Archive for February, 2004

Taskbar Is Missing When You Log On to Windows (Q318027)

When you start Windows XP, you may experience one or more of the following behaviors:

When you log on normally, the taskbar does not appear.

If you press CTRL+ESC, the Start menu does not appear.

If you log on to Windows in Safe mode, the taskbar does appear.

This behavior can occur if the Windows settings for a particular user account are corrupted.

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Hard Disk Performance Is Slower Than You Expect (Q308219)

After you install Microsoft Windows XP, hard disk performance may be slower than you expect.

NOTE : Hard disk performance may be even slower when your computer performs many small hard disk read/write operations.

This behavior may occur in the following situation:

You use Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) hard disks in the computer.

-and-

The hard disks are formatted as NTFS.

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HOW TO: Change the Windows Logon Screen Saver in Windows XP (Q314493)

This step-by-step article describes how to change the default logon screensavers in Microsoft Windows XP. Specifically, the article discusses how to change the type of screen saver that starts, the timeout before the screen saver starts, and whether a screen saver is turned on before the logon process.

When you start Windows, you may be presented with the Windows XP welcome screen, which prompts you click your user name to begin, or you may be presented with a Welcome to Windows dialog box that prompts you to press CTRL+ALT+DEL to log on. By default, if you do not press a key for 10 minutes, the Windows logon screen saver (Logon.scr) starts.

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How to Move a Windows XP Installation to Different Hardware (Q314070)

IMPORTANT : The issues that are discussed in this article and in the linked articles are the most common problems and limitations that you may encounter when you try to restore a backup copy to different hardware. Other issues can also appear because of the variations in software and hardware configurations. You may be able to resolve any of these issues by troubleshooting the specific problems that occur, but compatibility issues may limit the success of the restore of a backup to dissimilar hardware.

Windows Backup (Ntbackup.exe) can handle differences in hardware configuration information between computers and maintain critical registry entries that are unique to the computer to which you are migrating information. This capability means that you can migrate to new hardware by performing a full backup of the source computer and then restoring the backup over a fresh installation of Windows XP on the destination computer.

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How to Log On to Windows XP If You Forget Your Password (Q318033)

Here’s one a lot of people have been looking for. This article explains how to log on to Windows XP if you forget your password, or if your password expires and you are not able to create a new one.

Method 1: Use a Password Reset Disk

If you created a password reset disk on a Microsoft Windows XP Professional-based computer, reset your password by using the password reset disk.

Method 2: Log on as Administrator and Reset the Password

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Cannot Change the Password for the Administrator Account in User Accounts in Control Panel (Q298252)

After you log on as an administrator to a computer that is not a member of a domain, when you double-click User Accounts in Control Panel to change the password for the built-in Administrator account, the Administrator account may not appear in the list of user accounts. Consequently, you cannot change its password.

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General USB Troubleshooting in Windows XP (Q310575)

Because USB devices are Plug and Play devices, there is little that you can do to control or configure them. However, you can trace most USB problems to one of the following conditions:

• Malfunctioning or incorrectly configured hardware
• Malfunctioning, incorrectly configured, or missing device driver
• Mismatched cabling
• Out-of-date firmware or basic input/output system (BIOS)
• Improperly configured root hub

You can use the following troubleshooting tips to check for each of these conditions to help you resolve USB device issues.

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ACC2002: Updated Version of Microsoft Jet 4.0 Available in Download Center (Q282010)

The Microsoft Office XP and Microsoft Access 2002 Setup programs only update system files in certain situations and to a certain level. Therefore, after you install Access you may not have the latest version of the Microsoft Jet 4.0 database engine. To obtain the latest update for the Microsoft Jet 4.0 database engine, download and install Microsoft Jet 4.0 Service Pack 6 (SP6).

If you have installed Jet 4.0 SP6 for Access 2000 or another application that uses the Jet 4.0 engine, you do not have to reinstall Jet 4.0 SP6 for Access 2002.

There are four versions of the Jet 4.0 SP6 download. The first download is only for computers that are running Microsoft Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows NT 4.0. The second download is only for computers that are running Microsoft Windows 2000. The third download is only for computers that are running Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition. The fourth download is only for computers that are running Microsoft Windows XP. Each download contains updated versions of several .dll files that are included with Microsoft Access 2002, Microsoft Office XP Developer, Microsoft Visual Basic version 6.0 or later, and other Microsoft products that incorporate Microsoft Jet database engine 4.0.

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No Password Expiration Notice Is Presented During the Logon Process (Q313194)

Windows XP may not display a notice to a user that the user’s password is about to expire. This problem may occur if the user logs on to a Microsoft Windows 2000-based domain from a Windows XP Professional-based computer on which the user has previously logged on, and the user’s password will expire in the specified expiry period.

The following policy determines whether Windows XP waits for the network during startup and the user logon process:

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Logon: Always wait for the network at computer startup and logon

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HOW TO: Prepare to Upgrade Windows 98 or Windows Millennium Edition to Windows XP (Q316639)

This step-by-step article describes how to prepare to upgrade from Windows 98 or Windows Millennium Edition (Me) to Windows XP. The information in this article may be useful to help you to avoid some common upgrade-related issues.

For information about compatible hardware for Windows XP, view the Windows Hardware Compatibility List (HCL). This list is a compilation of computers and computer hardware that have been extensively tested with Windows for stability and compatibility. Microsoft Product Support Services uses the HCL to determine whether or not a computer is supported for use with Windows. The latest HCL is available from the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/hcl/default.asp

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