Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected.. Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected.. Operating Systems
Trang 1Problems with System Crashes and Boot Failures
In the days of Windows 9x and Windows Me, you were probably familiar with system lockup
and other problems In Windows XP, you are much less likely to have system lockups and related problems However, there are occasions where your system will crash (that is,
completely stop working, even on a reboot), or you can't boot Windows XP at all without getting some error message What do you do? The following Headaches provide some
common remedies
My computer has stopped responding
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected Cause Windows XP may stop responding due to a hardware or software conflict
The Pain Killer In order to solve the problem, press CTRL+ALT+DEL, which opens Task
Manager Look on the Applications tab, select the application that is Not Responding, and then click the End Task button (See Chapter 16 for more details.) If that doesn't work, press CTRL+ALT+DEL two times in a row to restart your computer If that doesn't work either, hold down the computer's power button for five to ten seconds until the computer restarts If that also does not work, unplug your computer, wait ten seconds, and then plug it back in and restart it
Prevention Never unplug your computer from the power source to turn it off unless you
already have tried everything else Then, make sure you wait ten seconds before unplugging the system; this gives the hard drive time enough to stop spinning before you turn it back on
My system has crashed; and upon reboot, it gives me an error message
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected
Cause If some problem or conflict causes Windows XP to crash (or crash again and again) or
if the computer will not restart, you need to use the System Restore feature to restore the settings on your computer so that it will work
Prevention System Restore must be enabled on your computer for the feature to work See
Chapter 16 for more information about System Restore setup
The Pain Killer If you can boot Windows, follow these steps to run System Restore:
1 Click Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | System Restore
2 Click the Restore My Computer to an Earlier Time radio button, as shown in the following illustration, and then click Next
Trang 23 A calendar and selection list is presented to you, as shown in the following illustration You can select different days to find a desired restore point If you did not create a restore point, you should choose to use the latest one available The latest one will be listed first in the current or previous day window Select a restore point, and click the Next button
4 A message appears, telling you to save all files and close all open applications Do so
at this time, and then click the Next button
5 Restoration now takes place on your computer, and your computer automatically reboots once the restoration is complete Click OK to the restoration message that appears after booting has taken place
If you cannot boot Windows, follow these steps to run System Restore:
1 Turn on your computer and press the CTRL or the F8 key until you see the Startup menu options
2 Choose Safe Mode, and then press ENTER
3 Once Windows boots, the Help screen that appears gives you the option to restore your computer Click the System Restore link
4 Click the Restore My Computer to an Earlier Time radio button, and then click Next
Trang 35 A calendar and selection list is presented to you You can select different days to find
a desired restore point If you did not create a restore point, you should choose to use the latest one available The latest one will be listed first in the current or previous day window Select a restore point, and click the Next button
6 A message appears, telling you to save all files and close all open applications Do so
at this time, and then click the Next button
7 Restoration now takes place on your computer, and your computer automatically reboots once the restoration is complete Click OK to the restoration message that appears after booting has taken place
Note Current documents, files, e-mail, and so on are not affected during a restoration
However, if you installed an application after the last restore point was made, you will need to reinstall that application
I have tried to use System Restore, but now the system does not work well or I receive error messages
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected Cause In some cases, System Restore might cause more problems than you are trying to
solve If this happens, you can undo the restoration
The Pain Killer To undo your last restoration, follow these steps:
1 Click Start | More Programs | Accessories | System Tools | System Restore
2 In the System Restore window, click the Undo My Last Restoration radio button, and then click Next
Note The Undo My Last Restoration option does not appear unless you have
previously run a restoration
3 Close any open files or applications, click OK, and then click Next
4 The previous restoration is removed, and your computer reboots Click OK to the restoration message that appears after booting has taken place
I have tried to use System Restore, but now my computer will not boot
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected Cause If System Restore fails and your computer will not boot, you will need to undo the
installation using Safe mode
The Pain Killer To undo your last restoration if you cannot boot, follow these steps:
1 Turn on your computer and press the CTRL or the F8 key until you see the Startup menu options
2 Choose Safe Mode, and then press ENTER
3 Once Windows boots, the Help screen that appears gives you the option to restore your computer Click the System Restore link
4 Click the Undo My Last Restoration radio button, and then click Next
Trang 45 A message appears telling you to save all files and close all open applications Do so
at this time, and then click the Next button
6 The previous restoration is removed, and your computer reboots Click OK to the restoration message that appears after booting has taken place
Prevention Before making any major configuration changes on your computer, always
create a restore point so that you can use System Restore if things do not go well See the Windows XP Help and Support Center to learn more about creating a restore point
I installed a new device driver, and now the computer will not boot
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected Cause If you install a new device driver and the computer will not boot, you can use a Safe
mode option called Last Known Good Configuration This option uses a backup of the
computer's registry to replace the bad driver with the one that worked previously
The Pain Killer To use the Last Known Good Configuration option, follow these steps:
1 Turn on your computer and press the CTRL or the F8 key until you see the Startup menu options
2 Use the arrow keys to select Last Known Good Configuration, and then press ENTER
My computer fails during bootup
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected Cause
As a general rule, if the system fails during bootup, there is usually some hardware conflict or problem with the Windows XP Help and Support Center
The Pain Killer You can boot using Safe mode, and then use System Restore if necessary:
1 Turn on your computer and press the CTRL or the F8 key until you see the Startup menu options
2 Use the arrow keys to select Safe Mode, and then press ENTER
When I try to boot my computer, a message appears that says 'Invalid System Disk.'
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected Cause Most computers try to boot from the floppy drive first, and then from the hard disk If
you have accidentally left a floppy disk in your disk drive when you restart the computer, the 'Invalid System Disk' message will appear
The Pain Killer Just remove the floppy disk from the disk drive and press CTRL+ALT+DEL
twice to restart the computer If there is no floppy in the disk drive, the hard drive has crashed
Trang 5In this case, you'll need to get help from technical support, which usually involves taking your computer to a repair center
One of my applications keeps crashing
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected Cause Applications must be compatible with Windows XP in order to function properly
The Pain Killer If an application keeps crashing the computer, you can try to use the
Program Compatibility Wizard to fix the problem, or you may simply need to upgrade the application so that it is compatible with Windows XP See the application manufacturer's Web site for details
Problems with Activation
Depending on your computer, you may need to activate Windows XP Windows XP includes
a new feature not found in previous versions of Windows called activation Microsoft uses
this feature to protect the licensing of software Activation prevents someone from installing a bunch of computers using the same software CD Essentially, activation is just a new step in the setup key and licensing agreement portion of Setup
Once you install Windows XP, you have 30 days to activate the operating system with
Microsoft The activation doesn't require you to supply any information; so don't worry, this isn't like 'big brother' or anything The activation process records a serial number from your computer's hardware and couples it with your CD installation code That way, if someone tries to install a bunch of computers with a single CD, activation will recognize that the key has already been used and will not allow the activation to continue Once the 30-day period expires, Windows XP will cease to function
I am having trouble connecting to the Internet for activation
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected
Cause The only activation headache you might experience is not being able to access the
Internet You may have problems dialing the access number or connecting, and this
sometimes happen when you boot Windows XP for the first time
The Pain Killer If you cannot connect to the Internet, you can activate Windows XP by
calling the Activation Support Center and activating your computer with the help of an
operator Click Start | All Programs | Activate Windows
Prevention If you do not see the Activate Windows option under Start | All Programs, it
means Windows XP has already been activated If you did not activate Windows during final installation, it may have been activated by the computer
manufacturer At any rate, if the option is not available in All Programs, you have nothing to worry about
Trang 6Appendix A: Curt's Top 20 Windows XP
Headaches
All right, now it is time to take a look at my top 20 Headache picks These are the headaches that have annoyed me and plenty of other users, according to the newsgroups and Internet searches I've seen You may or may not agree with my list, depending on what experience you have had; but one thing is for sure: you are bound to find some solutions here that will make your life with Windows XP a little easier So, here are my picks, in chronological order!
20: My printer/scanner used to work fine, but now that I've upgraded to Windows XP, it does not work or does not work well
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected
Cause When you upgrade to a new operating system, the drivers that used to run your
computer hardware are kept, and Windows XP tries to use them The problem is that some drivers simply do not work with Windows XP-especially those written for Windows 98 or Windows Me In this case, your printer, scanner, or other device may not work or may not work well once the upgrade is complete
The Pain Killer The only solution is to locate a new driver that is compatible with Windows
XP and install it You can find an updated driver (if there is one) by visiting the printer or scanner manufacturer's Web site and downloading the driver You can then install the driver
on your computer See Chapter 5 to learn more about device driver installation and
management
19: I want to use the New Technology File System (NTFS) because Windows XP is optimized for it, but my hard disk
is a FAT32 drive
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected
Cause Windows XP works best with NTFS, but it is completely compatible with FAT32 If
your drive is currently formatted with FAT32, you can convert it to NTFS without any
problems However, you should make certain you really need to NTFS drives provide you with compression capabilities and security features, but depending on your use of Windows
XP, you may not need any of these features See the Windows XP Help and Support Center for comparisons and more information about using NTFS and FAT32
The Pain Killer If you decide you want to use NTFS, you can convert your FAT32 drive
easily and without any loss of data by following these steps:
1 Log on with an administrator account
2 Back up your data, just to be safe
Trang 73 Click Start | Run Type command, and then click OK
4 At the command prompt, type convert driveletter: /FS:NTFS, where driveletter is the
letter of the drive you want to convert For example, if I wanted to convert my C drive,
the command would be convert C: /FS:NTFS, as you can see in the following
illustration:
5 Press ENTER The conversion process may take several minutes to complete
18: Windows Update keeps trying to connect to the Web and download stuff without my permission
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected Cause Windows Update is a feature that allows Windows XP to check for operating system
updates and automatically download them so you can install them This feature works
wonderfully, especially if you are on a broadband connection; but if you are not, it can be a real pain because it will try to dial your connection You can disable this feature, however, if you don't want to use it
The Pain Killer To turn off the Windows Update feature, follow these steps:
1 Log on with an administrator account
2 Click Start | Control Panel In Control Panel's Classic view, click System
3 Click the Automatic Updates tab, as shown in the illustration to the right Choose the Turn Off Automatic Updating option, and then click OK
Trang 817: Windows XP keeps turning itself off when I leave it idle
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected
Cause If your computer hardware supports it, Windows XP provides a hibernation feature
After a period of inactivity, Windows XP can save all of the data held in random access memory (RAM) to the hard disk, and then shut itself down Then, when you reboot, the data
is read off the hard disk and back into RAM so that your computer is in the same state it was
in when you left it No data is lost on any open applications using hibernation However, if the feature gets on your nerves, you don't have to use it
The Pain Killer To turn off hibernation, follow these steps:
1 Click Start | Control Panel In Control Panel's Classic view, click Display
2 Click the Screen Saver tab, and then click the Power button
3 On the Power Schemes tab, shown in the illustration to the right, change the System Hibernates option to Never Click OK
Tip If you do not see the System Hibernates option, then your computer hardware does not support the feature
16: I don't like the appearance of Windows XP, or I am having difficulty managing the Start menu
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected
Cause Windows XP provides a lot of new interface features that, theoretically, make using
Windows XP easier However, you may not like some of the settings or the behavior of the Windows XP interface No problem, though, you can change it
The Pain Killer To change the features of the Windows XP desktop, you can use two
different options in Control Panel:
Trang 9• To change display properties, click Start | Control Panel In Control Panel's Classic view, click Display
• To change taskbar and Start menu properties, click Start | Control Panel In Control Panel's Classic view, click Taskbar and Start Menu
For specific interface problems and solutions, see Chapter 1
15: Folder views use large icons that require me to scroll around a lot
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected Cause Windows XP provides new folder viewing options, such as Details, List, Icons, Tiles,
and Thumbnails You can easily switch to a view that works best for you
The Pain Killer To change the folder view, open a folder, click the View menu, and choose a
view option other than the one currently selected On the View menu, you can also select the Arrange Icons By option for additional organizational options
Tip Click the Folder Options icon, in Control Panel's Classic view, to make additional
changes to folder configuration
14: I can't find the encryption or Remote Desktop features
in Windows XP Home Edition
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Home Edition is affected
Cause Windows XP Home Edition does not contain all of the features of Windows XP
Professional For example, it does not include encryption, Remote Desktop, or certain other features, such as NTFS permissions and Backup
The Pain Killer There is no workaround for this problem except to upgrade to Windows XP
Professional
13: My network does not work
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected
Cause With Windows XP, you can set up a home network based on a number of networking
technologies, including Ethernet, HomePNA, or even wireless If you are having problems with your network, there can be many different reasons and solutions
The Pain Killer To troubleshoot specific problems on your network, see Chapter 12
12: On my ICS network, network users can control the Internet connection
Trang 10Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected Cause In Windows XP, your Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) clients can control the
Internet connection, if allowed to do so from the ICS host This feature is new in Windows
XP and can be useful in a number of scenarios When the option is turned on, users can connect, disconnect, and even reconfigure the connection If you do not want users to be able
to manage the Internet connection, however, you can disable this feature
The Pain Killer To stop ICS clients from managing the Internet connection, follow these
steps:
1 On the ICS host computer, click Start | Network Connections | Show All Connections
2 Right-click the Internet connection, and then click Properties
3 Click the Advanced tab, shown in the illustration to the right Clear the Allow Other Network Users to Control or Disable the Shared Internet Connection check box, and then click OK
11: On my network, I can access all other computers, but none can access mine
Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected
Cause The odds are good that the Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) is turned on for the
network adapter ICS protects your Internet connection by preventing all unsolicited network traffic However, if you enable the firewall on the network adapter, client computers will not
be able to access shares on your computer
The Pain Killer To turn off ICS on the network adapter, follow these steps:
1 On the ICS host computer, click Start | Network Connections | Show All Connections
2 Right-click the local area connection, and then click Properties
3 Click the Advanced tab, as shown in the illustration to the right Make sure that the ICF check box is not selected, and then click OK