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Disk CleanUp

To clean up your drive from Temporary Internet Files, Temp files, the Recycle Bin etc.

  • Click on the My Computer icon
  • Right click on the drive you want to clean
  • Select Properties
  • Click on the Disk Cleanup button
  • From here you can select the types of files you want to remove

Displaying Hardware Conflicts

  • Make sure you display the Administrative tools 
  • Go to Start / Programs / Administrative Tools / Computer Management
  • Scroll down to System Tools / System Information / Hardware Resources / Conflicts/Sharing
  • This will display and IRQ or other conflicts.

Expand Control Panel, My Documents, Network and Dial-Up Connections or Printers

  • Right-click on the Task Bar
  • Select Properties
  • Click on the Advanced tab
  • Check the ones you want to expand

Display Logoff

  • Right-click on the Task Bar
  • Select Properties
  • Click on the Advanced tab
  • Check Display Logoff

Display Administrative Tools

  • Right-click on the Task Bar
  • Select Properties
  • Click on the Advanced tab
  • Check Display Administrative Options

Removing Personalized Menus

  • Right-click on the Task Bar
  • Select Properties
  • Uncheck Use Personalized Menus

Running Applications as Another User

With NT, you have always been able to connect to a network share as another user. 
This allowed you to not have to log off and then back on again with a different user.
The same capability is now available with Windows2000 for running applications.
If you need to run an app as an administrator, you can do it without logging off and back on as the admin.

  • Select the the application you want to run.
  • While holding down the shift key, right-click on the icon
  • You now have the option to Run As
  • You will then be prompted for the user's name, password and domain.

Moving My Documents

Normally the My Documents fold is in the Documents and Settings / User_Name directory.

You can change that location by:

  • Start / Documents
  • Right click on My Documents
  • Select Explore
  • Right click on My Documents
  • Right click and select Properties
  • Click on the Move button and select the location you want to move it to.

Unsigned Driver Installation

By default, Windows2000 will allow you to install drivers that have not been signed and approved my Microsoft.
If you want to restrict this so only signed drivers can be installed:

  • Run the Local Security Policy MMC (Start / Run / Programs / Administrative Tools / Local Security Policy)
  • Scroll down to Unsigned driver installation behavior (This is second from the bottom)
  • The default is Not Defined
  • You have three additional options:

    Silently Succeed
    Warn but allow installation
    Do not allow installation

Enabling DMA/UDMA

To make sure your IDE Controller is set to use DMA

  • Right click on the My Computer icon
  • Select Manage
  • Click on Device Manager
  • Expand IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller
  • Right-click on Primary IDE Channel
  • Click on Properties
  • Click on the Advanced Settings tab
  • In the Transfer Mode section, select DMA if available
  • Do this for both devices in both the Primary and Secondary Controllers
  • After you reboot you can go back in and see what the controller is now actually using.

Changing Drive Letters

If you want to change the letters assigned to your fixed or removable drives:

  • Right Click on My Computer
  • Select Manage
  • Select Disk Management

For a Fixed Disk:

  • Select it
  • Right click
  • Select Change Drive Letter and Path
  • Click on the Edit button
  • Enter in the letter you want to use

For a Removable Disk:

  • In the lower, right hand panel, right click on the Disk or CD ROM # 
  • Select Change Drive Letter and Path
  • Click on the Edit button
  • Enter in the letter you want to use

Access to All Dial-Up Connections

If you have several dial-up connections but don't want to have a shortcut to each one on your desktop,
simply copy a shortcut from the \winnt\system32\rasphone.exe file.

This will allow you to select which dial-up connection you want to use from a pull down menu.

Creating a Logon Banner

To create a logon banner:

  1. Go to Start / Settings / Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Local Security Policy
  2. Open up Local Policies / Security Options
  3. Enter in Message Text and Message Title for users attempting to logon

Not Displaying Last User Logged On

  1. Go to Start / Settings / Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Local Security Policy
  2. Open up Local Policies / Security Options
  3. Enable Do not display last user name in login screen

Network Bindings

To view or change your network bindings:

  • Right click on the My Network Places icon on the desktop
  • Select Properties
  • On the menu select Advanced / Advanced Settings

From here you can change the bindings for your adapters.

Fix Browsing Delay to Win98/ME Computers

If you experience a 30 second or so delay when browsing to Windows98 or WindowsME computers,
delete the following registry key on the Windows2000 computer.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / Software / Microsoft / Windows / CurrentVersion / Explorer / RemoteComputer / NameSpace {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}

Quick Windows2000 Shutdown/Restart

To do a quick shutdown of Windows2000:

Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete
Hold the Control key while you click on the Shutdown button

A warning box will come up stating:
"If you continue, your machine will reboot and any unsaved data will be lost. Use only as a last resort."

Renaming the My Computer Icon

To rename the My Computer icon to the name of the user that is logged on:

  • Start Regedit
  • Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
  • Change the "My Computer" at end of @C:\WINNT\system32\shell32.dll,-9216@1033,My Computer
  • Press the F5 key to refresh the desktop and the new name will show up.

Enabling CD AutoRun

To enable CD's automatically running when you insert them:

  1. Start Regedit
  2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Services \ CDRom
  3. Make sure the key reads Autorun=1

Increasing System Performance

If you have 512 megs or more of memory, you can increase system performance
by having the core system kept in memory.

  • Start Regedit
  • Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\DisablePagingExecutive
  • Set the value to be 1
  • Reboot the computer

Enabling NumLock on by Default

To have numlock turned on for each user:

  1. Start Regedit
  2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Keyboard\InitialKeyboardIndicators
  3. Change the value from 0 to 2
  4. Turn Numlock on manually
  5. Log off and back on again.
  6. For all users, make the same change to HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Keyboard\InitialKeyboardIndicators

Quick Access to the Device Manager

If you want to quickly access the device manager,
create a shortcut on the desktop that point to:

%systemroot%\system32\devmgmt.msc

Note: See the previous tip for other Command Console utilities you can add as well.

Common Command Console Utilities

Windows2000 comes with quite a few console utilities you can easily run from the command line:

Computer Management - compmgmt.msc
Disk Managment - diskmgmt.msc
Device Manager - devmgmt.msc
Disk Defrag - dfrg.msc
Event Viewer - eventvwr.msc
Shared Folders - fsmgmt.msc
Group Policies - gpedit.msc
Local Users and Groups - lusrmgr.msc
Performance Monitor - perfmon.msc
Resultant Set of Policies - rsop.msc
Local Security Settings - secpol.msc
Services - services.msc
Component Services - comexp.msc