Destroy 29 troubles under Windows XP

Windows XP is more stable and secure than its predecessor system (let us calmly face this is not too much problem), but it still has some unsatisfactory places. If you spend a lot of time on XP, you will encounter a lot of very idiotic little problems that need to be patched, from slow start to icon catching secrets with you. Some of these problems can't be fixed very well, it seems that we can only wait for the next version of Windows. The way out is actually in front of us: we will introduce you to the way to fix your XP flaws, so that you can use your computer more comfortably.

Turning over the system

Accelerating the startup of Windows

Trouble: I installed some applications on my own system, but they will be automatically loaded when Windows starts, let My system starts up as slowly as a turtle crawls. Even more frustrating is that these newly installed applications do not provide the option to cancel the autoload feature.

Solution: If you can not find this program in the Start menu (or simply can not start the program from the Start menu inside) off the automatic operation of the settings, then you can try to use the Windows system configuration tool manually Prevent it from running automatically. Click "Start - Run", enter msconfig after opening and click OK. In the pop-up window, select the "Startup" page, cancel the checkmark in front of the option you want to prevent the autorun option, and then choose to restart the computer. When you restart your computer, the system configuration tool will pop up an annoying test mode window. If there is no problem, then select "Next boot does not display this information and pop-up system configuration tool" and then confirm.

Bringing the backup home

Trouble: The backup tool comes with Windows XP Professional on my office computer (click "Start - Programs - Accessories - System Tools"). But on my home version of XP I have been searching for such a backup tool without results. Where did Microsoft hide it?

Solution: Fortunately, Windows XP Home Edition installation CD inside the backup tool. To install it, go to the rootadd\\msft\ tbackup folder in the root directory of the CD, right click on the ntbackup.msi file and select Install. If you can only find your own computer's recovery disc instead of the XP installation CD, you can go to the hard drive on the Windows installation path under valueadd\\msft\ tbackup. If your system supports data disc writing (described in the "Immediate Burning" section on page 70), you can back it up with your CD-R/RW burner.

Clear temporary files

Trouble: browsing the web, installing software or doing some normal Windows operations will generate a lot of useless temporary files in a temporary folder that you can hardly find (usually in File and Settings\\username\\Local Settings\\Temp in the system disk). What makes Windows unsatisfactory is that when you choose to delete temporary files, the contents of this folder will be ignored.

Strategies: Right click on the C drive in Windows Explorer (the other letter also) choose Properties, in the General tab which will see the "Disk Cleanup" button. Click "Disk Cleanup" to delete some useless files to get more useful disk space, but it does not delete the temporary files in the Local Settings directory of the system disk (see Figure 1). So we have to manually delete these files again. Before deleting these files, close all applications, enter this folder, press Ctrl+A to select all the files, and then delete them.

Figure 1: When Windows prompts you that there are no temporary files on your hard drive, don't trust it. Manually find these temporary files and delete them.

Find hidden files and file extensions

Trouble: Windows XP may think that I don't need to view hidden files and file extensions. What do you think? Of course, most of the time it is. This setting is quick and effective when I view JPEG or BMP images in my own folder. But the virus also has the opportunity to use this hidden default attribute to entice me into their trap. Without displaying the file extension, I might click on an image file called SafePic.jpg in my email, but it is actually an executable called SafePic.jpg.exe.

Countermeasure: To display the extension of all files, open the Explorer, select "File - Folder Options - View" above, remove "Hide extensions of known file types" and "Show all files" And folder" tick, then OK.

Terminating unresponsive but taking up system resources

Trouble: I have closed all applications, but there is still a running application that has swallowed up all my system resources. Let the system run slower, what should I do?

Countermeasure: The reason this situation may be caused is that some programs or tasks are wrong, but they are still running without being closed, but they are not displayed on the desktop or taskbar, so you can't close them. To turn off these CPU-intensive things, first close all applications, press "Ctrl+Alt+Delete" to pop up the task manager, you can close them. Pull down the list of processes to find the task that takes up too much system resources. Once found, select it and click End Process. Don't care about the rest of the system, they just take up a small percentage of resources in the task manager.

Enable hibernation

Trouble: I want to make my laptop boot faster. However, in the default settings, whether it is shutdown or standby mode has too much impact on the battery life of the laptop.

Strategies: Now there is a third option: hibernation, Windows shutdown when the current state of the system is written to the hard disk. The power is turned on from the sleep state faster than the power on from the power off state, and the battery power is saved. But you must manually enable this feature. Go to the "Performance and Maintenance" category option in the Control Panel, open the Power Options, select the Hibernate option, and tick Enable Hibernate.

When you enable hibernation, keep in mind three things: you must have enough hard disk space (we recommend at least 1.5 times the physical memory); you must be logged in as an administrator or a high-privileged user; The latest version of Windows, drivers and applications must be installed. (Windows XP SP2 fixes hibernation problems with 1GB of RAM; however, SP2 still complains about hibernation errors, and if you increase the memory to 1.5GB or more, Microsoft claims that they are still looking for a solution to this error.)

protect your computer

trouble when tortuous road safety

reinstall the system: disk error so I had to reinstall the system. After reinstalling, I can only download SP2 and other patches online. At this time, the system was not patched. My machine had no defense at all. A lot of viruses, spyware, worms and Trojans attacked my system. So my computer won the bid again.

Solution: Before starting the installation, disconnect the Internet or telephone lines cut off after it with the Internet, and then start the installation of Windows XP. After the installation is complete, log in to the system, go to the Control Panel, click Network Connections, and select Properties - Advanced. Choose to protect your computer and network by restricting or preventing access to this computer from the Internet, and then make sure (see Figure 2 on the previous page). This way you will not be attacked when you visit the Windows Upgrade site to update (click "Start - Programs - Windows Upgrade") for SP2. If you have more than one computer, you can install SP2 on other machines (file size is 178MB).

Figure 2: no patched Windows XP may crash at you through the Internet to download the patch, unless you enable it built-in firewall before downloading .

changed using the account

annoyance: Windows XP user account control is not flexible enough. And my computer is running under such a mechanism, the high-privilege administrator group is also dangerous; some malware intrusion will get the same permissions as these high-rights administrators. You can restrict access by going to Control Panel - User Accounts. In order to prevent the invasion of uninvited guests and reduce their level to a limited account, this approach is unbearable. But when I log in with a limited account to install an application or perform other administrative operations, the system still hides the potential for attack.

Solution: Fortunately, Windows XP Professional Edition provides us with another new option (at the steps inside the home version is invalid) other than these two extreme solutions. The level of Power Users is lower than the administrator's level for security needs, but it can install more applications than limited users. To make a user an advanced user, open "Control Panel - Performance and Maintenance (if you are viewing by category) - Management Tools" in "Computer Management". Double-click "Local Users and Groups" in the left window, select "Users", and double-click the user name you want to grant permissions in the right window (see Figure 3). Select the members of the table that belong to it and click Add. In the input object name column, select "Power Users" in the dialog box below and confirm it.

Figure 3: Do not save the default user account of XP Professional. Manually entering an account that is not easy to be cracked will be more secure and will bring convenience to your future use.

Chaos is bothering my desktop

Let the system tray be quiet

Trouble: I can use the system tray to open the tools I use often; but when one of them is not long When used, XP actually hides them "in a good way."

responses: Actually, you do not need to endure XP these seemingly intelligent functions, as long as you do not like it. Although the arrow on the system tray is clicked, the hidden icon can be displayed, but after a while, it is retracted. Here's a simple way to keep Windows showing all the icons. Right click on the "Properties" in the blank space of the taskbar, and remove the checkmark in front of the "Hide Inactive Icons" in the notification area. The icons for the system tray are all displayed, but they tend to crowd the taskbar's program icon into a very narrow area. I prefer to use custom (there is a "custom" button to the right of the "hidden inactive icon") instead of removing the "hidden inactive icon" directly; then I can choose which program icons need to be hidden to fit My use, as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: The control system tray notification area icon, you need to let them appear and disappear when not needed.

Let the resource manager obey your arrangement

Trouble: I have a headache for configuring Windows Explorer's file and folder information, I don't want to open a new folder every time. Time to view in the default way.
Countermeasure: You can let the resource manager remember your own settings instead of its default settings. First, display the "Thumbnails, Tiles, Icons, Lists" in the Explorer's "View" button.