PCPowerGuide.com » Windows XP

Tweaks to Speed Up XP

donna — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 03:35:53 +0000

One of the most frustrating aspects of working on a computer is that sometimes they seem to run so slowly you could take a nap while the machine is processing something. OK… that is a bit of an exaggeration but it does seem like you are waiting forever.

Let’s look at how we can increase the speed of your PC without having to buy and new hardware or software to get better performance. Some of the tweaks will involve editing the registry while others will not. Make sure you backup your windows registry before you make any changes. This is just a precaution in case something goes wrong. It is also a good idea to create a new restore point as well… for safety.

Making Registry Based Changes

Backing up the registry

Perform the following steps:

Select Start ->Run
Type regedit in the dialogue box that opens
Once the registry editor opens, select File -> Export
Double click on the folder where you want to save the backup file
Click Save.
Now that we have made a backup of the registry we can do something about speeding up XP

Speed up the Menus

The default value for the system to respond to you clicking on the start menu is set pretty high. Reducing this value will speed up the response time. Navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\MenuShowDelay

Double click on MenuShowDelay and change the value to 0 or any other value you want. Reboot the system for the changes to take effect. You can experiment with different values to see what works best for you.

Optimize the Prefetch Feature for FasterLoading

Prefetch allows the system to load faster by reading system boot or application launch files into the cache. Using it will reduce the time the operating system takes to load. The files are listed in the c:\windows\prefetch folder. To speed this process up, perform the following tasks:

Go to the registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters\
Double-click on EnablePrefetcher in the right hand window and enter one of the following values
Enter 0 to disable prefetching
Enter 1 to prefetch application launch files
Enter 2 to prefetch boot files
Enter 3 to prefetch as many files as possible

Disable 8.3 Name Creation on NTFS partitions

Unless you are actually allowing someone using an operating system that needs the 8.3 naming convention, crating them uses more clock cycles to create your directory listings. To disable this normally unnecessary feature, perform the following steps:

Go to the to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem\
Double-click on NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation in the right pane
Change the value of this key to 1

Non- Registry Tweaks

The other important thing to do to speed up your PC is to perform routine maintenance such as:

Do regular anti-virus and spy ware scans
De-frag the hard drive
Run a good registry cleaner to keep the registry optimized.

XP Start Menu Not Working

donna — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 16:15:00 +0000

The windows start menu is one of the more convenient features of the windows operating system. The start menu is divided into three parts divide by separation lines as shown below.

The part on the left above the line are program that will always be shown on the menu unless you manually remove them as shown below from the list and are called ‘pinned’ items.

The programs below that line are added as you open new programs. If you want to add one of them permanently, put the cursor on the icon and hold down the left mouse button and drag the icon above the line.

The All Programs selection is located under the last separator. Putting your mouse over the ALL Programs option produces a list of all the programs that are available on the start menu.

Unfortunately, sometimes the start menu stops working.

What Causes the Start Menu To Stop Working?

There can be several causes for this problem, but the most common causes are:

Corrupt or missing operating system files
Damaged registry keys
Virus or spyware infection

How to Fix the Start Menu Not Working Problem

The repair depaends on the cause of the problem.

Corrupt or missing operating system files

Use the following steps to repair the problems:
Press Ctrl + Alt + Del or right click anywhere on the task bar to open the Task Manager.
Select File -> New task(run) as shown

type cmd in the dialogue box and then press Enter.
At the Command Prompt window, type the sfc /scannow and press Enter.
Insert the Windows XP installation disk in the CD/DVD drive if prompted.

The System File Checker will detect and try to fix or replace missing or corrupt operating system files.

Corrupted Registry Key

To fix a corrupted you need to use a good registry cleaner that has the ability to repair corrupted entries. In fact you should clean your registry as part of a regular maintenance program.

Virus or Spyware infection

Run and anti-virus and anti-spyware program to do a complete scan of your computer and eliminate all threats.

Summary

I would perform these repairs in the following order:

Do the anti-virus and spy-ware scan and if that doesn’t fix it
Repair the system files and if that doesn’t fix it
Clean the registry. Even if one of the first two steps eliminates the problem, you should still run a good registry cleaner to optimize your operating system performance.

What is a Physxloader.dll Error?

donna — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 03:09:36 +0000

The Physxloader is a module of the NVIDIA Ageia PhysX driver used by several model lines if NVIDIA graphics cards. These drivers bring real time video effects to a program, usually a game that allows everything to look more realistic. Windows 7 does not support the Physx drivers. The good thing is that they don’t get this error. The bad thing is that also don’t get the great graphics performance this technology brings to gaming and other video applications.

You may receive the following errors:

Physxloader.dll Not Found
“This application failed to start because physxloader.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem.
Cannot find physxloader.dll
The file physxloader.dll is missing
Cannot start a required component is missing: physxloader.dll. Please install [Game APPLICATION] again

Sometimes the errors pop up at startup and at others times during the heat of game play.

Fixing the Physxloader.dll Problem

Most problems are caused by the driver files getting corrupted. The easiest way to repair the error is to uninstall the drivers, reboot the machine and then reinstall the drivers.

Perform the following steps:

Click Start -> Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs
Scroll to the NVIDIA PhysX driver software
Select Uninstall
Restart the computer

You should also remove the files from the startup configuration by performing the following steps

Click Start -> Run
Type msconfig and Press Enter
In the System Configuration Utility that opens, locate NVIDIA related software under the Startup tab
Clear the check box next to NVIDIA files
Click OK to restart your system

Conclusion

Since most applications tend to leave various fragments of themself behind even after they are uninstalled, you should now run a good registry cleaner to remove these items. When that has been completed, you can reinstall the latest versions of the drivers and start enjoying your games again.

How to Create Hidden User Accounts in Windows

donna — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 03:57:42 +0000

By default windows automatically adds all user accounts that exist on a computer to the list displayed on the Welcome screen so the user can click on their ID and log on. Would you like to have an invisible user account to work on your computer?

One way to accomplish this is to create a hidden user account. Now this doesn’t mean that no one can’t see the account but it does mean that your user account ID will not be displayed on the Welcome Screen.

It is good for creating accounts that you don’t want other users of the computer to know exists. To prevent others from seeing the account profile you will need to use the NTFS permissions to remove their ability to read the directory as well.

However, this kind of account is normally used to keep another family member from knowing something exists. If they are extremely computer literate, it may not be possible to keep them from finding the account. This trick worked for me to keep my teenagers out of my banking information on our shared computer in the family room.

Hiding a User Account

To create a hidden user account in Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7, perform the following tasks:

Click on Start-> Control Panel -> User Accounts
Select Create a new account and then follow the prompts until it is created

Once the account exists or if you want to hide an existing account do the following:

Click Start -> and go the Run command and type regedit in the dialog box as shown below

Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList as shown below

If SpecialAccounts and UserList is not found, create the new sub-key and name them those names
Highlight UserList, then right click in the right hand pane of the registry editor.
Select New -> DWORD and name it the exact same name as the account you want hidden

Then double click on the key you just created, a box similar to the one below will appear

Keep the value at zero to hide the account or change it to 1 of you want it to be seen on the welcome screen.
Exit the registry

Restart the computer for the changes to take effect

How to Logon to a Hidden User Account

Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to bring up the windows login dialog box and then type in the user name and password.

Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7

donna — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 16:29:05 +0000

Since you did not choose to upgrade to windows vista, you cannot upgrade from windows XP to windows 7 directly. That means you have to do a clean install, which does not preserve you files, applications or user settings. It is possible to migrate those items after the new install.

Pre-installation Tasks

Before you do the install there are a few things you need to do to see if your computer is compatible with windows 7.

Task 1 – Windows 7 upgrade advisor

Open the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor webpage.
Download the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor to your hard drive
Double-click the installation file saved to your PC. You may have to download and install the .net 2.0 framework if you do not already have it installed before you can continue.

Agree to the license terms and then click Install.
When prompted, click Close

Task 2 - Windows Compatibility center – this will tell you if you need to update any of your drivers or applications so that they work in windows 7

Task 3 – Hard Drive – Backup your hard disk. I prefer something like ghost or drive image, however any backup program will work

Task 4 – Applications – Gather all your installation CDs, ISOs and other installation media that you originally used to install your applications. Windows 7 will put your data in a Windows.old file for you, but it won’t reinstall your apps. Don’t forget all the CD keys, etc. you need to do the installs.

Task 5 – Windows Easy Transfer Wizard – this lets you transfer your data and settings to an external hard drive. It is not a backup. You can password the data if you want. DO NOT use your computer while this is being done because you can corrupt your data.

You are now ready to do the install.

Installing Windows 7

Boot from the CD or click on the setup file to start the install
Accept the EULA
Choose Custom install
Select the partition you want to install windows 7 on
You will get a warning that your old operating system will be deleted and your old files will be saved in C;\Windows.old before the install starts
After a couple of reboots you will be able to set the time, password, etc.
After the final reboot, the computer will be running windows 7

Post Installation Tasks

Unless you are extremely lucky, some of your devices will not work and you will need to update the drivers. You can just see what isn’t working properly and you can download the correct drivers and install them. If it is you network adapter that isn’t working you will need to use a different computer to down the driver so you have internet connectivity to download anything else you need.

Installing Your Applications

Make sure your external drive is connected. Then click Start, choose computer, and under hard disk drives, choose the external drive where you stored your transfer data. Find the file you should have named “Windows Easy Transfer–Items from old computer” and double click on it.

Select the accounts you want to move and the wizard will do the rest automatically.

If everything works, you should be able to use all your applications. If some of them don’t work, see if there is a free upgrade designed for windows 7 or try reinstalling them with your original installation media.

Summary

A windows XP to windows 7 upgrade is slow and can be a pain but it will most likely be worth it. Also, there are a couple of commercial programs costing around $30 that will restore all of your data and programs without you having to do anything. If you are not technical, they are definitely worth the investment.

Don’t forget to re image you C:\drive after everything is working so you can restore it to an already state if it crashes later and cannot be repaired.

How to Fix Outlook Express Common Errors

donna — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 03:12:51 +0000

Most windows users either use Outlook or Outlook Express as their email client. If they own Microsoft Office, they use Outlook. If not, and they don’t want to have to use their online clients at home, they will use outlook express. One benefit is that if you have more than one email account, you can open most of them up in outlook express. Some online free email account hosts such as yahoo charge a small annual fee (currently $20) to allow you to download your email into an email client on your hard drive.

The most common errors that occur in Outlook Express are usually corrupted registry entries, program conflicts, and mailbox setup or mail server problems. These problems can range from mildly annoying to a complete inability to send or receive any email.

The following are some common error messages that may occur when using Outlook Express:

“A time-out occurred while communicating with the server 0x800ccc19”

“Task ‘server name – Sending and Receiving’ reported error (0x800ccc0f): ‘The connection to the server was interrupted. If this problem continues, contact the server administrator or Internet service provider (ISP). The server responded: ?”

“The operation timed out waiting for a response from the receiving (POP) server 0x8004210a”

“No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it.”

‘Outlook is unable to connect to your outgoing (SMTP) e-mail server. If you continue to receive this message, contact the server administrator or Internet service provider (ISP).”

“Your server has unexpectedly terminated the connection. Possible causes of this include server problems, network problems, or a long period of inactivity.

Causes of the Problems

Most of these errors are the result of problems with your internet connection or incorrect configuration settings in your outlook express account.

Fixing the Problems

Internet Connection Problems

Try the following steps to resolve the problem:

Open internet explorer and see if you can browse to several different websites

If you can, you are connected to the internet and that is not what is causing your problem. Skip to the Account Settings section

If you can browse, you must first establish and internet connection

Check that your computer is connected to your modem and that the modem is on. In fact, turn the modem off, unplug the modem and then plug it back in and turn it back on.

Check the settings of the firewall or router to ensure the SMTP (25) and POP3 (110) are open (if your ISP uses different ports, make sure the correct ones are listed. For example, my ISP uses port 587 for SMTP.)

See if you can browse the web. If yes, your modem needed to be reset. If not continue

Open Internet Explorer and then try to open a Web page. When an error message similar to “Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage” displays, click on the Diagnose Connection Problems link. The Network Diagnostics dialog box will open. Follow the instructions to diagnose connectivity problems with your system

If for some reason the networks Diagnostics program does not open, use the Network Troubleshooter instead by selecting Start-> My Network Place-> View network connections. The window below will appear

Follow the instructions and use the wizard to diagnose, and resolve your network connectivity problems

If none of that works, go to Email account settings

Email Account Settings

Open outlook express

Select Tools -. Accounts and click on the Mail tab

Double click on the email account your are having problems with

Make sure all of the followings items are the ones your email provider gave you to use for your email account:

Email address (general tab)

SMTP and POP3 server addresses (server tab)

Login username and password (server tab)

SMTP andPOP3 port numbers (advanced tab)

Once this is configured, reboot your computer and you should be able to send and receive email.

If for some reason, it still is not working go to http://support.microsoft.com/gp/assistsupport and use the tools there to provide a\more advanced troubleshooting.

Why is it Necessary to Clean the Windows Registry?

donna — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 02:19:59 +0000

As I discussed in my last post, all of the hardware, software and operating system configuration used by your computer are stored in the windows registry. All of the individual user preferences, profiles, accounts, etc. are also stored in the registry. That is why an problems with the registry can cause problems from an application not working quite right to the entire operating system crashing.

How Do You Know if Something is wrong with the Windows Registry?

Common symptoms of registry problems are:

Slow performance

Hardware not working correctly or not at all

Computer freezes

You keep getting windows or application error messages

System crashes (the famous blue screen of death)

Takes “forever” to boot up

Applications not opening or crashing periodically

System won’t boot

The windows registry is a hierarchical database and like all databases, it requires routine maintenance such as compacting, correcting file association, removing corrupted entries, removing tombstones and orphans. Let’s look at each of these items individually.

Compacting – process of reclaiming hard disk space used by the database. Basically it is the process of defragging the database to improve efficiency.

Correcting file associations – anytime you install or uninstall something, changes are made to the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT registry hive. Over time there can be a lot of unnecessary or incorrect information stored in this key. Cleaning makes sure that file associations exist only for files that can actually be opened on the machine exist

Corrupted entries – they are just taking up space and are useless and could cause problems if a process tried to use them so they need to be removed

Tombstones – this is data that was written during a specific operation and then marked for deletion during the next compacting or cleaning.

Orphans – are entries that no longer belong to any application or piece of hardware because it no longer exists or in no longer installed on the system

How Do You Clean the Windows Registry?

You could manually edit the registry and remove all of the unnecessary and corrupted data. But unless you are an expert on all of the possible entries in the windows registry, I don’t recommend that you try doing this because if you make a mistake, your operating system may never boot again.

The best way is to use a windows registry cleaner. Registry are software programs written by people who are experts on every possible entry in the registry. These programs will perform all of the necessary maintenance we described above as well as specifically look for damage done by viruses, Trojans and other forms of malware. They will try to repair and/or recover corrupted data if possible. They do this by analyzing your registry entries and comparing then to a set of ‘normalized’ entries. Normalized means that the data is consistent and properly formatted and is a technical term used in databases.

Registry cleaners are a much safer way of doing the routine maintenance on your windows registry.

Where Do You Get Registry Cleaners?

There are two kinds of registry cleaners, commercial and free ones. Here are some of the differences:

Feature	FREE	Commercial
Quarantine or delete suspected entries	Delete	Quarantine
Provide technical support	NO	YES
Offer a FREE scan	NO	YES
Money Back Guarantee	NO	YES

Recommendation

Commercial registry cleaners usually do a better job and are safer to use. At least one free registry cleaner is good, but, unless you know a lot about the working registry, use a commercial program.

Damaged MBR Error Message

donna — Mon, 31 May 2010 16:41:50 +0000

MBR is the acronym for Master Boot Record. The master boot record is located in the boot section of your hard drive, which is the first sector on the first platter. When you boot your computer, the master boot record tells the computer’s BIOS (Basic Input Output System) where to find the bootstrap code for the operating system.

So if the MBR is corrupted, the BIOS can’t find the operating system and you can get error messages like the following ones:

Missing operating system

Error loading system

Invalid partition table

Looks pretty scary, doesn’t it?

However, it is usually not that hard to fix a corrupted MBR and usually the rest f the hard drive is just fine and will boot normally once your fix the master boot record.

What Causes Damage to the MBR?

A lot of things can cause damage to the MBR such as viruses designed to corrupt the boot sector. Some of them copy the original MBR to another file. Others do this by overwriting the MBR with virus code. In fact viruses and malware are one of the most frequent causes but, any file can become corrupted especially files that are accessed as frequently as the MBR.

How to Fix the MBR

The stapes to fix the MBR are slightly different in the different versions of Windows. So I will cover them separately.

Windows XP

Insert your XP installation disk in the CD-Rom and reboot the computer

When asked, press any key to boot from the CD

When you get the Welcome to Setup screen, press “R” to open the repair console

Enter your administrator password when prompted

At the command prompt, type fixmbr and press enter

When a new command prompt appears, type exit

Remove your installation CD

Restart the computer

Windows Vista

Insert your Vista installation disk in the CD-ROM and reboot the computer

When asked, press any key to boot from the CD

When you get the Install Windows screen, fill in the language and location options and then click Next

Click on the Repair your computer option

Select the Windows Vista operating system and click Next

Enter your administrator password when prompted

In the System Recovery Options, select Command Prompt

When a command prompt appears, type bootrec.exe and press enter to fix the MBR

When a new command prompt appears, type exit

Remove your installation CD

Click Restart in the System Recovery Options window

Windows 7

Insert your Windows 7 installation disk in the CD-ROM and reboot the computer

When asked, press any key to boot from the CD

When you get the Install Windows screen, fill in the language, Time and Keyboard Input options and then click Next

Click on the Repair your computer option

In the System Recovery Options, select Command Prompt

When a command prompt appears, change to the boot directory

Now type bootsect /nt60 SYS and press enter to fix the MBR

When a new command prompt appears, type exit

Remove your installation CD

Reboot the computer

What is a 12029 Error?

donna — Sun, 09 May 2010 16:34:46 +0000

Basically error 12029 is an HTTP protocol error message that is telling you your web browser could not connect to the web server that you requested. This problem can occur anytime your browser requests a connection to a specific web page. The connection request occurs either when you type a URL into the browser’s address window or when you click on a link on a web page that goes to a different website. The error is shown below.

Can this Error be caused by a Virus, Trojan or some other form of Malware?

While it is possible that a virus, Trojan or some other form of malware could cause this error, it isn’t very likely. Since this is basically a connection, addressing or routing problem, simple configuration or actual physical connectivity problems are much likely causes. However, scanning the computer will determine if there are viruses present.

Possible Causes

There are several possible causes for this error such as:

The server may actually not be available

TCP/IP address configuration errors

DNS server error

Firewall blocking

How to Fix a 12029 Error

Let’s look at each of the possible causes individually since they each have a different solution.

The server may actually not be available

The web server may not be available because it is down or has exceed the maximum number of simultaneous connections or bandwidth that it is allowed to have because web hosting companies restrict both bandwidth usage and the number of connections to a specific website.

To test this, try to connect to another website using the same application or web browser that got the error message. If you can contact another web site, then the web server is unavailable. All you can do is wait a little and try to access the first web site again

TCP/IP Address Configuration Error

The first thing you need to do is check to see if you have an IP address.

Open a command window by selecting Start->Run and they type cmd in the box. A command window will open

At the prompt, type ipconfig /all. You should get results similar to what is shown below

Make sure you have addresses in the IP address, DHCP and DNS server slots. If you do than the problem is not being caused by a bad IP address.

If you do not, first type ipconfig /release and then ipconfig /renew to get a new address.

If you do not get an IP address and you are connected to a wireless router in your house, reboot the router by turning it off and then back on again.

If you do not get an address and you are connected directly to your ISP, reboot your modem by turning it off, waiting 30 seconds and then turning it back on again. If rebooting doesn’t solve the problem, call their help desk and report the problem. They will help you fix it

DNS server error

Domain Name Servers (DNS) have only one job and that is to translate a URL like Microsoft.com into an IP address so your computer can talk to the web server.

Open a command window by selecting Start->Run and they type cmd in the box. A command window will open

Type nslookup {domain you are trying to reach}. Examples of domain names are microsoft.com, utube.com, whitehouse.gov, etc.

The picture below shows the results when I typed nslookup support.microsoft.com

If you get an answer then the DNS server is working correctly

If you do not, then try looking up another website URL using the nslookup command

It that doesn’t work, first type ipconfig /release and then ipconfig /renew to get a new address and try both lookups again

If it still doesn’t work, call your ISP’s help desk and report the problem

Firewall blocking

Your windows firewall may be blocking the application you are using to connect to the web server.

Select Start->Control Panel and then click on the Windows Firewall icon

When the window opens click on the Exceptions tab as show below

If the program you are having problems with isn’t listed as an exception, add it which should fix the problem.

Recommendation

One of the fixes above should have solved the problem. If none of them worked, and you have an IP address and your DNS server is working, I suggest you do the following:

Run a complete virus and malware scan of your computer

Run a good registry cleaner to repair any corrupt or erroneous entries

Reboot the computer

Everything should work now.

Using Windows XP Control Panel

admin — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 19:55:44 +0000

The windows control panel contains a collection of configuration programs called applets that allow a user to make changes to the registry by way of a graphical user interface. Since it is easier to make a fatal mistake when working directly in the registry, the GUI provides some protection from trashing your computer’s operating system.

Accessibility Options – configure Windows settings for users with motion, visual, and hearing disabilities. You can control various keyboard, sound, display and mouse settings. For example, the Keyboard settings let you to add Sticky Keys, Filter Keys and Toggle Keys. That means you can press key combinations such as [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Del] one key at a time rather than simultaneously, ignore short repeated keystrokes, or play a sound when you press one of the Lock keys. Toggle keys let you undo something already completed such as typing a paragraph with the caps key on. If toggle keys are set you can toggle and undo the caps. In addition, you can change the display to high contrast, setup visual representations of system sounds and configure your number keypad to act as your mouse.

Add Hardware - The Add hardware tool in the Control Panel gives you access to a wizard environment used to add, remove, unplug or troubleshoot hardware. Almost every user will eventually have reason to use this applet. You can create a bootable floppy disk or permanently disable or remove drivers for old or malfunctioning hardware.

Add or Remove Programs – the Change or Remove Programs option lets you uninstall complete applications, add or remove individual components of applications. Many applications such as Microsoft office frequently allow you to change specific components of programs without having to completely remove and reinstall the entire application. The New Programs option lets you install new CD or DVD based applications. Windows Components lets you customize your operating system by installing or removing specific windows components including Networking Services.

Administrative Tools – this is a collection of tools that are better left to the network administrators or at least to someone who knows how the windows operating system actually works. A novice can make changes here that can cause the system to crash and not reboot which will cause you to have to either restore the system or reinstall the operating system.

Automatic Updates – lets you choose to have updates automatically installed. Personally, I turn this feature off because I find it annoying when I am in the middle of working and the computer decides to install something. Most of the time it is just annoying. However, if the update requires a reboot, you can lose your work.

Date and Time – lets you set the date, time and time zone for your computer.

Display – This control panel applet lets you setup the display resolution, display color depth, add wallpaper, screen savers and other visual effects. The important settings are found on under the settings tab. There is also a program to aid in troubleshooting your display if problems occur. Most users visit this applet frequently.

Game Controllers – lets you set up your game controllers if you have any installed.

Internet Options – lets you configure your Internet options without having to open your web browser. This control panel applet is useful if for some reason your browser won’t open and you need to troubleshoot it.

Keyboard – lets you install additional languages, control the delay and repeat rates of the keyboard. If you find that you frequently get two letters instead of one when typing, try using a slower repeat rate to better keep pace with your typing habits.

Mouse - lets you change the speed of the click rate, make the mouse left-handed…a must if you are left handed and add customized pointers.

Network Connections – lets you setup, configure and troubleshoot your network connections.

Phone and Modem – lets you install and configure your IP phone or modem.

Power Options - This control panel applet is essential for notebooks and can be useful for desktops. I like to set my system to automatically hibernate so that I don’t have to wait for the entire boot process to finish and then reopen all of my applications every time. I used to leave my machine running until a summer lightening storm burned up my motherboard. Hibernation writes your current session to the hard drive, then turns off the machine then restores the session when you turn it back on.

Printers & Faxes – lets you install, configure and troubleshoot your printers and fax machines.

Regional Settings – lets you set the correct regional setting for your area and choose the format to display currency, dates and time.

Scanners and Cameras – lets you install and configure scanners and cameras.

Scheduled Tasks – lets you schedule tasks that you want to run when you are not using the computer such as backups, defragging the hard drive, run a batch file or start an application at a specific time.

Security Settings – lets you configure the windows built-in security settings such as the firewall, virus protection, etc. The Windows firewall usually has a separate icon so you can go directly to the firewall settings.

Sounds and Audio Devices – lets you find out what codecs and multimedia hardware drivers are installed on your computer. I recommend you set the volume to maximum here and control the actual volume with either the volume control application in the taskbar or with the controls on your speakers.

System – this control panel applet lets you find out what hardware devices are installed using the device manager under the hardware tab, the computer’s name, the version of the operating system and what service packs are installed, configure remote access and perform a system restore. Like the administrative tools, these items should be left alone unless you know what you are doing.

Toolbar and Start Menu – lets you customize the toolbar and start menu.

User Accounts – This control panel applet lets you add users and groups to your machine, set passwords.

PCPowerGuide.com » Windows XP

Tweaks to Speed Up XP

Making Registry Based Changes

Backing up the registry

Speed up the Menus

Optimize the Prefetch Feature for FasterLoading

Disable 8.3 Name Creation on NTFS partitions

Non- Registry Tweaks

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What is a 12029 Error?

Can this Error be caused by a Virus, Trojan or some other form of Malware?

Possible Causes

How to Fix a 12029 Error

The server may actually not be available

TCP/IP Address Configuration Error

DNS server error

Firewall blocking

Recommendation

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Using Windows XP Control Panel

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