Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Install Windows Media Player 11 on Windows Server 2003

Install Windows Media Player 11 on Windows Server 2003

by Zack Whittaker

1)
Download the Windows Media Player 11 setup file from here and save to disk.
2) Run the setup file - the first thing you should see if a validation checker. Just leave this up, don’t go any further.
3) Search the hard drive for “wmp11.exe” - it should be in a temporary directory somewhere. Right click the file in the search then click “Open containing folder” (and not open).
4) Open and run the wmfdist11.exe file, then umdf.exe and wmdbexport.exe. Be warned, you may need to run these files in Compatibilty Mode. Simply right click each file, click Properties. Go to the Compatibility tab, then ensure that Windows XP is selected.
5) After all these are installed, you must restart (very important.)
6) Once you’ve restarted, run the wmp11.exe file in the same directory - this also may require compatibility settings being applied to it. Restart once more.
7) Back into Windows again, go to Start, Run then type in wmplayer then OK. Configure as you like, and viola it’s done

This method has been tested on my Windows 2003 R2 server. and it works. The reason I needed media player 11 on Windows 2003 is that so I can use MediaPortal 1.0 RC3.

Configure a Windows Server 2003 VPN on the server side

original article http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-5805260.html

Configure a Windows Server 2003 VPN on the server side


Takeaway: Set up a Windows Server 2003-based PPTP virtual private network (VPN) with this step-by-step installation and configuration guide.

Sometimes, simplicity is the best choice for both a technology solution and the corresponding tutorial that explains how to use the new solution. In this document, I will provide a clear, concise, systematic procedure for getting a Windows Server 2003-based PPTP VPN up and running. I'm using Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 for this guide.

Add the Remote Access/VPN Server role to your Windows Server 2003 system

To add the Remote Access/VPN Server role, go to Start | All Programs | Administrative Tools | Configure Your Server Wizard. The first screen of this wizard is for informational purposes only and, thus, is not shown here. Click Next. The same goes for the second screen, which just tells you some things you need to have completed before adding new roles to your server.

On the third screen of the wizard, entitled Server Role, you're presented with a list of available roles for your server along with column that indicates whether or not a particular role has been assigned to this machine. Figure A shows you a screen from a server on which just the IIS Web server role has been added.

Figure A

To add a new role, select the role and click Next

To add the Remote Access/VPN Server role to your server, select that role and click the Next button to move on to the next screen in the wizard, which provides you with a quick overview of the options you selected.

Figure B

The summary screen is pretty basic for this role

Take note: This selection just starts another wizard called the Routing and Remote Access Wizard, described further below.

The Routing and Remote Access Wizard component

Like most wizards, the first screen of the Routing and Remote Access wizard is purely informational and you can just click Next.

The second screen in this wizard is a lot meatier and asks you to decide what kind of remote access connection you want to provide. Since the goal here is to set up a PPTP-based VPN, select the "Virtual Private Network VPN and NAT" selection and click Next.

Figure C

Select the VPN option and click Next

The next screen of the wizard, entitled VPN Connection, asks you to determine which network adapter is used to connect the system to the Internet. For VPN servers, you should install and use a separate network adapter for VPN applications. Network adapters are really cheap and separation makes the connections easier to secure. In this example, I've selected the second local area network connection (see Figure D), a separate NIC from the one that connects this server to the network. Notice the checkbox labeled "Enable security on the selected interface by setting up Basic Firewall" underneath the list of network interfaces. It's a good idea to enable since option it helps to protect your server from outside attack. A hardware firewall is still a good idea, too.

Figure D

Select the network adapter that connects your server to the Internet

With the selection of the Internet-connected NIC out of the way, you need to tell the RRAS wizard which network external clients should connect to in order to access resources. Notice that the adapter selected for Internet access is not an option here.

Figure E

Select the network containing resources needed by external clients

Just like every other client out there, your external VPN clients will need IP addresses that are local to the VPN server so that the clients can access the appropriate resources. You have two options (really three â€" I'll explain in a minute) for handling the doling out of IP addresses.

First, you can leave the work up to your DHCP server and make the right configuration changes on your network equipment for DHCP packets to get from your DHCP server to your clients. Second, you can have your VPN server handle the distribution of IP addresses for any clients that connect to the server. To make this option work, you give your VPN server a range of available IP addresses that it can use. This is the method I prefer since I can tell at a glance exactly from where a client is connecting. If they're in the VPN "pool" of addresses, I know they're remote, for example. So, for this setting, as shown in Figure F below, I prefer to use the "From a specified range of addresses" option. Make your selection and click Next.

Figure F

Your choice on this one! I prefer to provide a range of addresses

If you select the "From a specified range of addresses" option on the previous screen, you now have to tell the RRAS wizard exactly which addresses should be reserved for distribution to VPN clients. To do this, click the New button on the Address Range Assignment screen. Type in the starting and ending IP addresses for the new range and click OK. The "Number of addresses" field will be filled in automatically based on your entry. You can also just enter the starting IP address and the number if IP addresses you want in the pool. If you do so, the wizard automatically calculates the ending IP address. Click OK in the New Address Range window; your entry appears in the Address Range Assignment window. Click Next to continue.

Figure G

You can have multiple address ranges, as long as they are all accessible

The next screen asks you to identify the network that has shared access to the Internet. This is generally the same network that your VPN users will use to access shared resources.

Figure H

Pick the network adapter that gives you access to the Internet

Authenticating users to your network is vital to the security of your VPN infrastructure. The Windows VPN service provides two means for handling this chore. First, you can use RADIUS, which is particularly useful if you have other services already using RADIUS. Or, you can just let the RRAS service handle the authentication duties itself. Give users access to the VPN services by enabling dial-in permissions in the user's profile (explained below). For this example, I will not be using RADIUS, but will allow RRAS to directly authenticate incoming connection requests.

Figure I

Decide what means of authentication you want to provide

That's it for the RRAS wizard! You're provided with a summary screen that details the selections you made.

Figure J

The RRAS wizard summary window

This also completes the installation of the Remote Access/VPN Server role.

User configuration

By default, users are not granted access to the services offered by the VPN; you need to grant these rights to each user that you want to allow remote access to your network. To do this, open Active Directory Users and Computers (for domains) or Computer Management (for stand alone networks), and open the properties page for a user to whom you'd like to grant access to the VPN. Select that user's Dial-In properties page. On this page, under Remote Access Permissions, select "Allow access". Note that there are a lot of different ways to "dial in to" a Windows Server 2003 system; a VPN is but one method. Other methods include wireless networks, 802.1x, and dial-up. This article assumes that you're not using the Windows features for these other types of networks. If you are, and you specify "Allow access", a user will be able to use multiple methods to gain access to your system. I can't go over all of the various permutations in a single article, however.

Figure K

Allow the user access to the VPN

Up and running

These are the steps needed on the server to get a VPN up and running. Of course, if you have devices such as firewalls between your VPN server and the Internet, further steps may be required; these are beyond the scope of this article, however.


AND ALSO ROUTER CONFIGURATION


from this article http://www.computernetworkinghelp.com/content/view/41/1/1/1/


Section 2: Configuring the router for VPN passthru.

  • Step 1: First we need to enable PPTP pass through on a screen similar to the one in the image below in Figure 2-A.

Figure 2-A
PPTP Passthru

 

NOTE: I'm not going into a lot of detail here because there are so many different routers and so many different versions of firmware. This specific explaination is for a Linksys model router, not all Linksys model routers will look the same depending on the version of firmware as well. PPTP uses TCP over port 1723, this type of VPN also requires GRE (Generic Routing Encapsulation) for the data stream. The NAT engine in the router must have support for GRE in order for this to function properly but most newer routers won't have a problem with this.

 

  • Step 2: Now we need to enable PPTP port fowarding on a screen similar to the one in the image below in Figure 2-B.

Figure 2-B
PPTP port Forwarding


NOTE: The IP address needs to be the address of the PC that you configured the VPN server on. Its a good idea to have statically defined addresses on devices that perform specific functions like a VPN server.

 

  • Step 3 (Optional): If you are running windows firewall on the VPN server interface you will need to allow PPTP (TCP Port 1723) to pass through. You can do this by going to "Add Port" under the "Exceptions" tab in the Windows Firewall configuration similar to the screen in Figure 3-B below. You can name it PPTP, put in 1723 in the "Port Number" field and select the TCP radio button and then select OK. You should see PPTP checked in the Programs and Services list afterwards.

 

Figure 3-B
PPTP Port Windows Firewall

 

NOTE: You will need to make sure that "Don't allow exceptions" is NOT checked on the General tab of the Windows Firewall configuration screen.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

XML Schema XSD Optional vs Not Required

Greg Collins






The Difference Between Optional and Not Required

original article http://www.infopathdev.com/blogs/greg/archive/2004/09/16/The-Difference-Between-Optional-and-Not-Required.aspx



When
creating an InfoPath form from an external schema, you might
encounter an issue where InfoPath still requires that the field be
filled in even though the element or attribute was specified as
optional. The solution comes from a proper understanding of the
difference between "optional" and "not required".

To verify
whether a field is truly optional, you can open your form template in
the InfoPath designer, choose Form Options from the Tools menu and then
click Edit Default Values. In the Edit Default Values dialog box you
will see that any schema element specified as optional has an active
check box next to it. To include this optional field as part of the
default XML for a new form, leave the box checked. To exclude it, clear
the check box. All of the non-optional elements have a grayed-out check
box, meaning you cannot clear the check box.

The confusion
happens when InfoPath still requires that an optional field be filled
in. This field may be optional, but it is still required. Required is
different from optional. Optional means that the field does not need
to be present in the XML. You can have a field that is optional and
required, meaning that if it is present in the XML then it must be
filled in. To clarify:

Optional: Does not need to be present in the XML.

Not Required: Does not need to have a value.

You can have any combination:

  • Optional + Not Required
  • Optional + Required
  • Not Optional + Not Required
  • Not Optional + Required

There
are differences in how to establish these combinations in your schema
depending on whether you have an element or an attribute. Attributes
have an additional restriction that could force it to always be
required--but there is a workaround.

Schema Elements:

In order to set a schema element as optional, you include the minOccurs="0" attribute. In order to set a schema element as not required, you include the nillable="true"
attribute. String data types are not required by default, though you
can force them to be required. Other data types, such as Boolean,
Integer, Date, Time, etc. are all required by default. In order to make
one of these data types not required, you must set the nillable attribute equal to true for the element in the schema. Following are a few examples:

An optional + not required element of type date:

<xsd:element name="Date" type="xsd:date" nillable="true" minOccurs="0"/>

A not optional + required element of type string:

<xsd:element name="Name" type="xsd:string" nillable="false"/>

A not optional + not required element of type anyURI:

<xsd:element name="Email" type="xsd:anyURI" nillable="true"/>

Schema Attributes:

In
order to set a schema attribute as optional, you do not need to add
anything as attributes are optional by default; but you might prefer to
include the use="optional" attribute. In order to set a schema attribute as not optional, you must include the use="required" attribute. Attributes have no equivalent to the nillable attribute
on elements. If you want an attribute to be not required, you must
specify the string data type. All other data types will require the
attribute to have a value. Following are a couple of examples:

An optional + required attribute of type integer:

<xsd:attribute name="number" type="xsd:integer" use="optional"/>

A not optional + not required attribute of type string, to be used as type dateTime:

<xsd:attribute name="dateTime" type="xsd:string" use="required"/>

Sunday, October 19, 2008

MAC OS X equivalent of host file (on Windows)

You can find the answer from this apple support doc http://support.apple.com/kb/TA27291?viewlocale=en_US

This advanced document explains how to
configure host information in cases where you do not have a domain name
server (DNS) on the network, but need to resolve hostnames. For
example, when two computers are connected with a crossover cable or a
standalone hub and need to resolve hostnames, but one of the computers
does not support Bonjour (formerly "Rendezvous," also known as
Multicast DNS).





Products Affected


Mac OS X 10.2, Mac OS X 10.0






Mac OS X 10.2 or later


Edit the /private/etc/hosts file. For more information on how to use the hosts file, open Terminal and type: man hosts



Note: Editing this file requires root privileges.


The MAC os x Hosts file is very similar / identical to the Windows version. You can find the windows version in c:/windows/system32/drivers/etc/hosts .


Friday, October 17, 2008

Optimise Windows XP - Make Your Windows Xp Run Faster

Make Your Windows Xp Run Faster Than Never Before!








Fri, 06/07/2007





DISABLE INDEXING SERVICES

Indexing
Services is a small little program that uses large amounts of RAM and
can often make a computer endlessly loud and noisy. This system process
indexes and updates lists of all the files that are on your computer.
It does this so that when you do a search for something on your
computer, it will search faster by scanning the index lists. If you
don't search your computer often, or even if you do search often, this
system service is completely unnecessary. To disable do the following:


1. Go to Start
2. Click Settings
3. Click Control Panel
4. Double-click Add/Remove Programs
5. Click the Add/Remove Window Components
6. Uncheck the Indexing services
7. Click Next


OPTIMISE DISPLAY SETTINGS


Windows XP can look sexy but displaying all the visual items can waste system resources. To optimise:


1.Go to Start
2. Click Settings
3. Click Control Panel
4. Click System
5. Click Advanced tab
6. In the Performance tab click Settings
7. Leave only the following ticked:
- Show shadows under menus

- Show shadows under mouse pointer
- Show translucent selection rectangle
- Use drop shadows for icons labels on the desktop
- Use visual styles on windows and buttons


DISABLE PERFORMANCE COUNTERS


Windows XP has a performance monitor utility which monitors several
areas of your PC's performance. These utilities take up system
resources so disabling is a good idea.


To disable:


1. download and install the Extensible Performance Counter List(http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/remove404.mspx
)
2.Then
select each counter in turn in the 'Extensible performance counters'
window and clear the 'performance counters enabled' checkbox at the
bottom.button below.


SPEEDUP FOLDER BROWSING


You may have noticed that everytime you open my computer to browse
folders that there is a slight delay. This is because Windows XP
automatically searches for network files and printers everytime you
open Windows Explorer. To fix this and to increase browsing
significantly:


1. Open My Computer
2. Click on Tools menu
3. Click on Folder Options
4. Click on the View tab.
5. Uncheck the Automatically search for network folders and printers check box
6. Click Apply
7. Click Ok

8. Reboot your computer


IMPROVE MEMORY USAGE


Cacheman Improves the performance of your computer by optimizing the disk cache, memory and a number of other settings.


Once Installed:


1.Go to Show Wizard and select All
2.Run all the wizards by
selecting Next or Finished until you are back to the main menu. Use the
defaults unless you know exactly what you are doing.
3.Exit and Save Cacheman
4.Restart Windows


OPTIMISE YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION


There are lots of ways to do this but by far the easiest is to run TCP/IP Optimizer.


1. Download(www.speedguide.net/files/tcpoptimizer.exe) and install
2. Click the General Settings tab and select your Connection Speed (Kbps)

3. Click Network Adapter and choose the interface you use to connect to the Internet
4. Check Optimal Settings then Apply
5. Reboot


OPTIMISE YOUR PAGEFILE


If you give your pagefile a fixed size it saves the operating system from needing to resize the page file.


1. Right click on My Computer and select Properties
2. Select the Advanced tab
3. Under Performance choose the Settings button
4. Select the Advanced tab again and under Virtual Memory select Change
5.
Highlight the drive containing your page file and make the initial Size
of the file the same as the Maximum Size of the file.


Windows XP sizes the page file to about 1.5X the amount of actual
physical memory by default. While this is good for systems with smaller
amounts of memory (under 512MB) it is unlikely that a typical XP
desktop system will ever need 1.5 X 512MB or more of virtual memory. If
you have less than 512MB of memory, leave the page file at its default
size. If you have 512MB or more, change the ratio to 1:1 page file size
to physical memory size.


RUN BOOTVIS - IMPROVE BOOT TIMES download from(www.majorgeeks.com)
BootVis will significantly improve boot times


1. Download and Run
2. Select Trace
3. Select Next Boot and Driver Trace
4. A Trace Repetitions screen will appear, select Ok and Reboot
5.
Upon reboot, BootVis will automatically start, analyze and log your
system's boot process. When it's done, in the menu go to Trace and
select Optimize System
6. Reboot.
7. When your machine has
rebooted wait until you see the Optimizing System box appear. Be
patient and wait for the process to complete


REMOVE THE DESKTOP PICTURE
Your
desktop background consumes a fair amount of memory and can slow the
loading time of your system. Removing it will improve performance.


1. Right click on Desktop and select Properties
2. Select the Desktop tab
3. In the Background window select None
4. Click Ok


REMOVE FONTS FOR SPEED


Fonts, especially TrueType fonts, use quite a bit of system
resources. For optimal performance, trim your fonts down to just those
that you need to use on a daily basis and fonts that applications may
require.


1. Open Control Panel
2. Open Fonts folder
3. Move fonts you
don't need to a temporary directory (e.g. C:\FONTBKUP?) just in case
you need or want to bring a few of them back. The more fonts you
uninstall, the more system resources you will gain.


DISABLE UNNECESSARY SERVICES


Because Windows XP has to be all things to all people it has many
services running that take up system resources that you will never
need. Below is a list of services that can be disabled on most
machines:


Alerter
Clipbook
Computer Browser
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Fast User Switching
Help and Support - (If you use Windows Help and Support leave this enabled)
Human Interface Access Devices

Indexing Service
IPSEC Services
Messenger
Netmeeting Remote Desktop Sharing (disabled for extra security)
Portable Media Serial Number
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager (disabled for extra security)

Remote Procedure Call Locator
Remote Registry (disabled for extra security)
Remote Registry Service
Secondary Logon
Routing & Remote Access (disabled for extra security)
Server
SSDP Discovery Service - (Unplug n' Pray will disable this)

Telnet
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
Upload Manager
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Windows Time
Wireless Zero Configuration (Do not disable if you use a wireless network)
Workstation
To disable these services:


Go to Start and then Run and type "services.msc"
Doubleclick on the service you want to change
Change the startup type to 'Disable"


TURN OFF SYSTEM RESTORE


System Restore can be a useful if your computer is having problems,
however storing all the restore points can literally take up Gigabytes
of space on your hard drive. To turn off System Restore:


Open Control Panel
Click on Performance and Maintenance
Click on System
Click on the System Restore tab
Tick 'Turn off System Restore on All Drives'
Click 'Ok'


DEFRAGMENT YOUR PAGEFILE


Keeping your pagefile defragmented can provide a major performance
boost. One of the best ways of doing this is to creat a separate
partition on your hard drive just for your page file, so that it
doesn't get impacted by normal disk usage. Another way of keeping your
pagefile defragmented is to run PageDefrag. This cool little app can be
used to defrag your pagefile, and can also be set to defrag the
pagefile everytime your PC starts. To install:


Download(www.sysinternals.com) and Run PageDefrag
Tick "Defrag at next Reboot",
Click "Ok"
Reboot


SPEEDUP FOLDER ACCESS - DISABLE LAST ACCESS UPDATE


If you have a lot of folders and subdirectories on your computer,
when you access a directory XP wastes a lot of time updating the time
stamp showing the last access time for that directory and for ALL sub
directories. To stop XP doing this you need to edit the registry. If
you are uncomfortable doing this then please do not attempt.


Go to Start and then Run and type "regedit"
Click through the file system until you get to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\Cur rentControlSet\Control\FileSys tem"
Right-click in a blank area of the window on the right and select 'DWORD Value'

Create a new DWORD Value called 'NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate'
Then Right click on the new value and select 'Modify'
Change the Value Data to '1'
Click 'OK'


DISABLE SYSTEM SOUNDS


Surprisingly, the beeps that your computer makes for various system
sounds can slow it down, particularly at startup and shut-down. To fix
this turn off the system sounds:


Open Control Panel
Click Sounds and Audio Devices
Check Place volume icon in taskbar
Click Sounds Tab
Choose "No Sounds" for the Sound Scheme
Click "No"
Click "Apply"

Click "OK"


IMPROVE BOOT TIMES
A
great new feature in Microsoft Windows XP is the ability to do a boot
defragment. This places all boot files next to each other on the disk
to allow for faster booting. By default this option in enables but on
some builds it is not so below is how to turn it on.


Go to Start Menu and Click Run
Type in "Regedit" then click ok
Find "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\M icrosoft\Dfrg\BootOpt imizeFunction"
Select "Enable" from the list on the right

Right on it and select "Modify"
Change the value to "Y to enable"
Reboot


IMPROVE SWAPFILE PERFORMANCE


If you have more than 256MB of RAM this tweak will considerably
improve your performance. It basically makes sure that your PC uses
every last drop of memory (faster than swap file) before it starts
using the swap file.


Go to Start then Run
Type "msconfig.exe" then ok
Click on the System.ini tab
Expand the 386enh tab by clicking on the plus sign
Click on new then in the blank box type"ConservativeSwapfileUsage =1"

Click OK
Restart PC


MAKE YOUR MENUS LOAD FASTER


This is one of my favourite tweaks as it makes a huge difference to
how fast your machine will 'feel'. What this tweak does is remove the
slight delay between clicking on a menu and XP displaying the menu.


Go to Start then Run
Type 'Regedit' then click 'Ok'
Find "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\"
Select "MenuShowDelay"
Right click and select "Modify'

Reduce the number to around "100"
This
is the delay time before a menu is opened. You can set it to "0" but it
can make windows really hard to use as menus will open if you just look
at them - well move your mouse over them anyway. I tend to go for
anywhere between 50-150 depending on my mood


MAKE PROGRAMS LOAD FASTER


This little tweak tends to work for most programs. If your program doesn't load properly just undo the change. For any program:


Right-click on the icon/shortcut you use to launch the program
Select properties
In the 'target' box, add ' /prefetch:1' at the end of the line.
Click "Ok"
Voila - your programs will now load faster.


IMPROVE XP SHUTDOWN SPEED


This tweak reduces the time XP waits before automatically closing
any running programs when you give it the command to shutdown.


Go to Start then select Run
Type 'Regedit' and click ok
Find 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\'
Select 'WaitToKillAppTimeout'
Right click and select 'Modify'

Change the value to '1000'
Click 'OK'
Now select 'HungAppTimeout'
Right click and select 'Modify'
Change the value to '1000'
Click 'OK'
Now find 'HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop'

Select 'WaitToKillAppTimeout'
Right click and select 'Modify'
Change the value to '1000'
Click 'OK'
Now find 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\Cur rentControlSet\Control\'

Select 'WaitToKillServiceTimeout'
Right click and select 'Modify'
Change the value to '1000'
Click 'OK'


SPEED UP BOOT TIMES I


This tweak works by creating a batch file to clear the temp and
history folders everytime you shutdown so that your PC doesn't waste
time checking these folders the next time it boots. It's quite simple
to implement:


1. Open Notepad and create a new file with the following entries:


RD /S /q "C:\Documents and Settings\"UserName without quotes"\Local Settings\History"
RD /S /q "C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\Local Settings\History"
RD /S /q "D:\Temp\" <–"Deletes temp folder, type in the location of your temp folder"


2. Save the new as anything you like but it has to be a '.bat' file e.g. fastboot.bat or deltemp.bat


3. Click 'Start' then 'Run'


4. Type in 'gpedit.msc' and hit 'ok'


5. Click on 'Computer Configuration' then 'Windows Settings'


6. Double-click on 'Scripts' and then on 'Shutdown'


7. Click 'Add' and find the batch file that you created and then press 'Ok'


SPEED UP BOOT TIMES II


When your PC starts it usually looks for any bootable media in any
floppy or cd-rom drives you have installed before it gets around to
loading the Operating System from the HDD. This can waste valuable
time. To fix this we need to make some changes to the Bios.


1. To enter the bios you usually press 'F2' or 'delete' when your PC starts


2. Navigate to the 'Boot' menu


3. Select 'Boot Sequence'


4. Then either move your Hard drive to the top position or set it as the 'First Device'


5. Press the 'Escape' key to leave the bios. Don't forget to save your settings before exiting


Note: Once this change has been made, you won't be able to boot from
a floppy disc or a CD-rom. If for some strange reason you need to do
this in the future, just go back into your bios, repeat the steps above
and put your floppy or CD-rom back as the 'First Device'


SPEED UP BOOT TIMES III


When your computer boots up it usually has to check with the network
to see what IP addresses are free and then it grabs one of these. By
configuring a manually assigned IP address your boot time will improve.
To do this do the following:


1. Click on 'Start' and then ''Connect To/Show All Connections'


2. Right-click your network adapter card and click 'Properties'.


3. On the 'General' tab, select 'TCP/IP' in the list of services and click 'Properties'


4.I n the TCP/IP properties, click 'Use the following address' and
enter an IP address for your PC. If you are using a router this is
usually 192.168.0.xx or 192.168.1.xx. If you are not sure what address
you could check with your ISP or go to 'Start/run' and type 'cmd' and
then 'ipconfig/all'. This will show your current IP settings which you
will need to copy.


5. Enter the correct details for 'Subnet mask', 'Default gateway'
and 'DNS Server'. Again if you are not sure what figures to enter use
'ipconfig/all' as in stage 4.


FREE UP MEMORY
I found
this useful app via FixMyXP. ClearMem Is an Excellent Tool for speeding
up your XP Computer (especially if your system has been on for awhile
and you have a lot of applications open). What it does, is it Forces
pages out of physical memory and reduces the size of running processes
if working sets to a minimum. When you run this tool, the system pauses
because of excessive high-priority activity associated with trimming
the working sets. To run this tool, your paging file must be at least
as large as physical memory. To Check your Paging File:


1. Go to your control panel, then click on 'System', then go to the
'Advanced' Tab, and Under 'Performance' click 'Settings' then the
'Advanced' Tab


2. On the Bottom you should see 'Virtual Memory' and a value. This
is the value that must be at least as large as how much memory is in
your system.


3. If the Virtual Memory Value is smaller than your system memory,
click Change and change the Min Virtual Memory to a number that is
greater than your total system memory, then click 'Set' and Reboot.


4. Once you have rebooted install ClearMem


ENSURE XP IS USING DMA MODE


XP enables DMA for Hard-Drives and CD-Roms by default on most ATA or
ATAPI (IDE) devices. However, sometimes computers switch to PIO mode
which is slower for data transfer - a typical reason is because of a
virus. To ensure that your machine is using DMA:


1. Open 'Device Manager'


2. Double-click 'IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers'


3. Right-click 'Primary Channel' and select 'Properties' and then 'Advanced Settings'


4. In the 'Current Transfer Mode' drop-down box, select 'DMA if Available' if the current setting is 'PIO Only'


ADD CORRECT NETWORK CARD SETTINGS


Some machines suffer from jerky graphics or high CPU usage even when
a machine is idle. A possible solution for this, which, can also can
help network performance is to:


1. RightClick 'My Computer'


2. Select 'Manage'


3. Click on 'Device Manager'


4. DoubleClick your network adaptor under 'Network Adapters'


5. In the new window, select the 'Advanced' tab


6. Select 'Connection Type' and select the correct type for your card and then Reboot


REMOVE ANNOYING DELETE CONFIRMATION MESSAGES


Although not strictly a performance tweak I love this fix as it
makes my machine 'feel' faster. I hate the annoying 'are you sure?'
messages that XP displays, especially if I have to use a laptop
touchpad to close them. To remove these messages:


1. Right-click on the 'Recycle Bin' on the desktop and then click 'Properties'


2. Clear the 'Display Delete Confirmation Dialog' check box and click 'Ok'


If you do accidently delete a file don't worry as all is not lost. Just go to your Recycle Bin and 'Restore' the file.


DISABLE PREFETCH ON LOW MEMORY SYSTEMS


Prefetch is designed to speed up program launching by preloading
programs into memory - not a good idea is memory is in short supply, as
it can make programs hang. To disable prefetch:


1. Click 'Start' then 'Run'


2. Type in 'Regedit' then click 'Ok'


3. Navigate to 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Cur rentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters\ '


4. Right-click on "EnablePrefetcher" and set the value to '0'


5. Reboot.