Listing All of your Shares

If you every have wanted to view all of your shares for whatever reason, but have had a hard time finding them, Windows 2000 and XP include a nice feature to view all shares. To do this, go to Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management. Then, click on "Shared Folders," and finally click on "Shares." Here you will see all of your computer's active shares, including the administrative ones. However, you CANNOT delete the administrative shares (they are easy to spot because they always have a dollar sign trailing their names). For all non-administrative shares, you can use this console to manage, create, edit, and delete existing shares.

Get to Control Panel Areas Fast

There are several "shortcuts" to control panel dialogues that involve a simple right-click. One of the most common and easy-to-use is the shortcut to Display properties, which is found by right-clicking on the Desktop and subsequently clicking "Properties." Another is to System, which is found by right-clicking "My Computer" and then clicking "Properties." Another is to Internet Options, which is found by right-clicking "Internet Explorer" and then clicking "Properties."

In general, to go to a dialogue for a particular option, you can usually right-click the associated icon and press "Properties." (Note that this is not a 100% guaranteed shortcut, but it can still be quite convenient at times.)

A Couple Firefox Search Shortcuts

Firefox has an embedded search box in the upper right corner. By default, it searches Google, and I for one am happy with that. But, hit the little arrow and you can access or add other search engines. But, here are a couple quick little tips for using search directly from Firefox:

(1) Want to do a quick calculation? Just enter it into the search box and hit Enter and you will get an answer from Google. For example, enter "6*5" into the search and hit Enter, and you will get an answer from Google of 30.

(2) When surfing the internet, you can search using any word on a webpage. Simply highlight any word or phrase on a website, right-click on it and hit "Search for xxxx", where xxxx is the highlighted phrase. You will immediately get search results in a new tab.

Adding a TCP/IP Printer

If you have a network printer or a printer connected to a print server appliance such as an HP JetDirect, you will need to connect to that printer via TCP/IP. To do so, go to Control Panel -> Printers and Faxes. Click File -> Add Printer and press next. Choose "A local printer attached to this
computer" and uncheck the box below it. When the next screen comes up, choose the radio button for "Create a New Port" and then select "Standard TCP/IP port." A new wizard will appear so click next. Type in the IP address of the printer in the top field, and press next. If everything went right, you should have a new port. Sometimes, Windows has a tough time detecting the printer, and you have to configure the settings manually. If all else fails, keep clicking next. Eventually you should be lead back to the original screen that you were at, and you should choose "Use the following port" this time, selecting the TCP/IP port that you just created. Finally, run through the rest of the dialogue (drivers and such) as you would do for any printer. Note that some printers require that you connect to them on a special TCP/IP port number, and that must be manually configured.

Fixing IE Issue: Saving Images only as BMP

There are a number of causes to this problem, but the most common is that the Temporary Internet Files folder is full. To increase the size of the folder, go to Start -> Control Panel -> Internet Options and click "Settings." Use the slider provided to increase or decrease the folder size, and press OK. If you wish to totally clear out the Temporary Internet Files folder, click "Delete Files" and then check "Delete all offline content." It may take a while, so relax. Then, press OK. If your issue persists, you may have a corrupt object installed, so go to Internet Options again and choose "Settings" and then "View objects." Delete any whose status is anything other than "Installed." Then, close the folder and Internet Options.

Deleting all of a certain file within a folder

If you wish to delete all of a certain file within a folder and all subfolders, simply go to Start -> Run -> "cmd." When the command prompt appears, go to the directory that you wish to delete from and then type in "DEL /F /S [*.type]" For example, if I wanted to delete all MP3 files from my PC, I would type in "CD C:\" and then type in "DEL /F /S *.mp3". All of the MP3 files on my C: drive would then be deleted. Note that if you do not want to delete files within subfolders, don't type the "/S."

Mapping a Network Drive

Windows has a feature that allows you to map a drive letter to a network location. To do this, go to Start -> My Computer and press Tools -> Map Network Drive. When the Window comes up, choose a drive letter that suits you and then choose the network (UNC) path of the folder that you wish to map that drive letter to. For example, you might choose X: as your drive letter and map it to \\Server\Docs. If a connection to that drive requires authentication, press "Connect using a different user name" and then type in the credentials in the next Window. Press OK, and then press Finish.

Change Default Folder for Explorer

You can change the default location where Windows Explorer opens up to. Windows Explorer opens to a default location, usually My Documents, but this is often not the location that you wish to see. You can change where it "points to" by default. To do this, right-click the shortcut to Windows Explorer and press "properties," then change the target from "%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe" to "%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /n, /e, [location]" and press OK. Next time you click on Windows Explorer, it will spawn a distinct new explorer window pointed to that location; for example, if I typed in C:\Drop for the location, I would get an explorer window that opened to C:\Drop by default.

Create a Windows Bootable Rescue Disk

Windows 2000 and XP doesn't make it super easy to create a emergency rescue disk. Before these OSes, you could always pop in a book disk and boot up to command line and handle the PC easily. There is a tool which makes it easy to create bootable CDs or DVDs for your installation of Windows. The tool is called Bart's Pre-Installed Environment (BartPE). From their website:

"Bart's PE Builder helps you build a "BartPE" (Bart Preinstalled Environment) bootable Windows CD-Rom or DVD from the original Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 installation/setup CD, very suitable for PC maintenance tasks.

It will give you a complete Win32 environment with network support, a graphical user interface (800x600) and FAT/NTFS/CDFS filesystem support. Very handy for burn-in testing systems with no OS, rescuing files to a network share, virus scan and so on.
This will replace any Dos bootdisk in no time!"

The program is free. Check it out at http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/.

FastStone Free Image Viewer

A user sent in his recommendation of FastStone Image Viewer. I checked it out and found it to be pretty nice. From their website:

"FastStone Image Viewer   2.20 is an image browser,  viewer,  converter and  editor with an easy to use interface and a nice array of features that include resizing, renaming, cropping, color adjustments and more. It also includes an intuitive full-screen mode that provides quick access to EXIF information and thumbnail browser via hidden toolbars that emerge when you touch the edge of your screen with the mouse. Other features include a high quality magnifier and built-in slideshow with 150+ transitional effects, as well as lossless JPEG transitions, drop shadow effects, image frames, scanner support, histogram and much more. It supports all major graphic formats including BMP, JPEG, JPEG 2000, GIF, PNG, PCX, TIFF, WMF, ICO and TGA. "

Its free and and it has some of the features you find in similar for-fee programs. For more info, go to http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm.

Who is Sharing My Files?

Sometimes even with Windows, the command line can be your best friend. One of the utilities that can be useful is openfiles.exe. The file can be used on your network to see who has a shared file open. Simply type "openfiles" at the command prompt and hit Enter. You can also use the utility to disconnect any network user who is viewing the files. To find out how, type "openfiles /disconnect /?" at the command prompt.

7-Zip

For those who are tired of reading WinZip's shareware message on every start of the program or wish for significantly better file compression, a free and open-source alternative to WinZip exists. It is called 7-zip and can be obtained at http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/sevenzip/7z426.exe?

download.
7-zip allows for the manipulation and creation of ZIP, RAR, TAR, and BZ files, among many others, including its own format, 7Z. The 7Z format boasts a significantly better compression ratio than that of WinZip, and best of all, 7-zip is free. Give it a try!

Windows XP Tip: Turning off Error Reporting

Although error reporting can be a useful feature and contributes to the PC user community, some would rather opt to turn it off. For example, on a PC without access to the Internet, error reporting is utterly useless. Turning it off is rather simple and after doing so, Microsoft will not bug you to report errors. Go to Start -> Control Panel -> System -> Advanced and click on the "Error Reporting" button. Check "Disable Error Reporting" and press "OK." Error reporting will henceforth be disabled.

Windows XP Tip: Bypassing Welcome Screen Logon

Though it may sound rather pointless, there exists an ability in Windows XP to bypass the welcome screen and logon via an NT-style logon dialogue. To do this, simply press "Ctrl + Alt + Del" while at the logon screen (sometimes you must press this combination multiple times). Why do this, though? As a PC tech, I often have to work on PC's where the owner is not present and has not given me adequate or correct credentials to log onto the system.

However, many retail PC's, by default, have an "Administrator" or "Owner" account with absolutely NO password. Such an account is somewhat of a security threat, but for you, it can be a vital tool when faced with a lack of credentials!

Windows 2000/XP Tip: Un-Disabling (and Disabling) the Task Manager

NOTICE: Always be careful when editing the registry. Sometimes changes to the registry affects Windows in undocumented ways. You should always make a backup of the registry before making changes. You can make a backup using your registry editor.

Windows includes a nifty feature that allows you to disable the task manager such that it can not be used to circumvent certain local security measures. However, many spyware programs utilize this feature to an unscrupulous end - spyware uses the feature to keep you from stopping spyware. A common message that occurs is "Your administrator has disabled the Task Manager" dialogue upon Ctrl + Alt + Del. To fix this problem, go to Start -> Run -> regedt32 and navigate to HKEY_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

\Policies\System.
Set the value "DisableTaskMgr" to "1" if you wish to disable the task manager or "0" if you would like to set it to being enabled.

Opening IE in Kiosk Mode

By pressing F11, IE will open in full-screen mode, but many of the buttons and options remain on the screen. There is a way that you can set IE to open as a true "kiosk," or full-screen window without any buttons or such. To do this, simply append any shortcut that you have to IE with the switch "-k"
and use that shortcut to open IE in kiosk mode. For example, for most PC's, the command would be: "C:Program FilesInternet ExplorerIEXPLORE.EXE" -k. By doing this, you can create a true "dumb terminal" that makes your PC seem more like a true terminal rather than a browser window, which is especially important in some applications and settings.

System Information and MSINFO32

Windows 2000/XP includes a useful and built-in GUI tool named "MSINFO32" to deliver to the user critical system information. To launch MSINFO32, go to Start -> Run -> MSINFO32. Once in the tool, you will immediately see central information such as your system's name and manufacturer as well as memory availability and page file information. On the left is a tree-based menu with many useful sub-categories that you can use to investigate system problems or determine potential issues - for example, using MSINFO32, you can view all connected USB devices (including hubs), which is sometimes critical to solving USB issues. Overall, MSINFO32 is a very useful tool for any seasoned user.

Forcing XP to run in 256 colors or 640 by 480 Res.

If you are experiencing problems with a graphics intensive application (in particular, a game), there is a certain probability that the issue involves graphics problems in either configuration or hardware. One way to "troubleshoot" these type of problems is to run the application in low-res, low-color settings and determine from there if the application is the problem or if your software/hardware configuration is the problem. To do this, right-click the application (or a shortcut to it) and click on the "Compatibility" tab. Select "Run in 256 Colors" and/or "Run in 640X480 Resolution." Now when you launch the program, it should start in the modes that you selected, allowing you to better determine exactly where an issue derives from.

More Tips....