Windows Operating System Support for windows XP, Vista Support

This issue could be caused by any of the below possibilities.

    1. Bad software settings.

   2. Corrupt or missing sound drivers.

   3. Compatibility issues with the operating system and/or other hardware.

   4. Speaker related issues.

   5. Bad or missing sound card.

 

Solution:

Verify software volume control settings

First verify you see a small sound icon in the systray (generally at the bottom right hand corner of your screen). If this icon is missing follow the below section.

Windows XP

   1. Open the Control panel

   2. Open the "Sounds and Audio Devices" icon.

   3. Verify the "Place volume icon in the taskbar" checkbox is checked. If this option is      not available or is grayed out, skip to the next section of this document.

   4. If you were able to check this box, click ok and close out of this window and the Control Panel.

   5. Double-click the sound icon in the systray and verify that all the sound volumes are mid-way or higher.

 

Windows 2000

   1. Open the Control panel

   2. Open the "Sounds and Multimedia" icon.

   3. Verify the "Show volume control on the taskbar" checkbox is checked. If this option is not available or is grayed out, skip to the next section of this document.

   4. If you were able to check this box, click ok and close out of this window and the Control Panel.

   5. Double-click the sound icon in the systray and verify that all the sound volumes are mid-way or higher.

 

Windows 95 / 98 / ME

   1. Open the Control panel

   2. Open the "Multimedia" icon.

   3. Check the checkbox for "Show volume control on the taskbar". If this section is grayed out, attempt to change the Playback "Preferred device" by clicking the down arrow and changing to an alternate selection. If that is also grayed out, skip to the next section of this document.

   4. If you were able to check this box, click ok and close out of this window and the Control Panel.

   5. Double-click the sound icon in the systray and verify that all the sound volumes are mid-way or higher.

 

Verify the installed driver settings

   1. Open the Windows Device Manager

   2. Verify there are no conflicts or errors listed anywhere in Device Manager. If conflicts exist skip down to conflicts section.

   3. Verify no other devices are listed. If other devices are listed skip down to other devices section.

   4. Verify that your "Sound, video and game controllers" category is listed, if not skip down to the missing sound card section.

   5. If no conflicts or other devices are listed and your sound card is listed with no conflicts, skip to the next section.

 

Conflicts section

If conflicts exists with your sound card and/or other devices installed in your computer it is likely that either the drivers are not properly installed for that device and/or the sound card and/or other devices are conflicting. If you open the properties of the device that is conflicting and view the properties, additional details about the conflict can be found. Additional information about error codes as well as help with Device Manager can be found on our Device Manager section.

If you are unable to locate additional information about your issue or are unable to resolve the issue, follow the below steps.

   1. Under Sound, Video and game controllers highlight each device and press the delete key to remove the device.

   2. Reboot the computer.

   3. As the computer is booting the system will detect the sound card and any of it’s devices and re-install those devices. If prompted for a location of drivers, try pointing it to your sound card CD and/or your Windows CD. If this does not work or is unable to locate the proper files, you will need to get the latest sound drivers from your sound card manufacturer.

 

Other devices section

If other devices are listed, it is possible that these other devices could be the sound card or other devices conflicting with the sound card. If any other devices are listed it is recommended you remove those devices, reboot the computer and let Windows redetect the devices.

If this does not work, attempt to determine which device is not being detected and resolve that issue first.

 

Missing sound card section.

If you are missing the "Sound, video and game controllers" category in Device Manager, it is likely that the sound card drivers are not installed properly, sound card has been disabled, sound card is bad, or no sound card is available in the computer. First, verify no conflicts or other devices are present in the Device Manager; if these are present it is likely they are the sound card and/or devices causing the sound card not to be detected. Second, verify that the computer has a sound card and/or that the sound card is enabled on the computer.

If this is an on-board sound card you can verify that it is enabled in BIOS setup.

If you have no adapters and/or cannot click the down arrow to select the correct adapter, close out of this Window. In Control Panel double-click the System icon / click the Device Manager tab within Device Manager and ensure there are no yellow ! or red X.

If you have either of these on any of your sound devices, attempt to remove everything under Sound Video game controllers and reboot the computer. If after rebooting the computer you still have the same conflicts, double-click on the conflicting device and refer to our Device Manager error code section giving you additional information on the error code you are experiencing.

Verify speaker connections

Verify the speakers settings and speakers are not at fault by running through speaker troubleshooting steps.

Sound card drivers

If you have followed the above recommendations and you are still unable to get the sound card to work, download and install the latest sound card drivers from the computer or sound card manufacturer. A listing of sound card drivers can be found on our sound card driver page.

Defective hardware

Finally, if all of the above recommendations do not resolve your issue it is likely that either the sound card is physically bad or that the operating system is severely corrupt. We recommend you contact the Windows Operating System Support.

Users looking to Service Pack 3 for Windows XP, as Service Pack 2’s second coming and the perfect reason to avoid Windows Vista SP1, might need to reconsider their plans. The reason is rather simple, despite the fact that it has spent over two months more time in development compared to Vista SP1, while containing only a minor, standard evolution in comparison to SP2, XP SP3 has come to the table with a flood of issues, a wide variety of them impacting the deployment process. There are no less than nine officially documented scenarios in which end users will find it unable to install Windows XP SP3, and even more error messages associated with the problems.

1. The XP SP3 RTM Infinite Reboot Loop

Jesper Johansson was among the first to signal this problem after installing XP SP3 on an AMD-based computer, an operation which lead to: "incessant reboots. The computer booted, apologized for not being able to boot properly, asked if I wanted to boot into safe mode, defaulted to normal boot, rebooted, and so on and so on. At this point, I want to clarify that the endless rebooting is not at all related to SP3 per se. The problem is that with some configurations, SP3 causes the computer to crash during boot, and Windows XP, by default, is set up to automatically reboot when it crashes."

This is by no means an isolated case. In fact, end users have been crowding to the support forum for Windows XP SP3 signaling the very same problem, as well as variations from this issue. Essentially users are presented by a "Stop 0x0000007E" error message, having performed and upgrade to XP SP3 from SP2 on what Microsoft referred to as a non-Intel-processor-based computer.

"After you upgrade a computer that uses a processor other than an Intel processor to Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) or Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), you may receive the following error message after you restart the computer: ‘A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer…Technical information: *** STOP: 0x0000007E (0xC0000005, 0xFC5CCAF3, 0xFC90F8C0, 0xFC90F5C0) SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED’," reads Microsoft’s description of the problem.

According to the Redmond company, not all systems affected by the "Stop 0x0000007E" error message behave the same, or from identical causes. Microsoft already has resources in place designed to help end users troubleshoot a Stop 0x0000007E error in Windows XP, and there are additional causes to implementing Service Pack 3 that may conduct to this scenario. Still, this does not mean that XP SP3 is off the hook.

"Most computers include an image that the manufacturer created by using the System Preparation (Sysprep) tool. Sysprep lets the computer manufacturer generate an image that can be used on different computers. The problem Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) Sysprep image is created on an Intel-processor-based computer and if the Sysprep image is then deployed on a non-Intel-processor-based computer. Under this configuration, after the computer is upgraded to Windows XP SP2 or SP3, the Intel processor driver (Intelppm.sys) may try to load because an orphaned registry key remains from the original Sysprep image," Microsoft said.

But at the same time this is also valid for original XP SP2 and XP SP3 Sysprep images that have been built on an Intel-processor-based machine, only to be subsequently deployed onto computer powered by a processor which is not from Intel. At fault is the same Intelppm.sys driver. Apparently all it takes is a registry tweak in order to resolve the problem. The end users first have to reboot their machine into Safe Mode and then make their way in the registry to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE – SYSTEM – ControlSet001 – Services – Intelppm and then modify the Value data by entering 4 in the box. A restart is necessary for the mitigation to come into effect.

2. 8007F0F4 – STATUS_PREREQUISITE_FAILED

There are no less than six errors for failed Windows XP SP3 installations which produce the with the "8007F0F4 – STATUS_PREREQUISITE_FAILED" log. The six errors have just as many causes, starting with the installation process failing to continue on computers running on battery power. In this case, Microsoft explained that in order to prevent and "update failure because of battery power exhaustion during the installation process," it generated the following error: "this Service Pack requires the machine to be on AC Power before setup starts."

"Service Pack 3 Setup has been canceled because Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit for Windows XP is not compatible with this version of Windows. Before you can continue, you must: 1) Uninstall Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit 2) (Optional) Install Windows SteadyState, the newer version of Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit. For more detailed information, go to the Shared Access page on the Microsoft Web site," is the second of the 8007F0F4 – STATUS_PREREQUISITE_FAILED series of errors, and the message is self explanatory.

As it released the gold bits of XP SP3, Microsoft informed of an incompatibility between the MUI pack for XP SP2 and SP3. The issue affects specifically the Multilingual User Interface Pack (MUI) for the Remote Desktop Connection 6.0 (Terminal Services Client 6.0). "Service Pack 3 Setup has been canceled because Windows XP SP3 cannot be installed over RDP 6.0 MUI PACK).

You also have to keep in mind that Service pack 3 is designed to integrate only with the 32-bit editions of Windows XP, and nothing more. Attempting to deploy SP3 on top of Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs (WinFLP) will result in the following error message: "Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3 cannot be applied to Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs (WinFLP). A unique SP3 update package for WinFLP will be made available at [the Download Center]."

The same is valid for the Embedded for Point of Service (WEPOS) operating system, and users will be informed that "Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3 cannot be applied to Windows Embedded for Point of Service (WEPOS)."

According to the Redmond company: "setup cannot continue because one or more prerequisites required to install Service Pack 3 failed. For More details check the Log File Drive_Letter:windowssvcpack.log" is an error message produced by the installation of Service Pack 3 on top of Windows XP Media Center Edition or over Windows XP Media Center Edition 2003.

3. XP SP3: "Access is denied" or "Service Pack installation did not complete"

The third and final service pack for Windows XP will also fail to deploy if the installation process comes across registry keys that it cannot modify. In such cases, the error messaged presented to the end user reveal that there has been a Service Pack 3 setup error and that "Access is denied" or that "Service Pack installation did not complete."

"You may receive these error messages if permissions for one or more registry keys are restricted in a way that prevents the update of those registry keys," Microsoft informed. "Some programs change the system access control lists (SACL) in the Registry so that administrator accounts cannot alter them. The service pack installer runs under the user (admin) account and not under the SYSTEM account. Failure to update a registry key causes the Setup program to fail."

4. You do not have enough free disk space on %SystemDrive% to archive the uninstall files

This is without a doubt the most easily solvable problem relates to the installation of XP SP3 RTM. The error message "Service Pack 3 Setup Error - You do not have enough free disk space on %SystemDrive% to archive the uninstall files," is of course related to a scenario where there is insufficient disk space available for the archiving of the uninstall files. XP SP3 will not go ahead with the deployment because without the uninstall files end users will not be able to remove the service pack.

5. "You do not have enough free disk space on %SystemDrive% to install Service Pack 3"

"Service Pack 3 Setup Error - You do not have enough free disk space on %SystemDrive% to install Service Pack 3," is designed to alert the end user that XP will not deploy due to the lack of space on the installation drive.

6. Intel processor-based Apple computers can also run "Out of Disk Space"

it’s not only PCs that are affected by insufficient disk space problems, but also Apple Mac machines. According to Microsoft, Mac Pro, Mac Mini, MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and iMac computers with Intel processors running XP SP2 may spit of the "Out of Disk Space" error message when the user will attempt to install Service Pack 3. "This problem occurs because a critical registry key (BootDir) is missing. This registry key is not created when Windows XP SP2 is installed by using Boot Camp on the Apple computers. "Apple has released an update to Boot Camp [version 2.1]. This update addresses issues and improves compatibility with Windows XP and with Windows Vista when these products are running on an Apple computer that uses Boot Camp.

7. Setup has detected that another update is in progress

The "Setup has detected that another update is in progress. Please complete that installation or removal and try again" error message will be generated if Service Pack 3 for XP is installed concomitantly with Automatic Updates running the Update.exe file. "The Update.exe file runs the Windows XP SP3 installation. The Update.exe file does not let multiple instances of itself to run at the same time on the same computer. Most of the security updates and service packs that are released by Microsoft run the Update.exe file.

8. "Service Pack 3 installation did not complete" and "An internal error occurred"

"Service Pack 3 installation did not complete" is just a part of the error message produced by unsuccessful installations of Windows XP. Clicking OK will inform the end user that "an internal error occurred." This issue is also connected with a faulty registry. "The errors can occur because of files that are not trusted or because of corrupted registry keys.

9. Windows Update Failed Installations

Microsoft continuously advices end users to turn to Windows Update as the preferred way to upgrade to Windows XP Service Pack 3. The WU infrastructure is designed to serve specific Windows operating systems with the exact updates tailored to them, rather than with generic downloads. But this is not a guarantee that the introduction of XP SP3 will go smooth always. Case in point: failed installations that generate the following error code in the logs: 0x80246007.

For all the problems mentioned above you can approach here Computer Support for technical troubleshoot  and get along with your SP3 Installation

Hi Friends.. After seeing your warm response for the blog and for the particular section of windows xp tips and tweaks which generated the most traffic for the blog as made a concern for me that i should come with some thing additional on that part…

So, here it is you might have  come through some of them and some may be a new island to explore around So enjoy and have happy computing..

 

Windows command prompt

The Microsoft Windows command prompt is an invaluable tool that can be used in conjunction with Windows. Below are some helpful shortcuts and tips that can be used to improve your abilities while in the command prompt.

 

   1. Press the up arrow key to scroll through all previously typed commands at the prompt. This is helpful when you need to type long commands in more than once.

   2. Pres the tab key to auto-complete the names of directories or files. For example, at C:\ type: "cd wi", press tab and the command prompt should complete WINDOWS as the name of the directory.

   3. Familiarize yourself with the top MS-DOS commands and each of their available switches.

 

Windows Selective Startup

Improve overall system performance and boot time and get rid of programs you don’t want running in the background by choosing to do a Selective Startup in msconfig.

 

   1. Click Start, Run and type: msconfig and press enter.

   2. In the System Configuration Utility click the Startup tab.

   3. Uncheck programs you do not wish to load each time your computer starts. Once done click ok and restart the computer. After the computer boots back into Windows you will receive a prompt about Windows being in a selective startup. Check the box to not receive the prompt and click ok.

 

Saving Windows XP and later searches

Save your frequent Windows XP and later version searches for future use by following the below steps.

   1. Open the search and enter the search queries you wish to save. For example, you could save a search to find any remix mp3 files by entering: *remix*.mp3 in the all or part of name box.

   2. Once the values have been entered test the search and allow you to save the search.

   3. In the Search Results window click File and then Save Search.

   4. Finally, browse to the location you wish for this file to be saved and name the file with a .fnd extension.

 

After completing these steps you’ll be able to quickly perform a search by simply double-clicking the file.

 

Display hibernate option in XPs

When shutting down or turning off the computer you’ll get three options:

Standby, Turn Off, and Restart.

 
For users who wish to hibernate their computer you can easily display this option by holding down the Shift key on the keyboard.

 

Quickly move files or other objects to the Desktop

Quickly drag one or more files to the Windows Desktop with other open windows by dragging and holding the files over an empty portion of the Windows Taskbar. If done properly all open windows should minimize and allow you to place the files or other objects on the Desktop.

 

Quickly get to the Windows Desktop

Quickly get to the Microsoft Windows Desktop by pressing the Windows key and D at the same time on the keyboard.

 

Run a web page

Get to a web page quickly in Windows when no browser window is open by typing the web address in the run line. For example, click Start, Run and in the Run Open box type: http://www.iyogi.net and press enter to quickly get to the Computer Support page of iYogi.

Windows XP is a Microsoft designed operating system for use on computers, including media centers, home and business desktops. The letters ‘XP’ in the acronym stand for ‘experience’. Windows XP has predecessors like Windows 2000 Professional and Windows Me. Windows XP enjoys greater efficiency and permanence over the Windows in the 9x series. As a Microsoft operating system, Windows XP has presented itself as a robust file system and shown improved performance (provided the user has enough RAM), thereby standing for a worthwhile upgrade from the 9x series. Outlined below is the match up between Windows XP and 9x Series in the following areas:

Security Features: The advanced security features in Windows XP provide excellent protection for most sensitive files from virus attacks, Internet hackers, unauthorized use, and data loss. Such exclusive features are not present in any of Windows 9x versions.

Stability: A task based design of Windows XP helps in an effective management of files, folders, and other applications. On the other hand, 9x series do not offer ease-of-use features. Windows XP is based on the industrial-strength NT operating system, which became Windows 2000. It has ‘Remote Assistance’ which allows another user to log into computer and take its control to resolve problems.

Other Exclusive Features: Windows XP is an improvised version which has extensive multimedia support that allows viewing images as thumbnails from the Internet Explorer. The user can load images directly from a digital camera without using any software. Most tech savvys nowadays are narrowing down for Windows Support available online to make their Windows XP run faster.

• Time to Time Virus and Malware Cleaning: Virus can badly affect the way your computer functions. This makes it important to scan the system for spyware, adware, and other unwanted malware. Regular scanning helps the Windows operating system run faster.

• Removing Unnecessary Software: Storing a bunch of software packages on hard drive can bog down your operating system. Some of them are self-installed at the time of downloading. The general examples are toolbars, file sharing programs, free email enhancers, and online shopping. They can affect start-up time of Windows. Get the things back in shape by removing the software that you don’t need.

• Applying Window Updates: Running Windows Update helps Windows operating system to be free of any defects that circumvent the security of the computer. Always stay up-to-date with the system patches in response to the privacy and security exploits.

Q: What is Service Pack 3?

A: Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) is the final Windows XP service pack, a collection of previously-released fixes and product enhancements, as well as a few new features that are unique to this release.

Q: Does SP3 include everything from SP1 and SP2 or do I need to install those first?

A: Though XP SP3 aggregates all of the previously-released XP fixes, Microsoft now says that you will need to install at least SP1 on XP before installing SP3. The company recommends installing SP2 first as well, though that is not required.

Q: What versions of Windows XP will work with SP3?

A: You can apply Service Pack 3 to Windows XP Home Edition, Professional Edition, Tablet PC Edition (any version), or Media Center Edition (any version).

Q: What about Windows XP Professional x64 Edition?

A: SP3 does not apply to the x64 version of Windows XP. Instead, that operating system is updated via service packs aimed at Windows Server 2003. The latest Windows 2003 service pack is SP2.

Q: Windows XP SP2 was released over three years ago. Why the delay on SP3?

A: While Microsoft is an enormous company with over 77,000 employees worldwide and over $50 billion in annual revenues, its organizational structure actually constrains which products are actively developed in some cases. For example, while a large team of developers, product managers, and program managers are involved during the ramp-up to any major OS release, Microsoft then pushes the product into its support organization for follow-up development in the form of hot-fixes, service packs, and so on. Other teams work on out-of-band updates that are typically shipped via the Web and, eventually, a new or existing team is constituted to work on the next major release and the entire process begins anew.

With Windows XP, however, Microsoft was forced to temporarily halt development on XP’s successor, Windows Vista, in order to complete XP SP2. That’s because this release, though provided to customers for free as a typical service pack, was in fact a major OS upgrade and was developed outside of the company’s support structure, a first for any service pack release. After XP SP2 was completed, the people involved with that project moved onto other things, typically Vista or Windows Server 2008.

In the case of Windows XP SP3, Microsoft simply dedicated every available employee it could to completing Windows Vista, which by that time was years behind schedule. So it’s only been since the beginning of this year that anyone turned their attention back to XP’s next and neglected service pack.

Q: What are these new features I keep hearing about?

A: Windows XP Service Pack 3 will not include any major new features, but it will include four minor new features that improve the system’s reliability and security. Contrary to reports, Microsoft has been very up-front about these functional additions for quite some time now.

These new features include:

Network Access Protection compatibility. Announced years ago, this feature allows Windows XP machines to interact with the NAP feature in Windows Server 2008. This functionality is built into the RTM version of Windows Vista as well.

Product Key-less install option. As with Windows Vista, new XP with SP3 installs can proceed without entering a product key during Setup.

Kernel Mode Cryptographics Module. A new kernel module that "encapsulates several different cryptographic algorithms," according to Microsoft.

"Black hole" router detection algorithm. XP gains the ability to ignore network routers that incorrectly drop certain kinds of network packets. This, too, is a feature of Windows Vista.

And that’s about it. Nothing dramatic, as promised.

Q: That’s it? Is there anything else?

Nothing major. Some features have actually been removed, like the taskbar-based Address Bar option.

Q: Why is Microsoft even bothering to release this update? Isn’t everyone moving to Microsoft Windows Vista?

A: Given the relative security, stability, and reliability of XP with SP2, and the subsequent release of Vista, XP SP3 may seem like a pointless update, but nothing could be further from the truth. Many businesses will roll out new XP-based PCs in the coming years, and as anyone who’s had to update an XP SP2 system can tell you, the 100+ updates that Microsoft has shipped since SP2 can be a nightmare to deploy. If you’re already running XP and have been regularly updating your systems all along, the release of XP SP3 will be a minor event. But if you have planned XP deployments in the future, look very carefully at this release and consider it the baseline for your next generation of PCs. Or, you could always consider Vista, which will of course be updated with genuine new features far longer than will XP.

Q: When will Microsoft ship XP SP3?

A: Microsoft finalized Windows XP Service Pack 3 on April 21, 2008 and will release it publicly to the Web on April 29, 2008.

Here’s the complete Windows XP SP3 release schedule:

RTM (release to manufacturing): April 21
Windows Update (optional update): April 29
Microsoft Download Center: April 29
MSDN/TechNet download: May 2
Windows XP SP3 fulfillment media (CD-based): May 19
Volume license customers download: June 1
Windows Update/Automatic Updates: June 10

source @ http://www.cubed3.com/topic/30935

Here are some of the tips for experiensing a better XP performance through some of the tips to get along with:

Reach Run quickly
Here’s a quicker way to reach the Run dialog box, if you don’t want to go through the Start menu. Just hit the Windows key + R.

Looking for a better screen font display?
Enable ClearType, Microsoft’s trademark font display technology, for a drastic improvement in screen font rendering. Right-click anywhere on your desktop. Now select Properties. Under the Appearance tab, click Effects. Check the box for Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts, and in the drop-down menu, select ClearType. Press OK, and apply the change.

Change your mouse pointer scheme
Bored of the same old arrow? To change your mouse pointer scheme, in the Control Panel, select Mouse and go to the Pointers tab. Scroll through the available schemes, pick one that you like and click Apply.

Check that your Windows Firewall Setup is turned on
To make sure your Windows Firewall hasn’t been accidentally disabled, go to your Control Panel and click Windows Firewall. Make sure the radio button for On (recommended) is selected. Add exceptions to your Firewall by going to the Exceptions tab and adding the programs that you think should have access to the Internet to the list of exceptions.

Instantly activate your screensaver
In XP, you can put a short cut of your favourite screensaver on your desktop to instantly start your screen saver. Here’s how. Go to Start on your desktop and click on Search. In the help box, click on All files and folders. and then type in *.scr. Select your screen saver file and right click. Then select Send To, and then Desktop.

Put your Monitor to sleep
Right click on the desktop and click on Properties. In the dialog box that appears, click on the Screen Saver tab. Click on Power and in the dialog box that appears click on the Turn off Monitor list.  Select a time to automatically after which the monitor will be turned off. Click OK twice and you’re set.  
 
Using your Windows Key
Your Windows key can be used to for many short cuts. If you want to open your Windows Explorer quickly just press your Windows key and E. If you want to open the Run dialog box, just press the Windows key and R. If you want to open your search dialog box, press your Windows key and F.

Instantly lock your PC
If you have password protected your Windows, here is a quick way to lock it. Press the Windows key and L together.

Change the look of folder icons
If you don’t like the look of the folder icons on your desktop, you can change them. Right click on the folder, select Properties. Click on the Customize tab, and under the Folder icons area, click on the Change Icons button. Select the icon of your choice and select OK.

Minimize a Window to your taskbar
If you’re tired of using the mouse over and over again to minimize a window, here’s a handy tip. To minimize a window using just the keyboard, press Alt, Spacebar and N together. 

Display album art in your music folder thumbnails
If your music files are in WMA format, XP automatically picks up the album art and displays it, both in the folder thumbnail as well as in the Windows Media Player display. If your files are in MP3 format, you can download the album art from the Internet and then customize each folder to display it. But this takes a lot of time. A faster way around is to save each image as ‘folder.jpg’ and put it in the correct folder. Once you do this, XP will pick up that image and use it as the thumbnail for the folder, and also use the image to display in Windows Media Player while playing songs from the album.

How to stop Windows Media Player from accessing your information
You may be uncomfortable with the idea of Windows Media Player collecting your information and sending it to various websites. You can stop this. Go to the Tools menu of Windows Media Player. Select Options and then go to the Player tab. Look for the check box that says "Allow Internet sites to uniquely identify your player?" and make sure it is not selected.

Opening folders with a single click
If you’d rather not have to double-click everything to open it, here’s the way out. Go to My Computer, and select Options in the Tools menu. Choose Folder options. In the dialog box that opens, select the check box that says ‘Single-click to open an item (point to select)’, and click OK.

Making web pages available offline
You may occasionally need to refer to a website, and you may not be able to connect to the Internet at the time. An easy way out of the situation is to go to the Favourites tab in Internet Explorer, and click Add to Favourites. In the dialog box that is displayed, select the Make available offline check box, and press OK.

Windows XP has a lot of new cool looking visual elements, however, those new elements take up more RAM and cause your computer to be less responsive. By tweaking your graphics settings, you can increase the performance of your computer.

To get started, Let’s reduce the color quality.  This setting determines how many colors are displayed on your screen. 

1. Right click on your desktop and select properties.
2. Click on the settings tab and adjust the color quality drop down box to Medium (16 Bit).
3. Click OK.

Next, let’s use the windows performance settings to optimize your computer for performance.  This will revert back to the old Windows 2000 look as well as take away a lot of the fancy graphics effects.  However, if you are really into performance, this is the price you have to pay.

1. Right click on the My Computer icon on your desktop or in your start panel and select properties.
2. Next, Click on the Advanced tab and hit the setting button under performance.
3. On the visual effects tab, select Adjust for Best Performance and hit OK.
4. Hit OK once more to exit system properties.

Now your computer will run slightly faster!

 Also you can available the services to tweak your computer at Online XP Support

Two weeks after it last handed a new build of Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) to several thousand invitation-only testers, Microsoft Corp. today posted that version for public downloading.

"We’re broadening the availability of the release candidate in order to receive further user feedback prior to the release of Windows XP SP3," a company spokeswoman said in an e-mail Tuesday afternoon. "Windows XP SP3 RC2 was made publicly available on 26^th Feb" On Feb. 7, Microsoft seeded Release Candidate 2 (RC2) with the 15,000 or so testers who had been working with SP3 for several months. At that time, the company said nothing about taking the version public.

Be there we will take the review in next post regarding Microsoft Windows XP SP3 RC2 Release 

Does your PC seem a bit sluggish these days? Take the following steps to give Perform PC Health Check for your computer a boost in speed.

Block malware and spyware by making sure you’re totally up to date with Microsoft’s system patches. To ensure you have the latest fixes installed on your computer, open Internet Explorer, then choose Tools > Windows Update.

Let Windows manage your Virtual Memory. In your Control Panel, choose System, then Advanced, then click the Settings button under Performance. Click Advanced once more, then click the Change button under Virtual Memory. Make sure System Managed Size is selected and you’re good to go.

The Complete process has been depicted in the Fig 1 below with the arrows for the way to approach.

Fig 1

Clean up your hard disk and then defrag defrag defrag. Honestly, when was the last time you defragmented, eh? Here’s what you need to do. Next time you leave your computer for the night or right before you leave work at the end of the day, open up My Computer, click on the C:Drive icon,

                                                                                               Fig 2

choose Properties, as shown in Fig 2 above

then Tools. As shown in Fig 3

                                                                 Fig 3

 

Go ahead and click the Check Now button and then,

when the scan is complete, click the Defragment Now button. Ok, and don’t forget to close all your programs and disable your screen saver first, and make sure you give the process plenty of time to complete. It can take a few hours.

When Windows XP detects a problem from which it cannot recover, it displays Stop messages. These are text-mode error messages that report information about the condition.

Stop messages, sometimes referred to as blue screens (BSoD), contain specific information that can help you diagnose and possibly resolve the problem detected by the Windows kernel.

This list describes these messages and helps you understand and interpret them.

This list is NOT exhaustive or meant to resolve EVERY error.
This list of messages is a guide to individual messages and their possible causes and resolutions… Having a basic understanding of these error messages enables you to communicate with your technical support professional more effectively too.

With all these Stop messages, you can pretty much assume someone else has encountered the problem before you. That is why tying in the error message into www.google.com , posting a notice for help on a relevant newsgroup and entering the stop code into the "Microsoft Knowledge Base" can yield help just when you need it!

Here is the (long) list:

Stop 0x0000000A or IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

The Stop 0xA message indicates that a kernel-mode process or driver attempted to access a memory location to which it did not have permission, or at a kernel interrupt request level (IRQL) that was too high. A kernel-mode process can access only other processes that have an IRQL lower than, or equal to, its own. This Stop message is typically due to faulty or incompatible hardware or software.

Possible Resolutions:

• A Stop 0xA message might occur after installing a faulty device driver, system service, or firmware. If a Stop message lists a driver by name, disable, remove, or roll back the driver to correct the problem. If disabling or removing drivers resolves the issues, contact the manufacturer about a possible update. Using updated software is especially important for multimedia applications, antivirus scanners, and CD mastering tools.

• A Stop 0xA message might also be due to failing or defective hardware. If a Stop message points to a category of devices (video or disk adapters, for example), try removing or replacing the hardware to determine if it is causing the problem.

• If you encounter a Stop 0xA message while upgrading to Windows XPl, the problem might be due to an incompatible driver, system service, virus scanner, or backup. To avoid problems while upgrading, simplify your hardware configuration and remove all third-party device drivers and system services (including virus scanners) prior to running setup. After you have successfully installed Windows XP, contact the hardware manufacturer to obtain compatible updates.

Stop 0x0000001E or KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED

The Stop 0x1E message indicates that the Windows XP kernel detected an illegal or unknown processor instruction. The problems that cause Stop 0x1E messages share similarities with those that generate Stop 0xA errors in that they can be due to invalid memory and access violations. This default Windows XP error handler typically intercepts these problems if error-handling routines are not present in the code itself.

Possible Resolutions:

• Stop 0x1E messages typically occur after installing faulty drivers or system services, or they can indicate hardware problems, such as memory and IRQ conflicts. If a Stop message lists a driver by name, disable, remove, or roll it back to correct the problem. If disabling or removing applications and drivers resolves the issue, contact the hardware manufacturer about a possible update. Using updated software is especially important for multimedia applications, antivirus scanners, and CD mastering tools.

• If the Stop message mentions the file Win32k.sys, the source of the error might be a third-party "remote control" program. If such software is installed, you might be able to disable it by starting the system in safe mode. If not, use Recovery Console to manually delete the system service file that is causing the problem.

• Problems can result from system firmware incompatibilities. Many Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) issues can be resolved by updating to the latest firmware.

• Other possible causes include insufficient disk space while installing applications or performing certain functions that require more memory. You can free up space by deleting unneeded files. Use Disk Cleanup to increase available disk space. From Recovery Console, remove temporary files (those with .tmp file extensions), Internet cache files, application backup files, and .tmp files generated by Chkdsk.exe or Autochk.exe. You can also choose to install additional applications to another hard disk with more free space or move data files, paging files, and so on.

• The problem might be due to a memory leak caused by an application or service that is not releasing memory correctly. Poolmon (Poolmon.exe) helps you to isolate the components that are causing kernel memory leaks. For more information about troubleshooting memory leaks, see Microsoft Knowledgebase articles Q177415, "How to Use Poolmon to Troubleshoot Kernel Mode Memory Leaks," and Q298102, "Finding Pool Tags Used by Third Party Files Without Using the Debugger."

Stop 0x00000024 or NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM

The Stop 0x24 message indicates that a problem occurred within Ntfs.sys, the driver file that allows the system to read and write to NTFS file system drives. A similar Stop message, 0x23, exists for the file allocation table (FAT16 or FAT32) file systems.

Possible Resolutions:

• Malfunctioning SCSI and Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) hardware or drivers can also adversely affect the system’s ability to read and write to disk, causing errors. If using SCSI hard disks, check for cabling and termination problems between the SCSI controller and the disks. Periodically check Event Viewer for error messages related to SCSI or FASTFAT in the System log or Autochk in the Application log.

• Verify that the tools you use to continually monitor your system, such as virus scanners, backup programs, or disk defragmenters are compatible with Windows XP. Some disks and adapters come packaged with diagnostic software that you can use to run hardware tests.
To test hard disk or volume integrity

Method 1:

1. In the Run dialog box, in the Open box type:
cmd

2. Start the Chkdsk tool, which detects and attempts to resolve file system structural corruption. At the command prompt type:
chkdsk drive: /f

Method 2:

1. Double-click My Computer, and then select the hard disk you want to check.
2. On the File menu, click Properties.
3. Click the Tools tab.
4. In the Error-checking box, click Check Now.
5. In Check disk options, select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box. You can also select the Automatically fix file system errors check box.

If the volume you are checking is in use, a message asks whether you want to delay disk error checking until the next time you restart your computer. After you restart, disk error checking runs and the volume chosen is not available to run other tasks during this process. If you cannot restart the computer due to the error, use safe mode or Recovery Console.

If you are not using the NTFS file system, and the system partition is formatted with the file allocation table (FAT16 or FAT32) file system, long file name (LFN) information can be lost if hard disk tools are started from an MS-DOS command prompt. A command prompt appears when using a startup floppy disk or when using the command prompt startup option on multiple boot systems that use FAT16 or FAT32 partitions with Microsoft® Windows® 95 OEM Service Release 2 (OSR2), Microsoft® Windows® 98, or Microsoft® Windows® Millennium Edition (Me) installed. Do not use tools meant for other operating systems on Windows XP partitions!

• Nonpaged pool memory might be depleted, which can cause the system to stop. You can resolve this situation by adding more RAM, which increases the quantity of nonpaged pool memory available to the kernel.

Stop 0x0000002E or DATA_BUS_ERROR

The Stop 0x2E message indicates a system memory parity error. The cause is typically failed or defective RAM (including motherboard, Level 2 cache, or video memory), incompatible or mismatched memory hardware, or when a device driver attempts to access an address in the 0x8xxxxxxx range that does not exist (does not map to a physical address). A Stop 0x2E message can also indicate hard disk damage caused by viruses or other problems.

Possible Resolutions:

• Stop 0x2E is typically due to defective, malfunctioning, or failed memory hardware, such as memory modules, Level 2 (L2) SRAM cache, or video adapter RAM. If you added new hardware recently, remove and replace it to determine if it is causing or contributing to the problem. Run diagnostics software supplied by the system manufacturer to determine if the component has failed.

• Stop 0x2E messages can also occur after installing faulty drivers or system services. If a file name is given, you need to disable, remove, or roll back that driver. Disable the service or application and confirm that this resolves the error. If so, contact the hardware manufacturer about a possible update. Using updated software is especially important for backup programs, multimedia applications, antivirus scanners, and CD mastering tools.

• Hard disk corruption can also cause this Stop message.

• The problem might also be due to cracks, scratched traces, or defective components on the motherboard. If all else fails, take the system motherboard to a repair facility for diagnostic testing.

Stop 0x0000003F or NO_MORE_SYSTEM_PTES

The Stop 0x3F message indicates one or more of the following problems:

• The system Page Table Entries (PTEs) are depleted or fragmented due to the system performing a large number of input/output (I/O) actions.

• A faulty device driver is not managing memory properly.

• An application, such as a backup program, is improperly allocating large amounts of kernel memory.

Possible Resolutions:

• Stop 0x3F messages can occur after installing faulty drivers or system services. If a file name is given, you need to disable, remove, or roll back that driver. Disable the service or application and confirm that this resolves the error. If so, contact the hardware manufacturer about a possible update. Using updated software is especially important for backup programs, multimedia applications, antivirus scanners, and CD mastering tools.

• The system might not actually be out of PTEs, but a contiguous memory block of sufficient size is not available to satisfy a driver or application request. Check for the availability of updated driver or application files and consult the hardware or program documentation for minimum system requirements.

• Another cause is excessive demands for system PTE by applications. This situation is more common in server environments. Windows XP Professional provides a registry entry, SystemPages, that you can use to increase the number of PTEs allocated.
Caution

o Do not edit the registry unless you have no alternative. The registry editor bypasses standard safeguards, allowing settings that can damage your system, or even require you to reinstall Windows. If you must edit the registry, back it up first…

To increase the number of PTEs allocated in the registry
1. In the Run dialog box, and in the Open box, type: regedit

2. In the registry editor, navigate to the subkey HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\
Session Manager\Memory Management.

3. Double-click on PagedPoolSize and SystemPages to view the value for each entry.

4. If PagedPoolSize is not zero, assign a value of 0.

5. If SystemPages is not zero, assign a value of 40000 for systems with 128 MB (or less) of memory, or 110000 for systems with 128 MB to 256 MB of memory. For systems with more memory, do not increase the SystemPages value above 110000 without contacting Microsoft technical support.

6. Click OK, and then close the registry editor.

7. Restart your computer.

Stop 0x00000050 or PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

The Stop 0x50 message indicates that requested data was not in memory. The system generates an exception error when using a reference to an invalid system memory address. Defective memory (including main memory, L2 RAM cache, video RAM) or incompatible software (including remote control and antivirus software) might cause Stop 0x50 messages.

Possible Resolutions:

• If you added new hardware recently, remove and replace the hardware to determine if it is causing or contributing to the problem. Run diagnostics software supplied by the hardware manufacturer to determine if the component has failed.

• Stop 0x50 messages can also occur after installing faulty drivers or system services. If the file name is listed, you need to disable, remove, or roll back that driver. If not, disable the recently installed service or application to determine if this resolves the error. If this does not resolve the problem, contact the hardware manufacturer for updates. Using updated drivers and software is especially important for network interface cards, video adapters, backup programs, multimedia applications, antivirus scanners, and CD mastering tools. If an updated driver is not available, attempt to use a driver from a similar device in the same family. For example, if printing to a Model 1100C printer causes Stop 0x50 errors, using a printer driver meant for a Model 1100A or Model 1000 might temporarily resolve the problem.

Stop 0x00000077 or KERNEL_STACK_INPAGE_ERROR

The Stop 0x77 message indicates that a page of kernel data requested from the paging (virtual memory) file could not be found or read into memory. This Stop message can also indicate disk hardware failure, disk data corruption, or possible virus infection.
Possible Resolutions:

• Stop 0x77 messages can be caused by bad sectors in the virtual memory paging file or a disk controller error. In extremely rare cases, depleted nonpaged pool resources can cause this error. If the first and third parameters are zero, the stack signature in the kernel stack is missing, which is an error typically caused by defective hardware. If the I/O status is 0xC0000185 and the paging file is on a SCSI disk, check for cabling and termination issues. An I/O status code of 0xC000009C or 0xC000016A indicates that the requested data could not be found. You can try to correct this by restarting the computer. If a problem with disk integrity exists, Autochk, a program that attempts to mark bad disk sectors as defective so that they are not used in the future, starts automatically. If Autochk fails to run, you can manually perform the integrity check yourself by following the instructions to run Chkdsk provided in "Stop 0x00000024 or NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM" earlier in this list.

• Another cause of Stop 0x77 messages is defective, malfunctioning, or failed memory hardware, such as memory modules, Level 2 (L2) SRAM cache, or video adapter RAM. If you added new hardware recently, remove and replace it to determine if it is causing or contributing to the problem. Run diagnostics software supplied by the system manufacturer to determine if the component has failed.

• The problem might also be due to cracks, scratched traces, or defective components on the motherboard. If all else fails, take the system motherboard to a repair facility for diagnostic testing.

• Problems that cause Stop 0x77 messages can also cause Stop 0x7A messages. For more information about Stop 0x7A messages, see "Stop 0x0000007A or KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR" later in this list.

Stop 0x00000079 or MISMATCHED_HAL

The Stop 0x79 message indicates that the hardware abstraction layer (HAL) and the kernel type for the computer do not match. This error most often occurs when ACPI firmware settings are changed. For example, you might install Windows XP on an x86-based computer with the firmware ACPI enable option enabled and later decide to disable it. This error can also result when mismatched single and multi-processor configuration files are copied to the system.

Possible Resolutions:

• A Stop 0x79 message occurs when the system is using out-of-date Ntoskrnl.exe or Hal.dll files. This can occur after manual repairs that involve copying incorrect files to the system. This error also occurs when using mismatched files, such as copying a multiprocessor HAL on to a system using a single-processor kernel (or vice versa). The kernel and HAL files for single-processor and multiprocessor systems are stored on the Windows XP Professional operating system CD using two different file names. For example, the single and multi-processor versions of the kernel, named Ntoskrnl.exe and Ntkrnlmp.exe respectively. Setup copies either Ntoskrnl.exe or Ntkrnlmp.exe to your system as Ntoskrnl.exe. In Recovery Console, you can use the Copy command to copy the correct HAL or kernel files from the CD to the appropriate folder on the hard disk.

• If you experience Stop 0x79 messages after changing firmware settings, restore the original settings used during Windows XP Professional Setup.

Because systems that use the ACPI HAL ignore IRQ assignments stored in firmware, you can only manually change IRQ settings for non-ACPI (Standard PC HAL) systems. Some x86-based provide the option to toggle ACPI functionality. To disable or re-enable ACPI, you must change firmware settings and reinstall Windows XP. Because of the numerous registry and system file changes required, you must run Setup again (an upgrade installation does not work).

Stop 0x0000007A or KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR

The Stop 0x7A message indicates that a page of kernel data was not found in the paging (virtual memory) file and could not be read into memory. This might be due to incompatible disk or controller drivers, firmware, or hardware.

Frequently, the cause of this error can be determined from the second parameter, the I/O status code. Some common status codes are:

• 0xC000009A, or STATUS_INSUFFICIENT_RESOURCES, indicates a lack of nonpaged pool resources.

• 0xC000009C, or STATUS_DEVICE_DATA_ERROR, indicates bad blocks (sectors) on the hard disk.

• 0xC000009D, or STATUS_DEVICE_NOT_CONNECTED, indicates defective or loose data or power cables, a problem with SCSI termination, or improper controller or disk configuration.

• 0xC000016A, or STATUS_DISK_OPERATION_FAILED, indicates bad blocks (sectors) on the hard disk.

• 0xC0000185, or STATUS_IO_DEVICE_ERROR, indicates improper termination, defective storage controller hardware, or defective disk cabling, or two devices attempting to use the same resources.

Possible Resolutions:

• Stop 0x7A can be caused by bad sectors in the virtual memory paging file, disk controller error, virus infection, or memory hardware problems. In extremely rare cases, depleted nonpaged pool resources can cause this error. If the first and third parameters are zero, the stack signature in the kernel stack is missing, an error typically caused by defective hardware. If the I/O status is 0xC0000185 and the paging file is on a SCSI disk, check for cabling and termination issues. An I/O status code of 0xC000009C or 0xC000016A indicates that the requested data could not be found. You can try to correct this by restarting the computer. If a problem with disk integrity exists, Autochk, a program that attempts to mark bad disk sectors as defective so that they are not used in the future, starts automatically. If Autochk fails to run, you can manually perform the integrity check yourself by following the instructions to run Chkdsk provided in "Stop 0x00000024 or NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM" earlier in this appendix.

• Another cause of Stop 0x7A messages is defective, malfunctioning, or failed memory hardware, such as memory modules, Level 2 (L2) SRAM cache, or video adapter RAM. If you added new hardware recently, remove and replace it to determine if it is causing or contributing to the problem. Run diagnostics software supplied by the system manufacturer to determine if the component has failed.

• Check the hardware manufacturer’s Web site for updates to disk adapter firmware or drivers that improve compatibility. Verify that your disks and controller support the same set of advanced features, such as higher transfer rates. If necessary, select a slower transfer rate if an update is not yet available. Consult your hardware or device documentation for more information.

IMPORTANT
o You can install disk controller drivers not present on the Windows XP Professional operating system CD by responding to the following prompt shortly after starting Setup:

o Press F6 if you need to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver.

o Press F6, and when prompted, provide the appropriate storage controller driver (ATA or SCSI) supplied by the manufacturer.

• The problem might also be due to cracks, scratched traces, or defective components on the motherboard. If all else fails, take the system motherboard to a repair facility for diagnostic testing.

• Problems that cause Stop 0x7A messages can also cause Stop 0x77 messages. For more information about Stop 0x77 messages, see "Stop 0x00000077 or KERNEL_STACK_INPAGE_ERROR" earlier in this list.

Stop 0x0000007B or INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE

The Stop 0x7B message indicates that Windows XP has lost access to the system partition or boot volume during the startup process. Installing incorrect device drivers when installing or upgrading storage adapter hardware typically causes stop 0x7B errors. Stop 0x7B errors could also indicate possible virus infection.

The second parameter is very important because it can indicate whether the 0x7B Stop message was caused by file system issues or problems with storage hardware and drivers. Values of 0xC000034 or 0xC000000E typically indicate:

• Disks or storage controllers that are failing, defective, or improperly configured.

• Storage-related drivers or programs (tape management software, for example) that are not fully compatible with Windows XP Professional.

Possible Resolutions:

• During I/O system initialization, the controller or driver for the startup device (typically the hard disk) might have failed to initialize the necessary hardware. File system initialization might have failed because of disk or controller failure, or because the file system did not recognize the data on the boot device.

• Repartitioning disks, adding new disks, or upgrading to a new disk controller might cause the information in the Boot.ini file, or Boot Manager, to become outdated. If this Stop message occurs after installing new disks to your system, edit the Boot.ini file or adjust the Boot Manager parameters to allow the system to start. If the error occurs after upgrading the disk controller, verify that the new hardware is functioning and correctly configured.

• Verify that the system firmware and disk controller BIOS settings are correct and that the storage device was properly installed. If you are unsure, consult your computer’s documentation about restoring default firmware settings or configuring your system to auto-detect settings. If the error occurs during Windows XP Professional setup, the problem might be due to unsupported disk controller hardware. In some cases, drivers for new hardware are not in the Windows XP Professional Driver.cab library, and you need to provide additional drivers to complete the Windows XP setup successfully. If this is the case, follow the hardware manufacturer’s instructions when installing drivers. Periodically check for driver and firmware updates.

• Hard disk corruption can also cause this Stop message. For more information about checking hard disk integrity, see the instructions provided in "Stop 0x00000024 or NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM" earlier in this list.

• Problems that cause 0x7B errors might also cause Stop 0xED errors. For more information about 0xED Stop messages, see "Stop 0x0000007B or INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE" later in this list.

Stop 0x0000007F or UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP

The Stop 0x7F message indicates that one of three types of problems occurred in kernel-mode:

• A condition that the kernel is not allowed to have or intercept (also known as a bound trap).

• Software problems.

• Hardware failures.

Possible Resolutions:

• Stop 0x7F messages are typically due to defective, malfunctioning, or failed memory hardware. If you added new hardware recently, remove and replace it to determine if it is causing or contributing to the problem. Run diagnostics software supplied by the system manufacturer to determine if the component has failed.

• Running the CPU beyond the rated specification, known as "overclocking," can cause Stop 0x7F or other error messages due to heat buildup. When diagnosing problems on overclocked systems, first restore all clock and bus speed settings to the manufacturer recommended values to determine if this resolves the issues.

• The problem might also be due to cracks, scratched traces, or defective components on the motherboard. If all else fails, take the system motherboard to a repair facility for diagnostic testing.

• Stop 0x7F messages can occur after installing incompatible applications, drivers, or system services. Contact the software manufacturer about possible Windows XP specific updates. Using updated software is especially important for backup programs, multimedia applications, antivirus scanners, and CD mastering tools.

Stop 0x0000009F or DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE

The Stop 0x9F message indicates that a driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state.

Possible Resolutions:

• Stop 0x9F messages can occur after installing faulty applications or drivers or system services. If a file is listed by name and you can associate it with an application, uninstall the application. For drivers, disable, remove, or roll back that driver to to determine if this resolves the error. If it does, contact the hardware manufacturer for a possible update. Using updated software is especially important for backup programs, multimedia applications, antivirus scanners, and CD mastering tools.

• For information about troubleshooting standby and hibernate mode issues, see KB article Q266169, "How to Troubleshoot Problems with Standby Mode, Hibernate Mode, and Shutting Down Your Computer in Windows 2000."

Stop 0xBE or ATTEMPTED_WRITE_TO_READONLY_MEMORY

The Stop 0xBE message indicates that a driver attempted to write to read-only memory.

Possible Resolutions:

• A Stop 0xBE message might occur after installing a faulty device driver, system service, or firmware. If a Stop message lists a driver by name, disable, remove, or roll back the driver to correct the problem. If disabling or removing drivers resolves the issues, contact the manufacturer about a possible update. Using updated software is especially important for multimedia applications, antivirus scanners, DVD playback, and CD mastering tools.

Stop 0xC2 or BAD_POOL_CALLER

The Stop 0xC2 message indicates that a kernel-mode process or driver incorrectly attempted to perform memory operations in the following ways:

• By allocating a memory pool size of zero bytes.
• By allocating a memory pool that does not exist.
• By attempting to free a memory pool that is already free.
• By allocating or freeing a memory pool at an IRQL that was too high.

This Stop message is typically due to a faulty driver or software.

Possible Resolutions:

• A Stop 0xC2 messages might occur after installing a faulty device driver, system service, or firmware. If a Stop message lists a driver by name, disable, remove, or roll back the driver to correct the problem. If disabling or removing drivers resolves the issues, contact the manufacturer about a possible update. Using updated software is especially important for multimedia applications, antivirus scanners, DVD playback, and CD mastering tools.

• A Stop 0xC2 messages might also be due to failing or defective hardware. If a Stop message points to a category of devices (such as disk controllers, for example), try removing or replacing the hardware to determine if it is causing the problem.

• If you encounter a Stop 0xC2 message while upgrading to Windows XP, the problem might be due to an incompatible driver, system service, virus scanner, or backup. To avoid problems while upgrading, simplify your hardware configuration and remove all third-party device drivers and system services (including virus scanners) prior to running setup. After you have successfully installed Windows XP, contact the hardware manufacturer to obtain compatible updates.

Stop 0x000000CE or DRIVER_UNLOADED_WITHOUT
_CANCELLING_PENDING_OPERATIONS

This Stop messages indicates that a driver failed to cancel pending operations before exiting.

Possible Resolutions:

• Stop 0xCE messages can occur after installing faulty drivers or system services. If a driver is listed by name, disable, remove, or roll back that driver to confirm that this resolves the error. If so, contact the manufacturer about a possible update. Using updated software is especially important for backup programs, multimedia applications, antivirus scanners, DVD playback, and CD mastering tools.

Stop 0x000000D1 or DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

The Stop 0xD1 messages indicates that the system attempted to access pageable memory using a kernel process IRQL that was too high. Drivers that have used improper addresses typically cause this error.

Possible Resolutions:

• Stop 0xD1 messages can occur after installing faulty drivers or system services. If a driver is listed by name, disable, remove, or roll back that driver to confirm that this resolves the error. If so, contact the manufacturer about a possible update. Using updated software is especially important for backup programs, multimedia applications, antivirus scanners, DVD playback, and CD mastering tools.

Stop 0x000000EA or THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER

A device driver problem is causing the system to pause indefinitely. Typically, this problem is caused by a display driver waiting for the video hardware to enter an idle state. This might indicate a hardware problem with the video adapter or a faulty video driver.

Possible Resolutions:

• Stop 0xD1 messages can occur after installing faulty drivers (especially video drivers) or system services. If a driver is listed by name, disable, remove, or roll back that driver to confirm that this resolves the error. If so, contact the manufacturer about a possible update. Using updated software is especially important for backup programs, multimedia applications, antivirus scanners, DVD playback, and CD mastering tools.

Stop 0x000000ED or UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME

The kernel mode I/O subsystem attempted to mount the boot volume and it failed. This error might also occur during an upgrade to Windows XP Professional on systems that use higher throughput ATA disks or controllers with incorrect cabling. In some cases, your system might appear to work normally after you restart.

Possible Resolutions:

• If using higher throughput ATA disks and controllers, those capable of data transfer rates above 33.3 megabytes per second, replace the standard 40-pin cable with an 80-pin cable. Using an 80-pin cable is optional for transfer rates up to and including 33.3 megabytes per second, but is mandatory for higher transfer rates. The additional grounded pins are required to avoid data loss.

• Some firmware enables you to force higher transfer rates even when you are using the incorrect cable type. Your firmware might issue a warning but allow the startup process to proceed. Restore the default firmware setting for ATA cable detection.

• Problems that cause 0xED errors might also cause Stop 0x7B errors. For more information about 0x7B Stop messages, see "Stop 0x0000007B or INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE" earlier in this appendix.

Stop 0xC0000221 or STATUS_IMAGE_CHECKSUM_MISMATCH

This Stop message indicates driver, system file, or disk corruption problems (such as a damaged paging file). Faulty memory hardware can also cause this Stop message to appear.

Possible Resolutions:

• You can use Driver Rollback or System Restore from safe mode, to restore a previous driver. You can also use Windows XP Professional recovery features such as the Last Known Good Configuration startup option, Backup, or Automated System Recovery to restore a previous working configuration. After restoring from backup media, you might need to reapply service packs or hotfixes, depending on when the backups were made.

• If the Stop message names the specific file, try replacing it manually with a fresh copy from the Windows XP Professional operating system CD using safe mode or Recovery Console. For systems using the FAT16 or FAT32 file system, you have the option of using a Windows 98 or Windows Millennium Edition Emergency Boot Disk to access the hard disk.
If the original file from the operating system CD has a file name that ends with an underscore (_) character, you cannot use the file until it is uncompressed. The Recovery Console’s Copy command is ideal for copying compressed files because it detects and expands them. If you do not specify a destination file name, you must rename the expanded file with the correct extension before using it. From safe mode or Recovery Console, you can use the Expand command to uncompress and copy a file to a destination location. In Recovery Console, the expanded file is given the correct name after being copied to the destination location. For more information about the Copy or Expand commands, see Windows XP Help and Support Centre.

Most people think about backing up data about 10 minutes after it’s too late to do any good. If you realize that you really need a good backup program after your hard disk crashes you’re setting yourself up for a data disaster. Are you prepared to lose? What would you do if your entire collection  disappeared tomorrow in a puff of electrons? Just look at the business implications of data loss. Do you have backup copies of your electronically-filed tax return or your crucial correspondence? As data backup recovery becomes critical to all.

Fortunately, backing up your essential files is neither difficult nor time-consuming. In fact, the whole process can take as little as 10 minutes a week, and you can let Windows XP do most of the work.

Get Started

Before you can even think about creating a backup, you have to get your files in order. This doesn’t mean you need compulsively rearrange every file in every folder. Just check to make certain all your essential data files are stored in one easy-to-find location.

Windows XP makes this task especially easy by giving every user account its own personal profile, which consists of a set of subfolders in the Documents and Settings folder. Your profile holds your personal files (in the My Documents folder), Outlook Express e-mail messages, Internet Explorer Favorites and cookies, and information about your settings and preferences. If you have personal data stored elsewhere, consider moving it into the My Documents folder to make backing up easier. If you’re unwilling or unable to move those files, make a note of where they’re located so you can be sure you add them to your backup set later.

Open Windows XP Backup

Windows XP includes its own backup program, although you may need to do some digging to find it. You can also take your pick of third-party programs (listed at the end of this column) that add bells and whistles you won’t find in the basic Windows XP Backup utility.

If you use Windows XP Professional, the Windows Backup utility (Ntbackup.exe) (online data backup) should be ready for use. If you use Windows XP Home Edition, you’ll need to follow these steps to install the utility:

1.	Insert your Windows XP CD into the drive and, if necessary, double-click the CD icon in My Computer.
2.	On the Welcome to Microsoft Windows XP screen, click Perform Additional Tasks.
3.	Click Browse this CD.
4.	In Windows Explorer, double-click the ValueAdd folder, then Msft, and then Ntbackup.
5.	Double-click Ntbackup.msi to install the Backup utility.

With that chore out of the way, you’re ready to begin backing up. By default, the Backup utility uses a wizard that makes the process straightforward. To start Backup:

1.	Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup to start the wizard.
2.	Click Next to skip past the opening page, choose Back up files and settings from the second page, and then click Next. You should see the page shown in Figure 1, which represents your first decision point.

Decide What to Back Up

You might be tempted to click All information on this computer so that you can back up every bit of data on your computer. Think twice before choosing this option, however. If you’ve installed a slew of software, your backup could add up to many gigabytes. For most people, the My documents and settings option is a better choice. This selection preserves your data files (including e-mail messages and address books) and the personal settings stored in the Windows Registry.

If several people use your computer—as might be the case on a shared family PC—select Everyone’s documents and settings. This option backs up personal files and preferences for every user with an account on the computer.

If you know that you have data files stored outside your profile, click Let me choose what to back up. This option takes you to the Items to Back Up page shown in Figure 2.

Select the My Documents check box to back up all the files in your personal profile, and then browse the My Computer hierarchy to select the additional files you need to back up. If some of your files are on a shared network drive, open the My Network Places folder and select those folders.

This option also comes in handy if you have some files you now you don’t want to back up. For instance, I have more than 20 GB of music files in the My Music folder. To keep my data file backup to a reasonable size, I click the check box next to the My Music folder. This clears the check box from all the files and subfolders in My Music.

Decide Where to Store Your Backup Files

On the Backup Type, Destination, and Name page, Windows asks you to specify a backup location. If you’re one of those exceedingly rare individuals with access to a backup tape, the Backup utility gives you a choice of options in the Select a backup type box. No tape drive? No problem. Backup assumes you’re going to save everything in a single file; you just have to choose a location for that file and give it a name.

By default, Backup proposes saving everything to your floppy drive (drive A). Although that might have made sense 10 years ago, it’s hardly a rational choice today. You’d need dozens, perhaps hundreds of floppy disks to store even a modest collection of data files, especially if you collect digital music or photos.

Instead, your best bet is to click Browse and choose any of the following locations:

•	Your computer’s hard disk. The ideal backup location is a separate partition from the one you’re backing up. If your hard disk is partitioned into drive C and drive D and your data is on drive C, you can safely back up to drive D.
•	A Zip drive or other removable media. At 100-250MB per disk, this is an option if you don’t have multiple gigabytes to back up. Unfortunately, the Windows Backup utility can’t save files directly to a CD-RW drive.
•	A shared network drive. You’re limited only by the amount of free space on the network share.
•	An external hard disk drive. USB and IEEE 1394 or FireWire drives have dropped in price lately. Consider getting a 40 GB or larger drive and dedicating it for use as a backup device.

After you’ve chosen a backup location, enter a descriptive name for the file, click Next to display the wizard’s final page, as shown in Figure 3, and then click Finish to begin backing up immediately.

Set a Schedule—and Stick to It

If you’re disciplined enough, you can repeat the above steps once each week and perform regular backups when you’re ready. If you’d rather not count on remembering to perform this crucial task, however, set up an automatic backup schedule for Windows. When you get to the final page of the Backup Wizard (see Figure 3 above), don’t click Finish. Instead, click the Advanced button, and click Next to open the When to Back Up page. Choose Later, and then click Set Schedule to open the Schedule Job dialog box shown in Figure 4.

This example shows the settings for a weekly backup on Friday afternoon—a good way to make sure your week’s work is protected. But you can set almost any schedule you want by poking around in the extensive set of options available in this dialog box. After you click OK to save your changes, Windows XP runs the backup automatically. Just remember to leave your computer turned on.

Online Email Support 

Imagine that you recently started a small business and are trying to build your client base—salespeople out on the road every day, working on getting new business. You don’t want your salespeople to be left without documents they need while meeting with important clients. You can empower your employees to have important data at their fingertips, at all times.

Remote Desktop, included with Windows XP Professional, enables you to connect to your computer across the Internet from virtually any computer, Pocket PC, or Smartphone. Once connected, Remote Desktop gives you mouse and keyboard control over your computer while showing you everything that’s happening on the screen. With Remote Desktop, you can leave your computer at the office without losing access to your files, applications, and e-mail. Your sales force will be able to access the latest pricing sheet from on the road by using Remote Desktop in Windows XP Professional.

To use Remote Desktop

With Remote Desktop, you can connect to your work computer from home and access all of your programs, files, and network resources as though you were actually sitting in front of your computer at work. They are also used widely for remote tech support services

You need three things to create a remote location:

1.	Microsoft Windows XP Professional must be installed on the computer containing the files and programs that you want to access from a remote computer. The computer must also be part of a corporate network in which Remote Desktop connections are permitted. This computer is known as the host.
2.	The remote computer must be running Windows 95 or later. This computer must also have the Remote Desktop Connection client software installed. The remote computer is known as the client.
3.	Both computers must be connected to the Internet through a VPN connection. Note: If you’re not connecting to the host computer through a VPN, you’ll need to use the actual IP address of the host computer instead of the computer name.

To set up the Remote Desktop, start with the host computer, which in this example is your work computer.

1.	Verify that you are signed in as the administrator.
2.	Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Performance and Maintenance.
3.	Click System.
4.	Click the Remote tab, select the Allow users to connect remotely to this computer check box, and then click OK.

Next, make sure you have Windows Firewall set up to allow exceptions.

1.	In the Control Panel, click Security Center.
2.	Under Manage security settings for, click Windows Firewall.
3.	Make sure the Don’t allow exceptions check box is not selected.
4.	Click the Exceptions tab, and verify that the Remote Desktop check box is selected.
5.	Click OK, and then close the Windows Security Center window. Your host computer is now set up to allow remote access. You will need the name of the host computer.
6.	In Control Panel, click Performance and Maintenance, click System, and then click the Computer Name tab.
7.	Write down the full computer name, and then click OK.
8.	Close Control Panel.
9.	Leave this computer running, locked, and connected to the corporate network with Internet access.

Connect your remote computer to the host computer

To connect your home computer, which is the client (or remote) computer to your work (or host) computer, follow these steps:

1.	On your home computer, click Start, point to All Programs, and then point to Accessories.
2.	In the Accessories menu, point to Communications, and then click Remote Desktop Connection.
3.	In the Computer box, type the computer name of your host computer, which you wrote down earlier.
4.	Click Connect.
5.	When the Log On to Windows dialog box appears, type your user name, password, and domain (if required), and then click OK. The Remote Desktop window opens, and you see the desktop settings, files, and programs that are on your host computer, which in this example is your work computer. Your host computer remains locked, and nobody can access it without a password. In addition, no one will be able to see the work you are doing remotely.

To end your Remote Desktop session:

1.	Click Start, and then click Log Off at the bottom of the Start menu.
2.	When prompted, click Log Off.

The Hibernate function in Windows XP Professional can make the batteries in your laptop computer last longer.

Windows XP supports the industry standard power management technology known as the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI), which enables the operating system to control power to your computer and peripheral devices. The power management features in Windows XP include Hibernate and Standby. Hibernate saves an image of your desktop with all open files and documents, and then it powers down your computer. When you turn on power, your files and documents are open on your desktop exactly as you left them. Standby reduces the power consumption of your computer by cutting power to hardware components you are not using. Standby can cut power to peripheral devices, your monitor, even your hard drive, but maintains power to your computer’s memory so you don’t lose your work.

Power Management Performance

Windows XP wakes from Hibernate faster than any earlier version of Windows. So you can preserve your batteries without taking time to close all your files and shut down, and then restart and open all your files when you’re ready to work again. If you need to leave your computer, you can just leave it. Windows XP can automatically put your computer into Hibernate mode after a specified period of inactivity. Or Windows XP can detect when your batteries are running low, and then automatically put your computer in Hibernate mode to save your work before the battery fails. To put your computer into hibernation, you must have a computer that is set up by the manufacturer to support this option.

To automatically put your computer into hibernation

You must be logged on to your computer with an owner account in order to complete this procedure.

1.	Open Power Options in Control Panel. (Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Power Options.)
2.	Click the Hibernate tab, select the Enable hibernate support check box, and then click Apply. If the Hibernate tab is unavailable, your computer does not support this feature.
3.	Click the APM tab, click Enable Advanced Power Management support, and then click Apply. The APM tab is unavailable on ACPI–compliant computers. ACPI automatically enables Advanced Power Management, which disables the APM tab.
4.	Click the Power Schemes tab, and then select a time period in System hibernates. Your computer hibernates after it has been idle for the specified amount of time.

To manually put your computer into hibernation

You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of either the Administrators or Power Users group in order to complete this procedure. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings might also prevent you from completing this procedure.

1.	Open Power Options in Control Panel. (Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Power Options.)
2.	Click the Hibernate tab, and then select the Enable hibernate support check box. If the Hibernate tab is not available, your computer does not support this feature.
3.	Click OK to close the Power Options dialog box.
4.	Click Start, and then click Shut Down. In the What do you want the computer to do drop-down list, click Hibernate.

If you are using Windows XP Home Edition, or Windows XP Professional with Fast User Switching turned on, the Shut Down menu will present the options to Stand By, Turn Off, or Restart your computer. Hold down the Shift key, and the Stand By button will change to Hibernate.

As laptops have gotten smaller, thinner, and lighter, they’ve had to sacrifice the longer-lasting power that comes with large batteries. But at the same time, laptop chipsets and processors have gotten smarter about power management, making the most of these smaller batteries. Windows XP provides several options to manage the power consumed by your laptop—or your desktop.

The Power Options will vary depending on the exact hardware configuration you have. To use Power Options, the computer must be Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI)-compliant, which dictates that all components are capable of power management. If one or more components are not capable of power management, you might not have ACPI functionality, or you might experience erratic behavior.

Power Options in Windows XP allow you to control the power management features of:

•	Your display
•	Your hard drive
•	Shut Down, Hibernate, and Stand by
•	Low battery warnings

Additionally, many laptop manufacturers provide even greater control, giving you more components and devices, and allowing you to shut off or reduce the power consumption of specific pieces of your hardware. We can’t begin to cover all the options of the various manufacturers and their power management utilities. In this column, we’ll discuss how to use power management in Windows XP.

Managing Your Monitor

Power management of your display screen is something that almost everyone is used to these days. It’s a good idea to shut off your display when you’re not using it, even when you’re running a desktop computer. Although laptop displays don’t use as much power, it’s still a relatively big power consumer.

Reducing Power Consumption by Your Hard Drive

The two biggest users of power on your laptop are the display and the hard drive. Windows XP lets you tell your hard drive to stop spinning when you’re not actively using it, allowing you to save energy and thus battery power.

Putting Your Computer on Standby or Hibernate

There are two basic options for putting your laptop to sleep when you’re not actively using it, but don’t want to completely shut it down—Standby or Hibernate. Standby is energy conserving, because your entire computer switches to a low-power state. Devices, such as the monitor and hard disks, turn off and your computer uses less power. It’s easy to return to work, because Standby leaves applications and files open on your desktop. Standby is perfect when you’re going to be taking a break because the cabin attendant just came by with what passes for lunch on airplanes these days, and you want to quickly pick up exactly where you left off. (Note that airlines often request that you completely turn off your computer during take off and landing. In Standby mode, your computer might appear to be turned off but it could automatically restart. So shut down your computer completely when it’s not in use on an airplane.) Standby is not appropriate for long term use—on many laptops, overnight is probably pushing it on standby. And it has one important limitation—everything is in memory, not yet saved to the hard drive.

Hibernate mode writes an image of what you’re currently working on to a special file on your hard drive, and then shuts your computer almost completely off. It takes a bit longer than Standby, since it needs to write to your hard drive. Hibernate also takes a bit longer to resume, since you must go through essentially the normal boot process, although in Windows XP your computer wakes faster from Hibernate than in previous versions of Windows. The advantage is that you can leave your laptop in Hibernate mode for days without any ill effect. When you start it back up, you’ll see everything exactly as you left it. Hibernate is the perfect mode for shutting down for the night or even the weekend.

If you are using Windows XP Home Edition, or Windows XP Professional with Fast User Switching turned on, the Turn Off Computer menu will present the options to Stand By, Turn Off, or Restart your computer. To put your computer into Hibernate mode, click Start, and then click Turn off computer. Press and hold the Shift key. The label under the first button changes from Stand By to Hibernate. Click Hibernate.

Adjusting Low Battery Warnings

In Power Options for Windows XP, you can set the low battery warnings for your computer. You can choose exactly how much warning you’ll receive when the battery gets low and what actions are taken. There are two levels: Low Battery Alarm and Critical Battery Alarm. I find I like to set the Low Battery Alarm level to around 10% of remaining battery, which gives me plenty of time to finish up what I’m doing and shut down in an orderly fashion. And I don’t have the Low Battery Alarm actually do anything, other than notify me. The Critical Battery Alarm, however, is set to go off at 3% remaining battery and initiates a forced hibernation. This saves my work and lets me later connect to an external power source and pick up exactly where I left off. The one caution here: Make sure you check Force standby or shutdown even if a program stops responding.

Configuring Power Settings

Using Power Options in Control Panel, you can adjust any power management option that your computer’s unique hardware configuration supports. Because these options may vary widely from computer to computer, the options described may differ from what you see. Power Options automatically detects what is available on your computer and shows you only the options that you can control. To configure your power settings:

1.	Click Start, click Control Panel, click Performance and Maintenance, and then click Power Options.
2.	Or, if you see the little battery indicator on your task bar, right-click it and then click Adjust Power Properties. The Power Options Properties dialog box opens

In the Power Options dialog box, you set options for a power scheme. Windows XP comes with several preconfigured profiles. I’ve shown the Normal profile for my laptop here, but you can easily create custom profiles that fine tune the properties for your particular circumstances. You can create a new power scheme by clicking the time settings you want, clicking Save As, and typing a name. I’ve got one used for playing music CDs, for example, that shuts off the hard drive and screen almost immediately, but doesn’t ever put the system into standby mode.

Enabling Hibernation Mode

Finally, if your machine doesn’t have Hibernate enabled, it’s easy to enable it. If your computer is set up by the manufacturer to support Hibernate: Open the Power Options Properties dialog box and click the Hibernate tab to open the page.

Just click the Enable Hibernation check box and you’re all set. You will, however, need enough free disk space to hold all of your memory in a single file. This means, if your laptop has 512 MB of RAM as mine does, you’ll need roughly 512 MB of free disk space on drive C.

Hi Everybody.. This morning i got to my computer and found my PC a lot fishy to respond to my commands after getting here and there i some how manage to get some important tips to get it done for my needs. I think some of you will be interested in some of the tweaks I make to my PCs to make them quicker. I’ve focused here on the ones which are simple to do and won’t cause problems if you get it wrong, rather than listing registry tweaks etc.

1. Disable Indexing Services

Indexing Services is a small little program that uses large amounts of RAM and can often make a computer endlessly loud and noisy. This system process indexes and updates lists of all the files that are on your computer. It does this so that when you do a search for something on your computer, it will search faster by scanning the index lists. If you don’t search your computer often, or even if you do search often, this system service is completely unnecessary. To disable do the following:

• Go to Start
• Click Settings
• Click Control Panel
• Double-click Add/Remove Programs
• Click the Add/Remove Window Components
• Uncheck the Indexing services
• Click Next

2. Optimise Display Settings

Windows XP can look sexy but displaying all the visual items can waste system resources. To optimise:

• Go to Start
• Click Settings
• Click Control Panel
• Click System
• Click Advanced tab
• In the Performance tab click Settings
• Leave only the following ticked:

• Show shadows under menus
• Show shadows under mouse pointer
• Show translucent selection rectangle
• Use drop shadows for icons labels on the desktop
• Use visual styles on windows and buttons

3. Speedup Folder Browsing

You may have noticed that everytime you open my computer to browse folders that there is a slight delay. This is because Windows XP automatically searches for network files and printers everytime you open Windows Explorer. To fix this and to increase browsing significantly:

• Open My Computer
• Click on Tools menu
• Click on Folder Options
• Click on the View tab.
• Uncheck the Automatically search for network folders and printers check box
• Click Apply
• Click Ok
• Reboot your computer

4. Disable Performance Counters

Windows XP has a performance monitor utility which monitors several areas of your PC’s performance. These utilities take up system resources so disabling is a good idea.

To disable:

• download and install the Extensible Performance Counter List
• Then select each counter in turn in the ‘Extensible performance counters’ window and clear the ‘performance counters enabled’ checkbox at the bottom.button below

5. Improve Memory Usage

Cacheman Improves the performance of your computer by optimizing the disk cache, memory and a number of other settings.

Once Installed:

• Go to Show Wizard and select All
• Run all the wizards by selecting Next or Finished until you are back to the main menu. Use the defaults unless you know exactly what you are doing
• Exit and Save Cacheman
• Restart Windows

6. Optimise your internet connection

There are lots of ways to do this but by far the easiest is to run TCP/IP Optimizer.

• Download and install
• Click the General Settings tab and select your Connection Speed (Kbps)
• Click Network Adapter and choose the interface you use to connect to the Internet
• Check Optimal Settings then Apply
• Reboot

7. Optimise Your Pagefile

If you give your pagefile a fixed size it saves the operating system from needing to resize the page file.

• Right click on My Computer and select Properties
• Select the Advanced tab
• Under Performance choose the Settings button
• Select the Advanced tab again and under Virtual Memory select Change
• Highlight the drive containing your page file and make the initial Size of the file the same as the Maximum Size of the file.

Windows XP sizes the page file to about 1.5X the amount of actual physical memory by default. While this is good for systems with smaller amounts of memory (under 512MB) it is unlikely that a typical XP desktop system will ever need 1.5 X 512MB or more of virtual memory. If you have less than 512MB of memory, leave the page file at its default size. If you have 512MB or more, change the ratio to 1:1 page file size to physical memory size.

8. Run Boot Vis - Improve Boot Times

BootVis will significantly improve boot times

• Download and Run
• Select Trace
• Select Next Boot and Driver Trace
• A Trace Repetitions screen will appear, select Ok and Reboot
• Upon reboot, BootVis will automatically start, analyze and log your system’s boot process. When it’s done, in the menu go to Trace and select Optimize System
• Reboot.
• When your machine has rebooted wait until you see the Optimizing System box appear. Be patient and wait for the process to complete

9. Remove the Desktop Picture

Your desktop background consumes a fair amount of memory and can slow the loading time of your system. Removing it will improve performance.

• Right click on Desktop and select Properties
• Select the Desktop tab
• In the Background window select None
• Click Ok

10. Remove Fonts for Speed

Fonts, especially TrueType fonts, use quite a bit of system resources. For optimal performance, trim your fonts down to just those that you need to use on a daily basis and fonts that applications may require.

• Open Control Panel
• Open Fonts folder
• Move fonts you don’t need to a temporary directory (e.g. C:\FONTBKUP?) just in case you need or want to bring a few of them back. The more fonts you uninstall, the more system resources you will gain.

Hope you find these 10 tips useful please leave a comment below and please share any other tips you may have with other readers.

 

And for the Vista Users also i have some of them to share with 10 Simple Ways To Speed Up Windows Vista

Service Pack 3

Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) is currently in development. As of January 2008, Microsoft’s web site indicates a "preliminary" release date to be in the first half of 2008. A feature set overview has been posted by Microsoft and details new features available separately as standalone updates to Windows XP, as well as features backported from Microsoft Windows Vista, such as black hole router detection, Network Access Protection and Windows Imaging Component.

Microsoft has begun a beta test of Service Pack 3. According to a file released with the official beta, and relayed onto the internet, there are a total of 1,073 fixes in SP3.

This update to Windows allows it to be installed without a product key, and be run until the end of the 30-day activation period without a product key. The latest testing build of Service Pack 3 is the Release Candidate Refresh 2, build 3282.

On December 4, 2007, Microsoft released a release candidate of Service Pack 3 (build 3264) to both TechNet and MSDN Subscribers. On December 18, 2007, this version was made publicly available via Microsoft Download Center.

Service Pack 1

Service Pack 2

Service Pack 2

Service Pack 2 (SP2) (codenamed "Springboard") was released on August 6, 2004 after several delays, with a special emphasis on security. Unlike the previous service packs, SP2 adds new functionality to Windows XP, including an enhanced firewall, improved Wi-Fi support, such as WPA encryption compatibility, with a wizard utility, a pop-up ad blocker for Internet Explorer 6, and Bluetooth support. Security enhancements include a major revision to the included firewall which was renamed to Windows Firewall (Configure Windows Firewall) and is enabled by default, advanced memory protection that takes advantage of the NX bit that is incorporated into newer processors to stop some forms of buffer overflow attacks, and removal of raw socket support (which supposedly limits the damage done by zombie machines). Additionally, security-related improvements were made to e-mail and web browsing. Windows XP Service Pack 2 includes the Windows Security Center, which provides a general overview of security on the system, including the state of anti-virus software, Windows Update, and the new Windows Firewall. Third-party anti-virus and firewall applications can interface with the new Security Center.

On August 10, 2007, Microsoft announced a minor update to Service Pack 2, called Service Pack 2c (SP2c). The update fixes the issue of the lowering number of available product keys for Windows XP. This update will be only available to system builders from their distributors in Microsoft Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Professional N operating systems. SP2c was released in September 2007.

 Service Pack 1

 Service Pack 3

The story of Service Packs

Microsoft continually works to improve its software. As part of this effort, they develop updates and fixes to recognized issues and release them for customers. On a regular basis, they combine many of these fixes into a single package and make the package available for you to install on your computers. These packages are called Service Packs.

Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Microsoft Windows XP was released on September 9, 2002. It contains post-RTM security fixes and hot-fixes, compatibility updates, optional .NET Framework support, enabling technologies for new devices such as Tablet PCs, and a new Windows Messenger 4.7 version. The most notable new features were USB 2.0 support, and a Set Program Access and Defaults utility that aimed at hiding various middleware products. Users can control the default application for activities such as web browsing and instant messaging, as well as hide access to some of Microsoft’s bundled programs. This utility was first brought into the older Windows 2000 operating system with its Service Pack 3. The Microsoft Java Virtual Machine, which was not in the RTM version, appeared in this service pack.

On February 3, 2003, Microsoft released Service Pack 1 (SP1) again as Service Pack 1a (SP1a). This release removed Microsoft’s Java virtual machine as a result of a lawsuit with Sun Microsystems.

 Service Pack 2

 Service Pack 3

Windows XP is a line of operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on general-purpose computer systems, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, and media centers. The name "XP" stands for eXPerience. It was codenamed "Whistler". Windows XP was first released on October 25, 2001, and over 400 million copies were in use in January 2006.

The most common editions of the Microsoft Windows XP operating system are

Windows XP Home Edition which is targeted at home users, and

Windows XP Professional which has additional features such as support for Windows Server domains and two physical processors, and is targeted at power users and business clients.

Windows XP Media Center Edition has additional multimedia features enhancing the ability to record and watch TV shows, view DVD movies, and listen to music. Windows XP

Tablet PC Edition is designed to run the ink-aware Tablet PC platform.

Windows XP introduced several new features to the Windows line, including:

• Faster start-up and hibernation sequences
• The ability to discard a newer device driver in favour of the previous one (known as driver rollback), should a driver upgrade not produce desirable results
• A new, arguably more user-friendly interface, including the framework for developing themes for the desktop environment
• Fast user switching, which allows a user to save the current state and open applications of their desktop and allow another user to log on without losing that information
• The ClearType font rendering mechanism, which is designed to improve text readability on Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and similar monitors
• Remote Desktop functionality, which allows users to connect to a computer running Windows XP from across a network or the Internet and access their applications, files, printers, and devices
• Support for most DSL modems and wireless network connections, as well as networking over FireWire, and Bluetooth.

System requirements for Windows XP Home and Professional editions as follows:

In addition to the Windows XP system requirements, Service Pack 2 requires an additional 1.8 GB of free hard disk space during installation.

Service Pack’s

Microsoft occasionally releases service packs for its Windows operating systems to fix problems and add features. Each service pack is a superset of all previous service packs and patches so that only the latest service pack needs to be installed, and also includes new revisions. Older patches need not be removed before application of the most recent one.

Windows XP Service Packs on Offer were

Service Pack 1

Service Pack 2

Service Pack 3

Support for Windows XP without a service pack (RTM) ended on September 30, 2004 and support for Windows XP Service Pack 1 and 1a ended on October 10, 2006