Check for any other firewall program that might be shutting off the
Windows XP Firewall.
1. Check the Group Policy settings. (Click Start - Run - gpedit.msc).
2. Expand Administrative Templates - Network - Network Connections - Windows Firewall - Standard Profile.
3. Look at "Windows Firewall:Protect all network connections", and ensure it's set to "Not Configured".
4. Double-click this settings, check Not Configured, and then click "Apply"
5. Click "Ok".
Showing posts with label Windows - General. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Windows - General. Show all posts
Firewall settings tab grayed out. It says "For your security, some settings are controlled by group policy" How to turn group policy OFF or fix this
Error message: "Virtual memory minimum is too low. Windows is increasing the size of the virtual memory paging file."
The virtual memory is the space your computer uses when it runs short of RAM memory. The paging file is the place where Windows handles your virtual memory settings. If your computer wants to change it, you should go ahead and let it because XP will adjust the setting to meet the current memory needs. I do not recommend changing these settings manually as Windows can manage the size much more efficiently than the user can. Making your virtual memory setting larger will increase the number of addresses and will make Windows lazy.
Adding more RAM may also be of benefit as this will reduce the need for virtual memory to be used in the first place. For running Windows XP, I suggest at least 384MB. In general, adding more RAM is the most cost effective means of boosting a computer's performance.
I recommend buying quality RAM from a reputable company. Some cheap (unbranded) RAM can on occasion be defective resulting in 'unexplained' crashes or freezes. Brands to look for are Mushkin, Crucial and Kingston.
Difference between Windows XP Home and Professional Editions
Windows XP Home Edition:
Experience more than you thought possible with your home computer and the Internet. Windows XP Home Edition brings dependability and simplicity to your personal computer. It includes a cleaner, more intuitive visual design, advanced digital media features that make working with digital photographs or playing digital music simple and fun, and many new Windows experiences to explore.
* Contains basic support for security among multiple users.
* Built-in support for peer-to-peer networking, but only for up to five computers.
* The backup utility is not installed by default, but is included on the CD.
Windows XP Professional Edition:
Designed for businesses of all sizes and for home users who demand the most from their computing experience, Windows XP Professional delivers the new standard in reliability and performance. It includes all the great features and new visual design of Windows XP Home Edition, plus premier security and privacy features, advanced recovery options, improved ability to connect to large networks, and much more.
* Includes extended support for security between multiple users on the same machine.
* Better support for peer-to-peer networking, plus support for joining a "Windows NT domain."
* The backup utility is installed by default.
The Professional edition includes the following components not found in the Home edition:
* Administrative Tools (in the Start Menu and Control Panel)
* Automated System Recovery (ASR)
* Boot Configuration Manager
* DriverQuery
* Group Policy Refresh Utility
* Multi-lingual User Interface (MUI) add-on
* NTFS Encryption Utilitiy
* Offline Files and Folders
* OpenFiles
* Performance Log Manager
* Remote Desktop
* Scheduled Tasks Console
* Security Template Utility
* Taskkill
* Tasklist
* Telnet Administrator
* Provides support for multi-processor systems (2 or 4 CPUs),
Dynamic Disks, Fax.
What is diference between http and https?
HTTP(Hpertext Transfer Protocol) is a protocol used in application layer for transmitting and retrieving information across internet.Http request could be sent and you get a response for that..
HTTPS(hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) works by transmitting normal http interactions through an encrypted system and the information cannot be accessed by any party other than the client and end server. Two types of encryption layer available are Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), both of which encode the data records being exchanged.
Default Port number for HTTP is 80 and for HTTPS it is 443..
Intel Dual Core & Core 2 Duo Processors - are they different?
The Core 2 Duo is Intel's second generation (Hence, Core 2) processor made for desktops and laptops designed from the ground up to be fast while not consuming nearly as much power as previous CPUs, Dual core is simply a generic term referring to any processor package with two physical CPUs in one.
Dual Core is better because it has 2 processors. The more the better. (Dell has a Quad Core, 4, processor computer and Mac has a Dual Quad Core processor, yes 8 processors). The main difference is that core duo is 32-bit processor, where as Core 2 Duo is 64-it processor, also for Core 2 Duo, the cache memory is 4MB compared to 2MB of Core Duo.
What is the difference between DDR1 and DDR2 ram?
DDR2 will not fit in DDR1 notch in the first place (DDR2 will physically not insert into the socket of DDR1).
The difference between DDr1 and DDR2 is, On the physical side, DDR has a 184-pin interface and DDR2 has 240-pin and they also differ in the voltage they use, DDR1 uses 2.5 Volts DDR2 uses 1.8 Volts. As you have mentioned speed also differs DDR1 has 200 MHz, 266 MHz, 333 MHz, 400 MHz and DDR2 has 400 MHz, 533 MHz, 667 MHz, 800 MHz.
Difference between 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Vista OS
- Less numbers of softwares (including drivers) are available for 64-bit Vista. Also, other 64-bit systems runs 32-bit application very well, but thats not the case with 64-bit Vista. It does not support 32-bit drivers at all. And, unlike 32-bit Vista where it just gives a warning for unsigned drivers, 64-bit Vista does not load unsigned drivers. Also, 16-bit application are not supported by 64-bit Vista.
- Vista 64-bit include a new secret security feature called Address Space Layout Randmonizer (ASLR) that helps eliminate remote system attacks for the first time on the Windows platform and is not available for 32-bit Vista.
- Vista 64-bit provide support for hardware-backed Data Execution Protection (DEP), which helps to prevent the buffer overflows that are commonly used in electronic attacks, whereas 32-bit Vista utilize a less effective, software-based version of DEP.
- 64-bit Vista has a feature called Kernel Patch Protection (also known as PatchGuard) which prevents malicious software from patching Vista Kernel. It prevents kernel-mode drivers from extending or replacing other kernel services and prevents third-party software from patching any part of the kernel.
- 32-bit Vista support up to 4 GB of RAM where as different 64-bit version of Vista support different size RAM as
Vista Home Basic - 8 GB of RAM
Vista Home Premium - 16 GB
Vista Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate - 128 GB
- You can upgrade from XP 64-bit to Vista 64-bit, but not from Vista 32-bit to Vista 64-bit.
Backing Up The Registry
Sure we like to fiddle around with the XP operating system, but sooner or later it's going to happen; the system won't boot or it becomes corrupt.The sure fire way is to do a complete system backup. Alternately you can create a Restore point using system restore. Or as shown in the above article, do a System State backup, which we'll outline below.
Microsoft has a Knowledge Base Article - 322756 which outlines the proper way to back up these settings.
Start Backup:
Start==>All Programs==>Accessories==>System Tools==>Backup
| Choose "Back up files and settings" |
| Select "Let me choose what to back up" |
| Check off "System State" |
| Choose a place to save your backup |
The file size can be quite large, so choose a source with ample space. A CD-R would be a good choice. A Zip drive would not! I save mine on a spare hard drive exclusively for backup. |
| Completing the Backup! |
If everything looks good, click "Finish". |
| The Backup Process |
Depending on the media you chose to save your backup, it could take a few minutes to the better part of an half hour to complete, From the example above, a 338 MB file took a little over a minute writing to a 5000 rpm 8 GB drive. A drive that I had sitting around collecting dust. |
| Restoring Data |
When restoring, we'll go back to the very first example here and instead of choosing "Back up files and settings", we're going to select the obvious, "Restore files and settings". There's not much we can screw up here since you'll have no choice but to overwrite existing files when restoring a System State. I may cover that at another time since you made it this far, but there's no need to explain in detail, the reversal of the backup procedure. But I will supply these images to ponder! ;) |
| Just choose the backup you wish to restore, click next: |
| Then we're met with this warning. Click OK: |
So no matter what choice you make, we're always going to restore a saved state. After going through the motions as in backup, your system will be restored to it's previous glory! But, and a very big but, if your system refuses to start and allow you to use the Backup feature, then we're looking at repairing your installation. And that is for another day! :) |
Trojan Removal From System Restore
Let's start off with the simple. As time permits, I'll add additional pertinent information to this page.
I've receive at least 10 e-mails a week regarding viruses, mainly because people have problems removing them. One of the biggest problems is the virus scanner removes or heals the infected file, only to have it pop up in System Restore.
The answer is simple. Shut off System Restore. This will purge all of the files set aside for this function. So, after you've run through the removal process using your AV or worm removal tool, just proceed with the following:
REMEMBER!!!!!
Pros: If you have infected files, this will remove them.
Cons: All of your previous restore points are gone!
In order to delete the files located in System Restore's folder you'll need to disable this feature.
For Windows XP:
1. Right click the My Computer icon on the Desktop and click on Properties;
2. Click on the System Restore tab;
3. Check the box Turn off system restore for all drives.
4. Click Apply. Up pops this box:
click "Yes", and after a moment of hard drive activity, your Restore points are gone.
Now to restore the feature, just uncheck the Turn off system restore for all drives box.
Same procedure, different approach For Windows ME (taken from here)
Manually Purge the Data Store
To completely and immediately remove the infected file or files in the data store, disable and re-enable the System Restore feature.
WARNING: Using the following steps will completely remove all restore points from the data store. Do not use this method if this will cause problems. When you enable the System Restore feature again, the System Restore feature will create a new restore point and then resume monitoring your computer.
Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
Double-click System, and then click the Performance tab.
Click File System, and then click the Troubleshooting tab.
Click to select the Disable System Restore check box, click Apply, click to clear the Disable System Restore check box, click Apply, and then click OK.
Restart the computer when you are prompted to do so. When the computer restarts, the data store is purged and the System Restore feature begins monitoring the system again.
System Restore Missing?
Over the past few months I've received several e-mails asking me why their System Restore is grayed out in System Properties. Well, while everyone enjoys freeing up resources by manipulating Windows Services, people tend to forget what they disabled or set as manual, until disaster strikes and they need to restore their system.
Check Control Panel ==> Administrative Tools ===> Services and scroll down to System Restore Service. Set it back to Automatic. You can try to Start it, but there's a chance it'll fail. But all should be good once you reboot. I recommend giving up a few resources to keep this XP feature active and running. But the choice is entirely yours.
Windows Services Batch
A quick and effective way to start and stop Windows Services is by using a batch file. There's several reasons why you would want to do this, one of them being to free up gaming resources. This is an alternate method to bringing up the Windows Task Manager, and killing Processes individually. This way, starting and stopping is only one click away.
There is an alternate method (see bottom of page)
There a just a few commands to remember;
Net Stop and Net Start.
Create a new document in notepad. Now for every Service you want to stop:
Example:
Net Stop "Automatic Updates"
Net Stop "Remote Desktop Help Session Manager"
Don't forget the quotes!
In another batch file, do just the opposite to restart them, but by using Net Start.
Net Start "Automatic Updates"
Net Start "Remote Desktop Help Session Manager"
Don't forget the quotes!
Save both of these files in a convenient location, like your Desktop for easy access.
Some Items to remember:
- What you choose to start and stop is entirely up to you! Research before blindly starting and stopping services. Be smart about it!
- Save each (Start/Stop) file with the extension bat. For example services_start.bat or services_stop.bat.
- When saving the file in notepad, change the Save as type: to All files, otherwise you'll have to rename the file to end in bat
- A quick way to get all of your Services listed is to open Control Panel==> Administrative Tools ==> Services, and in the Action pull-down, choose Export. Now how you do this is entirely up to you. I choose to export as Tab Delimited CSV and opening in Excel. From there I just copied and pasted into notepad.
I prefer to create a Hardware Profile. Easier and cleaner than this method.
Renaming a Series of Files
Here's a little used feature built into Windows XP.
- Open the folder containing the target files in Windows Explorer.
- Highlight the group of files you want to rename
- Hit F2 or choose Rename under the File menu.
- Type in the new name
The files will be named in sequence as in this example:
file (1).txt
file (2).txt
file (3).txt
...and so on.
If you want to add your own number, for example starting with 5, then place it in parenthesis, like this:
file (5).txt
...and the sequence will follow with:
file (6).txt
file (7).txt
file (8).txt
...and so on.
Why Some Files Show Up In Colors In Windows Explorer?
You can toggle this option easily by choosing -->Tools-->Folder Options, and on the View Tab, scroll down to "Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in Color"
They can be toggled either on or off by checking or unchecking this box.
Windows supports this scheme for users to easily distinguish these types of files from others.
What Version of Windows Do I Have?
What Version of Windows Do I Have?
An easy way to see what version of Windows XP you're running is to click Start-->Run--> Type in winver and then enter.
Alternately you can type MSINFO32 in the same fashion as above.
Yet another way is to right-click My Computer, then properties.
Converting files online for FREE!
“Have you ever wanted convert files without the need to download software?” Thats the slogan of Zamzar, a free online file conversion website. Zamzar is a free service that allows you to upload files (or URL’s) and get them converted to your desired file type. Currently they offer conversion to over 50 file types, and they are always adding more. Commonly converted file types include image, document, music, and video formats. They have a simple 3 step process that anyone can easily follow; it is listed below.
1. Select files or URL to convert. (Max file size: 100 mb)
2. Choose the format to convert to.
3. Enter your email to receive the converted files.
Finally, all you have to do is press the Convert button and wait patiently. When done, your converted file will be sent to your email!
http://www.zamzar.com/
How can I modify Group Policy's refresh interval?
A. By default, Group Policy refreshes every 90 minutes for typical machines and users and every 5 minutes for domain controllers (DCs). To change these intervals, perform the following steps: You don't have to configure both the user and computer value--you can modify just one of them. You shouldn't set these values too low: Every update requires processing and adds to the network traffic, and short refresh rates can quickly cause larger network problems. For example, setting the update frequency to 0 would result in Group Policy attempting a refresh every 7 seconds, which probably isn't good for anyone.
How can I force Group Policy to refresh on a Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP machine?
A. To manually force Group Policy to refresh under Windows 2000, you use the command Microsoft has replaced this command in Windows 2003 and XP with this command: You can run this command without any switches to update both machine and user policies. When you run Gpupdate on Windows 2003, the machine will display the following: Refreshing Policy... User Policy Refresh has completed. The last line doesn't appear on XP machines. To update only the user command components, type To load only the computer command components, type The optional switches that you can use with the Gpupdate command are secedit /refreshpolicy
gpupdate
Computer Policy Refresh has completed. To check for errors in policy processing, review the event log.gpupdate /target:user
gpupdate /target:computer
How do I force Windows XP Local Group Policy to update?
In windows 2000, you could use Secedit /refreshpolicy to force Group Policy to update, without waiting for the default update interval. Windows XP provides Gpupdate for the same purpose. The syntax is: GPUpdate [/Target:{Computer | User}] [/Force] [/Wait:value ] [/Logoff] [/Boot] where:
[/Target:{Computer | User}] If the switch is omitted, both Computer and User policy settings are updated. [/Force] Causes all policy settings to be reapplied, not just the changed settings. [/Wait:nnn] If you omit this switch, the maximum wait time to complete the processing, and proceed to the next command, is 600 seconds. A nnn of 0 eliminates any wait, while an nnn of -1 will wait until policy processing is finished. If the wait time is exceeded, the next command is processed, but policy processing continues in the background. [/Logoff] This switch will log you off when policy processing finishes. It should be used if you apply a policy that is only applied during logon, like Folder Redirection. If no such policy was applied, the switch is ignored. [/Boot] This switch will restart the computer, if you apply a policy that can only be applied during startup, like computer-targeted Software Installation. If no such policy was applied, the switch is ignored.
Windows 2000 Group Policy refresh.
Windows 2000 Domain Controllers refresh to other Windows 2000 Domain Controllers on 5 minute intervals. Non-DC Windows 2000 computers are refreshed every 90 minutes. If many WIndows 2000 computers requested a refresh at the same time, significant congestion would occur. To avoid this, a random offset interval is added to the refresh interval, to calclate the the refresh cycle. Windows 2000 domain controllers use a 0 minute offset, while non-DC Windows 2000 computers use 30 minutes. The refresh information for user and computer policies are maintained separately. You can use the Group Policy to change these settings, or you can use the registry: Computer: SECEDIT /REFRESHPOLICY MACHINE_POLICY /ENFORCE User: SECEDIT /REFRESHPOLICY USER_POLICY /ENFORCE To change the refresh interval for computers:
To immediately impose GPO settings upon a target workstation:
Registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System
Value Name: GroupPolicyRefreshTime
Data Type: REG_DWORD
Range (in minutes): 0 to 64800
To change the offset interval for computers:
Registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System
Value Name: GroupPolicyRefreshTimeOffset
Data Type: REG_DWORD
Range (in minutes): 0 to 1440
To change the refresh interval for domain controllers:
Registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System
Value Name: GroupPolicyRefreshTimeDC
Data Type: REG_DWORD
Range (in minutes): 0 to 64800
To change the offset interval for domain controllers:
Registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System
Value Name: GroupPolicyRefreshTimeOffsetDC
Data Type: REG_DWORD
Range (in minutes): 0 to 1440
To change the refresh interval for users:
Registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System
Value Name: GroupPolicyRefreshTime
Data Type: REG_DWORD
Range (in minutes): 0 to 64800
To change the offset interval for users:
Registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System
Value Name: GroupPolicyRefreshTimeOffset
Data Type: REG_DWORD
Range (in minutes): 0 to 1440
Reinstall Windows Xp The Easy way
Reinstall Windows Xp The Easy way Here's a fast solution to Re-installing Xp, without it taking hours, 1 Make a back-up of everything of value, then gather Licences of your Programs and install Disc's. 2 Now Copy the Hardware Signature File that Windows creates from wor PC configuration so you don't have to Reactivate XP. 3 Open the C:\Windows\System32 folder in Explorer and copy the file 'wpa.dbl' and 'wpa.bak' to a Usb memory stick/key. 4 After installing XP, choose not to reactivate Windows. When the Reinstallation finishes, Reboot your Pc in Safe Mode by Pressing F8 before Windows Launches. 5 Once Windows has opened in Safe Mode, copy the Two Files over the new version in the C:\Windows\System32 folder. 6 Check Your drivers have survived the Update intact by Right-Clicking My Computer, Manage, Device Manager and Checking for any exclamation marks indicating a less-than-happy peripheral. |
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