A better way with Windows XP and 2000, however, is our old pal Compatibility Mode (more about that below). Not only can you make XP/2000 think it is an older version of Windows, you can also specify the display settings, so every time you use that program it will automatically change to 256 colors.
Right-click the program icon and choose Properties (or hold down ALT and double left-click). Select the "Compatibility" tab and look for "Display Settings". Check "Run in 256 Colors", then OK .
You should be able to see the program correctly. When you close out, your display settings will go back to normal.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Clear Shortcut Labels
The solid box behind a shortcut label can be very annoying, especially if you have dozens of icons on your desktop.
It doesn't take much to change this if you have Windows XP.
Right-click "My Computer" and choose Properties (or hold down Alt & double left-click "My Computer") to bring up the Systems Properties window.
Select the "Advanced" tab. Under "Performance" click the "Settings" button. This will bring up the Performance Options window.
Under the "Visual Options" tab, click the "Custom" radio button. You'll see a list of check boxes.
Check off the one that says, "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop". Then "Apply" or "OK" to make the change.
When you go back to your desktop the labels should be clear.
Now you can see your wallpaper better.
It doesn't take much to change this if you have Windows XP.
Right-click "My Computer" and choose Properties (or hold down Alt & double left-click "My Computer") to bring up the Systems Properties window.
Select the "Advanced" tab. Under "Performance" click the "Settings" button. This will bring up the Performance Options window.
Under the "Visual Options" tab, click the "Custom" radio button. You'll see a list of check boxes.
Check off the one that says, "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop". Then "Apply" or "OK" to make the change.
When you go back to your desktop the labels should be clear.
Now you can see your wallpaper better.
Wallpaper That Won't Go Away
Normally, if you pick a different wallpaper the old one will go away...
It's an easy mistake to make. Probably, when you went to save a picture from the web to use as wallpaper, rather than choose "set as background" you slipped and selected "set as desktop item". This basically puts a web page or image over the top of your desktop wallpaper.
What can you do about it?
Just right-click the desktop and choose "Properties". Select the "Desktop" tab then hit the "Customize" button. On the next window click the "web" tab.
Uncheck anything in the white box that says "web pages" and uncheck "Lock Desktop Items".
IPB Image
Click OK then "Apply". Did it go away? If so, hit OK.
Now you can change your wallpaper.
It's an easy mistake to make. Probably, when you went to save a picture from the web to use as wallpaper, rather than choose "set as background" you slipped and selected "set as desktop item". This basically puts a web page or image over the top of your desktop wallpaper.
What can you do about it?
Just right-click the desktop and choose "Properties". Select the "Desktop" tab then hit the "Customize" button. On the next window click the "web" tab.
Uncheck anything in the white box that says "web pages" and uncheck "Lock Desktop Items".
IPB Image
Click OK then "Apply". Did it go away? If so, hit OK.
Now you can change your wallpaper.
Keep Kids Safe Online
Are you worried about what your children or grandchildren will encounter while surfing the web? Letting a kid run loose with a web browser is like letting them walk alone through a bad neighborhood at night. There's just a lot that can go wrong.
Well, if you let them surf with Internet Explorer, you can take control! Here's how:
1. Open Internet Explorer, hit the Tools menu, Internet Options.
2. Click the Content tab. You'll see a "Content Advisor" area. Click the Enable button.
3. You'll get a tabbed screen chock full of exciting security options. The first tab is "Ratings" and it's the first step in the process. It will filter out sites that have an "RASC" rating that doesn't match your preferences, but it will also filter out any site that simply has no rating at all.
For example, Disney.com works great, but NickJr.com (great spot for pre-schoolers) won't come up. Maybe Blue's Clues could do an episode where they find out how to get RASC approval...
4. The next tab is called "Approved Sites" and it's the solution for letting your kids get to sites that do not have an RASC rating yet. You can set this up in one of two ways.
The first, and most difficult method is to manually type in sites you think are OK. Just type in the address of the site in the "Allow this Web site" box and click the "Always" button.
The easy way:
Once Content Advisor is set up with a password (next step), you will get a prompt for that password every time you land on a site without a rating. This screen will give you the option to always allow the site - a much faster way to go.
5. OK, here's the last critical step - setting up a password. Click the General Tab and you'll see the password setup under the "Supervisor Password" area. Click the button and set it up
That's it, your Content Advisor is now set up and ready to filter. Keep in mind that this is not foolproof, but it's a lot better than letting your kids traipse all over the internet unsupervised.
Also, if the kids aren't going to be using the computer, you can easily disable it. Just head back to the content tab and click the "Disable" button in the "Content Advisor" area. That way, you're not getting prompted on every unrated page you visit.
Well, if you let them surf with Internet Explorer, you can take control! Here's how:
1. Open Internet Explorer, hit the Tools menu, Internet Options.
2. Click the Content tab. You'll see a "Content Advisor" area. Click the Enable button.
3. You'll get a tabbed screen chock full of exciting security options. The first tab is "Ratings" and it's the first step in the process. It will filter out sites that have an "RASC" rating that doesn't match your preferences, but it will also filter out any site that simply has no rating at all.
For example, Disney.com works great, but NickJr.com (great spot for pre-schoolers) won't come up. Maybe Blue's Clues could do an episode where they find out how to get RASC approval...
4. The next tab is called "Approved Sites" and it's the solution for letting your kids get to sites that do not have an RASC rating yet. You can set this up in one of two ways.
The first, and most difficult method is to manually type in sites you think are OK. Just type in the address of the site in the "Allow this Web site" box and click the "Always" button.
The easy way:
Once Content Advisor is set up with a password (next step), you will get a prompt for that password every time you land on a site without a rating. This screen will give you the option to always allow the site - a much faster way to go.
5. OK, here's the last critical step - setting up a password. Click the General Tab and you'll see the password setup under the "Supervisor Password" area. Click the button and set it up
That's it, your Content Advisor is now set up and ready to filter. Keep in mind that this is not foolproof, but it's a lot better than letting your kids traipse all over the internet unsupervised.
Also, if the kids aren't going to be using the computer, you can easily disable it. Just head back to the content tab and click the "Disable" button in the "Content Advisor" area. That way, you're not getting prompted on every unrated page you visit.
Speed Up the Start Menu in Windows XP
The Start Menu take a quite a while to display the list of programs installed. In order to get Windows XP to display the list faster, you will have to edit some registry settings. Remember to back up your regitry before making any changes.
To speed up, goto Start > Run and type regedit. This will open the registry window. Then navigate to the following key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop. Scroll down in the Right panel and double click on "menushowdelay". In the Value Data box, change the default value for the menu speed from 400 to a lesser number, such as 1 or even 0. Click OK You should now find a significant increase in the startmenu speed.
To speed up, goto Start > Run and type regedit. This will open the registry window. Then navigate to the following key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop. Scroll down in the Right panel and double click on "menushowdelay". In the Value Data box, change the default value for the menu speed from 400 to a lesser number, such as 1 or even 0. Click OK You should now find a significant increase in the startmenu speed.
Improving Serial Port Performance
You can get more out of your serial connection and gets your modem working its fastest with the help of Device Manager.
Go to Control Panel > System > Hardware > Device Manager. This will show you a list of all the devices attached to your PC. Look for the Port (COM) communication port. Right click and select Properties, and click the port settings tab. Increase the bits per second from "9600" to "128000" and Flow Control to "Hardware". Then, click on the Advance tab and set the Receive and Transmit buffers to Maximum. Click OK and close all Windows.
Go to Control Panel > System > Hardware > Device Manager. This will show you a list of all the devices attached to your PC. Look for the Port (COM) communication port. Right click and select Properties, and click the port settings tab. Increase the bits per second from "9600" to "128000" and Flow Control to "Hardware". Then, click on the Advance tab and set the Receive and Transmit buffers to Maximum. Click OK and close all Windows.
Tweak UI for Windows XP
It will gives u access to quite a few system settings that are otherwise not readily available, and can help gain that extra inch of power from XP. You can download it by c clicking here.
Note:THIS IS NOT FOR NOVICE OR NEW USER OF WINDOWS!!!
Note:THIS IS NOT FOR NOVICE OR NEW USER OF WINDOWS!!!
Ripping Digital Music
You want to rip music from an audio CD to your computer's hard diskâ€â€in other words, copy it to your PC in a digital format, so that you can listen to it on your PC, or on a portable MP3 player.
Here is how to do it
Windows Media Player offers built-in tools for ripping music and storing it in a variety of formats, including MP3 and WMA. (Note: versions of Windows Media Player older than version 10 cannot rip music into the MP3 format, without buying extra software.) Here's how to do it:
Run Windows Media Player by choosing Start All Programs Accessories Entertainment Windows Media Player.
Click the Rip button.
Insert the CD whose music you want to rip into your CD drive.
Windows Media Player will show a list of all the tracks on the CD, but there may be no information associated with each track. To have Windows Media Player search the Internet for information about the CD and each track, click Find Album Info.
Windows Media Player will display the name of your album. If the information is correct, click Finish. If it's not, click Search to see if it can find the information in your existing music database, or else click Edit, and you can manually enter information about the album and each track.
Depending on the information that Windows Media Player finds, it may not find all the information about each track. After it populates the information, you can edit any track by right-clicking it, choosing Edit, and typing in the new information.
Put a check box next to each track that you want to rip, and uncheck the box next to each that you don't want to rip.
Before ripping your music, choose the audio format, and the quality of the files that you will rip. Choose Tools--Options--Rip Music, and from the Format drop-down box, choose an audio format, either MP3, or one of several WMA formats. Then choose the audio quality by moving the slider under Audio quality to the left for less quality, and to the right for higher quality. Generally, a rate of 128 Kbps is considered almost CD quality, while bit rates above that provide higher quality. The higher the quality, the larger each file.
When you've chosen audio quality and format, and checked all the tracks you want to rip, click Rip Music. Windows Media Player will show you its overall progress, as well as its progress of ripping each track.
When you're done, you can play your music by clicking the Library button. Your new tracks will appear there. To play any one, double-click it.
Here is how to do it
Windows Media Player offers built-in tools for ripping music and storing it in a variety of formats, including MP3 and WMA. (Note: versions of Windows Media Player older than version 10 cannot rip music into the MP3 format, without buying extra software.) Here's how to do it:
Run Windows Media Player by choosing Start All Programs Accessories Entertainment Windows Media Player.
Click the Rip button.
Insert the CD whose music you want to rip into your CD drive.
Windows Media Player will show a list of all the tracks on the CD, but there may be no information associated with each track. To have Windows Media Player search the Internet for information about the CD and each track, click Find Album Info.
Windows Media Player will display the name of your album. If the information is correct, click Finish. If it's not, click Search to see if it can find the information in your existing music database, or else click Edit, and you can manually enter information about the album and each track.
Depending on the information that Windows Media Player finds, it may not find all the information about each track. After it populates the information, you can edit any track by right-clicking it, choosing Edit, and typing in the new information.
Put a check box next to each track that you want to rip, and uncheck the box next to each that you don't want to rip.
Before ripping your music, choose the audio format, and the quality of the files that you will rip. Choose Tools--Options--Rip Music, and from the Format drop-down box, choose an audio format, either MP3, or one of several WMA formats. Then choose the audio quality by moving the slider under Audio quality to the left for less quality, and to the right for higher quality. Generally, a rate of 128 Kbps is considered almost CD quality, while bit rates above that provide higher quality. The higher the quality, the larger each file.
When you've chosen audio quality and format, and checked all the tracks you want to rip, click Rip Music. Windows Media Player will show you its overall progress, as well as its progress of ripping each track.
When you're done, you can play your music by clicking the Library button. Your new tracks will appear there. To play any one, double-click it.
Finding Out Who Opened or Modified a File Last
To find who opened or modified a file last, you have to enable auditing on that file. To enable auditing, you have to enable auditing at the system level and then enable auditing on the particular object (in this case a file) in which you are interested.
Using a graphical user interface
1. Do the following to enable auditing at the system level:
2.From Administrative Tools, open the Local Security Policy snap-in (secpol.msc).
3. In the left pane, expand Local Policies and click on Audit Policy.
4. In the right pane, double-click Audit object access.
5.Check the boxes beside Success or Failure (as needed).
6. Click OK.
Now you need to enable auditing on the target file(s) or folder(s):
1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. In the left pane, browse to the parent folder of the file or folder on which you want to enable auditing. Click on the parent folder. This displays the list of subfolders and files in the right pane.
3. In the right pane, right-click on the target file or folder and select Properties.
4. Select the Security tab.
5. Click the Advanced button.
6. Select the Auditing tab.
7. Click the Add button.
8. Enter the user or group you want to audit access for (use the Everyone principal to audit all access) and click OK.
9. In the Auditing Entry dialog box, select the types of access you want to audit. You have to select Success events separately from Failure events. Click OK when you are done.
10. Click Apply.
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Microsoft doesn't provide a tool to configure the audit settings of files. However, you can do this with the setacl.exe tool. It is available fordownload.
Here is an example of setting an audit entry on the file d:\myimportantfile.txt for all failed access attempts by the Everyone principal:
> setacl -on "d:\myimportantfile.txt" -ot file -actn ace -ace
"n:everyone;p:full;m:aud_fail;w:sacl"
Note: Be careful when enabling auditing on a frequently accessed set of files or folders. The number of audit messages in the Security event log can grow quickly with just a few accesses of the file. Monitor the Security event log closely after initially enabling auditing just to make sure you don't flood it.
Using a graphical user interface
1. Do the following to enable auditing at the system level:
2.From Administrative Tools, open the Local Security Policy snap-in (secpol.msc).
3. In the left pane, expand Local Policies and click on Audit Policy.
4. In the right pane, double-click Audit object access.
5.Check the boxes beside Success or Failure (as needed).
6. Click OK.
Now you need to enable auditing on the target file(s) or folder(s):
1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. In the left pane, browse to the parent folder of the file or folder on which you want to enable auditing. Click on the parent folder. This displays the list of subfolders and files in the right pane.
3. In the right pane, right-click on the target file or folder and select Properties.
4. Select the Security tab.
5. Click the Advanced button.
6. Select the Auditing tab.
7. Click the Add button.
8. Enter the user or group you want to audit access for (use the Everyone principal to audit all access) and click OK.
9. In the Auditing Entry dialog box, select the types of access you want to audit. You have to select Success events separately from Failure events. Click OK when you are done.
10. Click Apply.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft doesn't provide a tool to configure the audit settings of files. However, you can do this with the setacl.exe tool. It is available fordownload.
Here is an example of setting an audit entry on the file d:\myimportantfile.txt for all failed access attempts by the Everyone principal:
> setacl -on "d:\myimportantfile.txt" -ot file -actn ace -ace
"n:everyone;p:full;m:aud_fail;w:sacl"
Note: Be careful when enabling auditing on a frequently accessed set of files or folders. The number of audit messages in the Security event log can grow quickly with just a few accesses of the file. Monitor the Security event log closely after initially enabling auditing just to make sure you don't flood it.
Changing the Resolution of Thumbnails in Windows Explorer
You can use Windows Explorer to display thumbnails of images in any folder, by choosing View--Thumbnails. By default, those thumbnails are 96 pixels and of a relatively high quality and resolution. But you want to change the size or resolution of the thumbnails, to make them larger so that they're easier to view, or to make them smaller and a lower resolution, because when you have large, high-quality thumbnails, you require more RAM to display them all.
Recipe 5.15. Changing the Resolution of Thumbnails in Windows Explorer
Problem
You can use Windows Explorer to display thumbnails of images in any folder, by choosing View Thumbnails. By default, those thumbnails are 96 pixels and of a relatively high quality and resolution. But you want to change the size or resolution of the thumbnails, to make them larger so that they're easier to view, or to make them smaller and a lower resolution, because when you have large, high-quality thumbnails, you require more RAM to display them all.
Using the Registry
1. Open the Registry Editor (Start-Run-Regedit)and go to HKEY CURRENT USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Exp lorer.
2. Create a new DWORD value called ThumbnailSize.
3. When you edit the value data, choose Hexadecimal as the base.
4. In the value data box, enter a number between 32 and 96. The larger the number, the higher the resolution, and the higher the quality of the thumbnails.
5. Exit the Registry Editor. The resolution of the thumbnails will change without your having to reboot.
Note:Be careful before making your thumbnails larger, because doing so can slow down browsing through your system using Windows Explorer. Also, not all systems will allow you to display thumbnails larger than 96 pixels, so it may not work on yours. However, you should be able to make them smaller on any system.
Recipe 5.15. Changing the Resolution of Thumbnails in Windows Explorer
Problem
You can use Windows Explorer to display thumbnails of images in any folder, by choosing View Thumbnails. By default, those thumbnails are 96 pixels and of a relatively high quality and resolution. But you want to change the size or resolution of the thumbnails, to make them larger so that they're easier to view, or to make them smaller and a lower resolution, because when you have large, high-quality thumbnails, you require more RAM to display them all.
Using the Registry
1. Open the Registry Editor (Start-Run-Regedit)and go to HKEY CURRENT USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Exp lorer.
2. Create a new DWORD value called ThumbnailSize.
3. When you edit the value data, choose Hexadecimal as the base.
4. In the value data box, enter a number between 32 and 96. The larger the number, the higher the resolution, and the higher the quality of the thumbnails.
5. Exit the Registry Editor. The resolution of the thumbnails will change without your having to reboot.
Note:Be careful before making your thumbnails larger, because doing so can slow down browsing through your system using Windows Explorer. Also, not all systems will allow you to display thumbnails larger than 96 pixels, so it may not work on yours. However, you should be able to make them smaller on any system.
Turning Off Balloon Tips
You want to turn off balloon tips, which frequently don't give any useful information, especially for experienced users, and are more distracting then they are useful, particularly when they show up in the Notification Area.
Using the Registry
1. Open the Registry Editor (Start-Run-regedit)and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Explorer\Advanced.
2. Create a new DWORD value called EnableBalloonTips.
3. Give it a value of 0.
4. Exit the Registry and restart. Balloon tips will be turned off. To turn them on, either delete the DWORD value, or else give it a value of 1.
Using the Registry
1. Open the Registry Editor (Start-Run-regedit)and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Explorer\Advanced.
2. Create a new DWORD value called EnableBalloonTips.
3. Give it a value of 0.
4. Exit the Registry and restart. Balloon tips will be turned off. To turn them on, either delete the DWORD value, or else give it a value of 1.
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