Windows XP Tips & Tricks

Start Menu Shortcut Open Behavior: There's Two Different Types of Shortcuts to a Folder

Place a shortcut to a folder in the start menu it will open the folder 1 of 2 ways

1. As an explorer window
2. As a start menu expanding list

You can control this behavior by how you create the shortcut. To make the shortcut open an explorer window right click on the START button and choose OPEN from the shell menu. Once the explorer window for the start menu opens right click on white space within the window and choose NEW, SHORTCUT from the shell menu. Enter the path to the folder you want a shortcut. This creates a shortcut type that will not expand to the right like the programs menu in the start menu, but rather just opens an explorer window to the path.

To create a folder shortcut that opens an expanding menu drag the directory you want a shortcut to over the START button while holding down the CONTROL & SHIFT keys. Keep holding the keys and dragging until the start menu opens, then make sure you deposit the new shortcut above the divider line on the start menu above "Programs." This type of shortcut creates an expanding menu instead of opening a window when clicked.

Resizing Pictures Via Right Click

In Windows XP you can right click on an image or group of images and select "Resize Pictures" from the shell menu IF you have Microsoft PowerToys Utilities installed.

Changing Thumbnail Size in Explorer

In the XP file explorer you can elect to view thumbnail representations of images of common graphic types as opposed to icons. The default size can be changed with a simple registry edit.

regedit

navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

Create a new DWORD value

ThumbnailSize

Smallest:

• Hex – 20
• Decimal – 32

Windows Default:

• Hex – 64
• Decimal – 100

Largest:

• Hex – 100
• Decimal – 256

File Name Not Visible in Thumbnail View

Changing the file view in Windows Explorer to Thumbnail results in the text file name being hidden although the image thumbnail is visible. This is actually a toggle, so that when viewing file thumbnails you can control whether or not you want the text filename below the image thumbnail.

In the 'Choose Details' window of the folder the 'Name' option is selected (it's not even possible to deselect it). Hold down the shift key when switching to thumbnail view to hide the file names. Do it again to bring them back.

Another way to enable or disable filename visibility in the thumbnail icon view is to open the folder while holding down the shift key. Hold down the Shift Key, Right-click while keeping the Shift key depressed, Choose Open while still keeping the Shift key depressed.

Control Panel Applet commands

In Windows XP you click START and then RUN to access the Run dialog. This can be accessed by a right click on the Windows logo (where the start menu was in XP) in the Windows desktop (not the Metro screen.) Windows Key + R also launches the Run program dialog box.

Common Windows components can be accessed directly by executing them from the run program dialog, such as the Control Panel. Enter "control" and click OK to open the control panel. See below for other common applets:

You can use "control" + the applet name below, or, depending on your version of Windows, simply use the applet name alone.

• sysdm.cpl - system properties (Advanced System Settings) contains System Protection (Microsoft System Restore), and Computer Name, Workgroup, & Domain
• ncpa.cpl - network connections (configure NICs and other connections)
• firewall.cpl - windows firewall
• appwiz.cpl - programs and features (add/remove programs)
• hdwwiz.cpl - add hardware wizard
• desk.cpl - display screen res
• inetcpl.cpl - msie properties
• powercfg.cpl - power mgr
• mmsys.cpl - sound
• timedate.cpl - date and time
• nusrmgr.cpl - user accounts and passwords (Windows 7) 7-10 use netplwiz.exe

Special control panel applets (you must type "control" before the applet name.

• control - open windows control panel
• control folders - folder options (where you can do things like show hidden files and show file extensions)
• control mouse - mouse device properties
• control userpasswords - user accounts and passwords
• control fonts - opens the fonts folder in an explorer window
• control printers - opens printers folder
• control system - opens system properties (Vista, 7 and 8x)
• control desk.cpl,screensaver,@screensaver - Screensaver
• control /name Microsoft.WindowsUpdate - Windows Update (legacy: wuapp.exe)

Microsoft Management Console applets

• devmgmt.msc - Device Manager
• diskmgmt.msc - Disk Management
• fsmgmt.msc - File Share Mgmt
• services.msc - Services Management, start / stop / disable services

note: These (some or all) Windows Applet commands work in Windows versions including 2000, XP, 7, and 8.

This is not a comprehensive list, it is a list of the common more common/useful commands. See our discussion page for additional commands.

Windows System Information Tools

SystemInfo

command line:

systeminfo.exe

You can echo the output to a text file to view in notepad

systeminfo.exe > "%userprofile%/documents/systeminfo.txt"

Systeminfo.exe is a great tool console based tool. Systeminfo.exe is a command-line utility that displays information about your Windows version, BIOS, processor, memory, network configuration, and so on. The output is DOS text.

System Information / MSInfo Utility

If you prefer something with a GUI (Graphical User Interface) you can use msinfo32.

command line:

msinfo32.exe

Use this tool to gather information about your computer, to diagnose issues with your computer, or to access other tools. This command opens a GUI applet. It can be run directly from START, RUN. It provides mostly the same information as systeminfo.

Keep Getting Windows XP Security Updates Until 2019

Microsoft stopped security updates for Windows XP. Windows XP launched on August 24, 2001 and on April 8, 2014 Microsoft officially ended support of the operating system. There shall be no more security updates or technical support for the Windows XP operating system, according to Microsoft. However, a hack makes it possible for users to continue getting security updates. The hack fools Microsoft into thinking the system is running Windows Embedded POSReady 2009, a variant of XP that's used by ATMs and cash registers.

A registry entry needs to be added to accomplish this.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\WPA\PosReady]
"Installed"=dword:00000001

Add to a text file with the file extension .reg then click to add to the Windows registry.