Microsoft windows 7, vista, xp and 2000 tips & tricks.

When you try to install a printer in your windows Vista system you receive the following error message:
000005B3: ERROR_REQUIRES_INTERACTIVE_WINDOWSTATION.
This may happen if you have bought a machine with Vista preinstalled and on which you, when finalizing the installation, are presented with multiple language choices and your chosen language doesn't mach your keyboard choice. E.g. you chose English language for the OS and e.g. a Swedish keyboard during the initial install process.
There is a workaround however. During the first important initial installation you chose the OS language and matching keyboard layout, in this example English OS and English keyboard. In another example you would chose Swedish language OS and the matching Swedish keyboard.

Then, after finalizing the installation; in this example add the Swedish keyboard, making it the default. To do so launch Regional and Language Options from Control Panel, click the Keyboards and Languages tab, and click Change Keyboard.

With Windows XP you can let the system synchronize the PC clock with a Time Server on the Internet. The problem is that it's not always reachable. You can easily add more time servers. Find the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DateTime\Servers\. In the right pane you find the two default Time Servers. To add one or more of your own, add a new String Value. Set a name that follows the other two in chronological order. The two that are already there have 1 and 2 so your new server address should be 3 then 4 etc. Double click on the new value and fill in the Web address for the new server.

One server which is always reachable is the Time Server at Lund's Tech University, Sweden. It has the Web address ntp.lth.se

When you uninstall programs it still show up under Add or Remove Programs. To clean up your Add or Remove Programs list start the Registry Editor (go to Start, Run and type Regedt32). Find the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall. Find the programs' subkeys ad remove them.
Restart your system for this change to take effect.

Microsoft has an excellent article (kb906602) which describes how to troubleshoot common Windows Update, Microsoft Update, and Windows Server Update Services installation issues. There is also a very good FixIt tool which automatically diagnoses and fixes common problems with Windows Update.

Read more at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906602.

If you want to backup your Windows 7 installation there is an excellent tool, Backup and restore under Control Panel > System and Security. The only shortcoming is that unless you have the Business or Ultimate version of Windows 7 backup to a network is gone. It was there in Windows Vista but is gone in
Windows 7.
However, you can backup your Windows Home Premium to a network following this workaround.

1. Disk Management > Create VHD (Virtual Hard Drive) on the NETWORK.
2. Attach/Mount VHD (automatic upon creation) > Initial & Assign local drive letter.
3. Backup to VHD saved on the network.

Even though you disabled Balloon Tips according to the instructions below you still receive annoying Balloon Tips. If you open the Registry Editor and navigate to the value EnableBalloonTips you will notice that the value has been reset to 1. Hence, you now get Balloon Tips and resetting the value to 0 will have no effect, on your next logon the value will be 1 again.
This seems to be a particularly common problem with Netbooks.

The probable culprit here is the WIDCOMM Bluetooth tray service. The obvious solution is to set the value to 0 and remove the Bluetooth startup shortcut from the Startup folder but that is a solution with some drawbacks. Should you require the service for some reason starting the service will immediately set the value to 1 and you have to open the Registry Editor and manually reset the value to 0 again.

A much better solution is to permanently block the WIDCOMM Bluetooth tray service from accessing the registry value. To do so click on the DWORD value and then go to Edit and Permissions. This will open the Permissions for Advanced window and you will see a list of users, click on Advanced which will open Advanced Security Settings for Advanced. In the Permissions tab click on the first user and go to Edit. This will open Permission Entry for Advanced. Check the Deny box for Set Value but leave everything else unchecked. Repeat this for every user, even System. Close the Registry Editor and reboot your computer and the Balloon Tips should be gone.

Admit that the default Briefcase Icon on your desktop looks dull. There is a way to replace it with a new and shiny metal Attaché case.
Start the Registry Editor (go to Start, Run and type Regedt32). Find the key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{85BBD0920-42A0-1069-A2E4-08002B30309D}\DefaultIcon. Double click on the value in the right pane. It should end with Syncui.dll,0. Change it to Syncui.dll,1.
Restart your system for this change to take effect.

As long as you are logged in as the system Administrator CD premastering software like Nero will work flawless. But when you are logged in as an ordinary user you will get a massage like this:
"Under Windows NT4/2000 burn rights are required by Nero to access cd recorders and cd-rom/dvd-rom drives. Please ask your system administrator for a permission to use Nero."
You get this message because Windows 2000 and Windows XP do not grant access to low level drivers for users without administrative rights
To solve this.

1. Go to Start, Settings and then Control Panel.
2. Click on Administrative Toolsand then Local Security Policy.
3. Navigate to Security Settings, Local Policies, Security Options and then to Restrict CD-ROM access to locally logged-on user only.
   (Under Windows XP you should navigate to Device: Restrict CD-ROM access to locally logged-on user only.)
   Right click and then on Security... to open.
4. Click Enabled and then OK.

This will also increase your security but have consequences if users try to access a shared CD-ROM on your computer.
See Microsoft KB article Prompted for CD-ROM When You Run System File Checker While Correct CD-ROM Is in Drive (Q263499).

If you don't want to change your Security Settings, Ahead Software has made a tool that will help you grant access to low level drivers for users without administrative rights. Thus making it possible for them to burn CDs with Nero. Download Nero BurnRights from here.

When you install your new DVD player you will find that it's still represented by the same old icon as your old CD player and even worse, it's also labeled Compact Disk.
To change the Drive Name or Icon (e.g. on your DVD drive). Start the Registry Editor (go to Start, Run and type Regedt32). Find the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer. If the key doesn't exist add the new sub-key DriveIcons. Create a new sub-key D (D representing the drive letter of the drive you want to modify). Under the drive letter create the new sub-key DefaultIcon and set the REG_SZ string value to equal the fully qualified name of the icon file.
To change the drive description e.g. in Explorer, under the drive letter (D in this example) create the new sub-key DefaultLabel and set the REG_SZ string value to whatever name you want the drive to appear as in Explorer (e.g. DVD Disk).
After you're done you should have two registry keys looking like this:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Explorer\DriveIcons\D\ DefaultIcon and:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Explorer\DriveIcons\D\ DefaultLabel

Restart your system for this change to take effect.

Windows 2000 provides an environment to run older programs, Win95 or NT4 programs, that experience issues with Windows 2000 in Compatibility-Mode. Compatibility-Mode more closely reflects the behavior of either Windows 95 or Windows NT4.
Compatibility-Mode is installed with Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 but is not enabled by default. To enable Compatibility-Mode:

1. Log on as Administrator.
2. Click Start, and then Run.
3. In the Open box type the following:
   regsvr32 %systemroot%\apppatch\slayerui.dll
4. Click OK.

Now you can right-click on a shortcut, then on Properties and then on the Compatibility tab. (This tab will only appear if the Compatibility-Mode Interface has been properly enabled on the computer). Select either Windows 95 or Windows NT4 in the drop-down box.

NOTE: Be vary careful if you use Compatibility-Mode to bypass version warnings in Setup or installation programs. Some software are designed for specific operating systems and can have the potential to cause serious problems if installed.

The Device Manager normally only display the Plug and Play units that presently are installed. A not connected USB unit for example or an external modem that is not turned on is not visible at all. Even if you choose "Show Hidden Devices" this behavior will not change. If this is activated installed "Non Plug and Play" devices will be displayed but not Plug and Play devices that are not presently connected. This behavior can be changed.

1. Log on as Administrator.
2. Click Start, Settings, Control Panel, and then System.
3. Click on the Advanced tab and then on Environment Variables...
4. Add a new System Variable to the lower pane. The variable name should be devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices with the value 1.
5. Click OK.

These devices will now be displayed grayed out but only when "Show Hidden Devices" is checked.

Restart your computer for this change to take affect.

If you find the various pop-up warnings that appear in balloons above the system tray annoying you can easily turn them off.

Start the Registry Editor (go to Start, Run and type Regedt32). Find the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced and add the DWORD value EnableBalloonTips. To turn of Balloon Tips the value should be set to 0.
To turn on Balloon Tips set the value to 1.

The first several times you start Windows XP. you'll get various pop-up warnings that appear in balloons above the system tray. You'll se one that says, in part, You need a Passport to use Windows XP Internet communication features... and to access .NET-enabled services on the Internet. Don't be fooled by this in to believing that you must set up a Passport account in order to use the Internet.
Dismiss the pop-up by clicking the X-icon at its top right. If you click anywhere else, you'll start the process of creating a Passport account.

As with other Windows systems there is also a way to do this by editing the Registry.
Start the Registry Editor (go to Start, Run and type Regedt32). Find the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MessengerService and find the binary value PassportBalloon. Double-click it, delete the old value and enter 0A.
The value should now be 0A 00 00 00.
On a multi-user computer you will probably want to do this for each account.

Windows XP keeps a count in the Registry of how many times the Passport balloon has been displayed and it stops after you have logged on to your account ten times. The Registry hack above stops it by setting the counter to ten.

Every time you open a document via a network -from a resource without a drive letter- Windows will automatically create a short cut to that document in My Network Places. If you open a lot of document this way the list in My Network Places soon becomes cluttered and confusing. This makes this function less useful.

To turn of this function start the Registry Editor (go to Start, Run and type Regedt32). Find the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer and add the DWORD value NoRecentDocsNetHood. Set the value to 1.
To turn on the function set the value to 0.

When you update Google Chrome to version 108.0.5359.72 or higher you get a constant notification "To get future Google Chrome updates, you'll need Windows 10 or later. This computer is using Windows X.X."
To disable this annoying notification create a text file with the .reg extension and double click on it to enter the value into registry, then restart Chrome. The text file should have the following content:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome]Explorer\AdvancedSuppressUnsupportedOSWarning"=dword:00000001

Or when you update Microsoft Edge to version 108.0.1462.42 or higher and get the constant notification "To get future Microsoft Edge updates, you'll need Windows 10 or later. This computer is using Windows X.X."
Create a text file with the .reg extension and double click on it to enter the value into registry, then restart Edge. The text file should have the following content:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Edge]SuppressUnsupportedOSWarning"=dword:00000001

If you install multiple network cards (NICs) in a computer running Windows 2000 Professional there is no really convenient way to enable routing. Yet, if you want the computers on the different networks to be able to talk to each other you need to enable routing on the computer where the multiple network cards are installed.
Both Windows NT Workstation and Server offer convenient dialog boxes (under the Network/Protocols/Routing tab and tick "Enable IP Forwarding") to enable routing and so does Windows 2000 Server.

Windows 2000 Professional is different, though. To enable routing in Windows 2000 Professional you need to use Regedt32 and find the key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
and select IPEnableRouter. To enable IP routing for all network connections installed on this computer, assign a value of 1.
To do this, click on the value IPEnableRouter, go to the Menu, click on Edit, and then click on DWORD.

In Windows 95/98/Me the Registry Key is:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\MSTCP
and select EnableRouting and assign a value of 1.

You need to reboot your computer for this change to take effect.

NOTE: Routing between networks using a software router (e.g. a computer running Win95/98/Me/NT4/2000) only works when routing Ethernet networks or Ethernet - USB networks. To route a 802.11b Wireless network you must use an Access Point with a router.

When you right click on a file in Explorer and use the function "Open With…" the check box "Always use this program to open this type of file" often is automatically checked, thus making it easy to accidentally change a file association.
With a simple Registry hack you can make sure that you always have to check this yourself, should you like to do such a change. Use Regedt32 and find the key:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown\shell\openas\command. Under that key is a string that looks like this:
%SystemRoot%\system32\rundll32.exe %SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,OpenAs_RunDLL %1
Open the value and add %2 preceded by a space, as the last entry in the string:
%SystemRoot%\system32\rundll32.exe %SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,OpenAs_RunDLL %1 %2

If you press shift when you right click on a file in NT Explorer you get an extra alternative on the right click menu, "Open With…". If you like to have this alternative every time you right click on a file in NT Explorer you can add this option by editing your Registry.
The easiest way to achieve this is to open NOTEPAD and write the following lines and save the file with the ending .reg.

If your Windows 7 came with Internet Explorer 9 pre-installed or if you upgrade from IE8 to IE9 you might find out that your toolbar icons are too small. If you like your tool bar icons larger there is a registry hack that will set them to large. To increase your IE9 icons go open the Registry Editor and navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\CommandBar. Add the DWORD SmallIcons and set the value to 0.

An extra security precaution is to clear the virtual memory pagefile on system shut down, so that no one with access to the hard drive can use it to search for information.

1. Go to Start, Settings and then Control Panel.
2. Click on Administrative Tools and then Local Security Policy.
3. Navigate to Security Settings, Local Policies, Security Options and then to Clear virtual memory pagefile when system shuts down. Right click and then on Security... to open.
4. Click Enabled and then OK.

Note: One side effect on a system with a very large pagefile is that system shut down will take longer. This is because the shutdown process must physically write to each page in the pagefile to clear the page.

Windows 2000 and XP still come with the POSIX subsystem. The POSIX allows the use of Unix commands. By disabling POSIX you prevent hackers from using Unix commands against your system.

To disable POSIX.

1. Use Regedt32 and find the key:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\SubSystems.
2. Click on the multistring called Optional in the right hand pane. Delete the value POSIX and leave the space empty (don't delete the Optional multistring).
3. Then click on the POSIX multistring in the same pane. It will point to a file in your Windows System32 folder called Psxss.exe. Using Windows Explorer delete or rename the file Psxss.exe then use Regedt32 to delete the POSIX multistring.

Note: One side effect on a system with a very large pagefile is that system shut down will take longer. This is because the shutdown process must physically write to each page in the pagefile to clear the page.

The Dump file or the DrWatson32 log file may be helpful when diagnosing a system crash, but like the swap file they can also present a security risk, storing a lot of sensitive, unencrypted data.

To prevent Windows from creating the Dump File:

1. Go to Start, Settings and then Control Panel.
2. In the Control Panel click on System and then the Advanced Tab.
3. Click on the Settings button on the Startup and Recovery pane. Set the drop-down menu under Write debugging information to (none).

To disable DrWatson and to prevent it from creating the DrWatson32.log file:

1. Use Regedt32 and find the key:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\AeDebug.
2. Set the Auto string to 0.
3. Then use Windows Explorer and go to Document and Settings\All Users\Shared Documents\DrWatson\. DeleteUser.dmp and DrWatson32.log.

Many hacker attacks derive from so called "null-session attacks". In short, a null-session attack means that the hacker logs on anonymously and have access to all of that groups user rights. This is possible with theNetBios protocol. The hacker then lists usernames and workgroups or tries to find the name for the administrator account should that have been renamed. One way to increase security is to add a value to the Registry Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa.
This value should be: RestrictAnonymous and should be of the type: REG_DWORD and the value set to:1.
Adding this value to the Registry Key will prevent some of the information leakage but not all.

In the event of a program crash with Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5 and 6, Office XP and also Windows XP the user have the option to send debugging information to Microsoft. In theory this sound like a smart function which should help Microsoft create more stable software. However, users sending these reports should be aware that sensitive or personal information may be sent to Microsoft along with debugging information. The relevant dialog box does not make it obvious that the contents of the document being edited may be sent along with information about the program crash.

Installing Windows 7 Home Premium (or any other skew of Windows 7 for that matter) replacing the original Windows XP installation is easy. Everything should work as before, camera, wireless network card etc. are identified and installed correctly. But, there is one caveat though; Bluetooth is nowhere to be found. No drivers are installed and it doesn’t turn up in Device Manager.
If you try to install the Bluetooth drivers you are told to go to the Device Manager to turn Bluetooth on!
But how do you do that if it’s not in Device Manager?

There is an easy solution to this dilemma though. You probably remember that your old XP installation had something called HP Wireless Assistant.

This is what you need to install prior to installing any Bluetooth driver packages.
The HP Wireless Assistant is sp45222.exe and should be found on the HP Web Site.
After installation and a reboot you will now see Bluetooth in the Device Manager. Make sure it’s turned on. Then download and install sp49153.exe which also should be found on the HP Web Site (Make sure you download both packages from a legitimate HP Web Site or FTP). Installing sp49153.exe will take awhile and require an Internet connection since sp49153.exe will contact Microsoft for the correct updated drivers etc.
After a reboot you should now have a proper functioning Bluetooth just as you had on your old XP installation.

Have you ever printed a web page only to find that the right-hand edge is missing? This is for you. First, this download page will install the control. If you have blocked installation of ActiveX controls you need to temporarily allow installation of ActiveX controls. After installation, close the browser window and reopen a new one. You should have a new printer icon with a small 'W' next to it on the toolbar, if you don't, right click on the toolbar and choose customize and find the icon in the left pane. When you have the icon on the toolbar, press this to bring up a print dialog which will then print the page fitted to the width of your paper. Alternatively, hold down the Control key while pressing the button and you will get a print preview instead.

By default Internet Explorer limits the number of concurrent downloads to two. This limitation make sense with a modem connection but not so much if you have a broadband connection. If you want to increase the number of concurrent downloads this can easily be achieved through a Registry hack.

Start the Registry Editor (go to Start, Run and type Regedt32). Find the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings. Create a new REG_DWORD value of MaxConnectionsPerServer then create yet another REG_DWORD value of MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server. Set both values to the number of concurrent downloads you want to be able to do. A number higher than 8 is not recommended.
Restart your system for this change to take effect.

If you don't like the new IExplorer 6 browser feature, the Image Toolbar, it can easily be turned of.

1. On the IExplorer Menu Bar click on Tools and then Internet Options.
2. Click on the Advanced tab.
3. Navigate to Multimedia and untick Enable Image Toolbar (requires restart).
4. Click OK.

Read more about Internet Explorer 6 and its new features here.

Configuring InPrivate Filtering to be always on. InPrivate Filtering is something many users appreciate but the default behavior of IE8 is that the user needs to manually trigger this every browser session. To overcome this and always start IE8 with InPrivate Filtering there is a Registry setting to start InPrivate Filtering with every browser session (this setting can than of course be manually changed during the session).

Start the Registry Editor (go to Start, Run and type Regedt32). Find the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Safety\PrivacIE. Create a new REG_DWORD value of StartMode then set the value to 1 or 2 for "Choose content..." or 0 for Off.
Restart your system for this change to take effect.

If you often move your laptop between two locations, like between your office and your home, and one of your locations requires a static IP address, the alternate IP configuration feature under TCP/IP in Windows XP can be handy. You can then specify that IP address, gateway and DNS server address information in the Alternate Configuration tab of the TCP/IP Properties.
When your computer starts it automatically attempts to obtain an address from a DHCP server. If no DHCP server is found, the alternate IP address information is used.
If a DHCP server is found (which is normally the case on e.g. your home network with an Internet connection), the system uses the DHCP-provided address instead.

Under Windows 2000, infrared devices are no longer handled as a Serial COM device and there is no native support in Windows 2000 for Virtual Serial Ports.
However, to use certain devices, such as Cell Phones for dialing an Internet Service Provider to have Internet access while on the road, or to be able to synchronize your Cell Phone with Outlook on your computer, you need to install software that treats the IrDA device as a Serial COM device.

Provided that you have an IrDA Infrared Adapter already installed and configured on your computer you can download the software Irdaw2k and install it on your computer. This will give you a Virtual Infrared COM port on your computer.

You can download Irdaw2k from http://www.cyber-mill.com/irdaw2k.zip.
However, those drivers are kind of old now and they haven't worked well with Windows XP. There is a more recent driver that works really well with both Windows 2000 and Windows XP at http://www.stud.uni-hannover.de/~kiszka/IrCOMM2k/English/index.html

After unzipping the files to a folder just run Setup. The setup program will run as a silent install and requires no interaction on your part. After short time you will se a dialog that says that Virtual COM was successfully installed. Just press OK. A Virtual Infrared COM port has been added to your COM ports.

There are some issues though. To be able to successfully use synchronization software such as TrueSync or your Cell Phone as a modem you may, depending on your software or device, have to go to Start, Settings, Control Panel and open Wireless Link. In Wireless Link click on the Image Transfer tab and untick "Use Wireless Link to transfer images from a digital camera to your computer." and "Explore location after receiving pictures."

If you need a convenient way to transfer files to and from other Infrared capable units, e.g. handheld devices or laptops, you can do the following.

1. Click Start, and then Run.
2. In the Open box type irftp
3. Click OK.

This will open an easy to use Wireless Link dialog box.
Use it much? Create a shortcut on your Desktop.

To secure WMP against script attacks, disable WMP's HTML-processing feature.

Start the Registry Editor (go to Start, Run and type Regedt32 or Regedit). Find the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Preferences subkey. From the Edit menu, select New, DWORD Value.
Enter a name of PlayerScriptCommandsEnabled. Set the new value to 0 to prevent WMP from processing HTML scripts in media files.

When you run Windows Media Player it periodically checks the Web for updates. But there is a way to disable this behavior.

Windows Media Player 6.4
Start the Registry Editor (go to Start, Run and type Regedt32). Find the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaPlayer. Add the REG_SZ string value EnableAutoUpgrade and set the value to No.

Windows Media Player 7.0 or later.
Start the Registry Editor (go to Start, Run and type Regedt32). Find the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft. Create a new sub-key WindowsMediaPlayer. Add the REG_DWORD string value DisableAutoUpdate and set the value to 1.

There is a known bug in XP which blocks you from deleting certain file extensions. These are most often simple files like videos (AVI), MP3s or other such files. When you try to delete the file, Windows waits a few seconds before announcing that access is denied, the file is currently in use and cannot be deleted.
If you search the Internet you find more or less complicated solutions for this problem but one thing that might be worth trying before going a more complicated route like a Registry change is to open the Command Prompt and try to delete the file.

The reason for this behavior is that the bug in XP causes Explorer to read the entire contents of broken files before allowing any access to them. This bug is more obvious with media files and other large files than with smaller text files since the file just takes longer for XP to read.

When you click on Help and Support in the start menu, you get the error message "Windows cannot find 'Helpctr.exe'. Make sure you typed the name correctly,..." The weird thing is, if you do a search for the file (helpctr.exe), you get numerous results.

The cause of this error message may be a corrupt Registry Key. Start the Registry Editor (go to Start, Run and type Regedt32). Find the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\HELPCTR.EXE. Make sure that the key reads HELPCTR.EXE not HELPCTR:EXE. Notice the colon between HELPCTR and EXE instead of a dot. If there is a colon replace it with a dot and Help and Support Center should start normally again.

If you have used Easy Cleaner or RegClean on your computer this might be the cause of your problems. If this is the case there is a solution at this site http://www.dougknox.com (look under Win XP Fixes) that might be worth checking out. Our readers have reported that this solution has in fact cured problems with Help and Support Center after the use of the above mentioned tools.

With Windows XP you can use Restore Points to fix minor problems caused by misbehaving programs etc. But sometimes when Windows XP crashes completely it isn't much of an help. When you use the F8 key to boot into Safe Mode and the try to use the System Restore Console (Rstrui.exe) in the System32\Restore folder you receive various errors for missing dll files etc. If you been conscientious and planed ahead and backed up your registry you may still be able to use PE Builder to restore your registry.

The instructions for this doesn't fit on this page. Go to http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ to read about PE Builder and learn how to use it.
You can learn more about how to backup the Registry on this Microsoft page.

Windows XP is by default set to remember 400 different folder settings. If you have more than 400 folders on your system, then they will start to loose their settings at random. Since Windows XP is a modern system intended for users on very big systems most users will sooner or later hit this limit. But his limit can be increased and this annoying behavior fixed.

Start the Registry Editor (go to Start, Run and type Regedt32). Find the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell. Add the REG_DWORD value BagMRU Size and set the value to 3e8.

Find the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam. Add the REG_DWORD string value BagMRU Size and set the value to 3e8.

Or if you prefer, you can download and use this .reg file.

Windows XP now remembers the settings of a 1000 folders. Use the value 7d0 instead and Windows XP will remember 2000 folders.

When you press the F8 key to invoke the Windows Advanced Options Menu so that you can choose the Safe Mode option you get the Windows Boot Manager instead.
This seems to be a particularly common phenomenon with Netbooks which typically have Windows XP Home installed.

Did you know that when you search for files containing a word Windows XP may not search inside all your files? This behavior occurs because Windows XP doesn't search inside files that are not registered in Windows. The chance that the word that you are looking for would be inside a non registered file type may be small but if you want to be sure that you find what you are looking for you can make the following change in Windows Registry.

Start the Registry Editor. Find the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ContentIndex. In the right pane find the value FilterFilesWithUnknownExtensions and set the value to 1 (the default value is 0).