|
BOOT CAMP 435 (01/08/06)
Windows XP Top Tips part 2
We’re rounding off this short series of tips
and tweaks for Windows XP with a simple trick that should lessen the chances of
a crash, we also have a way to make a particularly irritating error message
disappear, create shortcuts to important system settings, jazz up the Windows
Task Switcher, a little-known keyboard shortcut for making filenames in Windows
Explorer easier to read and how to set up a musical reminder (see this week’s
Top Tip).
Windows XP is lot more stable than its
predecessors but it still has a few bad habits and one of them is a tendency to
crash when you have a lot of folders open and you try switching between them
This is caused by a flaw in Windows memory management, which allocates the same
amount of memory to each folder, whether it needs it or not and this puts an
unnecessary strain on the CPU as it tries to juggle its resources. There is a
simple fix, open Control Panel, select Folder Options (or Folder Options on the
Tools menu in My Computer or Windows Explorer), select the View tab, scroll
down the Advanced Settings list, check the item ‘Launch
folder windows in a separate process’, then click OK.
The crash-proof PC is still some way off and
we’re going to have to live with things like program lock-ups for a while yet
but they’re made even more annoying by a Windows error message that says ‘This
program has stopped responding’, then asks you what you want to do about it, as
if there was some way to get the program to start running again…
The way to stop XP adding insult to injury is
to enable a feature called ‘Forced Exit’. This bypasses the irritating error
message by making unresponsive programs shut down immediately.
This tips is for advanced users only as it
involves making a small change to the Registry, but it’s really not difficult
and provided you have made a backup and set a new System Restore Point nothing
should go wrong.
Go to Run on the Start menu and type ‘regedit’
(without the quotes) and work your way to:
HKEY_USERS\Default\Control
Panel\Desktop
Double click Desktop to open the key in the right hand pane and look
for ‘AutoEndTasks’. Double-click the key and change the Value Data from 0 to 1,
Exit the Registry Editor and the new setting will be applied after a reboot.
The same Registry key also contains a setting for how long Windows
waits before announcing that a program has become unresponsive. The delay is
set by default to 20,000 milliseconds (20 seconds) but you can easily change
that by double-clicking ‘WaitToKillApp’ and reducing the time value
accordingly.
The next two tips create shortcuts to Device Manager and Display
Properties, which you can leave on the desktop or do as I do and place copies
in the Quick Launch toolbar for even faster access.
First Device Manager, which is the first place to go whenever you have
a hardware problem. Right-click on an empty spot on the desktop and select New
> Create Shortcut. Click the Brose button and make your way to
C:\WINDOWS\system32, select the file ‘devmgmt.msc’,
click Next, give the shortcut a name, click Finish and it’s done.
Now for Display Properties, which controls all aspects of Windows
appearance, from screensavers to screen resolution. The procedure is similar,
right-click the desktop, New > Shortcut but this time in the ‘Type the
location of the item’ box enter (or copy and paste) the following command:
Click Next, give the shortcut and name and Finish. If you want copies
of the shortcuts in the Quick Launch toolbar simply hold down the Ctrl key and
drag and drop the shortcut icons into their new home.
This next tip uses a small free utility or
‘PowerToy’ from Microsoft, to change the appearance of and make the Windows
Task Switcher more functional. The Task Switcher window appears when you press
Alt + Tab but it’s pretty dull; the new Task Switcher, called somewhat
unimaginatively Taskswitch, creates a thumbnail view of the
running applications you can switch between. Simply click on the download link
click OK and it will be installed.
Our final tip this week is a little known keyboard
shortcut for automatically resizing columns in Windows Explorer and My Computer
to the correct width for displaying filenames, so you don’t have manually move
the column dividers. All you have to is place the mouse pointer anywhere in the
right hand Explorer window, hold down the Ctrl key and press the ‘+’ key on the
Numeric Keypad (it has to be this one) and hey presto, the columns are resized.
NEXT WEEK – Build your own Vista-Ready PC for around £200
JARGON FILTER
CPU
Central Processor Unit - the main microprocessor chip
in a PC
DEVICE MANAGER
Windows utility
for viewing the status and properties of the hardware components in a PC
POWERTOY
A range of
unsupported utilities developed by Microsoft engineers to improve the
functionality of Windows or make configuration changes that would otherwise
involve editing the Registry
TOP TIP
If you’re
forgetful just make sure you remember this little tip, which makes Windows play
a tune, to remind you to do something at a specified time. It uses the Windows
Task Scheduler as an alarm clock and the first thing to do is open Windows
Explorer full screen and make your way to the folder containing the MP3 or Wav
audio file you want to use. Next open Task Scheduler (Start > Programs >
Accessories > System Tools). Now all you have to do is drag and drop the
audio file into the Task Scheduler window, right-click on tit, select
Properties and set your rime and date preferences then click Apply. By the way,
this feature only works if you have set a User Password for Windows, it’s a
safety feature and if you want to use this tip you will need to set one up.
---end---
© R. Maybury 2006, 2607
|