TomsTricks.Com » Windows XP

How To: Manually Force Windows XP To Generate A STOP Error

Tony — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 04:33:49 +0000

Introduction To Windows STOP Error Messages: Windows STOP Error messages literally mean Windows has stopped!.These Windows stop errors appear with a “Blue Screen of Death”(BSOD), only in the NT-based operating systems including Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Vista.Windows Stop errors or fatal errors in a nutshell are errors caused by driver software (kernel level) or hardware malfunction which the system is unable to recover from.In Windows XP and Vista, the read more

How To: Disable The NTFS Last Access Time Stamp In Windows Vista Or In XP

Tony — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 23:51:40 +0000

The NTFS(New Technology File System) file system used in Microsoft’s Windows operating systems like Windows Vista, is essentially a huge database that keeps track of all the files on your hard disk.When you create a file, or edit and then re save that file, the NTFS creates an entry and records the date in the Created or Modified timestamp so you can access the Properties sheet of the file and check the Created or Modified entries later.NTFS also creates and keeps track of another read more

How To: Speed Up the Shut Down Time In Windows XP

Tony — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:15:21 +0000

In some cases computers running with Windows XP takes too much time to shutdown and repeatedly annoy users with pop up messages asking if you really want to quit the applications.This problem is mainly due to applications that install services that start at Windows XP boot time and then take a very long time to stop and sometimes time out when Windows is being shut down. For speeding up your shutdown time in Windows XP, you need to edit some registry settings as follows: Step read more

How To: Fix Windows Error “Task Manager Has Been Disabled By Your Administrator”

Tony — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:59:34 +0000

When you try to run Task Manager in Windows Vista or in XP,sometimes you receive an error message that says; Task Manager has been disabled by the Administrator. This error happens due to some malware or spyware software putting some registry restrictions(DisableTaskMgr restriction) so that one can’t trace or remove them from the system startup.You can follow any of the resolution methods given below: Method 1: Using the Group Policy Editor Click on Windows Vista/XP Start, Run, type read more

How To: Add Safe Mode Option To The Boot Windows XP Menu

Tony — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 04:49:17 +0000

Safe Mode is most commonly used for troubleshooting purposes of Windows operating system including Windows XP and Vista.The traditional way of booting to Safe Mode in Windows XP, is to press the F8 key during the boot process, to display a list of available boot options.The problem with this procedure is finding just the right place to hit the F8 key to avoid the regular boot sequence doesn’t initiating. If you find yourself booting to safe mode often.You may find it helpful to include read more

How To: Disable Compression Of Old Files In Windows Vista/XP Disk Cleanup Tool

Tony — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 03:27:02 +0000

Compress Old Files option in Windows Vista/XP disk cleanup tool doesn’t delete any files from the hard disk drive.It compresses files that Windows hasn’t accessed for a specified period of time.The files are still available, but there will be a slight increase in access times because the files will be decompressed the next time they are accessed.Note that when Compress Old Files is highlighted in Windows Vista disk cleanup tool an Options button appears,clicking it will allow you read more

How To: Enable The Network Adapter Onboard Processor In Windows XP

Tony — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 06:55:23 +0000

Some network cards have an onboard processor that you can use instead of the main CPU for certain functions.If your network adapter has an onboard processor, designed to offload network processing from the system CPU, it is disabled by default in Windows XP. If your NIC(Network Interface Card) driver supports this onboard processor, you can enable it by a simple registry tweak as follows.This setting help to increase the processing speed of your system. Launch the Windows Registry Editor read more

How To: Fix Windows Stop Error Code 0×0000021A or STATUS_SYSTEM_PROCESS_TERMINATED

Tony — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:46:57 +0000

You may receive the following Stop error message with a Blue Screen of Death during Windows XP startup: Stop:0×0000021A STATUS_SYSTEM_PROCESS_TERMINATED The Stop 0xC000021A error message occurs when Windows XP Professional switches into kernel mode and a user-mode subsystem, such as Winlogon or the Client Server Runtime Subsystem (CSRSS), is compromised and security can no longer be guaranteed. Because Windows XP Professional cannot run without Winlogon or CSRSS, this is one of the few read more

How To: Disable User Tracking/Spying In Windows XP To Improve Performance

Tony — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 02:34:35 +0000

Windows XP has a User Tracking feature which keeps track of every activity of users and this data is available to the admin for use. This data is totally useless for normal users and hence it is always recommended to disable this service in Windows XP.My recent documents menu is used by this feature also as the most recent documents are moved to top and not used documents are made to hide. Very few users attempt to use this information. Method 1:By Registry Editor The user tracking can be read more

How To: Uninstall Windows XP From Your Computer Using The Command Prompt

Tony — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:37:15 +0000

One interesting option included in Microsoft Windows XP operating system is the ability to uninstall Windows XP from within the XP itself, if you were able to performed an upgrade from Windows 98, 98SE, or Windows Me.Here are the procedure for uninstalling the Windows XP from your computer using command prompt: It is important that the uninstallation of Windows XP from the computer using command prompt is available only if a successful image of the previous operating system(Windows 98, 98SE, read more

How To: Disable And Remove Thumbs.db Files In Windows XP

Tony — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 07:01:11 +0000

By default, whenever you pick “thumbnail” or “tiles” view, in your Windows Explorer, a local cache of a pictures thumbnail will be stored in that directory, in a file called Thumbs.db. It speeds things up next time you open that directory, because it can load the image from the cache – but it also creates an extra file in every directory The Thumbs.db file is often viewable when the “Show Hidden Files” option is turned on in Windows XP. To activate this setting in read more

How To: Use a Web Page As Your Desktop Background in Windows XP

Tony — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 08:39:51 +0000

So you’re looking to add some variety and fun to your desktop. Try this cool trick to add a Web page to your Windows XP desktop: Right-click on an empty space on the Windows XP desktop. Click on the desktop tab in the display properties dialog box and click the “Customize Desktop…” button In the desktop items dialog box, click on the Web tab. The settings on the Web tab allow you to add new Web pages to your desktop and customize their settings. From this screen, you can read more

How To: Enable 48-Bit LBA Support For Large Hard Drives In Windows XP

Tony — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:54:43 +0000

By default Windows XP and earlier versions of Microsoft’s Windows operating systems do not support 48-bit Logical Block Addressing (LBA) for drives larger than 137GB as defined in the ATA/ATAPI 6.0 specification. Your system must meet the following requirements to use 48-bit LBA ATAPI support: A 48-bit LBA compatible BIOS(48-bit LBA capable motherboard OR 48-bit LBA capable add-on IDE controller) A hard disk that has a capacity that is greater than 137 GB. A computer with Windows XP read more

How To:Disable Data Execution Prevention (DEP) in Windows Vista or in XP

Tony — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:14:09 +0000

Viruses and other security threats can control your PC by executing code from within memory. To prevent damage, the Data Execution Prevention (DEP) feature in Windows operating system monitors program applications to ensure they use protected memory in a safe manner. Any incorrect usage, by an application, of protected memory and Data Execution Prevention steps in and automatically closes the application.Simply,Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is a set of hardware and software technologies read more

How To: Fix Windows XP Stop Error “Stop 0×0000001E or KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED”

Tony — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 13:05:09 +0000

The Stop 0×1E message indicates that the Windows XP kernel detected an illegal or unknown processor instruction. The problems that cause Stop 0×1E messages share similarities with those that generate Stop 0xA errors in that they can be due to invalid memory and access violations. This default Windows XP error handler typically intercepts these problems if error-handling routines are not present in the code itself. Possible Resolutions For Windows Stop Error “Stop 0×0000001E or read more

How To: Provide Remote Assistance When Using a NAT Device in Windows XP

Tony — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:23:14 +0000

Remote Assistance feature in Windows XP is designed for informal, peer-to-peer use by Windows users without an extensive technical background. Although the user interface hides most of its complexities, a basic understanding of how Remote Assistance connections work can help you make reliable connections without compromising the security of either computer. You can provide Remote Assistance to a friend who uses a Network Address Translation (NAT) device by modifying the Remote Assistance read more

How To: Clear The Windows XP Map Network Drive’s MRU(Most Recently Used) List

Tony — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:11:53 +0000

If you use Windows XP on a local area network (LAN), and you save and open files in shared folders as part of a workgroup on a server, you can create a virtual drive whose drive letter appears in the My Computer window along with those of your local drives — this process referred to as mapping a network drive. If you frequently use the Map Network Drive command in Windows XP, you probably have a lot of network paths displaying in the MRU (Most Recently Used) list, which appears in the read more

How To: Map A Network Drive in Windows XP

Tony — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:52:29 +0000

If you use Windows XP on a local area network (LAN), and you save and open files in shared folders as part of a workgroup on a server, you can create a virtual drive whose drive letter appears in the My Computer window along with those of your local drives — this process referred to as mapping a network drive. To map a network drive in Windows XP, follow these steps: Click Tools–>Map Network Drive on the Windows XP My Computer menu bar to open the Map Network Drive dialog read more

How To: Make Your Windows XP Computer Shut Down More Quickly

Tony — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 06:25:21 +0000

When’s the last time you didn’t have an application hang on you during shutdown? Windows XP waits a grueling 20 seconds by default before trying to kill services that are still running when you’re trying to get out of the office, but you can knock this down to as low as zero with a quintet of registry hacks. Make the following changes in Windows XP registry: Click on Windows XP Start button and Type regedit in the Run box and hit Enter. Under HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop, read more

How To: Disable Unnecessary Windows Services & Improve Performance of Windows XP Computer

Tony — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 06:42:31 +0000

Windows is notorious for having useless features and CPU resource hogging programs/services enabled by default.Some applications and hardware automatically adds services to your computer which start with the computer, Windows XP also includes and enables a lot of services by default, many of which you don’t need. Services are kind of like startup programs, they are usually not necessary, they slow down your computer, and they slow down the boot up process; however, some are useful so read more