TIPS & TRICKS FOR COMPUTER USERS

by: C. J. Hayden


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Networking is one of the most effective ways to find clients for any consulting or professional services business. But if you limit your networking to only what you can do in person, you'll be missing out on a huge number of possibilities.

Networking is more than entering a room full of people and exchanging business cards. It's creating a pool of contacts with whom you can exchange clients, referrals, resources, ideas, and information. Networking can happen by phone, by mail, over coffee, and increasingly, over the Internet.

The growth of the Internet has created many new ways to network without ever leaving your home or office. Pick a topic, any topic, and there will be multiple web sites and online communities devoted to it. Almost any type of Internet presence offers opportunities for networking.

In your favorite search engine, type the name of your profession or specialty, e.g. "interior design" or "marketing communications." Or, if you have a clearly defined target market, you can use that, e.g. "baby boomers" or "biotechnology." Skip the sponsored links or banner ads and focus on the detailed results. What you will find is the following:

Professional Associations & Schools -- Many association or school sites provide member rosters, resource pages, back issues of newsletters, event calendars, and bulletin boards or discussion lists. Not all of these features will be restricted to members or students.

Resource Sites & Online Communities -- These include directories of people in the profession, vendors, articles, event calendars, bulletin boards, discussion lists, live chats, and links to even more resource sites.

Publications -- Magazines and newsletters maintain sites that offer everything from back issues to complete online communities.

Job Postings -- These may appear on any of the above sites, and often include opportunities for independent professionals, not just those looking for full-time employment.

Colleagues & Competitors -- Colleagues and competitors may be exactly the same people, depending on your relationship with them. Their sites will tell you more about them and their work, and may offer many of the same features as resource sites.

Potential Clients -- Their sites will tell you about the work they do, current and upcoming projects, and even the names of executives and managers.

Also, if you subscribe to an online service offering interactive "channels," like America Online, CompuServe or MSN, there may be an entire area dedicated to your profession or target market. Some of these resources are available to non-members as well.

Now, how can you use all this information to network? Here are some of the most common ways:

Bulletin Boards -- These are web pages where you can view and post questions and comments on a specific subject. Answering a posted question is an excellent way to demonstrate your expertise, become known to the people who frequent the board, and get to know others in your field.

Don't be overly self-promotional when posting, just include a signature line at the end of your post, e.g. "Ingrid Gustafsson, Nordic Design." If you see someone else on the board who you would like to get to know in a collegial way, e-mail them. But never directly approach for business the people you find there. You might find yourself banned from membership.

Discussion Lists -- These are like bulletin boards, but are e-mailed to members of the list daily, weekly, or whenever a new posting arrives. When posting to these lists, you can include more information about yourself in a signature box at the end of each e-mail. Keep it short, but include some reason for people to get in touch with you outside the list, such as, "Subscribe to my free newsletter," or, "Visit my web site for a free resource guide."

In addition to locating discussion lists through search engines as described above, you can find them through online community hosts such as Yahoo Groups or MSN Groups.

Live Chats -- Many online communities sponsor real-time chats on specific topics. Participating in these chats is an excellent way to meet people interested in the subject being discussed. Chat rooms that require membership are best, because you are more likely to encounter professionals seriously interested in the topic instead of people just looking for a date.

Attending chats featuring a guest speaker can be more valuable than you might think. If you ask a question during one of these, don't be surprised if people contact you by e-mail during or after the chat to offer you more resources related to your question. You can make exactly the same type of contacts when you are the one who has something to offer.

Articles -- Notice who is writing them and who is being written about. These people are likely to be leaders in your field, or at least highly visible. That makes them good contacts for you. Send them an e-mail complimenting them on the article and suggesting you get acquainted for mutual benefit. Make a specific suggestion about what you can offer, e.g. referrals or resources.

Others in Your Field -- These may be colleagues, competitors, vendors, or potential clients. Approach them collegially with ideas about how a relationship could benefit you both, such as exchanging referrals, pooling resources, links on each other's web site, or trading endorsements or articles in each other's ezine.

If you can't find a board, list, chat, or site with the exact focus you want, consider starting one of your own. While hosting one of these communities takes time and effort, it will also put you in the center of the network that forms around it instead of on the outskirts.

About The Author

C.J. Hayden is the author of Get Clients NOW! Thousands of business owners and salespeople have used her simple sales and marketing system to double or triple their income. Get a free copy of "Five Secrets to Finding All the Clients You'll Ever Need" at http://www.getclientsnow.com


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Over the last several years, TCP/IP has gone from being the protocol that only geeks use, to a universal protocol that everyone uses, thanks to the widespread use of the Internet. TCP/IP has been around for decades and is a solid, reliable, mature protocol. Most of the time when there is a TCP/IP related problem, the problem is related to the way that one or more of the hosts on the network are configured. In this article, I will walk you through the process of troubleshooting some common TCP/IP issues.

Published: Jul 05, 2005 Updated: Jul 05, 2005 Section: Articles & Tutorials :: Network Troubleshooting Author: Brien M. Posey Printable Version Rating: 3.5/5 - 310 Votes

Step 1: Check the Configuration

The first step in the troubleshooting process is to check the TCP/IP configuration. The easiest way to do this is to open a Command Prompt window and enter the IPCONFIG /ALL command. Windows will then display the configuration results. It’s important to point out that some computers have multiple network interface cards, and Windows may also treat a Firewire port as a network adapter. You must therefore be careful to make sure that you are looking at the configuration that’s bound to the interface that’s actually connected to the network.

If the configuration appears to be blank, then the interface has not been assigned an IP address. IP addresses can be assigned manually, or via a DHCP server. If your organization uses a DHCP server to assign IP addresses, then try entering the following series of commands to see if the machine is able to obtain an IP address:

IPCONFIG /RELEASE
IPCONFIG /RENEW
IPCONFIG /ALL

If the machine is still unable to obtain an IP address, then there are several things that could be causing the problem. For example, the DHCP server might have already given out all of its addresses. You can check the server’s logs to see if this is the case. Another possible cause is that you might have a bad network cable. Try attaching another machine to the network cable / network jack that the malfunctioning machine is attached to and see if the known good machine is able to attach to the network.

Still another possible problem is that the network card is not installed correctly through Windows. In most cases, Windows XP will automatically detect a network card and load the drivers for it automatically. However, Windows XP is notorious for misidentifying network cards. If you are having trouble attaching to the network, it might be a good idea to pop the computer’s case open and check to make sure that the make and model of the network card that’s installed matches the driver that is loaded into Windows.

If the driver matches and you are still having problems, try going to the network card manufacturer’s Web site and downloading the newest driver for the card. I have seen several situations in which a new driver fixed the problem If you have tried everything that I have suggested and are still unable to acquire an IP address, try reseating or replacing the network card. Network cards have been known to go bad for no apparent reason.

Communications Failure

If your NIC has an IP address associated with it, but the machine is unable to communicate across the network, then you will have to use a slightly different approach to troubleshooting the problem. The first question that you need to consider is the source of the IP address. Was the address entered manually into Windows, or was it leased from a DHCP Server?

If the address came from a DHCP server, then you can eliminate a lot of possible causes of the problem right now. If the machine is able to lease an IP address, then it means that the computer’s network card is functioning and that the connection to the switch is good. Don’t be deceived though. When a computer leases an address from a DHCP Server, the lease is valid for a specific period of time. If the machine has successfully leased the address in the past, but the lease has not yet expired, then it might appear that the machine has obtained a lease, when in reality the machine is holding onto an IP address that it acquired during a previous session. The easiest way to find out for sure what is going on is to use the IPCONFIG /RELEASE and the IPCONFIG /RENEW commands to get rid of the old lease and acquire a new one.

If the NIC has an IP address, but the address has been assigned manually, then the first thing that you will need to do is to perform some basic connectivity tests. You can do this in much the same way as I talked about earlier. Try plugging a known good PC into the network connection to make sure that the connection is good. Make sure that the NIC has the correct drivers. In essence, you will want to make sure that your hardware is functioning before you continue.

Once you have done some basic hardware testing, open a Command Prompt window and try pinging the computer’s own IP address. If the ping is successful, then it means that the TCP/IP protocol stack is at least functional. If you receive an error message stating “Destination Host Unreachable” then it means that there is something wrong with the way that the machine is set up. It could be that Windows doesn’t recognize the network card, or it could be that a necessary system file has been deleted or corrupted. You might try removing and re-installing the network card and its drivers. If that doesn’t work, try re-applying the Windows Service Pack since doing so will refresh all of the system files.

Assuming that the machine is able to ping itself, try pinging another machine on your network by IP address. If your machine is able to ping itself, but is not able to ping another computer on the network (by IP address) then I recommend trying to ping a few more computers. If you are not able to establish communications with any of them, then look for a bad network link or perhaps a bad network card.

If you are able to successfully ping other machines on your network by IP address, try pinging those machines by hostname. If you don’t know the hostname, then you could use the ping /a command against the machine’s IP address to resolve the address to a host name. Another alternative is to ping a Web site. Most Web hosts block pings, but as of the time that this article was written, http://www.espn.com/ would still respond to pings.

If you are able to ping machines on your network and on the Internet by host name, then your machine is successfully communicating. If you can ping by IP address but not by hostname, then the problem is probably DNS related. Enter the IPCONFIG /ALL command to make sure that your machine is configured to use a DNS server. If there is a DNS server specified, make sure that the DNS server’s IP address has been entered correctly. If everything appears normally, try pinging the DNS server to make sure that you can communicate with it.

If you can ping the DNS server, the DNS server’s IP address has been entered correctly, and the DNS server seems to be resolving addresses for other people on your network, then the problem probably isn’t DNS related. I recommend checking your HOSTS file. It is located in the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC folder. The HOSTS file is a legacy component of TCP/IP that really isn’t used anymore. It was previously used to associate a Web site with an IP address before DNS became popular. Today, a lot of browser hijackers and various forms of spyware work by altering the hosts file. Try displaying the HOSTS file through Notepad. You might be surprised at what you see. If you see entries that shouldn’t be there, you can either delete them or delete the entire HOSTS file.

Conclusion

In this article, I have explained that configuration problems can prevent TCP/IP from functioning correctly. I then went on to discuss the TCP/IP troubleshooting process.

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It’s amazing the way that time can go by. People tend to think of computers as being high tech, but the TCP/IP protocol has been around in one form or another for over three decades. As such, TCP/IP has had time to really mature and be made stable and reliable. When it comes to computers, nothing is foolproof though. When routing packets across a network, things do occasionally go wrong. In these situations, it is helpful to be familiar with the Windows routing tables. Routing tables dictate the flow of packets from the machine in question. In this article, I will show you how to view the Windows routing tables and how to make sense of the data that is contained within it.

Published: Dec 08, 2005 Updated: Dec 08, 2005 Section: Articles & Tutorials :: Network Troubleshooting Author: Brien M. Posey Printable Version Rating: 3.8/5 - 177 Votes

Viewing the Routing Tables

The routing tables are an important part of Windows’ TCP/IP protocol stack, but they aren’t something that the operating system normally displays to the casual user. If you want to see the routing tables, you will have to open a Command Prompt window and then enter the ROUTE PRINT command. Upon doing so, you will see a screen similar to the one that’s shown in Figure A.

Figure A: This is what the Windows routing tables look like

Before I delve into the routing tables, I recommend entering another command into the Command Prompt window. The command is:

IPCONFIG /ALL

The reason why I am recommending that you use the IPCONFIG /ALL command is because it shows you how TCP/IP is really setup on the machine. Sure, you could look in the TCP/IP section of the network adapter’s properties sheet, but the information is more reliable if you get it from IPCONFIG. I have seen a couple of instances over the years in which IPCONFIG reported completely different information than what was entered into the machine’s TCP/IP configuration screen. This doesn’t happen often, but if the right type of error occurs you can experience this type of mismatch. To put it bluntly, the information that’s keyed into the TCP/IP properties sheet reflects how you would like Windows to set up the TCP/IP protocol for the choosen network. The information presented by IPCONFIG shows how Windows has actually configured the protocol.

Even if you haven’t had some bizarre Windows error, it’s still useful to get your configuration information through IPCONFIG. If a machine has multiple network cards, it can be tough to remember which configuration is bound to which card. IPCONFIG lists the various configurations in an easy to read, per NIC basis, as shown in Figure B.

Figure B: The IPCONFIG /ALL displays the machine’s TCP/IP configuration on a per NIC basis

Examining the Routing Tables

Right about now you might be wondering why I had you to do an IPCONFIG /ALL, when this article is supposed to be discussing routing tables. The reason for this is that normally you never even look at the routing tables unless you are having problems with your machine. If you are having problems, then the best place to start the troubleshooting process is to compare the information provided by IPCONFIG to the information stored in the routing tables.

As you saw in Figure B, the IPCONFIG /ALL screen displayed some basic TCP/IP information such as the IP address, the default gateway, etc. The routing tables aren’t quite as intuitive though. Therefore, I want to take some time to discuss how to read the routing tables and what the information in the tables mean.

In order to understand what the information in these columns mean, you need to understand a little bit about how a router works. A router’s job is to facilitate moving traffic from one network to another. As such, a router will contain multiple network interface cards, each connected to a different network segment.

When a user sends a packet that’s destined for a different network segment than the one that the PC is presently attached to, the packet is sent to the router. It is up to the router to figure out which network segment the packet should be forwarded to. It doesn’t matter if the router is connected to two network segments or a dozen. The decision making process is the same, and it’s all based on routing tables.

If you look at the Route Print screen, you will notice that the routing tables are divided into five different columns. The first column is the network destination column. This column lists all of the network segments that the router is attached to. The Netmask column provides the subnet mask not of the network interface that’s attached to the segment, but of the segment itself. This basically allows the router to determine the address class for the destination network.

The third column is the gateway column. Once the router has determined which destination network it needs to send the packet to, it looks at the gateway listing. The gateway listing tells the router which IP address the packet should be forwarded through in order to reach the destination network.

The Interface column tells the router which NIC is connected to the appropriate destination network. Technically, the interface column only tells the router the IP address that has been assigned to the NIC that connects the router to the destination network. However, the router is smart enough to know which physical interface the address has been bound to.

The final column in the routing table is the Metric column. Metrics are a science in themselves, but I will try to give you a brief explanation of what they do. The best way that I have ever heard metrics explained is in terms of an airport. Imagine for a moment that I needed to fly from Charlotte, NC (the closest major airport to my home in South Carolina) to Miami, Florida. Being that the Charlotte airport is pretty big, I have a lot of choices of how I could get to Miami Beach. I could hop a North West Airlines flight. It would take me to Detroit Michigan and then down to Miami (Detroit is a bit out of the way). Likewise, I could hop a Continental Airlines flight that would take me to Houston, TX, and then to Miami. Another option would be to just take a US Airways flight nonstop to Miami. So which airline should I take?

In real life, there are a lot of factors to consider such as the price of the ticket and the departure times, but let’s assume that everything was equal. If there were no differences between the airlines other than the route, then I would fly the airline that makes the fewest stops. It would get me to my destination more quickly, and since there are fewer stops, there would be less chance of having a problem with my connection, lost luggage, and things like that.

Routing works the same way. Many times, there is more than one way that a router could send a packet. In such a case, it makes sense to send the packet along the shortest (or most reliable) path. This is where the metrics come into play. Windows does not even look at metrics unless there are multiple paths to a destination. If there are multiple paths though, Windows checks the metrics to determine the shortest route. This is an over simplified explanation, but it gets the point across.

Additional Routing Options

Earlier, I showed you the Route Print command, but there are actually a lot of other things that you can do with the ROUTE command. The ROUTE command’s syntax is as follows:

ROUTE [-f] [-p] [command [destination] []

The –f switch is optional. This switch tells Windows to clear the routing table of all gateway entries. If the –f switch is used in conjunction with other commands then all gateway entries will be cleared prior to executing other instructions within the command.

The –p switch makes a specified route persistent. Normally, when a server is rebooted then any routes that you specify via the ROUTE command are removed. The –p switch tells Windows to keep the route even if the system is rebooted.

The command portion of the ROUTE command’s syntax is relatively simple. The command set consists of four options PRINT, ADD, DELETE, and CHANGE. I’ve already shown you the ROUTE PRINT command, but even the ROUTE PRINT command has other options. For example, you can use wild cards with this command. For instance, if you only wanted to print routes pertaining to the 192.x.x.x subnet, you could use the command ROUTE PRINT 192*.

The ROUTE DELETE command works very similarly to the ROUTE Print command. Simply enter the ROUTE DELETE command followed by the destination or the gateway that you want to delete from the routing table. For example, if you wanted to remove the 192.0.0.0 gateway, you could enter the command ROUTE DELETE 192.0.0.0.

The ROUTE CHANGE and the ROUTE ADD commands have the same basic syntax as each other. When you enter this command, you must usually specify the destination, subnet mask, and gateway. You might also specify a metric and an interface, but that’s optional. For example, if you wanted to add a destination using the bare minimal syntax, you could do so as follows:

ROUTE ADD 147.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 148.100.100.100

In this command, 147.0.0.0 is the new destination that you are adding. 255.0.0.0 would be the subnet mask for the destination, and 148.100.100.100 would be the gateway address. You can extend the command with the METRIC and IF parameters. Doing so would look something like this:

ROUTE ADD 147.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 148.100.100.100 METRIC 1 IF 1

The metric parameter is optional, but it specifies the metric or number of hops for the route. The IF parameter tells Windows which NIC to use. In this particular case, Windows would use the NIC that’s bound to Windows as interface 1. If you don’t use the IF parameter then Windows will automatically search for the best interface to use.

Conclusion

In this article, I have explained how to use the ROUTE command to display the Windows routing tables and make changes to those tables if necessary. If you need a little extra help, you can get more syntax examples by entering the ROUTE /? Command.

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Data Collected from Web http://www.windowsnetworking.com/ This article discusses some of the more common causes of logon failures in Active Directory environments.
Published: Jul 31, 2008 Updated: Jul 31, 2008 Section: Articles & Tutorials :: Network Troubleshooting Author: Brien M. Posey Printable Version Rating: 3.7/5 - 19 Votes

Logging into a computer is such a routine part of the day that it is easy to not even think about the login process. Even so, things can and occasionally do go wrong when users log into Windows. In this article, I will talk about some of the things that can cause logon failures, and show you how to get around those problems.

Before I Begin

Before I get started, I just want to quickly mention that in order to provide as much useful information as possible, I am going to avoid talking about the most obvious causes of logon failures. This article assumes that before you begin the troubleshooting process, you have checked to make sure that the user is entering the correct password, the user's password has not expired, and that there are no basic communications problems between the workstation and the domain controller.

The System Clock

It may seem odd, but a workstation's clock can actually be the cause of a logon failure. If the clock is more than five minutes different from the time on your domain controllers, then the logon will fail.

In case you are wondering, the reason for this has to do with the Kerberos authentication protocol. At the beginning of the authentication process, the user enters their username and password. The workstation then sends a Kerberos Authentication Server Request to a the Key Distribution Server. This Kerberos Authentication Server Request contains several different pieces of information, including:

• The user’s identification
• The name of the service that the user is requesting (in this case it’s the Ticket Getting Service)
• An authenticator that is encrypted with the user’s master key. The user’s master key is derived by encrypting the user’s password using a one way function.

When the Key Distribution Server receives the request, it looks up the user’s Active Directory account. It then calculates the user’s master key and uses it to decrypt the authenticator (also known as pre authentication data).

When the user’s workstation created the authenticator, it placed a time stamp within the encrypted file. Once the Key Distribution Server decrypts this file, it compares the time stamp to the current time on its own clock. If the time stamp and the current time are within five minutes of each other, then the Kerberos Authentication Server Request is assumed to be valid, and the authentication process continues. If the time stamp and the current time are more than five minutes apart, then Kerberos assumes that the request is a replay of a previously captured packet, and therefore denies the logon request. When this happens, the following message is displayed:

The system cannot log you on due to the following error: There is a time difference between the client and server. Please try again or consult your system administrator.

The solution to the problem is simple; just set the workstation’s clock to match the domain controller’s clock.

Global Catalog Server Failures

Another major cause of logon problems is a global catalog server failure. A global catalog server is a domain controller that has been configured to act as a global catalog server. Global catalog servers contain a searchable representation of every object in every domain of the entire forest.

When the forest is initially created, the first domain controller that you bring online is automatically configured to act as a global catalog server. The problem is that this server can become a single point of failure, because Windows does not automatically designate any other domain controllers to act as global catalog servers. If the global catalog server fails, then only domain administrators will be able to log into the Active Directory.

Given the global catalog server’s importance, you should work to prevent global catalog server failures. Fortunately, you can designate any or all of your domain controllers to act as global catalog servers. Keep in mind though that you should only configure all of your domain controllers to act as global catalog servers if your forest consists of a single domain. Having multiple global catalog servers is a good idea even for forests with multiple domains, but figuring out which domain controllers should act as global catalog servers is something of an art form. You can find Microsoft’s recommendations here.

If your global catalog server has already failed, and nobody can log in, then the best thing that you can do is work to return the global catalog server to a functional state. There is a way of allowing users to log in even though the global catalog server is down, but there are security risks associated with doing so.

If the Active Directory is running in native mode, then the global catalog server is responsible for checking user’s universal group memberships. If you choose to allow users to logon during the failure, then universal group memberships will not be checked. If you have assigned explicit denials to members of certain universal groups, then those denials will not be in effect until the global catalog server is brought back online.

If you decide that you must allow users to log on, then you will have to edit the registry on each of your domain controllers. Keep in mind that editing the registry is dangerous, and that making a mistake can destroy Windows. I therefore recommend making a full system backup before continuing.

With that said, open the Registry Editor and navigate through the registry tree to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa. Now, create a new DWORD value named IgnoreGCFailures, and set the value to 1. You will have to restart the domain controller after making this change.

DNS Server Failure

If you suddenly find that none of your users can log into the network, and your domain controllers and global catalog servers seem to be functional, then a DNS server failure might have occurred. The Active Directory is completely dependent on the DNS services.

The DNS server contains host records for each computer on your network. The computers on your network use these host records to resolve computer names to IP addresses. If a DNS server failure occurs, then host name resolution will also fail, eventually impacting the logon process.

There are two things that you need to know about DNS failures in regard to troubleshooting logon problems. First, the logon failures may not happen immediately. The Windows operating system maintains a DNS cache, which includes the results of previous DNS queries. This cache prevents workstations from flooding DNS servers with name resolution requests for the same objects over and over.

In many cases, workstations will have cached the IP addresses of domain controllers and global catalog servers. Even so, items in the DNS cache do eventually expire and will need to be refreshed. You will most likely start noticing logon problems when cached host records begin to expire.

The other thing that you need to know about DNS server failures is that often times there are plenty of other symptoms besides logon failures. Unless machines on your network are configured to use a secondary DNS server in the event that the primary DNS server fails, the entire Active Directory environment will eventually come to a grinding halt. Although there are exceptions, generally speaking, the absence of a DNS server on an Active Directory network basically amounts to a total communications breakdown.

Conclusion

Although I have discussed some of the major causes of logon failures on Active Directory networks, an important part of the troubleshooting process is to look at how widespread the problem is. For example, if only a single host on a large network is having logon problems, then you can probably rule out DNS or global catalog failures. If a DNS or a global catalog failure were to blame, then the problem would most likely be much more wide spread. If the problem is isolated to a single machine, then the problem is most likely related to the machine’s configuration, connectivity, or to the user’s account.

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When you activate Windows XP, Microsoft stores the data in the Windows Product Activation database files wpa.dbl and Wpa.bak in the folder %systemroot%\system32. If you change the motherboard or make significant hardware changes, XP will require you to reactive. But if you plan to reinstall XP on the same hardware, you can back up the activation status and then restore it after you reinstall and avoid the activation process. You can backup the Windows Product Activation database files to diskette. They are very small. A directory listing from my XP Pro workstation:

C:\WINDOWS\system32>dir wp*
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 8447-0571

Directory of C:\WINDOWS\system32

10/24/2001  08:28 PM            12,584 wpa.bak
01/14/2002  09:05 AM            12,642 wpa.dbl

After you reinstall XP, to restore the Windows Product Activation database files:

• Start XP to Minimal Safe mode
• Change directory to the \%systemroot%\system32 folder
• Rename the newly created wpa.dbl to wpa.nonactivated and wpa.bak, if it exists, to wpabak.nonactivated.
• Copy your backed up wpa.dbl and wpb.bak files to the system32 folder
• Reboot

This should work if you want to avoid activating XP after a reinstall or restore on the same or very similar hardware. It will not work if the hardware is significantly different from that in place when the Windows Product Activation database files were created. This is not a hack to avoid activating installations.

Related:

• Technical Details on Microsoft Product Activation for Windows XP
• Running Repair on Windows XP Requires the User to Re-Activate the Product (Q302740)
• Windows XP Prompts You to Re-activate After You Restore Your Computer (Q305356)

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Enable / Disable Task Manager in Windows XP Home / Pro

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Hive: HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Key: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
Name: DisableTaskMgr
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 1=Enablethis key, that is DISABLE TaskManager
Value: 0=Disablethis key, that is Don't Disable, Enable TaskManager

As part of the enhanced management available in Windows 2000 and Windows XP, rather than risking a registry change, as an administrator you can enable or disable Windows 2000 Pro or Windows XP Pro's TaskManager using Group Policy Editor. This can be applied to the local policy. Note: if you are trying to override your organizations group policy, you can't. As soon as you re-authenticate to the domain, the domain or OU Group Policy will rewrite the registry setting. But if the TaskManager was accidently disabled or you need to control this item for a set of standalone boxes this is for you:

• Click Start
• Click Run
• Enter gpedit.msc in the Open box and click OK
• In the Group Policy settings window
  • Select User Configuration
  • Select Administrative Templates
  • Select System
  • Select Ctrl+Alt+Delete options
  • Select Remove Task Manager
  • Double-click the Remove Task Manager option

And as I mentioned above, since the policy is Remove Task Manager, by disabling the policy, you are enabling the Task Manager.

Got XP Home - use the registry edit.

Enable / Disable Task Manager in NT & 2000

Hive: HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Key: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
Name: DisableTaskMgr
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 1=Enablethis key, that is DISABLE TaskManager
Value: 0=Disablethis key, that is Don't Disable, Enable TaskManager

Option post SP2 NT4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP.

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Data Collected from Web http://www.windowsnetworking.com/ A look at the various reasons why a DHCP server might fail to lease IP addresses and the solutions to those problems.
Published: Dec 27, 2006 Updated: Dec 27, 2006 Section: Articles & Tutorials :: Network Troubleshooting Author: Brien M. Posey Printable Version

If you use DHCP servers to automatically configure the TCP/IP settings for workstations in your organization, a DHCP failure can lead to a major disruption in service. After all, if a workstation is not able to acquire an IP address, then it will have no way of accessing any of the resources on your private network or on the Internet. In this article, I will discuss some techniques that you can use to troubleshoot DHCP server failures.

Inappropriate Address Assignment

One very common DHCP related issue is the assignment of an unexpected IP address. For example, suppose that your DHCP server was configured with an IP address scope of 192.168.0.1 to 192.1680.50. You would expect network hosts to be assigned IP addresses in this range. Now, suppose that a workstation on your network appeared to be having problems communicating with network servers. You issue an IPCONFIG /ALL command to view the workstation’s IP address configuration. Instead of the expected address range, the workstation has been assigned an address beginning with 169.254.

So what happened? If a host on your network is unexpectedly assigned an address beginning with 169.254, you can rest assured that the address was not assigned by your DHCP server. What actually has happened, is that the workstation has failed to contact a DHCP server. When this occurs, the workstation will assign itself an IP address using a Windows feature known as Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA).

Microsoft built Automatic Private IP Addressing into Windows as a way of helping those who have very small networks. For example, if you were to create a small Windows network, you would not have to manually configure IP addresses even if there were no DHCP server on the network. APIPA would automatically assign a unique class B IP address to each machine on the network. This is great for small home networks but completely inappropriate for larger networks.

If a workstation resorts to using an APIPA assigned address, it is because its requests for an IP address have gone unanswered. There are several possible causes for this problem. Assuming that the other computers on the network are able to acquire an IP address from your DHCP server, you can rule out the DHCP server as the cause of the problem.

More than likely, the issue is related to the networking hardware installed in the workstation that is having the problem. For example, the Network Interface Card might be assigned an incorrect driver. Another possible cause of the problem is that the patch cable is not plugged into the Network Interface Card, or is not connected to a switch on the other end.

Of course, just because only one computer on the network is having trouble obtaining an IP address doesn’t completely rule out the server as the cause of the problem. If other workstations are successfully obtaining IP addresses, then you can be sure that the server is working properly. However, it could be that the server has run out of IP addresses that it can assign to clients. You can easily tell if this is the problem by comparing the size of the DHCP address scope to the number of devices on your network that request IP addresses from the DHCP server.

Common DHCP Server Problems

If multiple workstations are experiencing problems with leasing IP addresses, then the problem is most likely related to the DHCP server itself. If you suspect that the DHCP server is the cause of the problem, then you might start off by doing some ping tests to verify that the DHCP server is able to communicate across the network.

If the DHCP server is able to communicate with other computers on the network, then I recommend verifying that the DHCP server has an IP address that is compatible with the scope that the server is configured to assign addresses from. For example, if the DHCP server’s scope consists of addresses from 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.50, then the server will not actually be able to assign those addresses unless the server itself has been assigned a static address in the same subnet range, such as 192.168.0.0 or 192.168.0.51.

If this still doesn’t solve the problem, then I recommend checking the basics. For example, you should make sure that the DHCP server is still authorized by the Active Directory to lease IP addresses. You should also check to verify that the scope is active, and that the necessary services are running on the DHCP server.

IP Address Conflicts

Another problem that I have seen on occasions involves IP address conflicts among dynamically configured addresses. When you create a DHCP scope, it is the DHCP server’s responsibility to make sure that addresses within the scope are only leased to one client at a time. If that’s the case, then how is it possible to have an IP address conflict for dynamically assigned addresses?

There are two situations that I’ve run into that can cause this problem. The first time that I ever ran into this problem, I was able to determine which PCs had been assigned at the duplicate addresses. When I checked the TCP/IP configuration on those machines, I found that one of the machine’s IP addresses had been manually configured. It’s kind of a long story, but that machine’s user was running an unauthorized application that required a static IP address. The user got tired of having to reconfigure the application every time they used it, so they took the address that had been dynamically assigned to them, and entered it as a static address.

The likelihood of this happening today is fairly slim. When a particular situation occurred, Windows 98 was the current operating system. Windows 98 lacks many of the security features that we take for granted today. A properly secured workstation running Windows XP or Windows Vista should be resistant to end user reconfigurations. Even so, I wanted to at least mention this issue because it gives you something to look for if you have trouble solving the problem.

A much more common cause of this problem is that multiple DHCP servers are in use, and those DHCP servers have overlapping scopes. If you only have a single DHCP server on your network, do not make the mistake of immediately dismissing this idea as a possible cause of your problem. In all likelihood, there is probably a rogue DHCP server that is conflicting with your primary DHCP server.

Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003 are both designed in such a way to prevent rogue DHCP servers from causing problems. A DHCP server can only issue IP addresses after it has been authorized by the Active Directory. The problem is that this only applies to Windows-based DHCP servers. DHCP servers running other operating systems are free to lease IP addresses to clients without having to be authorized by the Active Directory.

So has a user really gone through the trouble of installing a rogue, Linux based DHCP server? Probably not. A much more likely explanation is that a wireless access point, or a router intended for cable or DSL Internet connections is causing your problem. Such devices almost always have DHCP server’s built in. These devices typically use a scope range of 192.168.0.x or 192.168.1.x. If this happens to be the same IP address scope that your primary DHCP server uses, then you may run into a situation in which both DHCP servers are issuing addresses from the same address pool.

Conclusion

In this article, I’ve explained that there are a number of potential causes for DHCP failures. In most cases, these failures are related to simple communications problems between the DHCP server and the workstations that are trying to lease addresses.

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Data Collected from Web http://www.windowsnetworking.com 10 different ways to troubleshoot DNS resolutions issues.
Published: Jun 17, 2009 Updated: Jul 13, 2009 Section: Articles & Tutorials :: Network Troubleshooting Author: David Davis Printable Version

Introduction

We all need proper DNS resolution for our network applications. When it this is not working, what do you do? Let us find out…

Let’s face it, when DNS resolution is not working, using anything on your computer that has to do with networking is painful because there is good chance it will not work. DNS really is not a “nice feature” of a network, it is a requirement. As a network admin, I have heard the alarming cry of end users moaning that the network is down, when it would be the cause of the DNS servers. In these cases I assure them that the network is up and running fine but it is the DNS servers that are down! As you can imagine, that does not go over very well with them because to an end user, it is all the same thing. DNS is “the network” (not that they know what DNS is anyway).

So how do you troubleshoot this critical network infrastructure service when you are on an end user PC (or your PC) and DNS is not resolving a DNS name? Here are the 10 tips and tricks that I recommend you try to get DNS working again…

1. Check for network connectivity

Many times, if you open your web browser, go to a URL, and that URL fails to bring up a website, you might erroneously blame DNS. In reality, the issue is much more likely to be caused by your network connectivity. This is especially true if you are using wireless networking on a laptop. With wireless security protocols, the key will be periodically renegotiated or the signal strength will fade, causing a loss of network connectivity. Of course, you can lose network connectivity on any type of network.

In other words, before blaming DNS for your problems, start troubleshooting by checking “OSI Layer 1 – Physical” first and then check your network connectivity. Here you should find a wireless connection with a valid Internet connection.

Figure 1: Good Wireless Network Connection

Notice how the Access is Local and Internet. If it just said “Local” then you do not have a valid network address (you only have a private APIPA that starts with 169.x.x.x).

This brings me to my next point. Make sure that you have a valid IP address on your network. You can check this out by going to View Status on the screen above and then to Details, you can check your IP address and verify your DNS Server IP addresses. Again, if you have a 169.x.x.x IP address you will never get to the Internet. Here is what it looks like:

Figure 2: Verifying your IP address and DNS Server IP addresses

2. Verify your DNS server IP addresses are correct and in order

Once you know that you have network connectivity and a valid IP address, let us move on to digging deeper into DNS by verifying that your DNS Server IP addresses are correct and are in the right order.

If you look at Figure 2 above, you can see the IPv4 DNS Server IP addresses. Notice that these are both on my local LAN / subnet so that I can access them even if my default gateway is down. This is how it works on most enterprise networks. However, your DNS servers do not always have to be on your subnet. In fact, with most ISPs, the DNS Server IPs would not even be on the same subnet as the default gateway.

In most home/SMB router configurations, they do not have their own DNS servers and the SMB router is proxying DNS to the real DNS Servers. In that case, your DNS Server IP address may be the same as your router.

Finally, make sure that your DNS Servers are in the right order. In my case, with the graphic in Figure 2, my local DNS Server is 10.0.1.20. It is configured to forward any names that it cannot resolve to 10.0.1.1, my local router. That router is proxying DNS to my ISP’s DNS Servers. I can look up those DNS Servers on my router, shown below in Figure 3.

Figure 3: My local DNS Servers, received from my ISP via DHCP

That brings me to two more points. First, make sure that your DNS Servers are in the right order. If you have a local DNS Server, like I do, and you are looking up a local DNS name, you want your PC client to lookup that local DNS name in the local DNS Server FIRST, before the Internet DNS Server. Thus, your local DNS server needs to be first in your DNS settings as these DNS Server IPs are in the order that they will be used.

Secondly, you should be able to ping the IP address of your ISP’s DNS Servers. So, just as my DNS servers are listed above on my router, I can verify that I can ping them even from my local PC:

Figure 4: Pinging my ISP’s DNS Server

Notice how the response time from the ping to my ISP’s DNS Server is horrible. This could cause slow DNS lookups or even failure if it takes too long for the DNS server to respond.

3. Ping the IP address of the host you are trying to get to (if it is known)

A quick way to prove that it is a DNS issue and not a network issue is to ping the IP address of the host that you are trying to get to. If the connection to the DNS name fails but the connection to the IP address succeeds, then you know that your issue has to do with DNS.

I know that if your DNS Server is not functioning then it could be hard to figure out what the IP address is that you want to connect to. Thus, to carry out this test, you would have to have a network diagram or, like many network admins do, just have the IP address of a common host memorized.

If this works, until the DNS server is available again, you could manually put an entry in your hosts file to map the IP to the hostname.

4. Find out what DNS server is being used with nslookup

You can use the nslookup command to find out a ton of information about your DNS resolution. One of the simple things to do is to use it to see what DNS server is providing you an answer and which DNS server is NOT. Here is my nslookup of www.WindowsNetworking.com

Figure 5: nslookup output

Notice, in Figure 5, how my local DNS server failed to respond but my ISP’s DNS server did provide me a “non-authoritative answer”, meaning that it does not host the domain but can provide a response.

You can also use nslookup to compare the responses from different DNS servers by manually telling it which DNS server to use.

5. Check your DNS suffix

If you are looking up a local host on a DNS server that your PC is a member of, you might be connecting to a host and not using the FQDN (fully qualified DNS name) and counting on the DNS suffix to help out. For example, if I were to connect to “server1”, the DNS server could have multiple entries for that DNS name. You should have your network adaptor configured with the connection specific DNS suffix, as shown on the first line on the graphic above, labeled Figure 1. Notice how in that graphic my DNS suffix is wiredbraincoffee.com. Whenever I enter just a DNS name like server1, the DNS suffix will be added on the end of it to make it server1.wiredbraincoffee.com.

You should verify that your DNS suffix is correct.

6. Make sure that your DNS settings are configured to pull the DNS IP from the DHCP server

It is likely that you would want your network adaptor to obtain DNS Server IP addresses from the DHCP Server. If you look at the graphic below, this adaptor has manually specified DNS Server IP addresses.

Figure 6: Verify DNS Server Settings

You may need to change to “Obtain DNS server address automatically” in order to get a new DNS server IP. To do this, open the Properties tab of your network adaptor and then click on Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4).

7. Release and renew your DHCP Server IP address (and DNS information)

Even if your adaptor is set to pull DNS information from DHCP, It is possible that you have an IP address conflict or old DNS server information. After choosing to obtain the IP and DNS info automatically, I like to release my IP address and renew it.

While you can do this with a Windows Diagnosis in your network configuration, I like to do it in the command prompt. If you have UAC enabled, make sure you run the Windows cmd prompt as administrator then do:

IPCONFIG /RELEASE

IPCONFIG /RENEW

Then, do an IPCONFIG /ALL to see what your new IP and DNS Server info looks like.

8. Check the DNS Server and restart services or reboot if necessary

Of course, if the DNS server is really hung, or down, or incorrectly configured, you are not going to be able to fix that at the client side. You may be able to bypass the down server somehow, but not fix it.

Thus, it is very likely that you, or the admin responsible for the DNS server, need to check the DNS Server status and configuration to resolve your DNS issue.

9. Reboot your small office / home DNS router

As I mentioned above in #2 and showed in Figure 3, on home and small office routers, the DNS server settings are typically handed out via DHCP with the DNS server set to the IP of the router and the router will proxy the DNS to the ISP’s DNS server.

Just as it is possible that your local PC has network info (including DNS server IP Addresses), it is also possible that your router has bad info. To ensure that your router has the latest DNS server information, you may want to do a DHCP release and renew on the router’s WAN interface with the ISP. Or, the easier option may be just to reboot the router to get the latest info.

10. Contact your ISP

We all know how painful it can be to contact an ISP and try to resolve a network issue. Still, if your PC is ultimately getting DNS resolution from your ISP’s DNS servers, you may need to contact the ISP, as a last resort.

Summary

DNS resolution is a critical piece of our network infrastructure and it must work properly for our network applications to function. In this article, I have given you 10 different ways to troubleshoot DNS resolutions issues, hope they are useful!

Data Collected from Web http://www.windowsnetworking.com

Data Collected from Web http://www.windowsnetworking.com Taking a look at the new Group Policy preferences and how to get them up and running, today!
Published: Jun 18, 2009 Updated: Jun 18, 2009 Section: Articles & Tutorials :: Common for all OSes Author: Derek Melber Printable Version

Introduction

I always say that Microsoft does some awesome things and some not so awesome things. Windows Me… not so great. Group Policy Preferences… AMAZING! If you have not heard of Group Policy Preferences you have probably not been paying much attention to what has been going on, but you are not too late! Group Policy Preferences are Group Policy settings, but with new options and features. They include over 3000+ settings and can control areas of the operating system that no one ever thought were possible. The benefits do not just stop there either. Group Policy Preferences can be set for Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003 SP1 computers, as well as Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. I am sure that most of you are running at least one of these operating systems for the majority of your network, so do not wait… implement them today! Let me show you how to get them up and running.

Group Policy Basics: Two parts

In order to fully grasp the concept of what needs to be done with Group Policy Preferences, let us first look at how Group Policy is divided. The first part is deployment and on the other implementation. For starters, let me say that Group Policy technology is not agent based. So, there will be no need for any agents to be distributed. It is very important to understand that there will not be any performance degradation by just deploying the capability of your computers to use and implement Group Policy Preferences.

The first part of Group Policy is the “server side” component. This is, in essence, the “administrative” console. Since Windows XP was launched, we have been using the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) and the Group Policy Object Editor (GPOE), which is built into the GPMC. This interface allows you to see the various Group Policy settings such as; security options, software settings and finally, Administrative Templates. The GPMC can be installed on any operating system past Windows 2000. As I stated above, Windows 2000 can not administer or receive Group Policy Preference settings. The catch here is that the GPMC that supports Group Policy Preferences must be running on a Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista computer.

Note:
I did not mention ANYTHING about the Windows domain version; this can be achieved on Windows 2000 if you want.

The second part of Group Policy deals with the “client side” component. The client side extension (CSE) is a DLL that sits on the computer that is going to receive the Group Policy setting. There are many CSEs, and now, with Group Policy Preferences there are 38 of them! For comparison’s sake, Windows XP SP2 came with about 15! Since it is a DLL (not an EXE or other file that executes by itself), there is no activity until the DLL is initiated by something else. The Group Policy processing on the target machine will deliver any new Group Policy settings to the DLL, which then applies the setting to the computer.

Getting the GPMC Installed Correctly

For those of you who feel that you have GPMC already, please read this portion anyway. I have seen too many administrators get frustrated due to the fact that they do not have the correct GPMC installed. Let me be as clear as I can about the rules of engagement in order to run the GPMC that supports Group Policy Preferences:

You must be running the GPMC on a computer that is running Windows Vista SP1 or Windows Server 2008. The computer that is running the GPMC must be connected to the Windows Active Directory domain.

If you decide to use Windows Server 2008 as the administrative computer for Group Policy Preferences, you will not have to install anything to get the tool on the box. Windows Server 2008 comes with GPMC availability, but maybe not visibly so. If you do not see the Group Policy Management Console on your list of Administrative Tools, you might need to enable the Group Policy Management feature. This will make the GPMC available on the computer. You will need to do this via the Server Manager console. Once in the Server Manager console, you will select the Features option on the left list of options. You can the Server Manager in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Server Manager allows you to add uninstalled or disabled features on Windows Server 2008

If you want to use Vista as your administrative computer, then you will need to perform a few more tasks first. Firstly, you will need to install the Service Pack 1. This will actually uninstall the older version of the GPMC that comes with the Release to Manufacturer version of Vista. The end result is that you are left with no version of GPMC at all. Secondly, you must install the Remote Server Administrative Tools (RSAT) (You can easily download it from Microsoft’s website). Thirdly, you must enable the GPMC on the Vista computer by adding the Windows feature.

Note:
If you want step by step instructions on getting the GPMC on a Vista computer, read my other article on the subject on WindowSecurity.com.

When you have the new GPMC installed, you can administer Group Policy Preferences. Just edit any GPO from the GPMC and expand the Preferences node under the Computer or User Configuration node. From there, you will be able to configure any of the settings as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: The new GPMC and GPME allow you to see and configure Group Policy Preferences

Getting the CSE Installed Correctly

Now that you have the administrative part of the Group Policy Preferences installed, you are ready to get the target computers prepared. Remember, the following operating systems can be a target for a Group Policy Preference setting:

• Windows XP SP2
• Windows Server 2003 SP1
• Windows Vista
• Windows Server 2008

Note:
If you have a Windows Server 2008 computer as a target, you do not need to install the CSE, it is there by default!

There are a few options available in order to install CSE. First of all, you can perform a manual installation by downloading the KB943729 article installations for the CSEs. Here are those article references:

• Windows XP SP2
• Windows Vista
• Windows Server 2003 SP1

A second option would be to use WSUS to download and install the CSEs. You will need to go into the optional downloads, where you find the CSEs.

Once you install the CSEs, you only need to have a Group Policy Preference configured in a GPO that is targeted to the computer. The setting will now apply and you are using Group Policy Preferences!

Summary

There are two steps that you need to perform to get Group Policy Preferences installed and deployed. First of all, you need to get the GPMC installed on a Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista computer. From here you can configure any of the Group Policy Preference settings. Second, you need to install the CSE on each computer that will be receiving the Group Policy Preference setting. This is either installed manually or you can use WSUS to perform the installation. In either case, once you have the Group Policy Preference set in a GPO and the CSE installed, the Group Policy Preferences will apply! With over 3000 settings to choose from, there is no reason to move forward with Group Policy Preferences.

Data Collected from Web http://www.windowsnetworking.com

By: James Scholes


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Many people are interested in making the most of their hardware. So here are 10 simple tips on how to make your Windows computer run faster without having to purchase additional hardware.

1. Defrag Disk to Speed Up Access to Data

One of the factors that slow the performance of the computer is disk fragmentation. When files are fragmented, the computer must search the hard disk when the file is opened to piece it back together. To speed up the response time, you should monthly run Disk Defragmenter, a Windows utility that defrags and consolidates fragmented files for quicker computer response.

* Follow Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter
* Click the drives you want to defrag and click Analyze
* Click Defragment


2. Detect and Repair Disk Errors

Over time, your hard disk develops bad sectors. Bad sectors slow down hard disk performance and sometimes make data writing difficult or even impossible. To detect and repair disk errors, Windows has a built-in tool called the Error Checking utility. It’ll search the hard disk for bad sectors and system errors and repair them for faster performance.

* Follow Start > My Computer
* In My Computer right-click the hard disk you want to scan and click Properties
* Click the Tools tab
* Click Check Now
* Select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box
* Click Start

3. Disable Indexing Services

Indexing Services is a little application that uses a lot of CPU. By indexing and updating lists of all the files on the computer, it helps you to do a search for something faster as it scans the index list. But if you know where your files are, you can disable this system service. It won’t do any harm to you machine, whether you search often or not very often.

* 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
4. Optimize Display Settings

Windows XP is a looker. But it costs you system resources that are used to display all the visual items and effects. Windows looks fine if you disable most of the settings and leave the following:

* 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

5. Speedup Folder Browsing

You may have noticed that everytime you open My Computer to browse folders that there is a little 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 speed, you can disable the “Automatically search for network folders and printers” option.

6. 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.

* Download and install the Extensible Performance Counter List (http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/reskit/tools/existing/exctrlst-o.asp)
* Then select each counter in turn in the ‘Extensible performance counters’ window and clear the ‘performance counters enabled’ checkbox at the bottom button below

7. Optimize Your Pagefile

You can optimize your pagefile. Setting a fixed size to your pagefile saves the operating system from the need to resize the pagefile.

* 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. 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.

9. Use a Flash Memory to Boost Performance

To improve performance, you need to install additional RAM memory. It’ll let you boot your OS much quicker and run many applications and access data quicker. There is no easiest and more technically elegant way to do it than use eBoostr (http://www.eboostr.com).

eBoostr is a little program that lets you improve a performance of any computer, powered by Windows XP in much the same way as Vista’s ReadyBoost. With eBoostr, if you have a flash drive, such as a USB flash thumb drive or an SD card, you can use it to make your computer run better. Simply plug in a flash drive through a USB socket and Windows XP will use eBoostr to utilize the flash memory to improve performance.

The product shows the best results for frequently used applications and data, which becomes a great feature for people who are using office programs, graphics applications or developer tools. It’ll surely attract a special attention of laptop owners as laptop upgrade is usually more complicated and laptop hard drives are by definition slower than those of desktops.

10. Perform a Boot Defragment

There's a simple way to speed up XP startup: make your system do a boot defragment, which will put all the boot files next to one another on your hard disk. When boot files are in close proximity to one another, your system will start faster.

On most systems, boot defragment should be enabled by default, but it might not be on yours, or it might have been changed inadvertently. To make sure that boot defragment is enabled:

* Run the Registry Editor
* Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction
* Set the Enable string value to Y if it is not already set to Y.
* Exit the Registry
* Reboot


Data Collected from Web http://information-technology.smartads.info

by: Patricia Dorch

Data Collected from Web http://information-technology.smartads.info

It is virtually impossible to succeed professionally and personally without developing a network of people. There is no career or business opportunity where you can be rewarded entirely for what you know and how well you know your work.

Networking requires a mission, goals, vision and a willingness to share valuable information with others. Networking events, meetings and conferences are places to make plans to reconnect and stay in touch. It involves building relationships, helping others and giving advice to anyone who asks. A trusting business relationship will enhance your base of contacts and build a lifetime of rewards. It’s Not Who You Know, It’s Who Knows You!

Networking is a skill that can be learned. To maximize the potential of your networking skill, you must learn the necessary strategies, and you must practice; just as you would when learning to play a sport or a musical instrument.

Introductions. There is incredible power in first impressions. Therefore, you should make it a priority to make the best first impression you can. For most introductions, the first real contact you have with another individual is a handshake. Your handshake communicates, professionalism, confidence and credibility. Learn how to give a quality, professional handshake – not too limp, but not too firm – to leave the best first impression. Just as important as the handshake, is remembering a person’s name, as well as its pronunciation and spelling. Moreover, a good rule to remember is people prefer to be called by the name they have introduced themselves.

Business Card Exchange. Challenge yourself not to give out your cards, until you have uncovered a reason for exchanging names and numbers. Lead your conversation in a direction that is beneficial for you to stay in contact beyond the event.

Building the Relationship by:

Knowing how to hold an effective conversation
Engaging your connection
Knowing how to actively listen
Building trust

Networking can Happen Anywhere. Remember that everywhere you go is an opportunity to network. Even at your current job! “Social Networking” is a sensible alternative to traditional organizational charts and everyday business transactions.

Follow-Up! Follow-up is essential in building and maintaining relationships. Don’t let your network forget about you!

Networking as a way of life will bring you personal and professional success. Make the most of your time - be determined, patient and visible.

To get the most out of your networking abilities, you’ll want to have a strong resource that you can trust on your side. Visit http://www.ebookmall.com our copy of Networking: 17 Essential Strategies in the 21st Century. Or, for guidance in-person, contact Patricia Dorch at execudress@aol.com to schedule Networking Events for National, Regional and Local Conferences, Meetings and Special Events.

Practice conversations with people in familiar and uncommon places. Asking questions is a sign of a good listener and will help you establish rapport and build relationships. Connecting with people will bring you a world of opportunities.

EXECU DRESS
Patricia Dorch M.S.
President / CEO
Author, National Speaker and Trainer
execudress@aol.com

© 2004 Patricia Dorch

About The Author

Patricia Dorch is a best-selling Author, National Speaker, Trainer and Career Coach. Her clients include both Corporate Clients and Government Agencies in Washington, DC. Contact Patricia for your day or evening event.

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