Windows XP User Tips Tidbits


This page will have Windows XP user quick tips or tidbits. Nearly all of these
tidbits will work for Windows 2000. Try them if you are running W2K. Many will
work with Windows NT. For comments or questions send them to Wayne Maples .




Set numlock, scroll lock, and/or capslock
at startup

Want to set numlock, capslock or scroll-lock on when you logon? Use the
following script, setkeys.vbs. Don’t want capslock or scroll-lock set? Remove
those lines. Also this is a toggle. Run it again and it reverses.:

set WshShell=CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)
WshShell.SendKeys “{NUMLOCK}”
WshShell.SendKeys “{SCROLLLOCK}”
WshShell.SendKeys “{CAPSLOCK}”
Place it in your startup folder.
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Remove Outlook Address
Entries

I use the autofill option in Outlook 2000 all the
time. Save lots of typing. What do you do if there is an address the Outlook
remembers which you need to have Outlook NOT remember? Solution :


  • Open a new message
  • Click on the To: line. Use the down arrow or right-click to get a list of
    addresses.
  • Highlight the address you want to remove.
  • Press Del

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Put back QuickLaunch toolbar

I generally have the apps I use in the Quick Launch toolbar. Have a item you
are run a lot and want to avoid the Program Menu or even the Start menu? Just
drag and drop the programs icon onto the toolbar.

Your Quick Launch toolbar is missing from the taskbar? Right-click an empty
area on the taskbar, click Toolbars, and then click Quick Launch.
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Copy “Run” on desktop

Use the Run dialog a lot? Click Start and drag the
Run option on to your desktop.

Run capability tidbit = XP’s address bar can do anything that the run dialog
can do. Want to start regedt32? Type regedt32. So an
alternative is to enable the address bar on the taskbar.
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XP clipboard

Can’t find XP’s clipboard? Click Start | Run | enter clipbrd
. You will probably find that this starts the NetDDE services.
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Save custom colors and
patterns

Getting a new computer and don’t want to redo the work to get the same custom
colors and patterns? Backup the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control
Panel\
Custom Colors and Patterns registry keys and restore them to your new computer.
This is a Windows 2000 and Windows XP tip.
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URL shortcut for .com sites

A very common URL is www.something.com. You can save a few keystrokes.
Lets say you to surf to www.google.com. OK type google
and press cntl-enter. This tip is for all versions of Windows.
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Clean up after IE

As you browse the net, IE is writing a large number of temporary files to
your HD. This is particularly true if you have configured IE to allow offline
browsing. You should clean them out periodically and defrag your HD. To clean
them out and free up disk space :


  • Open IE
  • Click the Tools menu
  • Select Internet Options
  • Click the Delete Files button on the General tab
  • Check Delete all offline content then click OK this will delete files used for offline content – if you have been doing
    that; if not, it doesn’t matter
After the files temp files are
deleted, and it can take quite a while, defrag your HD. This tip is for all
versions of Windows.
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PrintScreen

Pressing the PrtScn key copies the entire display to
the clipboard. Pressing ALT +PrtScn copies only the active Window to the clipboard. To view
the screen capture, open a graphics program, such as MS Paint, and press CTRL+V. This will paste the contents of the clipboard into
the open file, and allow you to view it or save it as a file for later use.

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Source for missing DLLs

Download the most common DLLs that suddenly disappears from your computer :

www.dll-files.com

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Show your IP Address

Your ip address changes frequently and you need to display it. Create desktop
shortcut for command:

cmd /k “ipconfig /all && pause && exit”

which opens command window, executes ipconfig command, pauses until a
key is pressed, then closes. Windows compatible. Good template for any
commandline option you want to a desktop shortcut to. Example of output:


Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : xpagain
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139/810X Family PCI Fast
Ethernet NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-E0-18-56-7F-6D
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 151.164.1.8
151.164.11.201
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, March 26, 2003 12:02:25 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, March 27, 2003 12:02:25 PM

Press any key to continue . . .


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Snap to Address Bar

Want to type in an address manually, click in the address area with the
mouse. Better, press ALT-D, and the cursor will automatically snap into the
address bar, ready for you to enter your URL.
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Remove the Go button on the Address
bar

When you add the address bar to the taskbar you can turn off the “Address”
button by right clicking on the bar and deselecting “Show Title”. However, to
get rid of the Go button, you have to do the following:


  • Start Internet Explorer
  • Click Tools/Internet Options
  • Click the Advanced tab
  • Scroll down the list of options until you find the Show Go Button in Address
    Bar checkbox
  • Deselect it
  • Press OK and all is done!

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Make Windows Explorer Open Where You
Want It

%windir%\explorer.exe /e,/root,C:
Note that the only space is between the
“e” at the end of “.exe” and the slash (/) after that “e”. There are no other
spaces in the command string. You can replace the C: with another drive letter,
or you can even use a path like C:\MyStuff.
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Use format /q to quick erase
removable media

Often you want to clear a disk to ensure that anything on the disk is qone.
Most people format the disk. This can be slow. Since the disk is already
formatted, use:
format a: /q
The /q tells the
format command to skip low-level formatting and don’t do bad sector checking.
Its fast.
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What is XP version?

There are several methods to tell you the XP version. One of the fastest is
to open a command shell : click start,run,cmd and you will see something like:


Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

E:\Documents and Settings\Wayne>


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Change font size of Internet Explorer
content on the fly

If you have a mouse that has scrolling button then fond changing is as easy
as pressing CTRL key and rotating scrolling button either towards you (to
increase) or away from you (to decrease).
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Rename folders in Start Menu

Don’t like the default names My Documents, My Music … ? These names are
easy to change under XP. For example, right-click My Documents and select
Rename.
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Explorer gives cumulative file size

Select a set of files in Explorer and then open Properties dialog and it will display the cumulative size.
Very useful if you are copying a set of files to a floppy, zip, CD or other
media with limited storage.
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Undo in Explorer

The Undo command works if you deleted or moved or copied a file to somewhere
by mistake in Explorer: either click Edit | Undo or Ctrl-Z
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Using the Address Bar

The Windows address bar is more useful than most people realize. You can type
in:


  • A URL – dah : is-it-true.org

  • web search : penetration testing
    and hacking

    try this search and tada! my site comes up among others
  • Network resource : \\WaynesServer\waynesshare
    assuming PC WaynesServer is on
    your network

  • Folders : My Documents

    My Documents, My Computer, My Network Places … work
    as does
    c:\program files or c:\

    experiment using this explorer function
  • Access Microsoft KB articles : mskb Q228930
    This is supposed to go directly to the kb
    article. I can’t get it to work that way but this does results in a
    search with the kb article as the first item on the list in almost all cases
    anyway

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Pin applications to Start Menu

The Start menu in the upper left hand quadrant has pinned applications. XP comes with IE and Outlook pinned. You
can unpin an app in this area by right-clicking the
application and selecting Remove from This list.

The Start menu in the lower left hand quadrant has recently-run applications. You can pin any of the
recently-run apps by right-clicking the shortcut and choosing the Pin to Start Menu option. The shortcut will be moved to the
pinned quadrant of the Start Menu where it will stay
until you unpin it.
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Recently-run applications

The Start menu in the lower left hand quadrant has recently-run applications. You can remove any of the
recently-run apps by right-clicking the shortcut and choosing the Remove from This list option.
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You can chose whether My Recent Documents menu
appears on the Start Menu or you can clear the list:


  • Right-click Start
  • Click Properties
  • On Start Menu tab, click Start Menu Customize…
  • On Advanced tab, unclick List my
    most recently opened documents
    to prevent recently accessed documents
    from appearing
    — or —
    On Advanced tab, click
    the Clear List button to clear the current list out of
    the Start Menu.

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Start Menu, Control Panel,My Pictures
& My Documents can be configured to display as a menu or a window with
icons

Start Menu, Control Panel,My Pictures & My Documents can be configured to
display as a menu or a window with icons.


  • Right-click Start
  • Click Properties
  • On Start Menu tab, click Start Menu Customize…
  • On Advanced tab, configure as desired from the Start menu items: pulldown

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Synch PC time to Internet time
server

If you have a DSL or cable connect, you can have your PC’s time automatically
synchronize with a time server on the Internet.


  • Double-click time on system tray
  • On Internet Time tab, click Automatically synchronize with an Internet time server

    This works will with constant connection available with DSL or cable. If you
    have dial up connection you can still synch once connected and


  • click on the Update Now button in the Internet Time tab dialog.

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Customize the Notification Area

To customize the Notification Area, system tray on Task Bar: right-click the
notification area and choose Customize Notifications.

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