Now that this is the hardware forum, I have more questions. I am using Windows XP and I am not sure how to check my system resources. In previous versions, it was in the performance tab of the systems program (in the control panel). But it doesn't seem to be there in XP. I can find a way to try to manually optimize performance, but it doesn't tell me the percentage of resources currently being used. I'd like to check because I think I need more RAM. My machine is getting sluggish, and I only have 384 in it right now.
Second question: What's the program that you use in XP and in WIN 98 (I think they might be different programs) to determine what programs are running in the background? If possible, I want the program that will also allow you to turn them off, so they aren't always running back there if they aren't necessary.
Thanks for the help guys.
Robert,
Press Ctrl-Alt-Del.
No, I'm not making a "make the noob reboot his system" joke. :-) The app that will appear will answer all of your questions. Show you system resources, show you what's running, etc.
In XP, the program that lets you disable apps in startup is MSConfig. Just go Start/Run/msconfig
The Performance tab is still there in XP. Just make sure you have Control Panel set to Classic View, open System, select Advanced, and choose Performance.
Pressing CTRL-ALT-DELETE in XP will send you to the activity manager (name translated from Swedish) or give you access to a menu from where you can reach it. You can check all programs and processes runing in windows, and it also has a prestanda tab available that could be what you are looking for if you wish to check system resources.
Now here's one for the rest of you:
I have the Links toolbar in IE set up with my most commonly visited sites. Lately, though, every once in a while my Links bar and my Favorites menu both get put back into alphabetical order, instead of my painstaking reordering. Any idea what could be causing this?
Just to add to what Denny said, run msconfig and look at the tab called "startup" - you'll see a lot of stuff that loads on startup. Most of it is probably unneeded - you can simply uncheck it, and then if you want to have it run you can always go back in and re-check it.
Also, when looking in msconfig, you'll see a processes tab. A lot of that stuff doesn't need to be running. I don't have a link handy, but you can do a search and find sites that will tell you what most of those processes are and which ones you can safely disable.
I suggest you start here ;)Originally Posted by Robert Sharp with editing
Ctrl-Shift-Esc will accomplish the same thing in NT 4, 2000, and XP.
[/nerd]
the links toolbar and the favorites menu are both represented by actual folders on your system (big surprise). maybe every time you click the "Reset All Folders" or "Apply to All Folders" buttons under Folder Options in windows explorer, it reorganizes those folders too?
This is just a shot in the dark guess.
More of an answer than a question: it's impossible to force IE to auto-maximize when it creates a new window. Eventually, you'll clck on a window that's starts as less than full size, and no matter what you do you'll have to manually maximize the window the next time you start IE.
The only solution is to either use a different webbrowser or a container application that embeds IE and forces it to maximize (Avant Browser).
McC, that information is stored in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Window_Placement.
You could, say, run regedt32 and disallow your account's access to the "Internet Explorer\Main" tree of the registry, but then you'd cause yourself some problems. Alternately, you could make a script to update that registry key with the desired value every time you loaded IE, or every 30 seconds, or whatever.
If your point was that IE won't let you *easily* maintain maximization, then I agree with you :lol:
I suggest you start here ;)
smartass ;). I don't know about you, but my windows program feels like hardware, since MS has pretty much hardwired it into my PC. But, ok, let's change 'hardware' to 'tech support'.
My next new topic will be poll about banning Cathcart! heh!
Wow. I never new that had so much info. Is all of that new to XP? The system I had before was win98, and I only used ctrlaltdel for rebooting or ending tasks.
Does it happen after any certain action, or just seemingly at random?
It's actually a holdover from Windows 2000. Not only that, but in a multiuser environment, you had to press CTRL-ALT-DEL to log on! Thankfully, they changed that in XP.Wow. I never new that had so much info. Is all of that new to XP? The system I had before was win98, and I only used ctrlaltdel for rebooting or ending tasks.
Hey, I didn't know that. Cool.
How about this one -- Windows+M will minimize every window on your desktop.
In XP Pro, and all network logon environment, you still pretty much have to. Sure, you can disable it, but you shouldn't, and besides, everyone that used NT and 2000 is used to that behavior by now.
As for the Task Manager, that was in NT also. The XP one is actually better than the 2000 one, as it gives the account that the process was launched under.
Didn't know that one. Of course, binding a minimize all command to a mouse button works better, but that's not something native to windows as far as I know.
Seemingly at random. I open a new IE window, my toolbars are all rearranged, and my links are alphabetized. Oddly, the Favorites didn't get alphabetized the last two times this happened, just Links.Does it happen after any certain action, or just seemingly at random?
Mozilla Firebird will fix that problem. :lol:
WinKey is a nice little app that lets you bind just about any action to a windows key combination. You can even bind to urls, so for example Windows+Q on my machine brings up the new posts page on this forum.
That's a software question, take it to the Software Forum.
Tom and Mark need to upgrade to the latest version of phpBB. This one seems to have an echo.
In our environment, the logon screen simply appears at boot. No CTRL-ALT-DEL needed.
Its configurable.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308226
Read that, you have a security hole! HAX0RS AWAY! :lol:
If you're looking to optimize your system, use performance monitor. Enter perfmon.msc in the run menu.
Here's mine. Recently Mozilla(IE too even though I don't use it regularly) isn't remembering my homepage settings. I use Yahoo's. I have to keep signing in with my username and password. I click the remember settings but it "forgets" after a couple of times. Never had this problem before.
Maybe a spyware issue?
-- Xaroc
Why the hell does my scroll wheel scroll lines setting revert to 1 every time I start up? It's pissing me off no end.
Did you try locking the toolbars?Seemingly at random. I open a new IE window, my toolbars are all rearranged, and my links are alphabetized. Oddly, the Favorites didn't get alphabetized the last two times this happened, just Links.Does it happen after any certain action, or just seemingly at random?
Taskman.exe (accessable from the security dialog, taskbar right click, and the old fashioned run the exe manner) lists your processes, memory, etc depending on how you configure it. You can start and kill processes from here too.
How an app starts at launch depends on the WindowStyle paramater passed into WinMain. It's an enum with three values, Normal, Minimized, and Maximized. You can set this when you kick off the process via CreateProcess as an argument, or by creating a shortcut and selecting the launch method via the &Run dropdown in the properties of the shortcut.
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