Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected.. Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected... In the Program wi
Trang 1The Pain Killer To change the date and/or time, follow these steps:
1 Right-click the time in your notification area and click Adjust Date/Time, or click Start | Control Panel, Date and Time
2 On the Date and Time tab, shown in the following illustration, adjust the date and time
as necessary, and verify that the time zone is correct Click OK
My computer does not automatically adjust for daylight savings time
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected Cause If you live in an area where daylight savings time is in use, you can configure
Windows XP to automatically adjust the time when daylight savings time is in use
The Pain Killer To automatically adjust for daylight savings time, follow these steps:
1 Right-click the time in your notification area and click Adjust Date/Time, or click Start | Control Panel, Date and Time
2 On the Time Zone tab, click the Automatically Adjust Clock for Daylight Savings Changes check box, as shown in the following illustration
I want my computer to automatically run Disk Cleanup, or automatically run another utility
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected
Trang 2Cause Windows XP contains a Scheduled Task feature where you can configure utilities or
even programs to run at a certain time For example, you can configure utilities like Disk Cleanup to run every week or so in the middle of the night This keeps your computer clean but does not waste your time doing so You can configure a Scheduled Task with the help of a wizard
The Pain Killer To configure a scheduled task, follow these steps:
1 Click Start | Control Panel | Scheduled Tasks
2 In the Scheduled Tasks folder, click the Add Scheduled Task option The wizard's Welcome screen appears Click Next
3 In the Program window, choose the program that you want to automatically schedule,
as shown in the following illustration, and click Next
4 In the Perform Task window, you can choose to perform the task daily, weekly,
monthly, one time only, when the computer starts, or when you log on Make a
selection by clicking the appropriate radio button and click Next
5 In the Time and Day window, shown in the following illustration, configure the Start time and day that you want the task to run and then click Next
6 Enter your user name and password and click Next
7 Click Finish The new task now appears in the Scheduled Tasks window You can add more tasks by repeating these steps
Prevention If you want to stop using a scheduled task, just right-click it in the Scheduled
Tasks folder and click Delete You can also override the schedule at any time by right-clicking the task and clicking Run
Trang 3A scheduled task does not run
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected
Cause If a scheduled task does not run when it is supposed to, there are a few things you need
to check
The Pain Killer Check these items:
1 Was the computer turned on when the task was supposed to run? Will the task run at all? Try running the task and see if it will work
2 Open the Scheduled Tasks folder and right-click the scheduled task that did not run Click Properties
3 On the Task tab, shown in the illustration to the right, make sure the Enabled check box is selected
4 On the Schedule tab, make sure that the time and date are correct
5 Click the Settings tab, shown in the illustration to the right Make sure that none of these settings are overriding the way you want the scheduled task to behave (such as the Idle Time requirement or battery power option) When you are done, click OK
6 Make sure that you do not have multiple tasks scheduled to run at the same time Some tasks, such as Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter, will not run correctly if they do not have exclusive drive access Schedule the tasks to run at different times
Trang 47 If you are connected to a Windows 2000/.NET domain (a large Windows network), your network administrators may have policies in place that prevent your computer from running scheduled tasks Check with a network administrator for details
8 Finally, if you are not logged on at the time a scheduled task is supposed to run, the task will still run but simply not be visible (since you are not the logged-on user) Check the Status column in the Scheduled Tasks window to see if the task actually ran The Status column will tell you if the task ran, or give you some indicator as to why not if it didn't
Disk Defragmenter does not completely defragment my hard drive
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected
Cause Disk Defragmenter is a great tool that defragments your hard disk and helps Windows
XP run faster However, Disk Defragmenter cannot defragment your drive completely Some fragmentation is normal and you should not see it as a problem
The Pain Killer First of all, do not worry if disk defragmenter leaves some fragmented files
This is normal As you can see in Figure 15-1, a newly defragmented disk on my computer still has fragmented files If you think there are too many files still fragmented, run Disk Defragmenter several times in a row, which sometimes further reduces fragmentation
Trang 5Figure 15-1: Disk Defragmenter may leave some files fragmented
Disk Defragmenter stops working before it is finished
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected
Cause In order for Disk Defragmenter to work, it must have exclusive access to your disk
This means no other programs should be running when Disk Defragmenter is trying to work
The Pain Killer Close all programs and close all items in your notification area (antivirus
programs too) Turn off your Screen Saver Then, allow Disk Defragmenter to run with no interruptions
Error- checking stops working
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected
Cause The Error-checking tool, which you can find on the Tools tab of the hard disk's
properties sheets, checks your computer's hard disk for file system errors and surface sector problems The Error-checking tool takes some time to run, depending on the size of your computer's hard disk, and must have exclusive access to the disk in order to work
The Pain Killer To get error-checking to work as it should, you need to close all programs
and close all items in your notification area Make sure you have closed any antivirus or party disk management tools before running error-checking
third-I need to easily move files and/or settings from one computer to my XP
Trang 6What does 'exclusive disk access' really mean?
Some utilities, particularly disk management tools such as Error-checking and Disk
Defragmenter, cannot work well if they do not have exclusive access to the disk This means that no other programs can access the hard disk For example, let's say that error-checking is running and you use a program to save a file That save action writes data to the hard disk at the same time error-checking is trying to fix problems This write action is seen as an
interruption and error-checking may stop working For this reason, close all programs and make sure that any antivirus or disk management tools are closed, since these programs regularly access the computer's hard disk
The Pain Killer To use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard, follow these steps:
1 On the computer that you want to move the files and/or settings from, click Start | All Programs | Accessories | Files and Settings Transfer Wizard if the computer is a Windows XP computer If it is not, insert your Windows XP CD-ROM into the
computer's CD-ROM drive and click Perform Additional Tasks, then click Transfer Files and Settings
Tip You can transfer settings from Windows 9x, Me, NT, and 2000 computers using the wizard on the Windows XP CD-ROM
2 The wizard appears Click Next on the Welcome screen
3 In the Which Computer Is This window, click the Old Computer radio button, shown
in the following illustration, and click Next
4 The wizard prepares for the next step In the Select a Transfer Method window, shown
in the following illustration, you can transfer the files and settings using a direct cable connection or a removable disk (floppy, zip, and so forth), or use another method such
as a network share Make a selection and click Next
Trang 75 In the What Do You Want to Transfer window, shown in the following illustration, you can choose to transfer settings only, files only, or both files and settings If you want to select custom options, click the Let Me Select a Custom List check box and click Next
Prevention Do not move your Windows folder using this process! This will move all
of your data and applications to the new system, which is not what you want! Use this wizard to move files and settings only
6
7 If you chose the Custom option, shown in the following illustration, you can use this window to add settings, folders, and files to the list that you want to transfer When you are done, click Next
Trang 88 The files and settings are collected and transferred according to the method that you selected Click Finish
9 Now that you have created the transfer file, your next step is to run the wizard on the Windows XP computer where you are transferring the files and settings Click Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Files and Settings Transfer Wizard
10 Click Next on the Welcome screen
11 On the Computer screen, click New Computer
12 In the Windows XP CD window, you can click the I Don't Need a Wizard Disk option, since you have already collected your settings from the old computer However, if you had trouble using the Windows XP CD on the old computer, note here that you can create a wizard floppy disk to use instead, as you can see in the following illustration
13 In the next window, choose the location of the files you are importing (disk, direct cable, network share, and so forth) Click Next
14 The transfer takes place Click Finish when the wizard is done
I think I may have unsigned digital files on my computer
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected
Trang 9Cause In order to make sure the files on your computer are safe and are from appropriate
sources, Windows XP keeps track of the digital signature on the files If you think you may have some unsigned files, or if you just want to check them to make sure they are signed, you can use the File Signature Verification utility
The Pain Killer To run the File Signature Verification utility, follow these steps:
1 Click Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | System Information
Tip You can also access System Information by clicking Start | Run and typing
Msinfo32 and clicking OK
2 In the System Information window, click Tools | File Signature Verification Utility
3 Click the Start button to run the utility
Note You can also click the Advanced button in order to scan a specific folder or configure logging options You can explore these settings and see if you want to try them out
I am having problems with DirectX
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected Cause DirectX is a technology that governs how video and sound function on your computer
with games and other multimedia applications If you are having problems with DirectX functionality, you will need to check your Windows XP documentation to learn more about DirectX versions and possible troubleshooting information However, there is also a DirectX Diagnostic tool that can be very helpful in diagnosing the problem
The Pain Killer To use the DirectX Diagnostic tool, follow these steps:
1 Click Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | System Information
2 In the System Information window, click Tools | DirectX Diagnostic Tool
3 The tool runs a check on your system, and then gives you a number of tabs that contain information and options about DirectX, as you can see in the following illustration Browse through the tabs and look for any problems or suggestions in the Notes section of each one
Trang 10System Restore does not work
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected
Cause System Restore is a feature that enables you to return your computer to an earlier time
in the event that something goes wrong and a new configuration causes a bunch of problems
System Restore periodically creates a system checkpoint In the event that you need to restore your computer to an earlier time, the checkpoint is used to reconfigure your system and return
it to a normal operating state It is a very handy tool that should be available to you at all times
If System Restore does not seem to be working, you need to turn it on
The Pain Killer To turn on System Restore, follow these steps:
1 Click Start | Control Panel | System
2 Click the System Restore tab, shown in the illustration to the right Make sure the Turn Off check box is not selected
Trang 113 Click the Settings button for the desired drive In the Settings window, make sure you are allowing plenty of disk space for System Restore to work By default, the
Maximum setting uses 12 percent of your disk space to store checkpoint information,
as shown in the illustration to the right I recommend leaving the setting at Maximum
I can't back up data
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional is affected
Cause Windows XP Professional includes a Backup utility that can help you back up
information on your computer You can store the backup job in a safe location, such as on a
CD or network share In the event of a failure, you can use the backup job to restore data when the computer is functional again
The Backup feature is not available on Windows XP Home Edition, but it is found in System Tools in Windows XP Professional The Pain Killer gives you a walkthrough of the utility
The Pain Killer To use the Backup utility, follow these steps:
1 Log on with an administrator account and click Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Backup
2 The Backup Wizard appears Click Next on the Welcome screen
3 Choose to back up files and settings and click Next
4 In the What to Back Up window, you can choose to back up different items, as shown
in the following illustration, or you can have the wizard let you specifically choose what to back up Make a selection and click Next
Trang 125 If you chose the option in Step 4 to select what you want to back up, a selection window appears, as shown in the following illustration Make your selection and click Next
6 Choose a location and name for your backup job (such as a CD-RW drive or a
network location) Click Next
7 Click Finish The Backup Progress window appears, as you can see in the illustration
to the right When the backup is complete, click Close
Trang 13Chapter 16: Performance Headaches
In this chapter, you'll cure…
• Problems with Windows XP performance
• Issues with application performance
• Aggravations with printing performance
• Difficulties with laptops and Windows XP
Windows XP, like all computer systems, can be affected by performance problems In broad terms, 'performance problems' simply means that Windows XP or some application or process does not work fast enough or does not work very well As a general rule, if your computer exceeds the Windows XP installation requirements, you will probably not have too many performance problems However, depending on the kinds of applications you run and things you want to do with Windows XP, you may run into a number of the Headaches presented in this chapter
Tip Keep in mind that there are a number of third-party programs that can help your
computer run more efficiently, such as Norton Utilities You might consider investing in one of these programs to help you optimize your computer
Windows XP Performance Problems
In this section you'll take a look at the performance problems you are most likely to
experience with Windows XP As you'll soon see, many of the issues have to do with the amount of RAM and processor speed available on the computer If you purchased your