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Today's Tips 07/28/2006
Quickly Lock Your Computer In Windows XP!
In Windows NT 4 or 2000, pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del followed by Enter will
lock the computer to keep other people from accessing your system.
Strangely, Windows XP does not use the same keystrokes.
Fortunately, you don't have to wait around for the password-protected
screen saver to kick in; you can simply press the key combination
Windows-L. In case your system lacks a Windows key (as many laptops do),
there's another solution. Right-click on the desktop and choose New |
Shortcut from the pop-up menu. When prompted to type the location of the
item, instead enter this command line: %windir%\System32\rundll32.exe
user32.dll,LockWorkStation. Launch this shortcut to lock the computer.
Note that when Fast User Switching is enabled, the shortcut will simply
return you to the welcome screen, leaving you logged on.
Gary Chambers
Renaming A Drive Letter In Windows XP!
Windows XP contains administrative tools, such as the Disk Management
snap-in, that allow you to perform certain tasks that you couldn't
perform in Windows 9x. For example, you can use the Disk Management
snap-in to change drive letters.
Follow these steps to change the drive letter in XP:
1. Log on to the computer with administrator rights.
2. Select Performance And Maintenance within Control Panel.
3. Open the Computer Management console from the Administrative Tools
folder.
4. Select Disk Management under the Storage tree.
5. Right-click on the partition or device for which you want to change
the drive letter.
6. Choose Change Drive Letter And Paths.
7. Select the current drive letter and click Change.
8. Choose Assign The Following Drive Letter, select the drive letter
replacement, and click OK.
Gary Chambers
Altering The Windows XP Registration
Information!
When you install Windows XP, the installation procedure prompts you to
enter your user name and a company name. Then, this information displays
on the General tab of the System Properties dialog box under the
Registered To heading.
Unfortunately, Windows XP doesn't provide you with a tool for changing
this registration information. However, you can alter the registration
information by editing the registry. Follow these seven steps to alter
the information:
1. Launch the Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
I don't publish the actual hacks in my
newsletters! You can get this one at my
Customer Support Site!
This is a Free Site that I am combining several sites to. All that
you have to do is register if you haven't already!
7. Close the Registry Editor and restart Windows XP in order for the
changes to take effect.
Note:
Editing the registry is risky, so be sure you have a verified backup
before saving any changes.
Gary Chambers
Back Up The Windows 98 Registry With ScanReg!
Before making any registry changes to your Win9x PCs, you should always
back up the registry. Most administrators know how to export a registry
branch, or even the whole registry, using the Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
However, Windows 98 also includes the ScanReg program, which comes in
two flavors--the Windows Scanregw.exe and the DOS Scanreg.exe.
By default, ScanReg runs every time you start the system and backs up
the registry once a day into a .cab file in the c:\windows\sybckup
directory. If you can start your system in MS-DOS mode, you can run
ScanReg with the /restore switch to restore your entire registry.
That's useful to know, but you can also start Scanregw.exe manually at
any time before a system change. It may tell you that the backup has
already taken place that day, but it also gives you the option to back
up again, providing a quick and easy complete registry backup.
Gary Chambers
Watch the newsletters this week for more on System Repair And
Restore Issues! |
