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Today's Tips 07/24/2006
You Say Nobody Can Ping Your Windows XP
Computer?
A common step in troubleshooting connectivity problems is to use the
Ping tool to ping the IP address of the computer to which you are trying
to connect. When you ping, you send an ICMP Echo message (also known as
an ICMP Echo Request message) and get an ICMP Echo Reply message in
response.
By default, Windows Firewall does not allow incoming ICMP Echo messages
and therefore the computer cannot send an ICMP Echo Reply in response.
To configure Windows Firewall locally to allow the incoming ICMP Echo
message, you must enable the Allow incoming echo request setting in the
ICMP dialog box, available from the ICMP settings on the Advanced tab of
the Windows Firewall component of Control
Panel.
You can also enable incoming ICMP Echo messages for a specific
connection from the ICMP tab of the Advanced Network Settings for a
selected connection, available from the Advanced tab of the
Windows Firewall component of Control Panel.
If your computer is part of a managed network, then you can also
configure ICMP exceptions as part of Windows Firewall Group Policy
settings.
Enabling incoming ICMP Echo messages will allow others to ping your
computer. However, it also leaves your computer vulnerable to the types
of attacks that use ICMP Echo messages. Therefore, it is recommended
that you enable the Allow incoming echo request setting temporarily, and
then disable it when it is no longer needed.
Gary Chambers
Using System Restore From The Command Prompt!
In some cases, a reinstallation can be avoided by using system restore.
If you are unable to get system restore to work from within safe mode,
you can try to access it from within a command prompt. You do not need
to leave safe mode to do this, just follow these instructions closely:
1. Reboot into safe mode with a command prompt.
2. Get to an administrator account so that you have the needed
permissions to get things done.
3. At the command prompt, type: %systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe
4. Follow the instructions to restore your PC to an earlier state of
operation.
Gary Chambers
Disable The Prefetcher Component When
Troubleshooting Startup Problems In XP!
As you may know, Windows XP has a memory management component called the
Prefetcher. By design, this component shortens the amount of time that
it takes Windows and the most often used applications to start up.
In order to accomplish this feat, the Prefetcher goes to work during the
startup routine. However, this component can get in the way when you're
troubleshooting startup problems.
If this happens, you may want to disable the Prefetcher. Follow these
steps:
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When you've finished troubleshooting the startup problem, be sure to go
back to the Registry Editor, and change the value of EnablePrefetcher
back to 3.
Note: Editing the registry is risky, so be sure
you have a verified backup before saving any changes.
Gary Chambers
Net Watcher For Windows 98!
If you have configured your Windows 98 PC to allow other network users
to share folders, there may be times when you want to know who else is
accessing your system. For example, you may be running a report on your
PC that’s taking longer than usual to complete, or you might notice that
your hard drive is extremely busy when you're doing nothing more than
watching your PC run slowly.
If Net Watcher is installed, you can open it from the System Tools
folder of the Start | Programs | Accessories menu (or type netwatch at
the command prompt) to reveal exactly who is accessing which files
within your shared folders. You even have the ability to disconnect
users, although common sense (and courtesy) would encourage you to
contact them first, so that none of their work is unnecessarily lost. If
Net Watcher isn’t installed, you can add it from the Windows Setup tab
of the Add/Remove Programs applet in Control Panel.
Gary Chambers
Watch the newsletters this week for more on System Repair And
Restore Issues! |
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