Windows Hints and Tips

General

HOWTO identify and fix the Sasser worm.  See: http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/sasser.shtml as of 2004-05-02

HOWTO order Internet Explorer 6 SP1 on CD

    Visit http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/ordercd/ie6sp1.mspx, or call (800) 360-7561 Monday through Friday, between 8 A.M. and 10 P.M. Eastern Time. 

    You can also reinstall IE from your Windows XP install CD.

HOWTO order Windows XP SP2 on CD: see http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/sp2/cdorder/en_us/default.mspx 

Keyboard Tips

Alt+Tab Cycle thru open windows (add Shift to reverse).
Windows key Ctrl-Esc
Application (right-click) substitute Shift-F10
Alt-Spacebar System menu (Move, etc) 

Win-R: Run dialog
Win-E: Explorer
Win-F: Search Computer
Win-Break: System Properties
Win-D: Kind of the same thing, but works better - show desktop

Win-M: Minimize all (shift-win-m unminimizes)
Win-L: Login screen
Win-Tab (and Shift-Win-Tab): Cycle through open items in the taskbar (use space to open it)

Links

http://www.onecomputerguy.com/ 

Miscellaneous

• *Set recycle bin size lower than 10%
• Use DXDIAG to check system info (see also Start/Control Panel/System)
•  Use MSCONFIG to cleanup unwanted startup programs (not on W95, NT, 2000). See also:
      http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_content.htm, and
      http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm.
• Copy error message text with Control+X (2000 and XP only).
• MS support: http://support.microsoft.com.
• When you drag a file or folder from Explorer to a command prompt window, 
  its full path name is appended to the command line. For example, you can 
  type CD (CD for Change Directory followed by a space) and then drag a folder
  to the command prompt. When you press Enter, the command prompt changes 
  directory to the specified folder. Conversely, you can enter "explorer /e,."
  (explorer, space, slash, e, comma, period) at the prompt to open Windows 
  Explorer in the folder you're working with.
• DIR /A shows all files.
• XCOPY /? > XCOPY.TXT
• Whereas the DIR command lists files matching a file specification, 
  the FOR command acts on matching files. The following command opens all
  files in the current directory whose filename is Project1, launching 
  each in the application appropriate to its extension: 
  FOR %v IN (PROJECT1.*) DO START %v. 
  The %v represents a variable; you can use any letter. For each file that
  matches the list of file specifications in parentheses, the command after
  DO repeats, substituting that file's name for the variable. With Window 
  2000 and XP, the FOR command is even more powerful. For a full list of 
  its features, enter FOR/? > FORHELP.TXT and launch Forhelp.txt.
• HELP > HELP.TXT

Windows 2000

How to repair network or modem connectivity issues in Windows 2000
        - Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 837333
        - see http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;837333 as of 2004-07-23

Windows XP

HOWTO reset TCP/IP on Windows XP to fix Winsock and Winsock 2 errors

    Possible symptoms:

            169.254.*.* IP address when using DHCP

            OR:

                Can ping the IP address of another computer AND

                Can ping the IP address of the router AND

                Can ping an external IP address AND

                Cannot ping an external name

            OR:

                Message "an operation was performed on .. not a socket"

    Possible fixes:

            If you can ping by IP but not by Name, double check that the
            DNS entry is the correct and still giving problems, you might
            need to reinstall TCP/IP
            
            To do this with XP, you need to run a small script:
            
                netsh int ip reset [ log_file_name ]
            
            the log_file_name needs to be specified, e.g.
            
                netsh int ip reset ip_reset.txt

            OR:

            See http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=811259

            OR:

                Rename or move or delete %SYSTEMROOT%/system32/winsock.dll and wsock32.dll.

                Then, using the Windows XP install CD:

                    Start > run > sfc /scannow  (may take 20 minutes to run).

How to Reinstall or Repair Internet Explorer and Outlook Express in Windows XP

See Microsoft Knowledge Base Article  318378 at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=318378 as of 2004-07-23.  (Note that Msinfo32 is usually in C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache\msinfo32.exe).

Document last updated 2005-02-14 .