Familiar desktop themes are can be a great comfort to Microsoft Windows XP users. You can copy a unique or particularly creative desktop theme to another computer just by copying the right files. Greg Shultz shows you how easy it is to make the move.
The autorun.inf file can simplify a user’s experience by starting the CD or DVD automatically when the media is placed in the drive, and you don’t need sophisticated software to make it – all you really need is a text editor.
If you’re working with multiple Windows XP disk drives, you can easily create a pie chart to show the amount of free and used space on each drive at the same time — including removable and floppy drives.
To make the task of gathering information on a number of device drivers easier, you can use a native command line tool called Driver Query or you can use a nice little third-party utility called DriverView. Greg Shultz shows you how to gather detailed information on drivers using these two tools.
For some reason, Microsoft decided not to activate the Copy To and Move To menu items in Windows XP Explorer as they did for Send To. This Microsoft Windows Registry hack adds Copy To and Move To to the right-click context menu of Windows Explorer.
Microsoft’s Windows Sysinternals team has developed a lightweight and very dependable virtual desktop manager called Desktops that allows you to create up to four virtual desktops on your computer. Greg Shultz introduces you to Desktops and shows you how it works.
The Check Disk application in Microsoft Windows Vista can sometimes malfunction, causing problems during the boot process. In answer to several TechRepublic member questions, Greg Shultz explores the problems and describes how to permanently fix them.
How much do you really know about Windows XP performance? Test your knowledge in this TechRepublic Quiz and then compare your score with your peers.
One of the notable features available in Packet Analyzer is the ability to create templates. This is a boon to busy network administrators who need to be able to change out filters on the fly and quickly. Jack Wallen shows how to create and use templates in Packet Analyzer.
If the beginner and intermediate level users you support could benefit from a little extra instruction, then you should point them to a new series of Vista demo videos that have been put together by the Windows Vista Product Management team at Microsoft.