The Computer Guy

1. Launch the Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version.
3. Locate and double-click the RegisteredOwner value.
4. When you see the Edit DWORD Value dialog box, change the Value Data setting to whatever user name you want, and click OK.
5. Locate and double-click the RegisteredOrganization value.
6. When you see the Edit DWORD Value dialog box, change the Value Data setting to whatever company name you want, and click OK.
7. Close the Registry Editor and restart Windows XP in order for the changes to take effect.

• My Recent Documents
• Desktop
• My Documents
• My Computer
• My Network Places

1. Launch the Group Policy Editor (Gpedit.msc)
2. Go to User Configuration | Administrative Templates | Windows Components | Windows Explorer | Common Open File Dialog.
3. Double-click the Items Displayed In Places Bar setting.
4. In the resulting dialog box, select the Enabled option.
5. Type the paths to your custom folder locations in the Item 1-5 text boxes and click OK.

• CommonDocuments
• CommonMusic
• CommonPictures
• Desktop
• MyComputer
• MyDocuments
• MyFavorites
• MyMusic
• MyNetworkPlaces
• MyPictures
• Printers
• ProgramFiles
• Recent

1. Shut down and restart Windows XP.
2. Open the Run dialog box by pressing [Windows]R.
3. Type %Temp% in the Open text box, and click OK.

1. Right-click the desktop, and select New | Shortcut.
2. When the Create Shortcut Wizard appears, enter the following in the Type The Location Of The Item text box:
   C:\Windows\system32\cscript.exe prnqctl.vbs -e -p <Printer_name>
3. Replace <Printer_name> with the name of the printer from which you want to print the test page, and click Next.
4. Give the shortcut an appropriate name such as Print Test Page, and click Finish.

1. Press [Windows][Break] to open the System Properties dialog box.
2. On the Advanced tab, click the Settings button in the Startup And Recovery section.
3. In the System Startup section, click the Edit button.
4. When the Boot.ini file opens in Notepad, locate the line that ends with the /fastdetect switch.
5. Highlight and copy that line, and paste it in the line below.
6. Change the section on the line that reads WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" to WINDOWS="Safe Mode."
7. Add the following to the end of the line:

1. Open the Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/ Current Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace.
3. Under the NameSpace branch, locate the subkey named {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}.
4. To make a backup copy of this key, right-click the key, and select Export.
5. In the Export Registry File dialog box, select a folder, and give the file a descriptive name.
6. Right-click the key, and select Delete.
7. Close the Registry Editor, and restart Windows XP for the change to take effec

1. Go to Start | Search, configure your search criteria, and click the Search Now button.
2. Once the Search utility successfully completes the operation, go to File | Save Search.
3. By default, the Save Search dialog box opens to the My Documents folder, but you can easily navigate to the desktop.
4. Specify a name, and click Save.

1. Go to Start | Control Panel, and double-click Administrative Tools.
2. Double-click Computer Management.
3. Go to Action | All Tasks | Send Console Message.

However, that's not the case in Windows XP. A built-in feature allows you to quickly and easily change the location of My Documents.

Follow these steps:

1. Press [Windows]E to open My Computer.
2. Right-click the My Documents icon in the folder tree, and select Properties.

This opens the My Documents Properties dialog box, and selects the Target tab by default. My Documents is actually a shortcut to a folder, and the Target text box in the Target Folder Location section displays the path to this folder.

To change the location of the My Documents folder, type the new path in the Target text box, or click the Move button.

Clicking the Move button opens a standard browsing dialog box. Use the controls to drill down to any local or network drive you want.

Click OK to close all dialog boxes.

Improve ZIP drive performance

Are you using a ZIP drive that's connected to your Windows XP system via a USB port? If so, you may have noticed that it's a bit sluggish when transferring large groups of files to or from your hard disk.

To improve performance, you can change the default Optimize For Quick Removal setting to the Optimize For Performance setting. Follow these steps:

1. Press [Windows]E to open My Computer.
2. Right-click the ZIP drive icon, and select Properties.
3. Select the Hardware tab in the Properties dialog box.
4. Select the ZIP drive in the All Disk Drives panel (if it's not already selected), and click the Properties button.
5. Select the Policies tab in the Device Properties dialog box.
6. Select the Optimize For Performance radio button.
7. Click OK twice to close both dialog boxes.

Here's something to keep in mind: While this process helps improve disk performance by enabling write caching on the ZIP drive, it also means that you must use the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the taskbar notification area in order to disconnect the drive from the computer.

Windows Error Reporting
When a program crashes under Windows XP, a dialog box may ask you to send an error report to Microsoft . Does sending a report do any good? More important, do error reports contain private information about you?

Windows Error Reporting (WER), introduced with Windows XP, lets users send detailed reports when programs crash and lets vendors inform users of fixes and workarounds for reported errors. The error reports are stored in a password-protected database.

Programs must be specially written to use WER. Microsoft uses WER in all recent programs and strongly encourages other companies to do the same. There is no charge for using the system. The list of participating vendors is long (see https://winqual.microsoft.com/parentorgs.asp), and the feedback has been positive. Representatives at Zone Labs say that WER has quickly alerted them to incompatibilities with new operating systems and patches.

Spell Check Hangs in Outllook Express 6.0

If that doesn't help, the file may be missing or faulty. A Google search on the filename will turn up a number of sites from which you can download the missing file. Put the downloaded file in the folder named Proof below the SharedFilesDir value you identified in the previous step; for example, C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Proof.

Create a boot log for troubleshooting

Problems that you're troubleshooting in Windows XP often originate in the boot process. As such, one of your key troubleshooting techniques should be to create a boot log. Creating such a log is a relatively easy process.

Follow these steps:

1. estart the system.
2. When the operating system begins to load, press [F8].
3. Select the Enable Boot Logging option from the Windows Advanced menu, and press [Enter].

After the system restarts, launch Notepad, and open the C:\Windows\Ntbtlog.txt file. This file contains a list of all of the files that Windows XP attempted to load during startup.

Every line in the file will begin with either "Loaded driver" or "Did not load driver," which makes it easy to determine what drivers or services could be causing the problem. In either case, the path and filename of the driver or service will follow.

Access the Printer User Interface command-line tool
If you're always on the lookout for easy-to-use command-line tools for managing local and network computers via old-fashioned batch files, here's another tool to add to your toolkit. Windows XP has a very powerful, yet little-known, command-line tool for working with printers called the Printer User. Interface tool.

Using this tool, you can create some really fancy batch files for accessing and managing every aspect of local and network-based printers.

To view the full listing of printer operations that you can perform with the Printer User Interface command-line tool, you can open a detailed dialog box by entering the following command at a command prompt:

The first 60 lines in the dialog box list the syntax and the various parameters and switches that you can use with the Printer User Interface command-line tool. The remaining lines provide examples and descriptions of all the operations that you can perform.

Understand the processor speed report

Has this ever happened to you? You open the System Properties dialog box and notice that the processor speed reported in the Computer section on the General tab is slower than the actual speed.

If so, don't worry. One of the adjustments made to the operating system from a January 2002 patch configures Windows XP to use the currentspeed value reported by the CPU rather than the maxspeed value. Microsoft made this change because the maxspeed value was reporting inconsistent values.

There are two situations where the currentspeed value would be slower than the maxspeed value:

• f you open the System Properties dialog box immediately after booting the computer, no programs have really used all the processor cycles. Therefore, the CPU itself hasn't really reached maximum speed.
• If you're running a laptop on battery power, the laptop may be using a system (such as Intel SpeedStep or AMD PowerNow! Technology) that throttles back the CPU in order to reduce power consumption.

But regardless of what value the System Properties dialog box reports, you can always find the maximum processor speed value in the System Information tool.

Follow these steps:

1. Go to Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | System Information.
2. Select System Summary in the left pane, and locate Processor in the right pane.

When you type an Internet address into the browser, Windows XP uses the local route table as a network map to determine where to send the packet. In most cases, the route table directs the packet to the gateway, which then sends it out to the Internet.

However, you can configure the route table to send packets addressed to a certain Web site to a dead end. The result makes it appear as if the site doesn't exist.

To begin, you need the IP address of the Web site to which you want to block access. You also need an unassigned IP address within your local subnet that isn't in use by any computer or device.

For example, let's say that the IP address you want to block is 100.100.100.100, and an IP address on your local subnet that isn't in use is 192.168.100.51. Modify the route table with the following command:

For more information on the Route command, check out the Windows XP Help and Support Center.

Get rid of a jammed print job

As you know, print jobs occasionally become jammed in the print queue. You can see the print job in the queue by going to Start | Printers And Faxes and double-clicking the appropriate printer. While the queue lists Printing as the status, the job never prints, and other print jobs begin to stack up behind it.

If you cancel the jammed print job, the Status column indicates that you've deleted it. However, it never completes the delete operation, and the jammed print job remains right where it is.

When you encounter a jammed print job, your first instinct may be to reboot the system, which will flush the jammed print job from the queue. But there's an easier way.

Follow these steps:

1. Open Control Panel, and double-click Administrative Tools.
2. Double-click Services.
3. Scroll through the list of running services, and select the Print Spooler service.
4. Click the Stop Service button on the toolbar.
5. After waiting a moment, click the Start button on the toolbar.
6. Close Services, and close Administrative Tools.

When you return to the print queue, the jammed print job should no longer be there. If it is, you should now be able to delete it normally. Keep in mind that you may have to manually update the queue by selecting Refresh from the View menu.

Investigate changes with the System Information tool

Have you ever been in the process of troubleshooting and needed to know what configuration changes the system has recently experienced? Knowing this kind of information can go a long way in helping track down the cause of the problem you're investigating.

Windows XP's System Information tool takes a daily snapshot of your system's configuration, and it records all changes to key elements. In fact, System Information compiles and stores a month's worth of data in its history file. As such, System Information provides a beneficial troubleshooting database.

You can easily investigate System Information's configuration change history. Follow these steps:

1. Open the System Information tool by typing Msinfo32.exe at the command prompt. (You can also access it by going to Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | System Information.)
2. From the View menu, select System History.
3. Select a category from the System Summary tree on the left.
4. Select a date from the View Changes Since drop-down list.

When you do so, you'll see a listing that displays the date and time of the change along with detailed information on the exact nature of the change.

If you know what you're looking for, you can use the System Information tool's Find feature to quickly scan through the listing.

Track down default registry values

As you know, dealing with the Windows registry can be a harrowing experience. Not only is editing the registry potentially dangerous, but it can also be confusing.

For example, have you ever been on a registry editing expedition in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER branch and forgot the default values for the section you were changing? The next time you have a similar experience, try this: You can find the default values for most of the settings in the HKEY_CURRENT
_USER branch in the HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT branch of the registry. This is the part of the registry that Windows XP uses as a template when you create new user accounts.

For example, suppose you've customized Windows Explorer's Hot Tracking Color by altering the RGB value stored in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Colors\HotTrackingColor subkey. But now you want to revert back to the default color.

You can track down the RGB values for the default color by navigating to the HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors\HotTrackingColor value. You can then copy the default value from this subkey and paste it into the key that you've altered. Doing this will return the settings to their original configuration.

Create a Run command shortcut

As you know, using the Run dialog box to quickly launch certain applications or utilities can come in handy in a number of situations. For example, suppose you regularly use the Run dialog box to open a command prompt by typing Cmd in the Open text box.

You can access the Run dialog box by clicking the Start button and then clicking Run, or by pressing [Windows]R. However, both of these methods require two steps to open the Run dialog box. Wouldn't it be nice if you could access the Run dialog box with a single click?

You can create a shortcut to the Run command. Simply select the Run command on the Start menu, and drag it to the Quick Launch toolbar. The new shortcut uses the same icon, so it's easy to identify.

However, the shortcut's name will be &Run. . ., which you'll see in a popup when you hover your mouse pointer over the shortcut. These extra characters come from the Start menu command configuration.

In this case, the ampersand character signifies that the R is underlined and acts as the hotkey. The ellipsis signifies that accessing the Run command from the Start menu opens a secondary dialog box.

You can rename the shortcut to something more appropriate, such as Run Command, by right-clicking the shortcut and selecting Rename

Disable the Log Off and Turn Off Computer buttons

Do you support users who, regardless of what you tell them, insist on logging off or shutting down public computers in common areas? If so, you'll be glad to know that you can disable the Log Off and Turn Off Computer buttons on the Start menu.

Follow these steps:

1. Open the Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
3. Right-click the Explorer key, and select New | DWORD value.
4. Name the value StartMenuLogoff, and press [Enter] twice to access the Edit DWORD Value dialog box.
5. Type 1 in the Value Data text box, and click OK.
6. Right-click the Explorer key, and select New | DWORD value.
7. Name the value NoClose, and press [Enter] twice to access the Edit DWORD Value dialog box.
8. Type 1 in the Value Data text box, and click OK.
9. Close the Registry Editor.

At this point, both the Log Off and Turn Off Computer buttons are still on the Start menu, so click the Log Off button and then log back on.

When you need to shut down the computer, launch the Registry Editor, and change the values to 0.

Note: Editing the registry is risky, so be sure you have a verified backup before saving any changes.

Put shortcut icons in an alternative place

Have you ever wanted the ability to place shortcut icons somewhere other than the Start menu or the desktop? For example, suppose you're troubleshooting a problem with a user's computer, and you've installed some diagnostics tools that you don't want the user messing around with.

Windows XP comes with an updated version of the Windows 3.x Program Manager, which you can use to store and access shortcuts to any application that you don't want to appear as a shortcut on the Start menu or desktop.

To access Program Manager, follow these steps:

1. Open the Run dialog box by pressing [Windows]R.
2. Type Progman.exe in the Open text box, and click OK.

When you see the Program Manager interface, start by creating a program group. Follow these steps:

1. Go to File | New.
2. In the New Program Object dialog box, select the Personal Program Group option, and click OK.
3. Type a name for the program group in the Description text box, and click OK.

You can now add shortcuts to the new program group. Follow these steps:

1. Go to File | New.
2. In the New Program Object dialog box, select the Program Item option, and click OK.
3. Type a name for the program item in the Description text box, click the Browse button, and locate your application's executable file.
4. Click OK to close all dialog boxes.

1. Press [Windows][Break] to open the System Properties dialog box.
2. On the Advanced tab, click the Settings button in the Startup And Recovery section.
3. In the Startup And Recovery dialog box, select the Edit button in the System Startup section.
4. The Boot.ini file will open in Notepad; locate the line that ends with the /fastdetect switch.
5. Position your cursor right after the parameter, press the spacebar, and add the /SOS switch.
6. Save the Boot.ini file, and close Notepad.
7. Click Cancel to close both the Startup And Recovery dialog box and the System Properties dialog box.
8. Restart the system.

When the system restarts, the splash screen will no longer appear. You can observe some of the operations that Windows XP performs during the startup stage.

To revive the splash screen, simply repeat the above steps to edit the Boot.ini file and remove the /SOS switch.

Break out of a continuous reboot loop

Have you ever had to troubleshoot a Windows XP system that appeared to be stuck in a continuous reboot loop? In this scenario, you can start the system as you normally would and even log on. But within seconds of logging on, the system mysteriously reboots itself. In some cases, you don't even have to log on before the system reboots.

If this sounds familiar, you're encountering a feature of Windows XP's Startup and Recovery system. By default, this system specifically configures Windows XP to automatically restart itself after encountering a system failure error.

These system failure errors are usually isolated and occur randomly. As such, the best way for the operating system to deal with them is to automatically restart.

In most cases, doing so solves the problem. But if the system failure error is more serious and occurs on a regular basis, you'll encounter a continuous reboot loop.

However, you can disable the automatic restart behavior. Follow these steps:

1. Press [Windows][Break] to open the System Properties dialog box.
2. On the Advanced tab, click the Settings button in the Startup And Recovery section.
3. In the System Failure section, deselect the Automatically Restart check box, and click OK.
4. To enable the changes, click OK in the System Properties dialog box.

This change configures the system to halt after encountering a system failure error, which allows you to investigate the problem error in more detail. You'll then have to manually restart the system.

Keep in mind that you'll have to work fast in order to make the change before the system reboots. You may have better luck making the change if you launch the system in Safe Mode.

Hide drive letters in My Computer

Have you ever needed to hide a drive on a system? For example, suppose you manage a system shared by multiple users in a public area, and you keep diagnostic and management applications on a separate drive.

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to hide that drive from users to prevent any mischievous exploration? You can do so with a simple registry edit.

Follow these steps:

1. Launch the Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
3. Right-click the Servers key, and select New | DWORD value.
4. Name the value NoDrives.
5. Press [Enter] twice to open the Edit DWORD Value dialog box.
6. Using the list below, type a number that corresponds to the drive you want to hide in the Value Data text box, and click OK.
   A: 1
   B: 2
   C: 4
   D: 8
   E: 16
   F: 32
7. Close the Registry Editor.

You must restart the system or log out of Windows XP in order for the change to take effect.

To hide other drive letters that we didn't list, follow the pattern of doubling the number for each successive drive. For example, drive G: would have a value of 64.

To hide multiple drives, add the values together. For example, to hide drives A: and B:, use a value of 3. If you want to hide all drive letters, use a value of 67108864.

Note: Editing the registry is risky, so be sure you have a verified backup before making any changes.