Admin Tips
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Knowledge Base Tips topic

[	3440	]	Windows Server 2008/2003/2000/XP/NT Administrator Knowledge Base	Last updated: Mar 09, 2010
[	748	]	Windows 2000	Last updated: Feb 18, 2010
[	523	]	Windows 2003	Last updated: Feb 18, 2010
[	5	]	Miscellaneous	Last updated: Sep 08, 2009
[	1155	]	Windows NT	Last updated: Jul 22, 2009
[	197	]	Windows Server 2008	Last updated: Mar 09, 2010
[	188	]	Windows Vista	Last updated: Mar 03, 2010
[	628	]	Windows XP	Last updated: Jan 14, 2010

Miscellaneous Tips

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How to Migrate XP to Vista When Using EFS: Date - Oct 23, 2008; Rating - 5; Author - Mitch Tulloch; If you have dozens or more XP workstations that use the Encrypting File System (EFS) to safeguard data, and you need to migrate these machines to Vista without losing your EFS keys and certificates, then what should you do?
Configure Windows XP to automatically reopen folders in Explorer upon logon: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 4.9; Author - Wayne Maples
Enable / Disable Task Manager in Windows XP Home / Pro: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 4.6; Author - Wayne Maples
Shutdown workstation without logging on: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 4.6; Author - Wayne Maples
Lockdown by group using Local Computer Policy without Active Directory: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 4.5; Author - Wayne Maples
Run programs as another user in Windows 2000 / Windows XP: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 4.4; Author - Wayne Maples
Add Command Prompt to folder context menus: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 4.4; Author - Wayne Maples
Change default application installation folder: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 4.4; Author - Wayne Maples
Perl for Windows: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 4.4; Author - Wayne Maples
Backup / Restore XP Activation: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 4.4; Author - Wayne Maples
Find It Fast With Desktop Search Tools: Date - Mar 10, 2005; Rating - 4.3; Author - Tony Bradley; Hard drive space has gotten cheaper and the size of the drives has grown to enormous proportions. That is great for saving data, but makes it increasingly difficult to find what you're looking for when you need it. Enter the desktop search tools to help solve that problem.
When was Windows installed on this machine?: Date - May 31, 2006; Rating - 4.3; Author - Mitch Tulloch; How to find when Windows was installed on a computer.
Disable unnecessary services to improve workstations performance: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 4.3; Author - Wayne Maples
DOS Windows Titles: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 4.3; Author - Wayne Maples
Windows XP System Restore: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 4.3; Author - Wayne Maples
Disable FindFast, the Indexing Service: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 4.2; Author - Wayne Maples
Use Shortcuts To Navigate Explorer Folders: Date - Apr 26, 2005; Rating - 4.2; Author - Tony Bradley; Windows Explorer is a fairly functional tool for browsing files and folders and finding what you are looking for. But, depending on how large and how organized your hard drive is, it may take some time to sift through to the folder you really want. Using command line parameters, you can create desktop shortcuts that take you quickly to your most-used folders.
Lie to incompatible programs: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 4.1; Author - Wayne Maples
Uninstall applications in Safe Mode: Date - Feb 19, 2009; Rating - 4; Author - Mitch Tulloch; How can you uninstall Windows Installer-based applications in Safe Mode if you need to?
One more Virtual PC performance tip: Date - Feb 28, 2006; Rating - 4; Author - Mitch Tulloch; One more tip for improving performance of Virtual PC.
Have Ctrl-Esc Starts Task Manager: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 3.9; Author - Wayne Maples
Use Sendto to edit files in XP/W2K: Date - Jun 22, 2004; Rating - 3.9; Author - Wayne Maples
Keyboard shortcuts to folders: Date - May 22, 2004; Rating - 3.8; Author - Wayne Maples
NT/W2K/XP DOS windows options: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 3.8; Author - Wayne Maples
Disabling Remote Desktop: Date - May 16, 2006; Rating - 3.8; Author - Mitch Tulloch; How to prevent users from enabling Remote Desktop on their machines.
Avoiding Disk Space Waste: Date - May 17, 2006; Rating - 3.7; Author - Mitch Tulloch; How to avoid wasting space on NTFS volumes by modifying the default cluster size.
Block users from installing MSI installed applications: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 3.7; Author - Wayne Maples
Windows Program Startup Locations: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 3.7; Author - Wayne Maples
Virtual PC performance tip: Date - Feb 22, 2006; Rating - 3.5; Author - Mitch Tulloch; Yet another tip on improving the performance of Virtual PC.
Finding your product key: Date - Jul 18, 2007; Rating - 3.4; Author - Mitch Tulloch; How to determine your product key for a Windows or Office installation.
Remove Patch Uninstall Folders To Clean Hard Drive: Date - May 04, 2005; Rating - 3.4; Author - Tony Bradley; Hard drives are cheap and people typically have more space than they know what to do with these days. But, that is no reason to just waste it. When you install Windows patches, hidden folders are created which contain the uninstall data. Viewing the hidden data on my computer, I found 50 or so patch uninstall folders taking up over 500 Mb of space on my drive.
Q309044: Convert to Basic and Dynamic Disks in Windows XP Professional: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 3.4; Author - Wayne Maples
Admin Alerts in Windows XP ( Q310490 ): Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 3.3; Author - Wayne Maples
SMS SP3 to support Windows XP Professional: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 3.3; Author - Wayne Maples
Windows XP User Tips Tidbits: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 3.3; Author - Wayne Maples
Enable Network Support for the Recycle Bin: Date - Jul 22, 2009; Rating - 3.2; Author - Eric Geier; Using a Recycle Bin replacement to protect network shares.
Disk Write Caching: Date - May 23, 2006; Rating - 3.1; Author - Mitch Tulloch; How and why to disable disk write caching.
DOS Window cmd.exe prompt: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 3.1; Author - Wayne Maples
Q299598: Convert an IEEE 1394 Disk Drive to a Dynamic Disk Drive in Windows XP: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - Not Rated; Author - Wayne Maples
Microsoft's Windows XP Technical Resources: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - Not Rated; Author - Wayne Maples
Screen Saver : How to change the Windows Logon Screen Saver in Windows XP: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - Not Rated; Author - Wayne Maples
Setup Requires Format of Initial Partition If You Install to a Subsequent Partition on a Hard Disk (Q283260): Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - Not Rated; Author - Wayne Maples
HotFix & Security Bulletin Service: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - Not Rated; Author - Wayne Maples; Register to automatically receive security bulletins. Search by Product/Technology and Service Pack.
The Definitive Guide to Identity Management: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - Not Rated; Author - Wayne Maples
Logon hours on standalone machines: Date - Sep 27, 2007; Rating - Not Rated; Author - Mitch Tulloch; How to configure logon hours for local users on standalone machines in a workgroup
Pre-configuring local group policy settings: Date - Apr 18, 2007; Rating - 3; Author - Mitch Tulloch; How to preconfigure LGPOs on multiple machines.
How to delete user profiles properly: Date - Apr 05, 2007; Rating - 2.7; Author - Mitch Tulloch; The right way and the wrong way of deleting user profiles from a machine.
Control Windows XP's 'Highlight newly installed programs' option: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 2.6; Author - Wayne Maples
Windows XP Kernel Enhancements: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 2.5; Author - Wayne Maples
Windows Product Activation (WPA)on Windows XP: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 2.5; Author - Wayne Maples
Virtual Memory in Windows XP: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 2.4; Author - Wayne Maples
Using Software Restriction Policies to Protect Against Unauthorized Software: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 2.3; Author - Wayne Maples
Windows Media Player Tips: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 2.3; Author - Wayne Maples
Disable New Hardware Wizard: Date - Aug 02, 2007; Rating - 2.3; Author - Mitch Tulloch; How to disable all new hardware prompts.
Performance Issues Plague Windows XP MDAC 2.7: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 2.1; Author - Wayne Maples
Q279252: New Volume Wizard for a Dynamic Disk States Incorrect Volume Types: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 2; Author - Wayne Maples
Release Notes for Windows XP Setup: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 2; Author - Wayne Maples; Before You Begin Installation
Hardware Requirements
Checking Hardware and Software Compatibility
Obtaining Network Information
Backing Up Your Files
Upgrading vs. Installing a New Copy
If You're Installing a New Copy (Clean Install); if you're upgrading
Collecting User and Computer Information
Joining a Workgroup ; joining a domain
Toggle between XP start menu mode and Windows 2000 start menu mode: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 1.7; Author - Wayne Maples
Methods to get Bios version: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 1.7; Author - Wayne Maples
Distributing very large files to many computers: Date - Aug 29, 2007; Rating - 1.7; Author - Mitch Tulloch; How to distribute very large files to many computers.
Windows XP versus Windows 2000 Performance: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 1.4; Author - Wayne Maples
Software Update Services Components and Features: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 1; Author - Wayne Maples
Q308424: Use Disk Management to Configure Dynamic Disks in Windows XP: Date - Apr 20, 2004; Rating - 1; Author - Wayne Maples
Controlling power settings using Group Policy: Date - Feb 14, 2007; Rating - 1; Author - Mitch Tulloch; How to allow selected non-admin users to configure their power settings using Group Policy.