| Did you know that two or more operating systems can be in stalled on your computer? This operation is called "multibooting," and you will need a basic or dynamic disk. If you have one hard disk that's a dynamic disk, you can install only one operating system. To determine if you have a dynamic hard disk, click Start, Control Panel, Performance and Maintenance, Administrative Tools, doubleclick Computer Management, and then click Disk Management. In the right pane, your disk will be labeled as a basic or dynamic type. Next, each operating system must be on a separate partition. In the case of Win98, that partition must be formatted in FAT or FAT 32. But the real problem in putting Win98 and WinXP on the same machine is that you will have to start this project from scratch. Thus, you'll have to format the disk, and then put on Win98 and WinXP. WinXP must be installed last on your computer. Before beginning this operation, you should consider the drivers. WinXP is the first consumer version of Windows that was not based on old DOS code. Because XP has a completely different code base, older peripherals often didn't work with it when this operating system first came out on the market. Many of those problems have since been resolved by Microsoft. The first task for this project is to go to Windows Update to be sure you have all the most recent drivers. These are small programs that tell Windows how to access hardware. To go to Update, open Internet Explorer, and click Tools, Windows Update, click "Scan for updates," and install any drivers that are recommended there. If this procedure doesn't solve your problem, go to the Web sites run by the manufacturers of your hardware. They probably have updated drivers for your equipment, which can be downloaded and installed on your machine. If no drivers are available, look for drivers within Windows. You can do that through Control Panel by clicking Start, Control Panel, doubleclicking Add Hardware, and following the Wizard. Most peripherals will run on XP, but there is a chance that a piece of your equipment will not work with it. In this case, you should replace the item that will not run on your computer. Going backwards to keep an old printer is not a good idea because Win98 is now old technology. Win XP is far less troublesome than Win98.
Send To Menu
To add items to the Send To menu using WinXP, such as folders, so pictures and documents can be put in them, click Start, Run. In the text box, enter "SendTo" and click OK. In the SendTo folder, click File, New, Shortcut, click the Browse button, and find the folder to be put in the SendTo block. Now click it, OK, Next, type a name for the shortcut, and click Finish. Repeat these steps for each folder you want to add to the SendTo block. The Send To option is used to move files around. To put a file in another folder, you must right-click the file and select SendTo. Now click the folder where you want to place the file. That action will put a copy of the file in the second folder, while leaving the original in its place. You can also use Send To if you want to email the file. Again, right-click the file and click Mail Recipient. It will open your e-mail software with the file already attached, or you can create a shortcut on the desktop by clicking Desktop (create shortcut). For some added functionality, check out Send To Toys, a free program. It streamlines the process of adding folders or drives, and adds more places to the Send To list. When right-clicking on a file and choosing Send To, the menu options let you copy that file to the A:Drive, the My Documents folder, or other places. You can even add a menu item that will send files to any folder. Navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\username\SendTo for Win 2000/ XP, or C:\Windows\SendTo for Win98/ Me. If you don't see the desired folder there, select Folder Options from the Tools menu, click on the View tab, and check "Show hidden files and folders." In a second Explorer window, select the folder in question. Right-drag it into the Send To folder and choose "Create Shortcuts Here." Rename the shortcut as you want to see it in the Send To menu.
Scheduled Maintenance
Scheduling maintenance is a task in WinXP. XP uses a program called
Check Disk (or ChkDsk). If you want Check Disk to fix errors automatically,
click Start, My Computer, right-click the drive you want to check, and
click Properties, Tools. Next click Check Now, check "Automatically fix
file system errors" and "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors,"
and then click Start. On the information window, click Yes and reboot the
computer. Since Check Disk can take time to run, you might want to run
it overnight. Use the process above when you have finished using the computer
for the night. When Check Disk completes this task, it reboots the computer.
To schedule Disk Defragmenter, you need a password. When the computer reboots,
it will ask for a password. The boot process will then stop until the next
day, when you enter the password. You can't run Disk Defragmenter the same
night as Check Disk, unless you want to get up and enter the password.
It is best to run Check Disk before Disk Defragmenter. You'll have to do
a little customization to make Disk Defragmenter run automatically. It
has to run in a DOS window. To set it up click Start, All Programs, Accessories,
System Tools, Scheduled Tasks, doubleclick Add Scheduled Task, and click
Next, Browse. Now navigate to Windows>System32 and click Defrag.exe>Open.
In the Schedule Task Wizard, click Weekly, Next, select the time and day,
and click Next. Enter your username and Windows password twice, and then
click Next. Check the box marked "Open advanced properties for this task
when I click Finish," and click Finish. In the Run box, you will find the
path to the defrag.exe file. At the end of this string, add a space and
"c:" (without the quote marks) and click Apply. If you are asked for your
password again, enter it, and click OK, OK. The Disk Defragmenter will
run in a DOS window. It analyzes the disk, reports on fragmentation, and
then defragments the drive. The DOS window disappears upon completion of
defragmentation. You must have a Windows password to schedule Disk Defragmenter.
If you don't have a password, establish one by clicking Start, Control
Panel, double click User Ac counts, click your account, and click "Create
a password." Fill in the blanks, click "Create Password," and close the
windows.
Shareware
There are many WinXP shareware program enhancers which can keep your operating system running at optimal speeds. They include: Tweak-XP Pro offers several utilities that let you optimize and customize XP to run at top speed. This application lets you enhance XP by shortening start-up times, tweaking cache settings, and optimizing RAM for better overall performance. RegVac works with most Windows systems and not just XP. It includes eight tools that deep-clean your Registry. Boost XP trims the excess processes that slow down your computer. It also lets you enable hidden performance settings.
Shortcut Keys
Older versions of Windows had underlined letters in their menus. Instead
of clicking the mouse on menu items you could press Alt and the underlined
letter to activate that menu item, thus a shortcut key. WinXP leaves them
out. To turn them back on, right-click the Desktop, choose Properties,
and click the Appearance tab. Click the Effects button and remove the check
mark from the line "Hide Underlined Letters for Keyboard Navigation Until
I Press The Alt Key." The underlines all appear and are now ready for shortcuts.
Software Pop ups
If you're annoyed with the pop up that tells you when new software is
installed in WinXP, disable it by clicking Start, right clicking on the
top of the Start menu where your name is displayed, and clicking Properties.
In the Taskbar and Start menu Properties dialog, click on the Start Menu
tab, Customize, and Advanced tab. Finally clear the "Highlight newly installed
programs" check box and click OK.
Sound Recorder
You can use Sound Recorder, which is a Windows utility, to record yourself
using a computer. To find it, click Start, All Programs or Programs, Accessories,
Entertainment, Sound Recorder. After opening Sound Recorder, you'll find
a button on the bottom right with a red circle on it. Click it and then
start talking. When you finish, click the button with the black square.
It's next to the red circle. Next, click File, Save As and give the file
a name and select the folder where you want to store it. Under "Save as
Type," use Sounds (*.wav). To play the file, double-click it. You should
have a player program associated with .wav files. If not, right-click the
file and select Open With. If Windows Media Player is not listed, click
Browse. Find Program Files and double click the Windows Media Player folder.
Finally click wmplayer.exe and Open.
Unfortunately, Sound Recorder only creates one-minute files. It can be tricked into recording more, however it's not worth the effort. If you need a file longer than one minute, use Audacity, which is a free software program. After downloading and opening Audacity, on the toolbar, click the drop down box, select Microphone, click the round red button, and start talking. When you finish, click the yellow square button and then click File, Export as Wave. That's a *.wav file. You listen to it just as you would a Sound Recorder file. If you can't complete your file in one sitting, click the yellow square button to stop the recording. Next click File, Save Project As. Save it as an *.aup file. When you return to your project, click File, Open, find the file, and open it. Now click the end of your previous recording, click the red circle, and start talking. You can do this procedure as often as needed until you complete your project. When the project is finished, export the file as a Wave, as explained above.
User Name
Depending on how you set it up, WinXP may ask you to click your user name when booting up your computer. WinXP forces you to go through this process if you have more than one account on your computer. You can delete unused accounts by clicking Start, Control Panel, and double-click User Accounts. Next click the surplus account and select Delete the Account. If you are the only user on your machine, Windows will not normally ask you to click the account. However, a WinXP update installs an invisible account that can cause this problem. The update is .NET Framework, and it is intended primarily for software developers. You can safely delete it. To do so, go to Control Panel and double-click Add or Remove Programs. In the program list, click Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 and then click Remove.
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