bigbazza

07-01-06, 16:58

Thanks Halo and Bold Eagle for 2 great links. :cool:
Have saved them in My Favourites.
So much to read, so much to learn. :D Bazza

Halo

07-02-06, 07:18

Great link Bold Eagle, not seen that one of Freds tips, but do have this one copied in PDF format of his over rebuilding HAL if you get one of these errors "Missing or corrupt HAL.DLL," "Invalid Boot.Ini," or "Windows could not start..." not that I've had cause to use it yet but it should get your PC back up and running.

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=185301251

Bold Eagle

07-02-06, 08:02

Fred's like this site an absolute wealth of knowledge and I'm constantly learning from him. There was 1 of interest from 1 of his readers for a link to use "GoogleEarth" with out having to DL the potentially cumbersome software associated with GoogleEarth itself about 3 issues back.

Knowledge is empowering and thanks to yourself, MG, Fred and the many others I'm always developing a greater understanding of using my PC. Last week was able to help out a freind who succumb to lukemea and well is not very good with the PC and he was about to do the old complete reinstall, but myself and another friend isolated the prob within 10 mins and then I fully secured his system for the web. Sometimes it can just be the little things he was absolutely chuffed.:)

Halo

07-02-06, 08:10

That is what I like so much about some forums, is the sharing of knowledge as we all have our little specialties to share, Good stuff on helping your friend, fixing over re-installing is always the best option, if the issue can be isolated that quick :)

I learn somthing new each day, by reading the posts and threads here, I actually near enough read them all and by general reading on a topic that is of interest to me at any moment.

abri

07-02-06, 10:32

I learn somthing new each day, by reading the posts and threads here, I actually near enough read them all and by general reading on a topic that is of interest to me at any moment.

Yes, it's addictive in Major Geeks. I found lots in Information Week, except the downloads. I had to look for awhile, before finally locating Bart's PE Builder at Chip, here: http://www.chip.de/downloads/c1_downloads_ls_getfile_v1_15863522.html?t=1151852514&v=3600&

I'm not sure if that's the one you were thinking of, but it looks good and I will try it. It seems like a safer go than the program I located only in Turkey. (I mean, since I can't read Turkish) haha.
abri

Halo

07-02-06, 11:05

Bart PE builder we actually host here http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4007

always a wise thing to search the Main Majorgeeks (http://www.majorgeeks.com/) downloads section as we do have most of the needed tools.

Dont use Barts PE builder myself as I generally rely on full image backups of my main PCs OS, which is on its own RAID0 array with installed apps, all my personal stuff and downloads are on a 3rd or 4th HD and backed up on DVD... so if my OS goes funky on me I just restore an image file of it and then I'm back working again.. but its rare my OS breaks as I dont test untried software of tweaks on it, I try them first on my laptop which is guinee pig at present, if I do test software or tweaks on my main PC then I make sure I have a sys restore point at full image of the OS drive first.

Toni_1947

07-02-06, 13:37

Originally Posted by Halo
XP Tips and Tricks
XP Setup and Maintanence tips
"Change the Default Opening Folder in Windows Explorer"

I just did this and now Windows Explorer opens in 'My Computer' with all my drives just below it. Way cool! Thanks Halo!
;)

abri

07-02-06, 13:40

"Change the Default Opening Folder in Windows Explorer"

I just did this and now Windows Explorer opens in 'My Computer' with all my drives just below it. Way cool! Thanks Halo!
;)
I did this and it didn't work for me. Anyone have any suggestions? This is what I put into the window you're supposed to change under All Programs/ Accessories / Windows-Explorer (right click) / Properties:

%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /n, /e, /select, C:\

It didn't change anything at all.
Thanks!
abri

abri

07-02-06, 13:43

Bart PE builder we actually host here http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4007

all my personal stuff and downloads are on a 3rd or 4th HD and backed up on DVD... so if my OS goes funky on me I just restore an image file of it and then I'm back working again.

Thanks Halo!
Good idea! I always prefer downloading things here. I have an extra hard drive. Is it possible just to plug a second hard drive into the first and copy everything over? Or is your extra hard drive complete with everything including its own operating system?
abri

Toni_1947

07-02-06, 13:46

I did this and it didn't work for me. Anyone have any suggestions? This is what I put into the window you're supposed to change under All Programs/ Accessories / Windows-Explorer (right click) / Properties:

%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /n, /e, /select, C:\

It didn't change anything at all.
Thanks!
abri

That's exactly what I just did. Are you sure the 'spaces' were all there?
Does it look like this?:

abri

07-02-06, 15:10

That's exactly what I just did. Are you sure the 'spaces' were all there?
Does it look like this?:
Yes, exactly that, including spaces. It does nothing at all to my Windows Explorer. :(

I thought maybe if I knew what the n, and the e, meant or referred to, I could see if they might be something different on my computer. Also, I don't know what the function of the % is.
abri

Halo

07-02-06, 15:18

I have an extra hard drive. Is it possible just to plug a second hard drive into the first and copy everything over? Or is your extra hard drive complete with everything including its own operating system?
abri

No its a blank HD with no OS, all it is, is a slave drive to the main OS drive and just stores my personal docs and downloads etc.

If you install a 2nd HD and its on the same ribbon cable as the main 1st HD then set ist jumper to Slave, then you can foramt this drive and use it for data backups.

abri

07-02-06, 15:34

No its a blank HD with no OS, all it is, is a slave drive to the main OS drive and just stores my personal docs and downloads etc.

If you install a 2nd HD and its on the same ribbon cable as the main 1st HD then set ist jumper to Slave, then you can foramt this drive and use it for data backups.
I always knew it... beneath that Halo is a Daemon with Slaves ..
hehe
abri

bigbazza

07-02-06, 15:57

Works for me. XP Pro with SP2 and updates. :cool: :D :) ;)

To go to Explorer with drives specified only.

%systemRoot%\explorer.exe /n, /e, /select, c:\

Note the back slashes (2) and the forward slashes (3), 3 commas, as well as the 4 (count them--4) spaces in the command.

%systemroot% is the equivalent of c:\windows and is specified in case you did not install windows in c:\windows. (highly unlikely if you used the default install settings).

Bazza

Bold Eagle

07-02-06, 20:18

Thanks Halo!
Good idea! I always prefer downloading things here. I have an extra hard drive. Is it possible just to plug a second hard drive into the first and copy everything over? Or is your extra hard drive complete with everything including its own operating system?
abri

Here Abri is a good link on Bart's PE Builder and how to integrate your windows start-up disk with UBCD (from the developers site);

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/winboot.html

Hope this helps:)

The main site:

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

abri

07-02-06, 23:40

Note the back slashes (2) and the forward slashes (3), 3 commas, as well as the 4 (count them--4) spaces in the command.

Bazza
I can count commas and slashes, but it's hard to beat copy and paste!
Nevertheless, perhaps it works for you because you have Pro. I will try the unlock software, maybe mine is locked somehow.
abri

abri

07-03-06, 10:40

Works for me. XP Pro with SP2 and updates. :cool: :D :) ;)

%systemRoot%\explorer.exe /n, /e, /select, c:\

Note the back slashes (2) and the forward slashes (3), 3 commas, as well as the 4 (count them--4) spaces in the command.
Bazza

Well, NOW I did it! Not getting any response at this window, despite counting commas and spaces, I took the whole line out to see what that would do. Well, the Windows Explorer goes right to its old place Documents&Settings/myname/start as if I didn't do anything at all. But I did succeed in losing a tab and losing the ability to return it to the default position. Anyone know how to get back the tab and the ability to write? I think the tips and tricks must be for pros not for homes.

The other thing I noticed, is that when I go to Windows Explorer via Accessories, it goes to My Computer, but when I go to Start and right click to Explorer it goes to this Start under Doc&Settings.

abri

bigbazza

07-03-06, 14:10

Sorry it didn't work for you.

When I go to Windows Explorer via Accessories, it also goes to My Documents (XP Pro).
This was one of the most annoying things that I first noticed when starting with XP, and the first thing I changed. The syntax I quoted should work for both XP Home and XP Pro.

The reason I spelt out commas, spaces,etc., was in case someone did not use cut and paste.

To quote from the book I use as an XP bible,
"to display an Explorer window rooted at c:\, use this
explorer.exe /n,/e/root,c:\
"
one space only :D

"to open to the My Computer folder, so no drive branches are initially expanded...
explorer.exe /n,/e,/select,c:\
"

No mention that this is for XP pro only. Bazza

===

Well, NOW I did it! Not getting any response at this window, despite counting commas and spaces, I took the whole line out to see what that would do. Well, the Windows Explorer goes right to its old place Documents&Settings/myname/start as if I didn't do anything at all. But I did succeed in losing a tab and losing the ability to return it to the default position. Anyone know how to get back the tab and the ability to write? I think the tips and tricks must be for pros not for homes.

The other thing I noticed, is that when I go to Windows Explorer via Accessories, it goes to My Computer, but when I go to Start and right click to Explorer it goes to this Start under Doc&Settings.

abri

abri

07-03-06, 15:20

Sorry it didn't work for you.

To quote from the book I use as an XP bible,
"to display an Explorer window rooted at c:\, use this
explorer.exe /n,/e/root,c:\
"
one space only :D

"to open to the My Computer folder, so no drive branches are initially expanded...
explorer.exe /n,/e,/select,c:\
"
===
Bazza,
I know this is not a high priority, so I will throw it out there for any and all the geeks, but why don't these two things work for my computer? I'm starting to get a complex as all the people around me report happy success stories for the same things. I'm sure it's a German plot!

The first one is what you just mentioned. Changing where Windows Explorer opens. The tool under Start/All Programs/Accessories/right click on Windows Explorer and add this to the root explorer.exe /n,/e/root,c:\ .

The second one is the access to the XP recovery console by going to the microsoft downloads and getting the WINXP_EN_HOM_BF.EXE file for Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition at this address
"http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=E8FE6868-6E4F-471C-B455-BD5AFEE126D8"
When I go there, it says this download is invalid for me. <sniffs armpits>

My guess is that it is the work of Siemens-Fujitsu which has made my computer so unwieldy and I'm also guessing, for anyone who knew how they would undo tools, it would not be much of a problem to put them back in. However, why would I not have access to something everyone else can get freely?

abri

bigbazza

07-04-06, 13:43

abri

07-05-06, 04:20

You've got me beat.:p
The shortcuts should work (which you know), but PC 's are cantankerous beasts sometimes.

I'm assuming that you have a legal copy of XP.:D
Have you tried googling for "XP recovery console", or something like that.

You might try www.annoyances (http://www.annoyances).org
This is the site for the PC book bible that I refer to often. I haven't been there as the book gives me enough info.
The site probably has an FAQ, or a "contact us" link, that will probably help out.

Keep us informed, as I am intrigued why those shortcuts don't work. Bazza

===
Thank you Bazza.
My copy is legal. I've reinstalled it several times and was disappointed to learn that the manufacturers take your originally pristine installed XP and "fix" it to suit their own purposes (put in their own drivers, etc.). Most recently, I decided it was because it was a "Home" version and started looking for an "XP Pro" version and that took me into the realm of "What is OEM". Apparently, it's not as cut and dried a definition as people would like to think. It seems to mean that the OS is attached to a piece of hardware, and the Germans greeted this by saying, a CD is a piece of hardware. However, Microsoft didn't go for that, so they narrowed it down to, OEM means an attachment to a mother board. I realize I've spent at least as much time trying to get my computer under my own control, as I have using it as it was intended. I ran into a site yesterday about removing nagware. I could immediately identify with the term. lol I will look at the annoyances site and continue to work on this problem and let you know if I learn anything new.
abri

bigbazza

07-05-06, 14:55

abri, if you want to battle with manufacturer's stuff loaded by default, you should see a TOSHIBA laptop installation. Seems to apply to laptops of all makes, in particular.

I've spent the last +3 month's getting rid of duplicated files (6000+), unneccesary processes running and the latest is ADOBE reader phoning home.
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=96033

Still gotta delete all the duplicated dll's, and run a dupe finder program to clear up the residue.

Next step is to get rid of the non-english files, like Russian, Armenian, Turkish. etc., that lazy and non-imaginative (or those that don't give a stuff about the user), programmers install, without asking you waht language you would like.

The battle continues. Bazza

===

Thank you Bazza.
My copy is legal. I've reinstalled it several times and was disappointed to learn that the manufacturers take your originally pristine installed XP and "fix" it to suit their own purposes (put in their own drivers, etc.).
......
I realize I've spent at least as much time trying to get my computer under my own control, as I have using it as it was intended. I ran into a site yesterday about removing nagware. I could immediately identify with the term. lol I will look at the annoyances site and continue to work on this problem and let you know if I learn anything new.
abri

abri

07-06-06, 02:19

abri, if you want to battle with manufacturer's stuff loaded by default, you should see a TOSHIBA laptop installation. Seems to apply to laptops of all makes, in particular.

I've spent the last +3 month's getting rid of duplicated files (6000+), unneccesary processes running and the latest is ADOBE reader phoning home.
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=96033

The battle continues. Bazza

===
Bazza,
I'm looking forward to the day, when computers are like electricity and telephones, "right to have". I'm not sure why the competitors have not come up with a user-defined interface and set-up. For instance, telling you these million programs have been put onto your computer and you can choose from these four settings to begin with: 1) bare bones, 2) middle-weight, 3) cluttered, 4) everything and more than you could ever want. Push buttons 1, 2, 3, or 4 Why do you have to wade through this stuff in the first place? I like the idea of Linux, but I don't think it has a default setting you can start from and I don't know unix. Alas.
abri