PinkPanther

Hi, One of the ways to speed up booting after a NIC has been installed is to assign it a static IP address. By default, Windows sets the network card to get an IP number everytime the machine boots up; the OS has to check the netwrok to see what numbers are available. If you assign a static IP number to your network card, then it will use that number from then on, and this helps with the booting time. Cheers

Thanks for the suggestion; I will use that

Hi everyone, Does anyone know how to make Windows Explorer (the file manager) open to a specific location without expanding the folder tree? By default it opens to My Documents and the tree is expanded. I have tried changing the "Start In" location of the shortcut, but did this not have an effect:( Thanks for any infomation

Hello all, Does anyone know how I an prevent WindowsXP from automatically restoring "system" files that I delete? For example, I want to delete all the screensaver files on my system, but like with many other types, Windows keeps restoring them Thanks for any information

Hello all, I need suggestions on MP3 software please. I am looking for something that can play and make MP3s but my absolute main requirement is that the program NOT use any skins. I am looking for software that uses a standard Windows interface. Does anyone know of any good ones? Thanks

Thanks for all the replies everyone. Currently, I am trying to decide between Cdex and Audiograbber, mostly Cdex is in competition because it is free Thanks again for all the suggestions!

Hello everyone, Does anyone know if it is possible to prevent applications from creating folders in the default documents location? I am very picky about what I have in the documents drive (for me it is a dedicated partition) and I hate it when programs start adding directories in there, especially the ones with the idiotic naming convetion of "My whatever." I'm not in kindergarten, I don't need to label things with the "My" word preceding them, hehe Anyway, please let me know if it is possible to restrict this behavior in applications. Thanks P.S. I know that some applications have settings to map paths, thus avoiding the creation of default directories, but I am looking for a more general solution that will affect applications as a whole. Thanks

Hello, Go to Control Panel and choose User Accounts. Then, select "Change an Account" then select ANY account (this is just to get you to the correct screen) and on the left side of the window, there should be a link called "manage my network passwords" this link will display all the loging names for Messenger - you can delete them from here. I hope that is what you need it.

Hello everyone, here is my situation ... I am using a Linksys Access Point attached to a Win2K machine and 2 Linksys wireless PC cards on 2 WinXP laptops. My problem is that the connection between the laptops and the Access Point keeps dropping. Everything will work fine for hours, and suddenly it will stop. The only thing that I can do to make the connection resume is to change the channel on the Access Point. This does not seem normal to me. I have already downloaded and installed the latest drivers and firmware updates from Linksys. Has anyone experienced this type of problem? Or does anyone have any idea as to what can be causing this? I don't know whaty other type of information to include with this post, so if anyone has any questions, I will try to answer them here asap. Thanks

Thanks for the replies - Unfortunately, cost is a very large factor at the moment, so I am stuck with the Linksys equipment for the time being. Thanks again

Hello, Everytime a program crashes (and, yes this still happens quite often under WinXP) I get a dialong box requesting that an error log be sent to Microsoft about the crash. Is there some way to prevent this "option" from ever appaearing? thanks

Hi, There is a setting in Visual J++ that must be left off (it's off by default) if you want to be 100% compatible with the Java standard. I can't remember what the name of the setting is, but Microsoft does give you a pop-up warning when you turn it on. It's used to take advantage of Window's built-in functions - it makes the applications faster than pure Java ones, but it also makes them platform dependent to Windows. If you don't use this feature, then Visual J++ can do everything you would do with any other professional Java package. In Windows XP, you have to update J++ to get it to work. Microsoft has the information on their Knowledge Base. Hope this gives you a bit more info - Pink Panther

Hello all, Situation: I have renamed my mapped drives under Win2k, but from time to time, Win2k looses this name and reverts to the default naming convention of "name of folder" on "name of server". Does anyone know of a way to make the names I use actually stick, or does anyone know when and how the name is lost? I haven't been able to establish a pattern as to what causes the name to return to it's default. Many thanks, J.E.

I don't believe it is possible to disable hardware error messages in Win2k - Sorry :-( J.E.

Hello All, I have a Dual monitor system using a PCI Guillemot Cougar (TNT2) & a Creative Labs GForce2 Pro as my AGP card. On the GForce, a light redish outline appears on my windows when the contrast is too extreme - ie, a white window with a dark grey window border. Changing the resolution and color depth do not change this condition. This does not happen on the PCI card/monitor, and it did not happen when I had a Matroc G400 as my AGP card. I am using the lastest reference drivers from Nvidia - this is all on a clean install of Win2k. The problem is difficult to explain verbally, but I am guessing that if any of you have encoutered the situation, you will know what I am describing - if no one knows, then I will post a screen capture, once I get my system fully loaded with software :-) Many thanks for your time, J.E.

Hi - update on my original post: I have tried all of the following, but nothing has eliminated the problem. - Have disabled the second video device, both by simply unchecking the "extend desktop" feature, and by disaling the PCI card in the Hardware Device Manager. - Have physically removed the PCI card altogether. - Have reduced the AGP apperture size in the BIOS - my system only provides two choices, 256 and 64 MB. - Have finally installed WindowsME as my gaming OS and this problem does NOT happen even with the same hardware configuration - this leads me to believe it's probably a driver issue with NT. Thanks again everyone

Depending on the browser you use, you can try to disable javascripting - this prevents 99% of pop-ups, but it will also render certain legitimate pages unusable. I could be mistaken, but I don't believe the latest version of IE lets you disable javascripting :-(

Depending on the browser you use, you can try to disable javascripting - this prevents 99% of pop-ups, but it will also render certain legitimate pages unusable. I could be mistaken, but I don't believe the latest version of IE lets you disable javascripting :-(

Hello All, I need to know how to set my laptop to use two different sets of network settings based upon where I am. I have a network at home, and I use a network at the school where I work. Everytime I change locations, I have to change the workgroup name and the TCP/IP settings - this is getting a little old :-) I have already tried setting separete hardware profiles, but this did not affect the network settings. I also tried creating a new network connetion, but Win2k will only let me create a dial-up type of connection, not another ethernet one. Is there a way to accomplish what I want? Thank you all for your help. Pink Panther

Thank you so much for the help. I've downloaded NetSwitcher and all seems to be wroking well:-) Thanks again!

I also use the Voodoo3 2000 PCI as my second dislay, and have had no problems. My AGP card is a GeForce. P.S. - MANY dual monitor problems can be solved by setting the PCI card as the primary boot-up card in the CMOS Setup - Win2k can then take either card as the primary monitor. Regards

I have not had the program crash, but I have to say I am not all that impressed with the suite. Some of the "features" do not work - like changing the boot screens with Win-Customizer; the defrag program has to be the slowest I have ever used, and its registry "cleaner" does nothing that would improve performance (like Norton's registry cleaner for Win 95/98) Right now, they are the only utilities suite for Win2k, but if Symantec ever comes out with one, I will be going that route myself.

Hello all, I have a small lan with 2 Win2k Pro machines, 3 Win98 machines (2 are laptops) and I just added a Linux box (just learning Linux, so I haven't gotten the NIC to work yet) and I have an iMac I would like to connect to the network. Now, I can connect the iMac using a dumb program called Dave, but Macs only allow for one TCP/IP connection, so it's a pain to switch whenever I have to connect to the net using the Mac's modem. I'm taking too long -- sorry; I need to know if there is a way through Windows to connect the Mac. I'm much more familiar with windows than with Macs. As I understand it, I can do what I want using the Linux box, but like I said, i am only just learning Linux - so I'm hoping for a solution through the OS I already know. thanks everyone. Best, J.E.

On my system, it has also reduced fragmentation drmatically. Regards, J.E.

Hello all, I am a total newbie to driving games, but I would like to try one. My problem is that the free ones that I have (which have been included with one video card or another) only work in Win 95/98. Can someone please recommend a driving game that works in Win2k for me to start with? Thanks