1. There are two ways you can convert a volume to NTFS!

One method is to use the Computer Management console. Or, you can do so from the command prompt window using the convert command. For example, if you have a volume "d" on your computer and you want to convert it to NTFS, simply open the command prompt and type the following command:
 

Convert d: /fs:ntfs

After you press Enter, you'll be asked to confirm your actions by pressing Y. Now if your drive is currently in use (prime example: you are trying to convert your system volume), you can opt to have the conversion take place the next time the computer is restarted. Just to reiterate, this is a one time conversion which means there isn't any going back from NTFS to FAT32 unless you format the volume or find a third party utility that can perform this task.

As you may know, Windows XP provides several methods for automatically launching programs at startup. Of course, an obvious option is the Startup folder on the Start menu, and there's also the Run key in the registry.

If you're trying to track down exactly which programs XP launches at startup, you might think that you have to check several places. However, that's not the case. Windows XP provides two ways to view all the startup programs in one place.

The first place is the Startup tab of the System Configuration Utility. To access it, follow these steps:

1. Open the Run dialog box by pressing [Windows]R.
2. Enter msconfig in the Open text box, and click OK.
3. Select the Startup tab.

The second option is the Startup Programs section in the System Information utility. To access it, follow these steps:

1. Go to Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | System Information.
2. Expand the Software Environment branch.
3. Select the Startup Programs section.

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3. Export, Import or Back Up Your Cookies!

Cookies have a bad reputation among many online users, but cookies can be useful as well as intrusive. They can log you automatically onto Web sites, for example, and offer you customized views of information. So you might want to make sure that your cookies are backed up, and you might want to export them to another computer of yours - for example a laptop, or a new computer. Power surfers take note: if you're building a new computer, or you're particularly hard on notebooks, this is an essential task.

To back up cookies:

1. From Internet Explorer, Choose Import and Export from the File menu.

2. The Import/Export Wizard will launch. Choose "Export Cookies" and follow the directions.

3. A single text file containing all your cookies will be created in My Documents, although you can choose a different location for them.

4. To import the cookies on another computer, launch the Import/Export Wizard, choose Import Cookies and browse to the location or disk where the cookie file has been stored.

4. Turn Off Multimedia and Graphics on Web Pages!

If you want to browse the Internet fast, without being bogged down by animations, sounds, images or other multimedia content, you can turn them all off.

This is very helpful on a dial-up or fading 802.11b connection. To do it:

1. From Internet Explorer, choose Internet Options from the Tools menu.

2. Click on the Advanced tab.

3. Scroll down to the Multimedia section. It has a list of multimedia and graphics content, with checkboxes next to each.

4. Put a check next to each type of content you want displayed, and uncheck each type of content you don't want displayed.

You may be familiar with the Getmac command, one of Windows XP's handy command-line utilities. Getmac displays the physical or media access control (MAC) address assigned to a network interface adapter in a local or a remote computer. Knowing the MAC address can come in very handy in a number of troubleshooting operations.

If a system has more than one network interface adapter, the standard report generated by the Getmac command will list all MAC addresses, but it won't identify which network interface adapter has which MAC address assigned.

However, the Getmac command comes with an often overlooked parameter. The /v parameter configures the command to provide detailed information in its report. This detailed information includes the actual names of the network interface adapters.

To make the report even easier to read, use the /fo LIST parameter, which specifies that the Getmac command format its report in a list format.

Here's an example:

Getmac /V /FO List

XP Pro Only!

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Having some problems with Windows XP? You can run the System File Checker to verify protected system files. To run the System File Checker just Click on Start select Run and type in sfc and Hit the enter key Command line switches are:

sfc [/scannow] [/scanonce] [/scanboot] [/revert] [/purgecache] [/cachesize=x]

• /scannow - Scans all protected system files immediately.

• /scanonce - Scans all protected system files once.

• /scanboot - Scans all protected system files every time the computer is restarted.

• /revert - Returns the scan to its default operation.

• /purgecache - Purges the Windows File Protection file cache and scans all protected system files immediately.

• /cachesize=x - Sets the size, in MB, of the Windows File Protection file cache.

Track down services running under Svchost.exe with TaskList

When you're troubleshooting Windows XP problems, one of the tools you likely use is the Windows Task Manager. By design, Task Manager provides detailed information about the programs and processes that are running on a system.

When you first launch Task Manager (by pressing [Ctrl][Alt][Delete] and clicking the Task Manager button), it opens to the Applications tab, which shows you a list of all of the currently running applications. However, switching to the Processes tab shows that there are many more processes running than there are applications.

One of the processes that you'll find in this list is Svchost.exe. In fact, you'll likely see several Svchost.exe processes listed.

Svchost.exe is a generic host process name for services run from dynamic link libraries (DLLs). If you want to quickly uncover which services are running under each of the Svchost.exe processes, you can use a command-line utility called TaskList, along with one of its special parameters.

Follow these steps:

1. Open a command prompt.

2. Type tasklist /svc, and press [Enter].

3. If you want a printable list use this command. Type "tasklist /svc >tasklist.txt" (no quotes)

XP Pro Only!

When you're experiencing a problem with Windows XP, you may need to boot the system into Safe Mode more than once. However, doing so can be a tiresome process. When the Boot menu appears, you must press [F8], and then you must select Safe Mode from yet another menu.

Wouldn't it be nice if Safe Mode were available from the Boot menu? In fact, it's relatively easy to add a Safe Mode option to the Boot menu.

Follow these steps:

1. Press [Windows][Break] to open the System Properties dialog box.

2. On the Advanced tab, click the Settings button in the Startup And Recovery section.

3. In the System Startup section, click the Edit button.

4. When the Boot.ini file opens in Notepad, locate the line that ends with the /fastdetect switch.

5. Highlight and copy that line, and paste it in the line below.

6. Change the section on the line that reads WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" to WINDOWS="Safe Mode."

7. Add the following to the end of the line:

/safeboot:minimal /sos /bootlog

You can add other columns to the Details view of the files contained in Windows XP folders, such as Comments, Description, Category, and many others.

To add new columns:

1. Right-click the column header of the files list, and then click one of the fields listed, or click More.

2. 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 that folder.

When you click the new column header, the width of the selected column is displayed in pixels in the Choose Details dialog box.

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Do you want to quickly map a drive, but can't find the toolbar button? If you map drives often, use one of these options to add a Map Drive button to the folder toolbar. Option One (Long Term Fix)

1. Click Start, click My Computer, right-click the toolbar, then unlock the toolbars, if necessary.

2. Right-click the toolbar again, and then click Customize.

3. Under Available toolbar buttons, locate Map Drive, and drag it into the position you want on the right under Current toolbar buttons.

4. Click Close, click OK, and then click OK again. You now have drive mapping buttons on your toolbar, so you can map drives from any folder window. To unmap drives, follow the above procedure, selecting Disconnect under Available toolbar buttons.

To quickly map a drive, try this option.

Option Two (Quick Fix)

1. Click Start, and right-click My Computer.

2. Click Map Network Drive. If you place your My Computer icon directly on the desktop, you can make this move in only two clicks!

One monitor serves as the primary monitor, and this monitor displays the Logon dialog box when you start your computer. In addition, most programs will display windows on the primary monitor when you initially open them. You can select different screen resolutions and different color quality settings for each monitor. Multiple monitors can be connected to individual video adapters or to a single video adapter that supports multiple outputs.

To configure the arrangement of multiple monitors:

Click Start, and then click Control Panel.

Click Appearance and Themes, and then click Display. On the Settings tab, click Identify to display a large number on each of your monitors. This shows which monitor corresponds with each icon.

Click the monitor icons and drag them to positions that represent how you want to move items from one monitor to another, and then click OK or Apply to view changes.

NOTE: The icon positions determine how you move items from one monitor to another. For example, if you are using two monitors and you want to move items from one monitor to the other by dragging left and right, place the icons side by side. To move items between monitors by dragging up and down, place the icons one above the other. The icon positions do not have to correspond to the physical positions of the monitors. You can place the icons one above the other even though your monitors are side by side.

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It gives you a quick way of monitoring the CPU usage on your computer. Normally you would have to open Task Manager manually to see it. However, here is a trick you can use to place an icon for the CPU meter in your system tray every time you reboot regardless of which user is currently logged on to the computer.

1. Perform a search on your computer and locate TASKMAN.exe.

2. Right click the application, point to Send To, and click Desktop (create shortcut).

3. Right click the shortcut on your desktop. From the Shortcut tab, change the Run: option to Minimized.

4. Click OK.

5. Right click the shortcut and click Cut.

6. Right click the Start Menu and click Open All Users. Open the Programs \ Startup folder and paste the shortcut.

7. Right click the Taskbar and click Task Manager.

8. From the Options menu, place a check beside Minimize on use and Hide when minimized.

9. Minimize the Windows Task Manager dialog box.

10. An icon in your system tray will now appear for the CPU Meter. 

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Windows XP contains a directory known as Prefetch in which it stores files that are used to start Windows XP and applications faster. By prefetching, Windows XP can read ahead into the cache the data that is expected to be requested (remember its much faster to read data from the cache). So you can see overall how this prefetching can improve performance.

But - yes, there is a but - over time some of the files within the Prefetch directory are no longer used. The result is that it can noticeably slow down your computer's boot time. So what can you do? Simple. Open the run command and type in Prefetch. This takes you to the Windows\Prefetch directory. Once you are there, delete all the files within the folder (or at least those files that are more then two - three weeks old).

So of course I tried this on my system and only noticed a slight decrease in the amount of time it took my computer to boot. However, I was more than happy to delete the 120 files that were in the folder. A word of caution though, empty this directory too often can have negative results. Shoot for about once a month and you should be okay.

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As you probably know, you can use Windows XP's Disk Cleanup tool to free up hard disk space by getting rid of all sorts of unused and obsolete files. One of the places that Disk Cleanup checks is the Temp folder, which can be a big culprit when it comes to wasted disk space.

While Disk Cleanup can usually clean out the Temp folder for you, it can sometime get stuck there--especially if the Temp folder is full of files and folders. In other situations, Disk Cleanup inadvertently leaves unnecessary waste in the Temp folder.

Either case requires a manual cleanup. To quickly locate and clean out the Temp folder, follow these steps:

1. Shut down and restart Windows XP.

2. Open the Run dialog box by pressing [Windows]R.

3. Type %Temp% in the Open text box, and click OK.

Windows Explorer will immediately launch the Temp folder. Because you just restarted the system, you can safely delete any files and folders that you find there.

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