Tips Download   |   Donations   |   Customer Support   |   Registry Tips   |   Weekend Windup |   IE 6.0   |   IE 7.0  |   Help   |   Suggestions

 Windows XP Run Commands | Computer Questions. |  Microsoft Access Databases | Computer Terms | New Home Material Estimating Spread Sheets!

  Windows XP Remote Desktop Setup One! | 57 Vista Run Commands | Windows XP Remote Desktop Setup Two!

Some Times Shutdown.exe command shuts down Windows but doesn't power down the system on some older computers. Instead, it displays the message, "It is now safe to turn off your computer."

If this happens to you, use the command-line utility Tsshutdn.exe, which was originally designed for shutting down Windows 2000 systems running Terminal Server. Tsshutdn.exe is included in Windows XP and can be run via the Scheduled Tasks tool to configure your system to shut itself down at a specified time.

Here's how:

1. Open Control Panel and double-click Scheduled Tasks.
2. Select Add Scheduled Task to launch the Scheduled Task Wizard.
3. Click Next.
4. Choose the Browse button to access the Windows\System32 folder.
5. Select Tsshutdn.exe and click Open.
6. Follow the wizard through the next two screens to give the task a name and choose a schedule.
7. Enter the name and password of your user account and click Next.
8. Select the Open Advanced Properties For This Task When I Click Finish check box, and then click Finish.
9. In the Task tab of Advanced Properties, add the following parameters to the end of the command line in the Run text box:
0 /delay:0 /powerdown
10. Be sure to include a space between the last character in the command name and the first character in the parameter list, such as C:\Windows\System32\Tsshutdn.exe 0 /delay:0 /powerdown. In this case, the 0 parameter indicates a zero second wait time after user notification and before all user sessions are terminated. The /delay:0 parameter indicates a zero second delay before logging off all connected sessions, and the /powerdown parameter tells the system that it should prepare to power off.
11. Click OK.
12. Enter the name and password of your user account and click OK.

When the Tsshutdn utility runs, the command prompt window appears on the screen for a few seconds before the system powers down.

To investigate Windows XP system hardware or software settings, check out the System Information tool that's located on the Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools menu.

System Information displays information about the configuration of your system by using a tree view, similar to Windows Explorer. This makes it easy to drill down and find the information you're looking for, but sometimes it's difficult to sort through all the details that System Information crams into each screen.

For an easier way to read System Information, visit Windows XP Help And Support Center. You'll find a hidden version of System Information with a very nice display of a system's hardware and software settings.

Here's how to access the hidden version of System Information:

1. From the Start menu, select Help And Support.
2. Under Pick A Task, select Use Tools To View Your Computer Information And Diagnose Problems.
3. Click My Computer Information from the Tools column.
4. Select any of the links to view a graphical report of your system.

The Windows XP Help And Support Center is basically an HTML document, so you can use the Back button to return to the My Computer Information page after viewing each graphical report.

You can add other columns, such as Comments, Description, Category, and many
others to the Details view of the files contained in Windows XP folders. Doing
so provides you with customized information about each of the files on your hard
drive.

To add new columns, open Windows Explorer, open the folder of your choice, and
then right-click on the column header of the files list. Next, select one of the
alternate fields listed (these will change depending on the folder you've
selected), or select More. In the Choose Details dialog box, you can reorganize
the order of column headers, specify column widths, and add columns to display
details for the files in the folder you've chosen.

Windows XP's Task Manager is a very useful troubleshooting tool because it provides you with a summary of several performance metrics and detailed information about all the applications and processes currently running on your computer. In addition, it allows you to terminate hung applications.

The most common method of accessing the Task Manager is by pressing [Ctrl][Alt][Delete], which brings up the Windows Security dialog box, and then clicking the Task Manager option. If you use XP in a stand-alone or workgroup configuration and log onto the system with the Welcome screen, this keyboard combination will immediately bring up the Task Manager.

Here are some other methods you can use in XP to quickly access the Task Manager:

Method one:

Press [Ctrl][Shift][Esc].

Method two:

1. Right-click the taskbar.
2. Select the Task Manager command.

Method three:

1. Right-click the desktop.
2. Select New | Shortcut.
3. Type Taskmgr.exe in the text box.
4. Choose Next, and then select Finish.
5. Double-click the new icon.

If you have Windows XP installed on a laptop, you can configure the settings to place the system in a power-saving mode when you close the lid.

Here's how:

1. In Control Panel, click Power Options.
2. Select the Advanced tab.
3. Locate the Power Buttons panel.
4. From the When I Close The Lid On My Portable Computer section, choose a power-saving mode.

There are two power-saving modes in XP: Stand By and Hibernate. The Stand By option puts your system into a low power state, while Hibernate saves your existing system state to a file on the hard disk and then shuts down the system.

The power-saving mode you choose will depend on your main power source. Laptops that are usually plugged into an electrical socket should use Stand By. However, if you normally run your laptop on battery power, choose Hibernate.

Windows Media Player for Windows XP gives you control over the reproduction
quality of the CDs you record and burn. By reducing the quality, each track on
your CD takes up less space, which allows you to record more tracks on the CD.

All you need to do is open Media Player, and choose Tools | Options. Select the
Copy Music tab, and then in the Copy Music At This Quality panel, move the
slider to where you'd like it, either to the left to create more space on each
CD, or to the right for the best stereo quality. Then, click Apply and OK.

As you may know, when you create a filename for a document in Windows XP, you can use up to 255 characters. In addition, you can give your files longer extension names.

While three-character file extensions are a long-standing convention, you aren't bound to this restriction in XP. Longer extensions come in handy when you need to categorize your data files for organizational purposes.

If you decide to incorporate long file extension names, using four, five, or even six characters is ideal. A 20-character file extension, on the other hand, might be more trouble than it's worth.

When you rename a file extension, XP displays a warning message and prompts you to confirm the change. You'll also need to reassociate the file with the application that you used to create it. Here's how:

1. Right-click the file and select Open With.
2. Choose an application from the Programs list or use the Browse button.
3. Select Always Use The Selected Program To Open This Kind Of File, and then click OK.

In Windows XP, you can quickly access the Run dialog box by pressing the [Windows]R keyboard combination. Once the Run dialog box is open, it's possible to launch any number of applications by simply typing the name of the executable file.

In addition, you can navigate to specific locations on your hard disk by using special Run command shortcuts. For example, if you access the Run dialog box and type a backward slash [\] in the Open text box, when you press [Enter], Windows Explorer will launch and display the contents of the root directory.

Here are a few more hard disk navigation shortcuts that you can access through the Run command:

Type three consecutive periods to display the My Computer folder.
Type two consecutive periods to display the Documents And Settings folder.
Type one period to display the Documents And Settings folder for the current user.

While using the taskbar is the most obvious way of switching among active applications, you can also use the original Windows task-switching mechanism--the [Alt][Tab] keyboard combination.

Simply hold down the [Alt] key and press [Tab]. Windows XP will display a selector box that shows an icon for each application that's currently running. A square outline around an icon indicates that the corresponding application will become active when you release the [Alt] key. Below the icons is a text box that displays the text from the title bar of the selected application.

To switch to the next application in the sequence, press the [Tab] key while continuing to hold down [Alt]. You can reverse the sequence by holding down [Alt][Shift] as you press [Tab].

Using [Alt][Tab] has advantages over the taskbar in several common situations. For example, the taskbar can run out of room and won't display each application's title when there are multiple applications open at the same time. The keyboard combination also comes in handy when you've configured the taskbar with the Auto-Hide setting.

Windows XP is designed to make it easy to set up and manage multiple user accounts on the same computer. One of its features is to place the account name for the person who's currently logged on to the system at the top of the Start menu.

If you're the only person using a particular computer, you don't need to have your name at the top of the Start menu. To remove it, use the Group Policy console--the Microsoft Management Console snap-in that's used to edit Group Policy objects. Here's how:

1. Launch the Group Policy console by typing Gpedit.msc in the Run dialog box.
2. Go to User Configuration | Administrative Templates | Start Menu And Taskbar.
3. Double-click Remove User Name From Start Menu.
4. Select Enabled and click OK.
5. Exit the Group Policy console.

This change will take place immediately.

When you install XP, you must enter a product key to register the
software with Microsoft. However, if you want to use a different key
to activate the software after installation (e.g., maybe you
originally used an existing key during installation and have since
purchased a new license), perform the following steps:

1. Start the activation process as usual (go to Start, All
Programs, Accessories, System Tools, then select Activate Windows).
2. Click "Yes, I want to telephone a customer service
representative to active Windows", then click Next.
3. Click the "Change Product Key" button.
4. Enter the new key, then click Update.
5. Click Telephone, then continue with the activation.

If you upgraded to XP from an earlier Windows version, the OS can
sometimes get confused and think you have a password. To resolve the
problem, you can create a password, then remove it by performing the
following steps:
1. Open the Control Panel User Accounts applet.
2. Select your account, then click "Create a password".
3. Enter your password in both boxes, then click Create Password.
4. Click "Remove my password", type your password when prompted,
then click Remove Password.

By default, the print spooler runs at the same priority as other
services. However, if you have a system that you use primarily for
printing, you can increase the print spooler's priority by performing
the following steps:
1. Start a registry editor (e.g., regedit.exe).
2. Navigate to the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print registry subkey.
3. From the Edit menu, select New, DWORD Value.
4. Enter the name SpoolerPriority, then press Enter.
5. Double-click the new value, then set it to 1 (0 is the default
value).
6. Click OK.
7. Reboot the machine for the change to take effect.

Microsoft redesigned much of the Windows interface in their latest release, but if you're not a fan of the new two-column Start menu, you can easily revert to the classic one-column version.

Simply right-click on the taskbar and choose Properties. Select the Start Menu tab and then select the Classic Start Menu option button. If you click on the Customize button you can choose exactly which options you'd like to display on the one-column Start menu.

The Details view in Windows Explorer displays column headers in the file list. One of the column headers, Type, contains a description of the file type. For example, the Type column for a Notepad file lists the file type as a Text Document.

Most of the file type descriptions are complete and fairly self-explanatory, but some file type descriptions are too long to fit in the average column, such as Paint Shop Pro 7 Image. However, you can change the file type descriptions to anything you want. Here's how:

1. Launch Windows Explorer.
2. From the Tools menu, select Folder Options.
3. Select the File Types tab.
4. Choose the file type whose description you want to change.
5. Click Advanced.
6. Type the new description in the text box.
7. Click OK twice.

When you hover over an object in Windows Explorer, Windows XP underlines it and changes its color. If you select an object, XP highlights it with the same color. This is called the Hot Tracking Color, and it's designed to help you keep track of the objects you're working with.

If the default color is too subtle, you can change the shade of the Hot Tracking Color by tweaking a registry setting. Here's how:

1. Launch the Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Colors.
3. Double-click the HotTrackingColor string value.
4. Type a new red green blue (RGB) code in the Value Data text box.

An RGB code is a standard that computers use to display different colors. The value of each number in the code varies from 0 to 255, and the code specifies how much red, green, and blue is used to create the color. To set the Hot Tracking Color to red, specify an RGB code of 255 0 0. For dark orange, change the RGB code to 255 140 0.

You can find numerous RGB codes by using Paint's Edit Colors tool. Follow these steps:

1. From the Start menu, open Paint.
2. From the Colors menu, select Edit Colors.
3. Click the Define Custom Colors button.
4. Select a box in the palette, and take note of the values in the Red, Green, and Blue boxes.

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

Have you ever been frustrated by system freezes that occur when a particular program stops responding? If so, you can end the wait and get back to working faster simply by having Windows XP end the programs automatically after a certain amount of time has passed.

All you need to do is open the Registry Editor by clicking the Start button, choosing Run, and typing Regedit in the Open text box. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop and double-click on the AutoEndTasks value. Change the Value Data to 1, and then click OK. Next, open the WaitToKillAppTimeout value and change the Value Data to the number of milliseconds you want XP to wait before terminating the unresponsive application. Then click OK.

Have you ever encountered a situation where you're unsure of users' NTFS permissions throughout a folder hierarchy? If so, you know just how hard this scenario can be to troubleshoot--especially if different permissions have been configured on each folder throughout the hierarchy. If you know that you want to reset all the permissions in a folder hierarchy (meaning the folder's files, subfolders, and their files), there's an easy way to do so. Begin by opening Windows Explorer and displaying the properties of the topmost folder in the hierarchy for which you want to reset the permissions. Next, verify that the permissions configured on this folder are the way that you want them (because you're going to reset all objects within the folder's permissions to that of the top-level folder).

When you're ready to reset the permissions, in the folder's Properties dialog box, select the Security tab. Click Advanced. Select Reset Permissions On All Child Objects And Enable Propagation Of Inheritable Permissions. Selecting this option will configure all files and subfolders to inherit their NTFS permissions from the top-level folder.

Have a slow, wavy scroll, and sometimes windows become distorted when you drag them around.Noticed a question mark next to the video controller item in the Device Manager, and the video card properties show the status as Null (not supported). What's wrong, and how do I fix it?

The problem is probably caused either by failing hardware or by a wrong/corrupt driver. Since the only fix for a bad card is to replace it, the best first step is to try to fix the software.

First, uninstall the old driver. Right-click on the Windows Desktop and choose Properties. Choose the Settings tab and click on the Advanced button. Choose the Adapter tab, click on the Properties button, and then click on the Uninstall button. Now restart the computer and let Windows identify the card and try to find the appropriate driver.

If the problem persists or if Windows fails to find a driver, try updating the driver. Go to the adapter manufacturer's Web site and download the latest driver for your card. Follow the instructions for installing the new driver. If there are no instructions, follow the procedure described above, but this time select the Update Driver button. This will start the Windows Update Device Driver wizard. Have Windows look for the new driver where you downloaded it. Reboot your machine when the wizard finishes.

If that doesn't work, you should probably buy a replacement display adapter. Video cards aren't very expensive, and even if the existing card is okay, the investment is worth the time and effort you'd probably spend trying to resolve the problem.

If you spend a lot of time working from the command prompt, you know that the directory list layout displayed by the Dir command is sorted alphabetically.

However, sorting filenames and folder names together can make it difficult to track down a particular file or folder. This is especially true when you're looking at a directory listing that contains a lot of files and folders, such as the Windows directory.

You can reconfigure the Dir command's directory listing layout to separate the folders from the files, yet still list them alphabetically, by using the command-line parameter /o. To make this layout the default for the Dir command, use the Dircmd environment variable.

Follow these steps:

1. Right-click My Computer and select Properties.
2. On the Advanced tab, select Environment Variables.
3. In the System Variables panel, select New.
4. Enter dircmd in the Variable Name text box.
5. Enter /o in the Variable Value text box.
6. Click OK three times.

Main Site Navigation:

Have an IE 6, IE 7, Outlook Express, Windows XP or Vista Question?  Click Here and post it.

Have a Windows 7 Question?  Click Here and post it.

 Site Navigation:
Donations   |   Support   |   Registry Tips   |   Weekend Windup   |   PC Questions |   IE 6.0   |   IE 7.0   |   Outlook Express 6.0   |   PC Help
Virus Info   |   Computer Drivers   |   Hardware Info.   |   Your Suggestions |   IE 7.0 Install  |   Database Downloads   |   Home  |  Computer Terms  

|   57 Vista Run Commands   |   Windows XP Run Commands  |   Microsoft Access Databases  |

Windows XP Remote Desktop Setup One! |New Home Material Estimating Spread Sheets!|  Windows XP Remote Desktop Setup Two!

All products mentioned are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective companies.
Questions or problems regarding this web site should be directed to the Webmaster.
Copyright © 1999-2010  Internet Fixes. All rights reserved.       Legal Disclaimer

This Site Is Part Of The Internet Fixes Network!