Browsing Category Windows XP

Format Windows XP NTFS or NTFS Quick?

The NTFS Quick would finish much faster compared to NTFS.The primary reason behind this is that NTFS Quick simply skips certain steps that are taken by NTFS.
Selecting NTFS would remove all files in the drive, then check sections of the drive for damages so that those areas can be avoided by the operating system.NTFS minimizes the possibility of data loss and file corruptions. NTFS Quick does not perform this check, which takes a longer time.

Formatting on NTFS Quick skips checking the disk, so is possible that some damage areas of the Disk would be used.It is advisable to use NTFS for drives that have not been formatted before, Where is very likely that no damaged area exist. NTFS is also Recommended for older drives that have been in use for a long time, but has not been checked or reformatted before. NTFS Quick is very much acceptable for drives that have been formatted with NTFS before. If you often perform disk checks,it is also recommended to choose NTFS Quick as the disk check would probably not see any new defects.

You can manually perform a disk check by running the chkdsk utility that is provided by Windows. It would take some time but at least you can leave it running and not have to wait around for it to finish.

NTFS is advised for fresh drives or for Hard Drives that have not been checked for errors.
NTFS Quick is advised for recently formatted drives or Drives that had been check for errors in the past. = (recently).

Format and Reinstall Windows XP Video Tutorial

Insert the Windows XP CD into your computer and restart your computer.
If prompted to start from the CD, press SPACEBAR. If you miss the prompt (it only appears for a few seconds), restart your computer to try again.
Windows XP Setup begins. During this portion of setup, your mouse will not work, so you must use the keyboard. On the Welcome to Setup page, press ENTER.
On the Windows XP Licensing Agreement page, read the licensing agreement. Press the PAGE DOWN key to scroll to the bottom of the agreement. Then press F8.
This page enables you to select the hard disk drive on which Windows XP will be installed. Once you complete this step, all data on your hard disk drive will be removed and cannot be recovered. It is extremely important that you have a recent backup copy of your files before continuing. When you have a backup copy, press D, and then press L when prompted. This deletes your existing data.
Press ENTER to select Partitioned space, which appears by default.
Press ENTER again to select Format the partition using the NTFS file system, which appears by default.
Windows XP erases your hard disk drive using a process called formatting and then copies the setup files. You can leave your computer and return in 20 to 30 minutes.
Windows XP restarts and then continues with the installation process. From this point forward, you can use your mouse. Eventually, the Regional and Language Options page appears. Click Next to accept the default settings. If you are multilingual or prefer a language other than English, you can change language settings after setup is complete.
On the Personalize Your Software page, type your name and your organization name. Some programs use this information to automatically fill in your name when required. Then, click Next.
On the Your Product Key page, type your product key as it appears on your Windows XP CD case. The product key is unique for every Windows XP installation. Then, click Next.
On the Computer Name and Administrator Password page, in the Computer name box, type a name that uniquely identifies your computer in your house, such as FAMILY ROOM or TOMS. You cannot use spaces or punctuation. If you connect your computer to a network, you will use this computer name to find shared files and printers. Type a strong password that you can remember in the Administrator password box, and then retype it in the Confirm password box. Write the password down and store it in a secure place. Click Next
On the Date and Time Settings page, set your computer’s clock. Then, click the Time Zone down arrow, and select your time zone. Click Next
Windows XP will spend about a minute configuring your computer. On the Networking Settings page, click Next
On the Workgroup or Computer Domain page, click Next

How to install Windows XP Video Tutorial

Insert the Windows XP CD into your computer and restart your computer.

If prompted to start from the CD, press ENTER. If you miss the prompt (it only appears for a few seconds), restart your computer to try again.
Windows XP Setup begins. During this portion of setup, your mouse will not work, so you must use the keyboard. On the Welcome to Setup page, press ENTER.
On the Windows XP Licensing Agreement page, read the licensing agreement. Press the PAGE DOWN key to scroll to the bottom of the agreement. Then press F8.
This page enables you to select the hard disk drive on which Windows XP will be installed. Once you complete this step, all data on your hard disk drive will be removed and cannot be recovered. It is extremely important that you have a recent backup copy of your files before continuing. When you have a backup copy, press D, and then press L when prompted. This deletes your existing data.
Press ENTER to select Partitioned space, which appears by default.
Press ENTER again to select Format the partition using the NTFS file system, which appears by default.
Windows XP erases your hard disk drive using a process called formatting and then copies the setup files. You can leave your computer and return in 20 to 30 minutes.
Windows XP restarts and then continues with the installation process. From this point forward, you can use your mouse. Eventually, the Regional and Language Options page appears. Click Next to accept the default settings. If you are multilingual or prefer a language other than English, you can change language settings after setup is complete.

Make the Windows XP Taskbar Look Like the Windows 7 Superbar

You may have heard about or tried out the improved Taskbar (or “Superbar”) in Windows 7, and would like to have that functionality in Windows XP. Now you can use a free tool, called ViGlance, that imitates the Windows 7 Taskbar in Windows XP.

Download ViGlance

ViGlance does not need to be installed. To use it, simply unzip the .zip file you downloaded and double-click on the .exe file.

Change XP Desktop Icons Into Smaller List View

Has it ever bothered you that you can’t change the size of the icons on your XP desktop? Thankfully they added this ability into Windows Vista, but what are your options in the meantime?

There’s a small utility called Deskview that lets you change the icons from regular mode into the smaller “list” mode with a double-click. It’s as simple as that.

Download and extract the zipfile, and then double-click on deskview.exe.

Download Deskview

IMPORTANT NOTE: I am not the author of deskview.exe, nor do I know how to contact the author of the software. I have no idea if this software is licensed, and if so, what terms are provided in said license. If you are the author of deskview and want me to remove it, or credit you with its authorship, please don’t hesitate to contact me!

Icons Have a Background Color in Windows XP?

If you’ve been wondering why your XP desktop icons have a background color, you’ll be glad to know you can flip a check box and have them go back to a normal transparent background.

Here’s is How

1. To set the transparent background on the icons, we’ll need to open System Properties in Control Panel (or right-click on My Computer and select Properties).

2. In this dialog, click the Advanced tab, and then the Settings button under the Performance section.

3. Now scroll down to the button where you’ll find a checkbox for “Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop”. Make sure you check this box if you want transparent backgrounds on the icons.

Update

If the above does not work, you might want to also check these additional settings suggested by readers in the comments.

* You can’t be displaying a web page as your background. To check this, right-click on the desktop and choose Properties. Select Customize desktop on the Desktop tab, then select the Web tab on the desktop items window and deselect any web pages that are shown.
* You need to make sure that High Contrast is not selected under Accessibility \ Display Options in your Control Panel.

Set up and access Windows XP VPN Server

To Set up and access Windows XP VPN Server:

1. Go to Start / Settings / Network Connections
2. Start the New Connection Wizard
3. Click on the Next button
4. Select Set up advanced connection
5. Click on the Next button.
6. Click on Accept incoming connections
7. Click on the Next button
8. At the LPT1 page, skip it and just click on the Next button.
9. Click on Allow virtual private connection
10. Click on the Next button
11. Add user accounts that you want to be able to connect to your WindowsXP computer.
12. Click on the Next button.
13. Highlight Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click on Properties
14. Determine how you want the remote computers to get their IP address
15. assign IP addresses to each client. Make sure the IP scheme is the same as on your server.
16. Complete!!!

How to Repair a Missing NTLDR for Windows XP

Instructions.

1. Understand the causes of missing NTLDR errors. One of the most common reasons for an NTLDR-based startup error occurs when Windows XP attempts to start from a hard drive that isn’t set up to launch Windows XP. For example, you may encounter an NTLDR error if you attempt to boot from an improperly formatted Windows XP startup disk. These errors may also be caused by corrupt, missing hard drive data and loose hardware cables.

2. Click the Start menu button in the lower left-hand corner of the Windows XP screen. Select “Restart” to reboot the PC.

3. Check that the computer’s optical media drives are empty. A major cause of NTLDR errors is when a non-startup disk is in the CD slot and Windows XP attempts to launch from it.

4. Insert the Windows XP installation disk. Restart the computer. Press any key on your keyboard during the startup process to launch the installation setup screen. Press the “R” key on your keyboard when the Windows XP Setup screen appears. This launches the Windows XP Recovery Console program and a screen in which you can type command prompts.

5. Type “copy d:\i386\ntldr c:\” (without quotation marks) in the command prompt window, then press the Enter key on your keyboard. Type “copy d:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\” (without quotation marks), and press the Enter key again. The Windows XP Setup software will detect and replace any NTLDR software files that may be missing or corrupt.

6. Press the “Y” key on your keyboard if the Windows XP Setup software asks for permission to rewrite and replace the files in Step 5.

7. Eject the Windows XP installation disk by pressing the Eject button on the front of your computer. Type “exit” (without quotation marks) in the command prompt window to close the Setup software, then press the Enter key on your keyboard to restart the PC. Windows XP will now launch without missing NTLDR errors

How to Remove NTLDR

Instructions:

1. Right-click on the “Start” button on your computer and click “Explore” to open Windows Explorer .click on tools tab then click on Folder options

2. in the folder options window click on View tab, Under advance settings select show hidden files and folders then click apply and ok

3. Navigate to your hard drive, the Local Disk “C:\”

4. Right-click on the file called “ntldr” (no file extension) and click “Delete.”

5. Confirm the file deletion by clicking “Yes” and the NTLDR file is removed.

How to setup an FTP server in Windows XP

How to setup an FTP server in Windows XP

The first thing you’ll need to setup your own FTP server in Windows is to make sure you have Internet Information Services (IIS) installed. Remember, this only comes with Windows XP Professional or Windows Vista Business or higher.

1. Click on Start, Control Panel and go to Add/Remove Programs. Then click on Add/Remove Windows Components
In the components wizard, scroll down until you see IIS in the list and check it off.
2. Before you click Next though, make sure you click on Details and then check off File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Service.
3. Click OK and then click Next.
Windows will go ahead and install the necessary IIS files along with the FTP service. You may be asked to insert your Windows XP or Windows Vista disk at this point.

Setup and configure IIS for FTP

Once IIS has been installed, you may have to restart your computer. Now we want to go ahead and open the IIS configuration panel to setup our FTP server. So go to Start, then Control Panel and click on Administrative Tools. You should now see an icon for Internet Information Services.

When you open IIS for the first time, you’ll only see your computer name in the left hand menu. Go ahead and click the + symbol next to the computer name and you’ll see a couple of options like Web Sites, FTP Sites, etc. We’re interested in FTP Sites, so expand that out also. You should see Default FTP Site, click on it.

You’ll notice after you click on the default FTP site that there are a couple of buttons at the top that look like VCR buttons: Play, Stop, and Pause. If the Play button is greyed out, that means the FTP server is active. Your FTP server is now up and running! You can actually connect to it via your FTP client software. I use Smart FTP, but you can use whatever you like best.

Open your FTP client software and type in localhost as the host name and choose Anonymous for the login. Connect and you should now see an empty folder.

Ok, so that’s step 1! Now where the heck is this folder that you are currently viewing? Well the default FTP site is actually located in C:\Inetpub\ftproot. Open this directory and dump some files into it.

Now refresh on your FTP client and you should now see your files listed! I also have a video tutorial on how to setup an FTP in Windows 7 Take a look.

XP System Restore

Windows is well-known for having driver and .dll conflicts, as well as all sorts of software that causes problems with your computer. Luckily there’s a System restore feature that can return your computer back to a known working configuration, as long as you’ve created a restore point.

Note that some software installations will create restore points automatically, but you should run it manually before installing any questionable applications. (Or better yet, don’t install questionable applications!)

Turn Off Annoying Windows XP System Beeps

When you spend a lot of time in front of your computer, the annoying beeps start to drive you mad after a while. I really don’t need to be told that I hit the wrong key anymore.
One of the most irritating beeps happens when you use the Volume control… but there are other beeps, such as on error dialogs or when you hit the wrong key.

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