Renaming Desktop Icons

Click Start, Run and enter REGEDIT. Navigate to the following Registry brach:


HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID
The Desktop Icons are located in the sub keys as follows:
My Network Places: {208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}
My Computer: {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
My Documents: {450D8FBA-AD25-11D0-98A8-0800361B1103}
Recycle Bin:{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
Default IE Icon: {871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}

Double click the Default value in the above keys and enter the text you desire. Right click on the Desktop and select Refresh to see the changes.
To undo the changes, just right click on the Default value and select Delete. Refresh the Desktop to see that things are back to normal.

The differences between Windows 95 and Windows NT

Lack of Unicode implementation for most of the functions of Win95. Different extended error codes. Different number window and menu handles. Windows 95 implements some window management features in 16 bits. Windows 95 uses 16-bit world coordinate system and the coordinates restricted to 32K. Deletion of drawing objects is different. Windows 95 does not implement print monitor DLLs of Windows NT. Differences in registry. Windows 95 does not support multiprocessor computers. NT implementation of scheduler is quite different. Different driver models. Win95 was built with back-compatibility in mind and ill-behaving 16-bit process may easily corrupt the system. Win95 starts from real DOS, while WinNT uses DOS emulation when one needs a DOS. Win95’s FAT is built over 16-bit win3.1 FAT (not FAT32!, actually, Win95’s FAT contains two FATs).

What is a deadlock

A deadlock, very simply, is a condition in which two or more threads wait for each other to release a shared resource before resuming their execution. Because all threads participating in a deadlock are suspended and cannot, therefore, release the resources they own, no thread can continue, and the entire application (or, worse, more than one application if the resources are shared between threads in multiple applications) appears to hang.

What are the advantages of using DLL’s

DLLs are run-time modular. DLL is loaded when the program needs it. Used as a code sharing between executables.

What are the accessibility features in Windows 2000

StickyKeys,
FilterKeys Narrator,
Magnifier,
On-Screen Keyboard.

Causes of memory problems

Depression :
is the most common cause of memory problems. With depression, many of the mental processes are slowed, and memory is particularly affected. Unfortunately, worry about memory loss can worsen the depression, producing a vicious circle.

Stress :
is another common cause of memory problems. Almost any worry or stressful life event can affect our ability to store and recall memories. When the problem is resolved, or time has healed the pain, memory becomes as efficient as it was before.

Chkdsk at the command prompt

1.Click Start, and then Run.
2.In Open, type cmd, and then press ENTER.
3.Use one of the following procedures:

To run Chkdsk in read-only mode, at the command prompt, type chkdsk, and then press ENTER.
To repair errors without scanning the volume for bad sectors, at the command prompt, type chkdskvolume:/f,and then press ENTER.

Note
If one or more of the files on the hard disk are open, you will receive the following message:
Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N)Type Y, and then press ENTER to schedule the disk check, and then restart your computer to start the disk check.
To repair errors, locate bad sectors, and recover readable information, at the command prompt, type chkdsk volume:/r, and then press ENTER. Note If one or more of the files on the hard disk are open, you will receive the following message:
Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N)Type Y, and then press ENTER to schedule the disk check, and then restart your computer to start the disk check.

How to perform disk error checking in Windows XP

Chkdsk (Chkdsk.exe) is a command-line tool that checks volumes for problems. The tool then tries to repair any that it finds. For example, Chkdsk can repair problems related to bad sectors, lost clusters, cross-linked files, and directory errors. To use Chkdsk, you must log on as an administrator or as a member of the Administrators group.

You can also run Chkdsk from My Computer or from Windows Explorer.

Manual steps to run Chkdsk

Notes :
1.Chkdsk requires exclusive access to a volume when it runs. Therefore, if one or more of the
files are open on the disk that you want to check, Chkdsk displays a prompt asking if you want
schedule the disk check for the next time that you restart your computer.
2.Chkdsk might take a long time to run, depending on the number of files and folders, the size of
the volume, disk performance, and available system resources, such as processor and
memory.
3.Chkdsk might not accurately report information in read-only mode.

How Do I Install Net Meeting

Wondering how to install Netmeeting on Windows XP? Well you don't have to install it! Why? It is already pre-installed with Windows XP, but (by design they say) it isn't linked to anywhere on your programs menu.

Here is how to load it:

1: Click START then RUN

2: Enter "conf" without the quotes

How Do I Install Net Meeting

Wondering how to install Netmeeting on Windows XP? Well you don't have to install it! Why? It is already pre-installed with Windows XP, but (by design they say) it isn't linked to anywhere on your programs menu.
Here is how to load it:
1: Click START then RUN
2: Enter "conf" without the quotes

Reduce Temporary Internet F ile Space

The temporary internet files clutter your hard drive with copies of each page visited. These can build up over time and take up disk space. Even more bothersome is that instead of getting new pages each time IE often takes the page out the temp internet files. This can be a problem if you are viewing a website that is updated all the time. If you are on a slow connection such as a 56K or lower then this can be good but if you are on a fast broadband connection, like me, then you can get away with decreasing the size of your temp internet files to just one meg without any performance decrease.

Launch Internet Explorer.Select the Tools from the menu bar.Then select Internet Options... from the drop down menu.Once the internet options has loaded click on the general tab.Under the temporary internet files section click the settings button.A settings window will load. Slide the slider all the way to the left so the size indicated in the text box on the right is one.Click OKClick Ok

How to Convert a FAT Partition to NTFS

To convert a FAT partition to NTFS, perform the following steps.
Click Start, click Programs, and then click Command Prompt.
In Windows XP, click Start, and then click Run.
At the command prompt, type CONVERT [driveletter]: /FS:NTFS.Convert.exe will attempt to convert the partition to NTFS.

NOTE:

Although the chance of corruption or data loss during the conversion from FAT to NTFS is minimal, it is best to perform a full backup of the data on the drive that it is to be converted prior to executing the convert command. It is also recommended to verify the integrity of the backup before proceeding, as well as to run RDISK and update the emergency repair disk (ERD).

Make your Folders Private

•Open My Computer
•Double-click the drive where Windows is installed (usually drive (C:), unless you have more
than one drive on your computer).
•If the contents of the drive are hidden, under System Tasks, click Show the contents of this
drive.
•Double-click the Documents and Settings folder.
•Double-click your user folder.
•Right-click any folder in your user profile, and then click Properties.
•On the Sharing tab, select the Make this folder private so that only I have access to it check
box.

Note :
•To open My Computer, click Start, and then click My Computer.
•This option is only available for folders included in your user profile. Folders in your user profile
include My Documents and its subfolders, Desktop, Start Menu, Cookies, and Favorites. If you
do not make these folders private, they are available to everyone who uses your computer. •When you make a folder private, all of its subfolders are private as well. For example, when you
make My Documents private, you also make My Music and My Pictures private. When you
share a folder, you also share all of its subfolders unless you make them private.
•You cannot make your folders private if your drive is not formatted as NTFS For information
about converting your drive to NTFS

The Advantages of NTFS

The NTFS file system, introduced with first version of Windows NT, is a completely different file system from FAT. It provides for greatly increased security, file–by–file compression, quotas, and even encryption. It is the default file system for new installations of Windows XP, and if you're doing an upgrade from a previous version of Windows, you'll be asked if you want to convert your existing file systems to NTFS. Don't worry. If you've already upgraded to Windows XP and didn't do the conversion then, it's not a problem. You can convert FAT16 or FAT32 volumes to NTFS at any point. Just remember that you can't easily go back to FAT or FAT32 (without reformatting the drive or partition), not that I think you'll want to.

The NTFS file system is generally not compatible with other operating systems installed on the same computer, nor is it available when you've booted a computer from a floppy disk. For this reason, many system administrators, myself included, used to recommend that users format at least a small partition at the beginning of their main hard disk as FAT. This partition provided a place to store emergency recovery tools or special drivers needed for reinstallation, and was a mechanism for digging yourself out of the hole you'd just dug into. But with the enhanced recovery abilities built into Windows XP (more on that in a future column), I don't think it's necessary or desirable to create that initial FAT partition.

When to Use FAT or FAT32

If you're running more than one operating system on a single computer , you will definitely need to format some of your volumes as FAT. Any programs or data that need to be accessed by more than one operating system on that computer should be stored on a FAT16 or possibly FAT32 volume. But keep in mind that you have no security for data on a FAT16 or FAT32 volume—any one with access to the computer can read, change, or even delete any file that is stored on a FAT16 or FAT32 partition. In many cases, this is even possible over a network. So do not store sensitive files on drives or partitions formatted with FAT file systems

FAT32

The FAT32 file system, originally introduced in Windows 95 Service Pack 2, is really just an extension of the original FAT16 file system that provides for a much larger number of clusters per partition. As such, it greatly improves the overall disk utilization when compared to a FAT16 file system. However, FAT32 shares all of the other limitations of FAT16, and adds an important additional limitation—many operating systems that can recognize FAT16 will not work with FAT32—most notably Windows NT, but also Linux and UNIX as well. Now this isn't a problem if you're running FAT32 on a Windows XP computer and sharing your drive out to other computers on your network—they don't need to know (and generally don't really care) what your underlying file system is.

FAT16

The FAT16 file system was introduced way back with MS–DOS in 1981, and it's showing its age. It was designed originally to handle files on a floppy drive, and has had minor modifications over the years so it can handle hard disks, and even file names longer than the original limitation of 8.3 characters, but it's still the lowest common denominator. The biggest advantage of FAT16 is that it is compatible across a wide variety of operating systems, including Windows 95/98/Me, OS/2, Linux, and some versions of UNIX. The biggest problem of FAT16 is that it has a fixed maximum number of clusters per partition, so as hard disks get bigger and bigger, the size of each cluster has to get larger. In a 2–GB partition, each cluster is 32 kilobytes, meaning that even the smallest file on the partition will take up 32 KB of space. FAT16 also doesn't support compression, encryption, or advanced security using access control lists.

How to Upgrade Windows 98 or Windows Millennium Edition Profiles to Windows XP Domain User Profiles

This guide describes how to upgrade a Microsoft Microsoft Windows 98-based, or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition-based client that has user profiles to a Microsoft Windows XP-based client.

The following steps enable the Windows 98 and Windows Millennium Edition (Me) profiles to be retained throughout the process.

Your best method to retain the profiles is to join the domain during the upgrade installation process.
Otherwise, you must use a workaround method to transfer the profile information over to the Windows XP profile.

During the upgrade installation process, at the networking section, the administrator is offered the choice to join a domain or a workgroup.
If you join the domain at this juncture, you ensure that all the existing profiles are migrated successfully to the Windows XP-based installation.

If you did not join the computer to the domain during the upgrade process, you must use the following workaround method:

Join the upgraded computer to the target domain.

All applicable users must log on and log off (which generates a profile).

Copy the appropriate Application Data folder from the Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me profiles to the newly created user profiles.

Restricting Logon Access

If you work in a multiuser computing environment, and you have full (administrator level) access to your computer, you might want to restrict unauthorized access to your "sensitive" files under Windows 95/98.
One way is to disable the Cancel button in the Logon dialog box.
Just run Regedit and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Network/Logon

Create the "Logon" subkey if it is not present on your machine: highlight the Network key -> right-click in the left hand Regedit pane -> select New -> Key -> name it "Logon" (no quotes) -> press Enter. Then add/modify a DWORD value and call it "MustBeValidated" (don't type the quotes). Double-click it, check the Decimal box and type 1 for value.
Now click the Start button -> Shut Down (Log off UserName) -> Log on as a different user, and you'll notice that the Logon Cancel button has been disabled.

Why are there two different versions of Windows XP?

That's a question that seems to stir a bit of debate. Microsoft released Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional, targeted as you might suspect from their Home and Professional designations, toward home users and business users. Both versions are based on the same kernel (operating system guts) that is a variation of the one found in Windows 2000. A lot of press has been generated to the effect that Home has a few more lines of code that disable some of the Professional features so it can be sold for less money. Whether that's true or not, I don't know, but the official line is that Home is targeted toward home users who concentrate on e-mail, music and photo editing, and internet browsing. Professional is designed to allow a secure network business environment