1. It boasts how long it can stay up. Whereas previous versions of Windows were
coy about how long they went between boots, XP is positively proud of its
stamina. Go to the Command Prompt in the Accessories menu from the All Programs
start button option, and then type 'systeminfo'. The computer will produce a
lot of useful info, including the uptime. If you want to keep these, type
'systeminfo > info.txt'. This creates a file called info.txt you can look at
later with Notepad. (Professional Edition only).
2. You can delete files immediately, without
having them move to the Recycle Bin first. Go to the Start menu, select Run...
and type 'gpedit.msc'; then select User Configuration, Administrative
Templates, Windows Components, Windows Explorer and find the Do not move
deleted files to the Recycle Bin setting. Set it. Poking around in gpedit will
reveal a great many interface and system options, but take care -- some may
stop your computer behaving as you wish. (Professional Edition only).
3. You can lock your XP workstation with
two clicks of the mouse. Create a new shortcut on your desktop using a right
mouse click, and enter 'rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation' in the
location field. Give the shortcut a name you like. That's it -- just double
click on it and your computer will be locked. And if that's not easy enough,
Windows key + L will do the same.
4. XP hides some system software you might
want to remove, such as Windows Messenger, but you can tickle it and make it
disgorge everything. Using Notepad or Edit, edit the text file /windows/inf/sysoc.inf,
search for the word 'hide' and remove it. You can then go to the Add or Remove
Programs in the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Windows Components and there
will be your prey, exposed and vulnerable.
5. For those skilled in the art of DOS
batch files, XP has a number of interesting new commands. These include
'eventcreate' and 'eventtriggers' for creating and watching system events,
'typeperf' for monitoring performance of various subsystems, and 'schtasks' for
handling scheduled tasks. As usual, typing the command name followed by /? will
give a list of options -- they're all far too baroque to go into here.
6. XP has IP version 6 support -- the next
generation of IP. Unfortunately this is more than your ISP has, so you can only
experiment with this on your LAN. Type 'ipv6 install' into Run... (it's OK, it
won't ruin your existing network setup) and then 'ipv6 /?' at the command line
to find out more. If you don't know what IPv6 is, don't worry and don't bother.
7. You can at last get rid of tasks on the
computer from the command line by using 'taskkill /pid' and the task number, or
just 'tskill' and the process number. Find that out by typing 'tasklist', which
will also tell you a lot about what's going on in your system.
8. XP will treat Zip files like folders,
which is nice if you've got a fast machine. On slower machines, you can make XP
leave zip files well alone by typing 'regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll' at the command
line. If you change your mind later, you can put things back as they were by typing
'regsvr32 zipfldr.dll'.
9. XP has ClearType -- Microsoft's
anti-aliasing font display technology -- but doesn't have it enabled by
default. It's well worth trying, especially if you were there for DOS and all
those years of staring at a screen have given you the eyes of an astigmatic
bat. To enable ClearType, right click on the desktop, select Properties,
Appearance, Effects, select ClearType from the second drop-down menu and enable
the selection. Expect best results on laptop displays. If you want to use
ClearType on the Welcome login screen as well, set the registry entry
HKEY_USERS/.DEFAULT/Control Panel/Desktop/FontSmoothingType to 2.
10. You can use Remote Assistance to help a
friend who's using network address translation (NAT) on a home network, but not
automatically. Get your pal to email you a Remote Assistance invitation and
edit the file. Under the RCTICKET attribute will be a NAT IP address, like
192.168.1.10. Replace this with your chum's real IP address -- they can find
this out by going to www.whatismyip.com -- and get them to make sure that
they've got port 3389 open on their firewall and forwarded to the errant
computer.
11. You can run a program as a different
user without logging out and back in again. Right click the icon, select Run
As... and enter the user name and password you want to use. This only applies
for that run. The trick is particularly useful if you need to have
administrative permissions to install a program, which many require. Note that
you can have some fun by running programs multiple times on the same system as
different users, but this can have unforeseen effects.
12. Windows XP can be very insistent about
you checking for auto updates, registering a Passport, using Windows Messenger
and so on. After a while, the nagging goes away, but if you feel you might slip
the bonds of sanity before that point, run Regedit, go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/Advanced
and create a DWORD value called EnableBalloonTips with a value of 0.
13. You can start up without needing to
enter a user name or password. Select Run... from the start menu and type
'control userpasswords2', which will open the user accounts application. On the
Users tab, clear the box for Users Must Enter A User Name And Password To Use
This Computer, and click on OK. An Automatically Log On dialog box will appear;
enter the user name and password for the account you want to use.
14. Internet Explorer 6 will automatically
delete temporary files, but only if you tell it to. Start the browser, select
Tools / Internet Options... and Advanced, go down to the Security area and
check the box to Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed.
15. XP comes with a free Network Activity
Light, just in case you can't see the LEDs twinkle on your network card. Right
click on My Network Places on the desktop, then select Properties. Right click
on the description for your LAN or dial-up connection, select Properties, then
check the Show icon in notification area when connected box. You'll now see a
tiny network icon on the right of your task bar that glimmers nicely during
network traffic.
16. The Start Menu can be leisurely when it
decides to appear, but you can speed things along by changing the registry
entry HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Desktop/MenuShowDelay from the default
400 to something a little snappier. Like 0.
17. You can rename loads of files at once
in Windows Explorer. Highlight a set of files in a window, then right click on
one and rename it. All the other files will be renamed to that name, with
individual numbers in brackets to distinguish them. Also, in a folder you can
arrange icons in alphabetised groups by View, Arrange Icon By... Show In
Groups.
18. Windows Media Player will display the
cover art for albums as it plays the tracks -- if it found the picture on the
Internet when you copied the tracks from the CD. If it didn't, or if you have
lots of pre-WMP music files, you can put your own copy of the cover art in the
same directory as the tracks. Just call it folder.jpg and Windows Media Player
will pick it up and display it.
19. Windows key + Break brings up the
System Properties dialogue box; Windows key + D brings up the desktop; Windows
key + Tab moves through the taskbar buttons.
20. The next release of Windows XP,
codenamed Longhorn, is due out late next year or early 2003 and won't be much
to write home about. The next big release is codenamed Blackcomb and will be
out in 2003/2004
