MSN decides to keep its makeover

Microsoft says MSN's new look is ready to share.

Since last year, the company has been testing new designs for the venerable portal, including one that features a cleaner, more video-heavy look for the site. Over the coming days, Microsoft is rolling out the new look to all MSN visitors in the United States.

Although portals like MSN, AOL, and the Yahoo home page are sometimes scoffed at by the digerati, such sites remain an important generator of searches and display advertising dollars.

Microsoft is giving MSN a big makeover as it tries to reach some younger and more Web-savvy viewers. Click here to see a larger version of the redesigned MSN site.

"MSN plays a number of critical roles for the company, and certainly for the Online Services Division," Senior Vice President Yusuf Mehdi said in an interview this week. First off, it is the primary relationship we have with close to half a billion customers on a worldwide basis who come once a month to an MSN property."

Microsoft sells a lot of display ads to companies that want to reach that large audience and also gets a lot of its search traffic via MSN.

"A very large percent of our traffic for search actually comes from people who use MSN as their home page," Mehdi said. "Now, that's changing as Bing starts to catch on, and people start to come to it organically and/or make it their primary way to search. But even today the bulk of our revenue from search, and the bulk of our users from search come from the MSN home page."

Overall, MSN executives said the new page not only got decent acceptance, but also has been boosting the site's performance, with users both visiting more often and doing more searches.

"Both ticked up significantly," said Bob Visse, general manager of MSN. In particular, Microsoft said it has seen a greater than 10 percent increase in the number of searches on the new site as compared to the old site.

"This particular design just makes Bing pop a lot more," Visse said. Data also showed that people were using Bing more in general over time.

Analyst Greg Sterling, who is also an editor at Search Engine Land, noted that about half of Microsoft's searches come via the MSN home page.

"That's a really critical property in terms of establishing and exposing people to Bing," he said. One of Microsoft's big challenges in competing with Google is people are just so familiar with its search experience. "That's one of hurdles that Microsoft is trying to get over and MSN helps them to do that somewhat."

As for the new look, Sterling said Microsoft seems to have done a good job. "I think it improves the site and they've done some interesting things with their local edition."

On the local side, Microsoft is tapping structured data to offer things like gas prices and traffic, in addition to expected things like movie times, weather, and news.

Microsoft is also hoping the new design keeps MSN current with those current users, although Mehdi said the company is also hoping to attract a few more younger people and heavy Web users to visit MSN.

The new look does away with dozens of links that used to fill the site, opting instead for a clean white design focused on large images. Microsoft briefly tested a more radical makeover in Brazil, although it found the design was too big a shift.

"It was too radical, even for that audience," Visse said in a November interview. "It's not going to ship for a final release."

Top Five Tips when Buying an Office Chair

I have done tips on buying a desk in the past. When this reader sent in his chair buying tips, I had to pass them along.

* Consider how much you want to spend on your office/comp chair. If you use your computer everyday, 24/7 like Chris, then you might want to buy a very comfy chair. Having your rear hurt while sitting doing work on your computer is a real pain.
* Do not go over you budget. Nowadays, office chairs tend to cost a lot. But never buy a chair just because it’s low cost.
* Make sure you know how much space you can use. I have a pretty small house. My computer is right next to my dad’s workspace and is exactly 2 foot in front the sofa so I have no space for a plastic mat on the floor for rolling wheels of a chair. So I use an uncomfortable chair that is 10 years old. (I am too lazy to go out and spend money to buy a smaller, more comfy chair, but don’t be like me =D)
* Go to the stores you trust to buy a chair. I mainly go to IKEA for all my house furniture. But there’s also Marlo. Those are the places I trust. Sometimes when you go to a random furniture store, they have raggedy chairs that will break fast. My sister had an office chair that lasted about 4 years until she pulled the handle for the chair to go lower broke. So the chair can’t go up and the chair is all the way down. She can’t even reach the computer with that chair! So she had to buy a new one. So the chair you buy must last a while (like till you die).
* Some people buy the plastic mat for their chair if it has wheels. (thats what I do) If you buy one, make sure to replace it every year or 2. After a lot of rolling, it starts to wore out and get cracks. The first mat I ever bought got cracked up, and A LOT of holes in it. One day, I’m walking to my desk, and my toe got stuff in one of those holes…man it hurts. So make sure after a lot of holes get on your mat, you replace it. You could get hurt.

Tips for Buying a New Computer that is Just Right for You

There are a lot of excellent points here that you should try to keep in mind when you purchase your next computer.

* Don’t just get something that just meets your needs. Go a little above just in case you decide sometime in the future that you want to do something that requires more than your computer can offer. If you don’t you will have to buy more computer parts later on and spend more money than if you got it when you got the computer.
* You won’t always want to go for the newest operating system. If you want the new OS, wait about a year after release, that way they have some time to work out most (if not all) the bugs.
* Do NOT download everything that you think is cool. Chances are you won’t use it for more than 3 days. Sure, you can delete them, but there are still small traces of memory left from the files that do add up.
* Make sure your mouse will be compatible with the new computer. If you want a wireless mouse, make sure your computer can use it. An example is when you buy a bluetooth mouse and your computer doesn’t have bluetooth you will have to go back to the store and spend more money for an adapter which could have been avoided if you just got one with a USB receiver. If it is a wired mouse, see what it needs for it to be plugged in. Most likely you will have what it needs, but in some cases you won’t.
* If you don’t want to get an external harddrive maybe you should get a CD or DVD burner to save important files. If you get the burner though you will have to buy blank discs. The external hard drive may save you money in the future, but the discs are a little more portable. It depends on what you need. If you need about 25+ GB of storage, get the external hard drive
.

How to put a run command window shortcut on your vista start menu

How to put a run command window shortcut on your vista start menu

By Mitz

Free computer Education



By default, in Windows vista the run command window shortcut does not appear in the start menu. To get it to come up you need to type the word run into the Search bar at the bottom of the Windows Vista start menu. This is annoying, considering that it was available the Windows XP start menu.


Here is how to put a run command shortcut on your start menu in Windows Vista:

1.

Right click on a blank space in your taskbar
2.

Go to the start menu tab
3.

Press on the customize button
4.

Then scroll down near the bottom and tick the box next to run command
5.

Press OK and then apply



run command in Windows Vista



Now your run command will be available in your Windows Vista start menu.

I was extremely relieved when I found out that it was that easy to put the run command link back into the Windows Vista start menu. It's just one of those annoying things in Windows Vista, however this time it is easily fixed.

You can also drag that shortcut down into your quick launch toolbar so you can access it at any time.

What useful Commands can you type into your computer run window

What useful Commands can you type into your computer run window?

Applies to Windows Vista and Windows XP

The Windows Run command dialog box is an extremely useful tool as it can open just about anything you want. You just have to know the special commands to type in. If you are "in to" computers you will become attached to these commands as they access files faster than having to open it manually. The Windows Run box window will also give you access to hidden files, settings, and programs that cannot be seen in the Windows control panel.

Some of my favorite commands you can type into a run box are:

*

regedit - This brings up the Windows registry and lets you change settings. Be warned, changing settings in the registry can cause your computer to simply stop working. You only have to type regedit because it is a
*

gpedit.msc - This is to access the Windows group policy where you can change more interesting settings. (this can cause your computer to stop working also)
*

cmd - If you type this it will bring up
*

taskmgr - If you can't use your keyboard to press CTRL ALT DEL typing taskmgr will being up the task manger



*

wab - Type this and it will take you to the Outlook Express email address book.
*

msconfig - This is where you stop programs from opening when you start Windows.
*

... - Yes it's just three dots away from my computer
*

recent - Shows recent documents (as I do not have them pinned to my menu for everyone to see..

How to get to the Windows run box so you can type in commands:

1.

You can get to the RUN dialog box by pressing the Windows key and R.

OR

2.

In Windows XP go to Start Button and open Run from there. In Windows Vista go to the start icon in the left corner and when the start menu appears type in the bar at the bottom.

*

In Windows Vista you can type run in the bar in the start menu, then press enter and the run box will appear.

Sometimes your settings have been changed and you cannot access the run command window. See How to restore the Run command window when it is missing from the start menu

Here are some more commands to type into the run box



run command window



Cmd - Opens a Command Window (dos). This is the most important command to type into the run box. It will bring up the dos command window. The black box.

Networking commands

*

mstsc - Brings up a Remote Desktop connection box
*

ipconfig - Shows your computer ip configuration
*

ncpa.cpl - Network Connections
*

netsetup.cpl - Network Setup Wizard
*

Cfgwiz32 - ISDN Configuration Wizard
*

fsquirt - Bluetooth wizard
*

netsetup - Network setup wizard
*

rasphone - Dial up networking wizard
*

\\10.0.0.1 - It will display the shared files on another computer on your network (replace 10.0.0.1 with the IP address of the computer you want to access.)
*

\\mitz - It will display the shared files on another computer on your network (replace mitz with the name of the computer you want to access.)
*

fsmgmt.msc - Views your computers shared folders

Programs

*

iexplore - opens Internet Explorer
*

Calc - Calculator
*

winword - Opens Microsoft word
*

notepad - Brings up a blank notepad
*

mspaint - Opens the Windows paint program
*

osk - Onscreen keyboard appears
*

msimn - Opens Outlook Express email program
*

dvdplay - Opens Media player

Utilities, properties and Wizards

*

Chkdsk - Repair damaged files
*

Cleanmgr - Cleans up hard drives
*

dfrg.msc - Disk defrag
*

ntbackup - Open Windows Backup Wizard. Usually in Windows XP Professional
*

inetcpl.cpl - Internet Properties
*

inetwiz - Internet Setup Wizard
*

wiaacmgr - Scanner and camera wizard
*

appwiz.cpl - Used to run Add/Remove wizard
*

control desktop - Display Properties
*

sysdm.cpl - Opens System Properties
*

wabmig - Windows Address Book Import Utility
*

tourstart - Windows XP Tour Wizard
*

accwiz - Accessibility wizard appears
*

dxdiag - Opens a direct x utility

Change or control settings

*

services.msc - Displays the services that are running on your computer.
*

msconfig - displays the system configuration utility where you can edit your startup programs
*

gpedit.msc - Brings up the Local Computer Policy
*

regedit - brings up the registry to edit
*

diskmgmt.msc - Brings up disk management.. Handy to label hard drives etc
*

compmgmt.msc - Opens computer management
*

timedate.cpl - Shows the date and time dialog box
*

control userpasswords - shows your Windows User accounts
*

Control - Displays Control Panel
*

Control mouse - Used to control mouse properties
*

taskmgr - Opens task manager
*

sysedit - System configuration utility
*

control admintools - Administrative Tools which have Computer management, Services, and more
*

control folders - Folders Properties
*

devmgmt.msc - Device Manager
*

mmsys.cpl - Sounds and Audio

Handy Shortcuts

*

Desktop - Displays the desktop folder which contains that icons shown on the actual desktop.
*

http://www.tips4pc.com - Opens Internet Explorer and goes straight to my webpage...LOL
*

c: - Opens C drive or type the letter of another drive to open that particular one
*

Clipbrd - Windows Clipboard viewer
*

Sendto - Displays the folder that contains the items in your send to menu. You can put a shortcut in here and it will appear in the sendto menu.
*

shutdown - Shuts down Windows
*

Charmap - Character Map
*

verifier - Driver Verifier Utility
*


*

msinfo32 - Access to Windows system information
*

wab - Brings up Windows Address Book.. Do not have to open other programs to get there
*

... - Opens My Computer. This one is very cool and fast. (or """)
*

. - Opens C:\documents and settings\your user name (or ")
*

.. - Opens C:\documents and settings (or "")
*

temp - Shows C:\Windows\temp folder
*

%temp% - Shows all temporary files and folders on your computer..AHHH there are heaps!!!
*

restore - Opens the restore folder where you can click on the .exe file to start system restore
*

eudcedit - Private character editor
*

scrnsave.scr - Shows your screensaver

Windows

*

wupdmgr - Windows Update Website Launches (make sure you have a genuine copy of Windows)
*

wuaucpl.cpl - Opens Windows Automatic Update Settings Dialog box
*

winver - Shows you which version of Windows your computer is running
*

fonts - Opens Windows fonts folder
*

logoff - Logs You Out Of Windows and takes you to the sign in screen
*

label - Shows the label or name of your drive
*

printers - Opens the Windows printer folder
*

intl.cpl - Regional Settings
*

%systemroot% - Opens the Windows Folder

Notes:

*

Be sure to check this list out thoroughly as some of these shortcuts can be very handy and a lot quicker to open or start most programs.
*

Even if you just use the 3 dots to open My Computer, this list would have fulfilled its purpose.
*

Your files and folders need to be in their default location for these commands to work. For example if my documents is on another drive it will not find it unless you change the registry settings.
*

To remove the history from your run window you need to clean all the values from the HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU\ key in the registry.
*

You also can put shortcuts into C:\Windows\System32 and then type in the name of the shortcut in the run bar and it will work
*

Sometimes when you put a command into the run window the Windows cmd window flashes and closes before you can see it. Try typing cmd /k before the command and the window will stay there. For example cmd /k ipconfig
*

Try typing net use and it doesn't work. Then type cmd /k net use

Control Panel Does Not Open

To resolve this behavior, follow the steps in the section for the operating system that you are using.
Back to the top
Windows 2000
The .cpl files for Windows 2000 are located in the %SystemRoot%\System32 folder. The default location for this folder is in the C:\Winnt\System32 folder.

1. Create a new folder on your desktop called "temp" (without quotation marks). To do this, right click and empty area on your desktop, point to New, click Folder, and then type temp.
2. Move all of the .cpl files out of the System32 folder and into the Temp folder that you created.
3. Verify that Control Panel opens. Note that Control Panel does not contain icons after you move all of the .cpl files out of the System32 folder.
4. Move the .cpl files back into the System32 folder, one at a time, and then open Control Panel after you move each file to verify that Control Panel opens.
5. If you move a .cpl file back into the System32 folder, and Control Panel does not open, delete the file, or replace the file with a known, good .cpl file.

Additional Information
You can find the base Windows 2000 .cpl files on your Windows 2000 CD-ROM. The files are located in the i386 folder, and are denoted by ".CP_" (without quotation marks).

To expand these files:

1. Insert your Windows 2000 CD-ROM in your CD-ROM drive.
2. Click Start, click Run, type cmd in the Open box, and then press ENTER.
3. At the prompt, type the following command:
expand CD-ROM drive:\i386\file_name.cp_ drive_letter:\temp\file_name.cpl
Where CD-ROM drive is the drive letter for your CD-ROM drive, file_name is the name of the .cpl file, and drive_letter is the drive letter where your Temp folder is located (for example, type expand e:\i386\ncpa.cp_ c:\temp\ncpa.cpl).

NOTE: You can also double-click each .cpl file to determine if it runs. When you double-click a .cpl file, the associated Control Panel tool runs.
Back to the top
Windows NT
The default location for the .cpl files in Windows NT is in the %SystemRoot%\System32 folder.

1. Create a new folder on your desktop called "temp" (without quotation marks). To do this, right click and empty area on your desktop, point to New, click Folder, and then type temp.
2. Move all of the .cpl files out of the System32 folder and into the Temp folder that you created.
3. Verify that Control Panel opens. Note that Control Panel does not contain icons after you move all of the .cpl files out of the System32 folder.
4. Move the .cpl files back into the System32 folder, one at a time, and then open Control Panel after you move each file to verify that Control Panel opens.
5. If you move a .cpl file back into the System32 folder, and Control Panel does not open, delete the file, or replace the file with a known, good .cpl file.

Additional Information
You can find the base Windows NT .cpl files on your Windows NT CD-ROM. The files are located in the i386 folder, and are denoted by ".CP_" (without quotation marks).

To expand these files:

1. Insert your Windows NT CD-ROM in your CD-ROM drive.
2. Click Start, click Run, type cmd in the Open box, and then press ENTER.
3. At the prompt, type the following command:
expand CD-ROM drive:\i386\file_name.cp_ drive_letter:\temp\file_name.cpl
Where CD-ROM drive is the drive letter for your CD-ROM drive, file_name is the name of the .cpl file, and drive_letter is the drive letter where your Temp folder is located (for example, type expand e:\i386\ncpa.cp_ c:\temp\ncpa.cpl).

NOTE: You can also double-click each .cpl file to determine if it runs. When you double-click a .cpl file, the associated Control Panel tool runs.
Back to the top
Windows 95 and Windows 98
The .cpl files for Windows 95 and Windows 98 are located in the %SystemRoot\System folder.

1. Create a new folder on your desktop called "temp" (without quotation marks). To do this, right click and empty area on your desktop, point to New, click Folder, and then type temp.
2. Move all of the .cpl files out of the System32 folder and into the Temp folder that you created.
3. Verify that Control Panel opens. Note that Control Panel does not contain icons after you move all of the .cpl files out of the System32 folder.
4. Move the .cpl files back into the System32 folder, one at a time, and then open Control Panel after you move each file to verify that Control Panel opens.
5. If you move a .cpl file back into the System32 folder, and Control Panel does not open, delete the file, or replace the file with a known, good .cpl file.

Additional Information
In Windows 98, all of the base Control Panel .cpl files are on your Windows 98 CD-ROM and are located in the compressed Win98_28.cab file.

In Windows 95, all of the base Control Panel .cpl files are on your Windows 95 CD-ROM and are located in the compressed Win95_11.cab file. However, the Inetcpl.cpl file is in the compressed Win95_09.cab file, and the Jetadmin.cpl file is in the compressed Win95_16.cab file.

For information about how to extract files for Windows 95 or Windows 98, please view the following Knowledge Base article:
129605 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/129605/EN-US/ ) How to Extract Original Compressed Windows Files
NOTE: You can also double-click each .cpl file to determine if it runs. When you double-click a .cpl file, the associated Control Panel tool runs.

Optimize Windows Vista for better performance

Sourse : www.microsoft.com

No matter how fast or shiny computers might be when they are new, they all seem to get slower over time. That state-of-the-art PC you bought last year might not feel like such a screamer after you install a dozen programs, load it with antispyware and antivirus tools, and download untold amounts of junk from the Internet. The slowdown might happen so gradually you hardly notice it, until one day you’re trying to open a program or file and wonder, "What happened to my poor PC?"

Whatever the cause, there are a lot of ways to help speed up Windows and make your PC work better—even without upgrading your hardware. Here are some tips to help you optimize Windows Vista for faster performance.

Delete programs you never use

Many PC manufacturers pack their new computers with programs you didn’t order and might not want. These often include trial editions and limited edition versions of programs that software companies hope you will try, find useful, and then pay to upgrade to full versions or newer versions. If you decide you don’t want them, keeping the software on your computer might slow it down by using precious memory, disk space, and processing power.

It’s a good idea to uninstall all the programs you don’t plan to use. This should include both manufacturer-installed software and software you installed yourself but don’t want anymore—especially utility programs designed to help manage and tune your computer’s hardware and software. Utility programs such as virus scanners, disk cleaners, and backup tools often run automatically at startup, quietly chugging along in the background where you can’t see them. Many people have no idea they are even running.

Even if your PC is older, it might contain manufacturer-installed programs that you never noticed or have since forgotten about. It’s never too late to remove these and get rid of the clutter and wasted system resources. Maybe you thought you might use the software someday, but never did. Uninstall it and see if your PC runs faster.

For instructions, see Uninstall or change a program.

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Limit how many programs load at startup

Many programs are designed to load automatically when Windows starts. Software manufacturers often set their programs to open in the background, where you can’t see them running, so they’ll open right away when you click their icons. That's helpful for programs you use a lot, but for programs you rarely or never use, this wastes precious memory and slows down the time it takes Windows to finish loading.

Decide for yourself if you want a program to load at startup.

But how can you tell what programs load automatically at startup? Sometimes this is obvious, because the program will add an icon to the notification area on the taskbar, where you can see it running. Look there and see if there are any programs running that you don’t want to load automatically. Position your mouse over each icon to see the program name. Be sure to click the Show hidden icons button so you don’t miss any icons.

The Show hidden icons button in the notification area

Even after you check the notification area, you might still have missed some programs that load automatically at startup. You can find and disable them using Windows Defender.

The Software Explorer screen in Windows Defender shows which programs automatically start when you launch Windows

If you’re unsure about whether a program should open automatically at startup, you can try disabling it, restarting your computer, and then using the program. If that causes any problems with the program, you can go back and re-enable it to start automatically.

For instructions how to use Windows Defender to check for programs that open automatically, see Stop a program from running automatically when Windows starts.

Note

Some people prefer to manage which programs load at startup using the System Configuration tool. For more information, see Start System Configuration.

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Defragment your hard drive

Fragmentation makes your hard disk do extra work that can slow down your computer. Disk Defragmenter rearranges fragmented data so your hard disk can work more efficiently. Disk Defragmenter runs on a schedule, but you can also defragment your hard disk manually.

For more information, see Improve performance by defragmenting your hard disk.

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Clean up your hard disk

If you want to reduce the number of unnecessary files on your hard disk to free up disk space and help your computer run faster, use Disk Cleanup. It removes temporary files, empties the Recycle Bin, and removes a variety of system files and other items that you no longer need. For step-by-step instructions on how to do this, see Delete files using Disk Cleanup.

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Run fewer programs at the same time

Sometimes changing your computing behavior can have a big impact on your PC's performance. If you’re the type of computer user who likes to keep eight programs and a dozen browser windows open at once—all while instant messaging your friends—don’t be surprised if your PC bogs down. Keeping a lot of e‑mail messages open can also use up memory.

If you find your PC slowing down, ask yourself if you really need to keep all your programs and windows open at once. Find a better way to remind yourself to reply to e‑mail messages than to keep all of them open.

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Turn off visual effects

If Windows is running slowly, you can speed it up by disabling some of its visual effects. It comes down to appearance versus performance. Would you rather have Windows run faster or look prettier? If your PC is fast enough, you don’t have to make this tradeoff, but if your computer is just barely powerful enough for Windows Vista, it can be useful to scale back on the visual bells and whistles.

You can choose which visual effects to turn off, one by one, or you can let Windows choose a bunch for you. There are 20 visual effects you can control, such as the transparent glass look, the way menus open or close, and whether shadows are displayed.

The Performance Options dialog box lets you turn on or off up to 20 visual effects

To adjust all visual effects for best performance:

1. Open Performance Information and Tools by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Performance Information and Tools.

2. Click Adjust visual effects. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

3. Click the Visual Effects tab, click Adjust for best performance, and then click OK. (For a less drastic option, select Let Windows choose what’s best for my computer.)

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Try restarting if there's a problem

This tip is simple. If your computer seems to be running slowly and closing all the currently running programs doesn't help, trying restarting your computer. Restarting can fix performance problems where the exact cause is hard to pinpoint.

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Add more memory

This isn’t a guide to buying hardware that will speed up your computer. But no discussion of how make Windows run faster would be complete without mentioning that you should consider adding more memory to your PC.

If a computer running Windows Vista feels too slow, it’s usually because the PC doesn’t have enough memory. The most sure–fire way to speed it up is to add more.

Windows Vista can run on a PC with 512 megabytes (MB) of random access memory (RAM), but it runs better with 1 gigabyte (GB). For optimal performance, boost that to 2 GB or more.

If you're going to the trouble of opening up your PC case to add more memory, you might as well boost the total to at least 2 GB. Especially if you're the sort of person who keeps a dozen e‑mail messages, ten browser windows, and six other programs open at once—all while instant messaging.

Another option is to boost the amount of memory by using Windows ReadyBoost. This feature allows you to use the storage space on some removable media devices, such as USB flash drives, to speed up your computer. It’s easier to plug a flash drive into a USB port than to open your PC case and plug memory modules into its motherboard. For more information, see Using memory in your storage device to speed up your computer.

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Check for viruses and spyware

If your PC is running slowly, one dreaded possibility is that it might be infected with a virus or spyware. This is not as common as the other problems, but it is something to consider. Before you worry too much, check your PC using antispyware and antivirus programs.

A common symptom of a virus is a much slower-than-normal computer performance. Other signs include unexpected messages that pop up on your PC, programs that start automatically, or the sound of your hard disk constantly working.

Spyware is a type of program that is installed, usually without your knowledge, to watch your activity on the Internet. You can check for spyware with Windows Defender or other anti-spyware programs. For more information, see How to tell if your computer is infected with spyware.

The best way to deal with viruses is to prevent them in the first place. Always run antivirus software and keep it up to date. Even if you take such precautions, however, it’s possible for your PC to become infected. For more information, see How can I tell if my computer has a virus?

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Check your computer’s speed

If you try these tips and your computer is still too slow, you might need a new PC or some hardware upgrades, such as a new hard disk, faster video card, or more memory. There’s no need to guess the speed of your computer, however. Windows provides a way to check and rate your PC’s speed with a tool called the Windows Experience Index.

The Windows Experience Index rates your computer on five key components and gives you a number for each, as well as an overall base score. This base score is only as good as your worst-performing component sub-score.

Base scores currently range from 1 to 5.9. (There is no score yet of 6.0 or higher, although Microsoft plans to raise the ratings in the future as hardware improves.) If your PC is rated lower than 2 or 3, it might be time to consider a new PC, depending on what tasks you want to do with your computer.

For more information, see What is the Windows Experience Index?

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Check for updates from the manufacturer

Have you visited the support website of your computer manufacturer to see if the company has released any updates for your specific model? Computer makers often issue software updates for programs they shipped with a PC, especially if the PC is relatively new.

You might be surprised how much information you can find by checking with the manufacturer. If other users are reporting the same problem you are having, the manufacturer might have already issued a fix, or at least provided information about the problem.

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Don’t settle for slow

For even more advice, see Ways to improve your computer's performance.

99 ways to make your computer blazingly fast

Over the last several years working in IT for various companies as a Systems Administrator, Network Administrator, and Help Desk professional, I’ve written and learned about many ways to increase the performance of not only my PC, but also of the many PCs on my networks ranging from Windows 98 to Windows Vista.

In this article, I hope to compile a complete list of all the different methods and tricks that I’ve used to get the last bit of juice out of a slow PC. Whether you are using an old PC or the latest and greatest in hardware, you can still use some of these to make your PC run faster.

Note that since I write two blogs, Help Desk Geek and Online Tech Tips, I have previously written about many performance tips already which I will link back to throughout. If I have not written about it, I’ve throw in a link to a relevant article from some of my other favorite sites. This list is in no particular order, just written in the order that I could think of them.

There are probably a lot of great tweaks and performance hacks that I’ve missed here, so feel free to chime in with comments! Enjoy!

1. Defragment your computer hard disk using free tools like SmartDefrag.

2. You should also defragment your Windows pagefile and registry.

3. Clean up hard drive disk space being taken up by temporary files, the recycle bin, hibernation and more. You can also use a tool like TreeSize to determine what is taking up space on your hard drive.

4. Load up Windows faster by using Startup Delayer, a free program that will speed up the boot time of Windows by delaying the startup of programs.

5. Speaking of startup programs, many of them are useless and can be turned off. Use the MSCONFIG utility to disable startup programs.

6. By default, the size of the paging file is controlled by Windows, which can cause defragmentation. Also, the paging file should be on a different hard drive or partition than the boot partition. Read here on the rules for best paging file performance.

7. In Windows XP and Vista, the Windows Search indexing service is turned on for all local hard drives. Turning off indexing is a simple way to increase performance.

8. If you don’t care about all the fancy visual effects in Windows, you can turn them off by going to Performance Options.

9. You can optimize the Windows boot time using a free program called Bootvis from Microsoft.

10. Clean your registry by removing broken shortcuts, missing shared DLLs, invalid paths, invalid installer references and more. Read about the 10 best and free registry cleaners.

11. One of the main reasons why PC’s are slow is because of spyware. There are many programs to remove spyware including Ad-Aware, Giant Antispyware, SUPERAntiSpyware, and more.

12. If you have a deeper spyware infection that is very hard to remove, you can use HijackThis to remove spyware.

13. Remove unwanted pre-installed software (aka junk software) from your new PC using PC Decrapifier.

14. Disable unnecessary Windows services, settings, and programs that slow down your computer.

15. Tweak Windows XP and tweak Windows Vista settings using free programs

16. Disable UAC (User Account Control) in Windows Vista

17. Tweak your mouse settings so that you can copy and paste faster, scroll faster, navigate quickly while browsing and more. Read here to learn how to tweak your mouse.

18. Delete temporary and unused files on your computer using a free program like CCleaner. It can also fix issues with your registry.

19. Delete your Internet browsing history, temporary Internet files, cookies to free up disk space.

20. Clean out the Windows prefetch folder to improve performance.

21. Disable the XP boot logo to speed up Windows boot time.

22. Reduce the number of fonts that your computer has to load up on startup.

23. Force Windows to unload DLLs from memory to free up RAM.

24. Run DOS programs in separate memory spaces for better performance.

25. Turn off system restore only if you regularly backup your Windows machine using third party software.

26. Move or change the location of your My Documents folder so that it is on a separate partition or hard drive.

27. Turn off default disk performance monitors on Windows XP to increase performance.

28. Speed up boot time by disabling unused ports on your Windows machine.

29. Use Process Lasso to speed up your computer by allowing it to make sure that no one process can completely overtake the CPU.

30. Make icons appear faster while browsing in My Computer by disabling search for network files and printers.

31. Speed up browsing of pictures and videos in Windows Vista by disabling the Vista thumbnails cache.

32. Edit the right-click context menu in Windows XP and Vista and remove unnecessary items to increase display speed.

33. Use the Windows Performance Toolkit and the trace logs to speed up Windows boot time.

34. Speed up your Internet browsing by using an external DNS server such as OpenDNS.

35. Improve Vista performance by using ReadyBoost, a new feature whereby Vista can use the free space on your USB drive as a caching mechanism.

36. If you have a slow Internet connection, you can browse web pages faster using a service called Finch, which converts it into simple text.

37. Use Vista Services Optimizer to disable unnecessary services in Vista safely.

38. Also, check out my list of web accelerators, which are programs that try to prefetch and cache the sites you are going to visit.

39. Speed up Mozilla Firefox by tweaking the configuration settings and by installing an add-on called FasterFox.

40. Learn how to build your own computer with the fastest parts and best hardware.

41. Use a program called TeraCopy to speed up file copying in Windows XP and Vista.

42. Disable automatic Last Access Timestamp to speed up Windows XP.

43. Speed up the Start Menu in Vista by hacking the MenuShowDelay key in the registry.

44. Increase the FileSystem memory cache in Vista to utilize a system with a large amount of RAM.

45. Install more RAM if you are running XP with less than 512 MB or Vista with less than 1 GB of RAM.

46. Shut down XP faster by reducing the wait time to kill hung applications.

47. Make sure that you have selected “Adjust for best performance” on the Performance tab in System Properties.

48. If you are reinstalling Windows, make sure that you partition your hard drives correctly to maximize performance.

49. Use Altiris software virtualization to install all of your programs into a virtual layer that does not affect the registry or system files.

50. Create and install virtual machines for free and install junk program, games, etc into the virtual machines instead of the host operating system. Check out Sun openxVM.

51. Do not clear your paging file during shutdown unless it is needed for security purposes. Clearing the paging file slows down shutdown.

52. If your XP or Vista computer is not using NFTS, make sure you convert your FAT disk to the NTFS file system.

53. Update all of your drivers in Windows, including chipset and motherboard drivers to their latest versions.

54. Every once in a while run the built-in Windows Disk Cleanup utility.

55. Enable DMA mode in Windows XP for IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers in Device Manager.

56. Remove unnecessary or old programs from the Add/Remove dialog of the Control Panel.

57. Use a program click memtest86 or Prime95 to check for bad memory on your PC.

58. Determine your BIOS version and check the manufactures website to see if you need to update your BIOS.

59. Every once in a while, clean your mouse, keyboard and computer fans of dust and other buildup.

60. Replace a slow hard drive with a faster 7200 RPM drive, SATA drive, or SAS drive.

61. Changing from Master/Slave to Cable Select on your hard drive configuration can significantly decrease your boot time.

62. Perform a virus scan on your computer regularly. If you don’t want to install virus protection, use some of the free online virus scanners.

63. Remove extra toolbars from your Windows taskbar and from your Internet browser.

64. Disable the Windows Vista Sidebar if you’re not really using it for anything important. All those gadgets take up memory and processing power.

65. If you have a SATA drive and you’re running Windows Vista, you can speed up your PC by enabling the advanced write caching features.

66. Learn how to use keyboard shortcuts for Windows, Microsoft Word, Outlook, or create your own keyboard shortcuts.

67. Turn off the Aero visual effects in Windows Vista to increase computer performance.

68. If you are technically savvy and don’t mind taking a few risks, you can try to overclock your processor.

69. Speed up the Send To menu in Explorer by typing “sendto” in the Run dialog box and deleting unnecessary items.

70. Make sure to download all the latest Windows Updates, Service Packs, and hot fixes as they “normally” help your computer work better.

71. Make sure that there are no bad sectors or other errors on your hard drive by using the ScanDisk orchkdsk utility.

72. If you are not using some of the hardware on your computer, i.e. floppy drive, CD-ROM drive, USB ports, IR ports, Firewire, etc, then go into your BIOS and disable them so that they do not use any power and do not have to be loaded during boot up.

73. If you have never used the Recent Documents feature in Windows, then disable it completely as a long list can affect PC performance.

74. One basic tweak that can help in performance is to disable error reporting in Windows XP

75. If you don’t care about a pretty interface, you should use the Windows Classic theme under Display Properties.

76. Disable short filenames if you are using NTFS by running the following command: fsutil behavior set disable8dot3 1. It will speed up the file creation process.

77. If you have lots of files in a single folder, it can slow down Explorer. It’s best to create multiple folders and spread out the files between the folders.

78. If you have files that are generally large, you might want to consider increasing the cluster size on NTFS to 16K or even 32K instead of 4K. This will help speed up opening of files.

79. If you have more than one disk in your PC, you can increase performance by moving your paging file to the second drive and formatting the volume using FAT32 instead of NTFS.

80. Turn off unnecessary features in Vista by going to Control Panel, choosing Uninstall a program, and then clicking on Turn Windows features on and off. You can turn off Remote Differential Compression, Tablet PC components, DFS replication service, Windows Fax & Scan, Windows Meeting Space, and lots more.

81. Install a free or commercial anti-virus program to help protect against viruses, etc. Make sure to use an anti-virus program that does not hog up all of your computer resources.

82. Completely uninstall programs and applications using a program like Revo Uninstaller. It will get rid of remnants left behind by normal uninstalls.

83. If you know what you are doing, you can install several hard drives into your machine and set them up in RAID 0, RAID 5, or other RAID configurations.

84. If you are using USB 1.0 ports, upgrade to 2.0. If you have a Firewire port, try to use that instead of a USB port since Firewire is faster than USB right now.

85. Remove the drivers for all old devices that may be hidden in Device Manager that you no longer use.

86. A more extreme option is to choose a faster operating system. If you find Vista to be slow, go with Windows XP. Switching to Mac or Linux is also an option.

87. One of the easiest ways to speed up your PC is to simply reformat it. Of course, you want to backup your data, but it is the best way to get your computer back to peak performance.

88. Speed up Internet browsing in IE by increasing the number of max connections per server in the registry.

89. If you use uTorrent to download torrents, you can increase the download speeds by tweaking the settings.

90. If you have a desktop background, make sure it’s a small and simple bitmap image rather than a fancy picture off the Internet. The best is to find a really small texture and to tile it.

91. For the Virtual Memory setting in Windows (right-click on My Computer, Properties, Advanced, Performance Settings, Advanced, Virtual Memory), make sure the MIN and MAX are both the same number.

92. If you search on Google a lot or Wikipedia, you can do it much faster on Vista by adding them to the Vista Start Menu Instant Search box.

93. If you have a custom built computer or a PC that was previously used, make sure to check the BIOS for optimal settings such as enabled CPU caches, correctly set IDE/SATA data transfer modes, memory timings, etc. You can also enable Fast/Quick boot if you have that option.

94. If you have a SCSI drive, make sure the write cache is enabled. You can do so by opening the properties of the SCSI drive in Windows.

95. If you have a machine with an older network card, make sure to enable the onboard processor for the network card, which will offload tasks from the CPU.

96. If you are using Windows Vista, you can disable the Welcome Center splash screen that always pops up.

97. If you already have anti-spyware software installed, turn off Windows Defender protection.

98. If you are running a 32-bit version of Windows and have 4GB of RAM or more, you can force Windows to see and use all of the RAM by enabling PAE.

99. Buy a new computer!!! ;) Pretty easy eh?

I’m sure I have missed out on lots of performance tweaks, tips, hacks, etc, so feel free to post comments to add to the list! Enjoy!

Show Hidden Files and Folders not working

A few days back, a client came to me and told me that he was having trouble with his Windows XP. The show hidden files and folders was not working at all. If he selected the radio button “Show hidden files and folders”, and then press Ok .. the changes would just disappear upon opening the dialog again. It was probably some virus attack after which the Windows registry was not being updated properly. So here is what I did to restore it back. There are so many methods to restore back the registry. If one method is not working, please try another one.
Method 1:

Go to registry editor by running regedit in the run box.
Go to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoft
WindowsCurrentVersionExplorerAdvanced


In the right hand area, double click hidden and change the value to 1.

Now you’re all set to go. Check it in your tools menu if the changes have taken effect.
Method 2: (By Random Hajile)

1. Click “Start” -> “Run…” (or press Windows key + R)
2. Type “regedit” and click “Ok”.
3. Find the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorer
AdvancedFolderHiddenSHOWALL
4. Look at the “CheckedValue” key… This should be a DWORD key. If it isn’t, delete the key.
5. Create a new key called “CheckedValue” as a DWORD (hexadecimal) with a value of 1.
6. The “Show hidden files & folders” check box should now work normally. Enjoy! :)
Method 3: (By Denny)

1- Click Start –> Run –> regsvr32 /i browseui.dll –> enter

A confirmation message will appear like given below

2- Click Start –> Run –> regsvr32 /i shell32.dll

Wait for the confirmation and click OK.

Windows Freezes For No Reason

Windows Freezes For No Reason

Sometimes, your computer will freeze up for no apparent reason. The computer will become completely unresponsive, show a blue screen error and require restart, or turn off without any notice. Anything that you were working on that had not been saved is lost, making this one of the most annoying and frustrating experiences you are likely to run across as a PC user. Naturally, you’ll want to prevent this from happening. In order to do that, you need to be informed of the cause of the freeze.

Freeze Reason #1 – RAM Malfunction

If one or more of your memory sticks are corrupted, the system is not able to access the RAM that it needs in order to function properly. Sometimes, uninformed PC users will purchase a memory stick that has a different processing speed than the one currently installed. These two modules are not compatible, and cannot operate in conjunction with one another. Checking to see if the RAM is the root of your freezing problem is simple:
Shut down the computer, disconnect one of the modules from the motherboard, reboot the computer, and see if the error recurs. Repeat with the second memory stick if necessary. If you find that one of your memory sticks is in fact defective, or operating at a different speed than the second one, it is easily corrected. Simply purchase another module and replace the offending one.

Freeze Reason #2 – Cluttered Registry

Your computer cannot function without the registry. It contains every command necessary to run your operating system. The registry also keeps a record of every action that is taken on your PC. Even if you uninstall programs, the key for that program is still contained in your registry. Over time, if not maintained properly, the registry will become very cluttered and cause windows running slow, which can lead to freezes. It’s a good idea to purchase a registry cleaning tool, back up the registry, create a System Restore point, and run the cleaning tool.
Be careful! You will find many registry cleaning tools that claim to be free. In reality they are either trial versions that will scan the registry but not fix it, or malicious software.

Freeze Reason #3 – Malware

This ties in closely with your RAM. Certain malware, spyware, adware, trojans, and viruses–use up a considerable amount of the memory that is meant to be reserved for sytem us. If the amount of memory needed to perform vital system functions on your computer is being used my malicious programs, the computer will not be able to operate, leading to a freeze or random slow shut down. You may not even be aware that your computer is infected with malware until these issues start to arise. Preventing freezes caused my malware is as simple as preventing the malware infection itself. The first step toward preventing malware is to practice safe browsing habits. Don’t visit questionable websites, don’t download files or programs from untrusted sources, and keep your Windows firewall enabled at all times. Obtain a Norton antivirus program , keep your definitions up to date, and run scans often.

Freeze Reason #4 – Faulty Power Supply

Sometimes windows freezes or unexplained reboots are simply the result of a fault power supply. If this is the case, your computer’s power supply will need to be replaced

Add Album Art to any Music Folder For images

Add Album Art to any Music Folder For images

This is easily my favorite tip! One of the coolest new features in Windows XP is its album thumbnail generator, which automatically places the appropriate album cover art on the folder to which you are copying music (generally in WMA format). But what about those people that have already copied their CDs to the hard drive using MP3 format? You can download album cover art from sites such as cdnow.com or amguide.com, and then use the new Windows XP folder customize feature to display the proper image for each folder. But this takes time--you have to manually edit the folder properties for every single folder--and you will lose customizations if you have to reinstall the OS. There's an excellent fix, however.

When you download the album cover art from the Web, just save the images as folder.jpg each time and place them in the appropriate folder. Then, Windows XP will automatically use that image as the thumbnail for that folder and, best of all, will use that image in Windows Media Player for Windows XP (MPXP) if you choose to display album cover art instead of a visualization. And the folder customization is automatic, so it survives an OS reinstallation as well. Your music folders never looked so good!


Image-1


Album cover art makes music folder thumbnails look better than ever!

Change the location of the My Music or My Pictures folders

In Windows 2000, Microsoft added the ability to right-click the My Documents folder and choose a new location for that folder in the shell. With Windows XP, Microsoft has elevated the My Music and My Pictures folders to the same "special shell folder" status of My Documents, but they never added a similar (and simple) method for changing those folder's locations. However, it is actually pretty easy to change the location of these folders, using the following method.
Open a My Computer window and navigate to the location where you'd like My Music (or My Pictures) to reside. Then, open the My Documents folder in a different window. Drag the My Music (or My Pictures) folder to the other window, and Windows XP will update all of the references to that folder to the new location, including the Start menu.

Add/Remove optional features of Windows XP

I first mentioned this technique in an old Technology Showcase for Windows 2000, but it still works in Windows XP, and can be quite useful: For some reason, Microsoft has removed the ability to specify which Windows components you want to install during interactive Setup, and when you go into Add/Remove Windows Components in the Control Panel, you still don't have the full list of applications and applets you can add and remove. Thankfully, this is easy to fix.
To dramatically expand the list of applications you can remove from Windows XP after installation, navigate to C:\WINDOWS\inf (substituting the correct drive letter for your version of Windows) and open the sysoc.inf file. Under Windows XP Professional Edition RC1, this file will resemble the following by default:
[Version] Signature = "$Windows NT$"
DriverVer=06/26/2001,5.1.2505.0

[Components]
NtComponents=ntoc.dll,NtOcSetupProc,,4
WBEM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wbemoc.inf,hide,7
Display=desk.cpl,DisplayOcSetupProc,,7
Fax=fxsocm.dll,FaxOcmSetupProc,fxsocm.inf,,7
NetOC=netoc.dll,NetOcSetupProc,netoc.inf,,7
iis=iis.dll,OcEntry,iis.inf,,7
com=comsetup.dll,OcEntry,comnt5.inf,hide,7
dtc=msdtcstp.dll,OcEntry,dtcnt5.inf,hide,7
IndexSrv_System = setupqry.dll,IndexSrv,setupqry.inf,,7
TerminalServer=TsOc.dll, HydraOc, TsOc.inf,hide,2
msmq=msmqocm.dll,MsmqOcm,msmqocm.inf,,6
ims=imsinsnt.dll,OcEntry,ims.inf,,7
fp_extensions=fp40ext.dll,FrontPage4Extensions,fp40ext.inf,,7
AutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,au.inf,hide,7
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
msnexplr=ocmsn.dll,OcEntry,msnmsn.inf,,7
smarttgs=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,msnsl.inf,,7
RootAutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,rootau.inf,,7
Games=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,games.inf,,7
AccessUtil=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,accessor.inf,,7
CommApps=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,communic.inf,HIDE,7
MultiM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,multimed.inf,HIDE,7
AccessOpt=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,optional.inf,HIDE,7
Pinball=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,pinball.inf,HIDE,7
MSWordPad=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wordpad.inf,HIDE,7
ZoneGames=zoneoc.dll,ZoneSetupProc,igames.inf,,7

[Global]
WindowTitle=%WindowTitle%
WindowTitle.StandAlone="*"

The entries that include the text hide or HIDE will not show up in Add/Remove Windows Components by default. To fix this, do a global search and replace for , hide and change each instance of this to , (a comma). Then, save the file, relaunch Add/Remove Windows Components, and tweak the installed applications to your heart's content.



Cool, eh? There are even more new options now under "Accessories and Utilities" too.

Remove Windows Messenger

It seems that a lot of people are interested in removing Windows Messenger for some reason, though I strongly recommend against this: In Windows XP, Windows Messenger will be the hub of your connection to the .NET world, and now that this feature is part of Windows, I think we're going to see a lot of .NET Passport-enabled Web sites appearing as well. But if you can't stand the little app, there are a couple of ways to get rid of it, and ensure that it doesn't pop up every time you boot into XP. The best way simply utilizes the previous tip:
If you'd like Windows Messenger to show up in the list of programs you can add and remove from Windows, navigate to C:\WINDOWS\inf (substituting the correct drive letter for your version of Windows) and open sysoc.inf (see the previous tip for more information about this file). You'll see a line that reads:
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
Change this to the following and Windows Messenger will appear in Add or Remove Programs, then Add/Remove Windows Components, then , and you can remove it for good:
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,7


Kiss Windows Messenger goodbye!

Display the Sharing Tab in Folder Properties NEW!

In Windows 2000, getting to the Sharing options for a folder was simple: Just right-click, choose Properties, and you'd see a Sharing tab. In Windows XP, this seems to be missing, and the Beta 2 trick to displaying it (hold down CTRL as you right-click) no longer works.
But fear not, you can still cause your Windows XP RC1 or RC 2 system to display the Sharing tab if desired. Simply open up Folder Options (My Computer, then Tools, Folder Options) and navigate to the View tab. In the Advanced Settings section, scroll down to the bottom and uncheck Use simple file sharing (Recommended), a Mickey Mouse feature if there ever was one. Now share your folders on the LAN as you would in Windows 2000.

Use the Windows Sound Scheme

Windows XP RC1 and RC2 ship with a nice new sound scheme, but it's not loaded by default for some reason. So once you've installed Windows XP, one of the first things you should do is get that new sound scheme loaded.
To do so, open up Control Panel and navigate to Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices. Then, choose the task titled Change the sound scheme. In the dialog that appears, choose Windows Default for the sound scheme. Windows will ask you whether you want to save the previous scheme, which is usually a brain-dead questions, since no scheme was previously loaded. So choose No, and then click OK to exit the dialog.

Use the ultimate configuration tool

One of the most full featured Windows XP configuration tools available is hidden right there in your system, but most people don't even know it exists. It's called the Local Group Policy Editor, or gpedit for short. To invoke this editor, select Start and then Run, then type the following:
gpedit.msc
After you hit ENTER, you'll be greeted by gpedit, which lets you modify virtually every feature in Windows XP without having to resort to regedit. Dig around and enjoy!

20 things you didn't know about Windows XP

20 things you didn't know about Windows XP

You've read the reviews and digested the key feature enhancements and operational changes. Now it's time to delve a bit deeper and uncover some of Windows XP's secrets.

1. It boasts how long it can stay up. Whereas previous versions of Windows were coy about how long they went between boots, XP is positively proud of its stamina. Go to the Command Prompt in the Accessories menu from the All Programs start button option, and then type 'systeminfo'. The computer will produce a lot of useful info, including the uptime. If you want to keep these, type 'systeminfo > info.txt'. This creates a file called info.txt you can look at later with Notepad. (Professional Edition only).

2. You can delete files immediately, without having them move to the Recycle Bin first. Go to the Start menu, select Run... and type 'gpedit.msc'; then select User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Windows Explorer and find the Do not move deleted files to the Recycle Bin setting. Set it. Poking around in gpedit will reveal a great many interface and system options, but take care -- some may stop your computer behaving as you wish. (Professional Edition only).

3. You can lock your XP workstation with two clicks of the mouse. Create a new shortcut on your desktop using a right mouse click, and enter 'rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation' in the location field. Give the shortcut a name you like. That's it -- just double click on it and your computer will be locked. And if that's not easy enough, Windows key + L will do the same.

4. XP hides some system software you might want to remove, such as Windows Messenger, but you can tickle it and make it disgorge everything. Using Notepad or Edit, edit the text file /windows/inf/sysoc.inf, search for the word 'hide' and remove it. You can then go to the Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Windows Components and there will be your prey, exposed and vulnerable.

5. For those skilled in the art of DOS batch files, XP has a number of interesting new commands. These include 'eventcreate' and 'eventtriggers' for creating and watching system events, 'typeperf' for monitoring performance of various subsystems, and 'schtasks' for handling scheduled tasks. As usual, typing the command name followed by /? will give a list of options -- they're all far too baroque to go into here.

6. XP has IP version 6 support -- the next generation of IP. Unfortunately this is more than your ISP has, so you can only experiment with this on your LAN. Type 'ipv6 install' into Run... (it's OK, it won't ruin your existing network setup) and then 'ipv6 /?' at the command line to find out more. If you don't know what IPv6 is, don't worry and don't bother.

7. You can at last get rid of tasks on the computer from the command line by using 'taskkill /pid' and the task number, or just 'tskill' and the process number. Find that out by typing 'tasklist', which will also tell you a lot about what's going on in your system.

8. XP will treat Zip files like folders, which is nice if you've got a fast machine. On slower machines, you can make XP leave zip files well alone by typing 'regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll' at the command line. If you change your mind later, you can put things back as they were by typing 'regsvr32 zipfldr.dll'.

9. XP has ClearType -- Microsoft's anti-aliasing font display technology -- but doesn't have it enabled by default. It's well worth trying, especially if you were there for DOS and all those years of staring at a screen have given you the eyes of an astigmatic bat. To enable ClearType, right click on the desktop, select Properties, Appearance, Effects, select ClearType from the second drop-down menu and enable the selection. Expect best results on laptop displays. If you want to use ClearType on the Welcome login screen as well, set the registry entry HKEY_USERS/.DEFAULT/Control Panel/Desktop/FontSmoothingType to 2.

10. You can use Remote Assistance to help a friend who's using network address translation (NAT) on a home network, but not automatically. Get your pal to email you a Remote Assistance invitation and edit the file. Under the RCTICKET attribute will be a NAT IP address, like 192.168.1.10. Replace this with your chum's real IP address -- they can find this out by going to www.whatismyip.com -- and get them to make sure that they've got port 3389 open on their firewall and forwarded to the errant computer.

11. You can run a program as a different user without logging out and back in again. Right click the icon, select Run As... and enter the user name and password you want to use. This only applies for that run. The trick is particularly useful if you need to have administrative permissions to install a program, which many require. Note that you can have some fun by running programs multiple times on the same system as different users, but this can have unforeseen effects.

12. Windows XP can be very insistent about you checking for auto updates, registering a Passport, using Windows Messenger and so on. After a while, the nagging goes away, but if you feel you might slip the bonds of sanity before that point, run Regedit, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/Advanced and create a DWORD value called EnableBalloonTips with a value of 0.

13. You can start up without needing to enter a user name or password. Select Run... from the start menu and type 'control userpasswords2', which will open the user accounts application. On the Users tab, clear the box for Users Must Enter A User Name And Password To Use This Computer, and click on OK. An Automatically Log On dialog box will appear; enter the user name and password for the account you want to use.

14. Internet Explorer 6 will automatically delete temporary files, but only if you tell it to. Start the browser, select Tools / Internet Options... and Advanced, go down to the Security area and check the box to Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed.

15. XP comes with a free Network Activity Light, just in case you can't see the LEDs twinkle on your network card. Right click on My Network Places on the desktop, then select Properties. Right click on the description for your LAN or dial-up connection, select Properties, then check the Show icon in notification area when connected box. You'll now see a tiny network icon on the right of your task bar that glimmers nicely during network traffic.

16. The Start Menu can be leisurely when it decides to appear, but you can speed things along by changing the registry entry HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Desktop/MenuShowDelay from the default 400 to something a little snappier. Like 0.

17. You can rename loads of files at once in Windows Explorer. Highlight a set of files in a window, then right click on one and rename it. All the other files will be renamed to that name, with individual numbers in brackets to distinguish them. Also, in a folder you can arrange icons in alphabetised groups by View, Arrange Icon By... Show In Groups.

18. Windows Media Player will display the cover art for albums as it plays the tracks -- if it found the picture on the Internet when you copied the tracks from the CD. If it didn't, or if you have lots of pre-WMP music files, you can put your own copy of the cover art in the same directory as the tracks. Just call it folder.jpg and Windows Media Player will pick it up and display it.

19. Windows key + Break brings up the System Properties dialogue box; Windows key + D brings up the desktop; Windows key + Tab moves through the taskbar buttons.

20. The next release of Windows XP, codenamed Longhorn, is due out late next year or early 2003 and won't be much to write home about. The next big release is codenamed Blackcomb and will be out in 2003/2004.

Add Album Art to any Music Folder

Add Album Art to any Music Folder

One of the coolest new features in Windows XP is its album thumbnail generator, which automatically places the appropriate album cover art on the folder to which you are copying music (generally in WMA format). But what about those people that have already copied their CDs to the hard drive using MP3 format? You can download album cover art from sites such as cdnow.com or amguide.com, and then use the new Windows XP folder customize feature to display the proper image for each folder. But this takes time you have to manually edit the folder properties for every single folder and you will lose customizations if you have to reinstall the OS. There's an excellent fix, however.

When you download the album cover art from the Web, just save the images as folder.jpg each time and place them in the appropriate folder. Then, Windows XP will automatically use that image as the thumbnail for that folder and, best of all, will use that image in Windows Media Player for Windows XP (MPXP) if you choose to display album cover art instead of a visualization. And the folder customization is automatic, so it survives an OS reinstallation as well. Your music folders never looked so good!

Album cover art makes music folder thumbnails look better than ever!