Archive for February, 2004

Windows Media Player Causes an Error Message in Windows XP (Q319871)

If your computer has a version of Microsoft Windows Media Player that is earlier than version 7.1, you may receive the following error message:

Iexplore.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

If the error message is still displayed and you want to see the data that the error report contains, click the click here link at the bottom of the message box. You then see error signature information that may be similar to the following:

App name App version Module name Module version Offset
—————————————————————–
Iexplore.exe 6.0.2600.0 Wmpui.dll 0004cd3e

Click here for the article.

Error Message When You Shut Down Computer: DEVLDR Not Responding (Q315327)

When you try to shut down your computer, you may receive an error message similar to the following:
DEVLDR not responding.

If you click End Now , your computer stops responding.

This error may occur if you have the Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live installed on your computer.

Click here for the article

IntelliMouse: The Mouse Pointer Moves Erratically or Does Not Respond with Windows XP (Q321122)

When you are using a Microsoft Mouse or Microsoft IntelliMouse, you may experience one or more of the following symptoms:

• The pointer may move erratically.
• The pointer may not respond when you move the pointing device.
• Button clicks may have no effect.
• The pointing device may stop working after a few minutes of use.
• Some options or tabs may be unavailable in the Mouse tool in Control Panel.

If you connect a Microsoft Plug and Play Serial Mouse, Microsoft EasyBall, or Microsoft IntelliMouse to your computer, the new device may not be detected by Microsoft Windows. Running the Add New Hardware Wizard does not resolve the issue.

Click here for the article.

HOW TO: Install or Remove a Font in Windows XP (Q314960)

Windows supports TrueType fonts or fonts that are specially designed for Windows, and these fonts are available commercially. Some programs also include special fonts that are installed as part of the program installation. Additionally, printers frequently come with TrueType or special Windows fonts. Follow the directions that come with these products to install these fonts.

To prevent a font from loading without removing it from the hard disk, move the font from the Fonts folder into another folder. Use this method for troubleshooting purposes. This process does not completely remove the font, because font registry information is not deleted. However, it prevents the font from loading.

Click here for the article.

Windows XP: Kernel Improvements Create a More Robust, Powerful, and Scalable OS

Found this article from December on Microsoft’s site, some pretty good readying, if you like this kind of stuff.

The Windows XP kernel includes a number of improvements over Windows 2000 that promote better scalability and overall performance. This article covers these changes and explains how they improve startup time, increase registry size limits, and promote more efficient disk partitioning. Windows XP provides support for 64-bit processors, which is covered here along with a discussion of how side-by-side assemblies end DLL Hell. Also new in the Windows XP kernel is a facility that will roll back driver installations to the Last Known Good state of the registry, making driver installation safer. Other topics include the new volume shadow copy facility, which provides for more accurate backups and improvements in remote debugging.

Although the number of changes to the Windows XP kernel is small compared to the changes between Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 (the internal version number confirms this?Windows 2000 was originally Windows NT 5.0; Windows XP was version 5.1, not NT 6.0), there are a number of important changes that make Windows XP more reliable, more scalable, and more broadly compatible with existing applications.

This article focuses on the kernel changes made to achieve these improvements. It does not cover many other user-mode enhancements in areas such as usability (improved shell and remote assistance), consumer features (CD burner support and DirectX 8.0), and other changes (terminal services with Windows XP Professional, fast user switching, and the new Windows XP Home Edition). Also, with the exception of System Restore, everything in this article applies to the upcoming Windows .NET Server family of products, since it will be based on the Windows XP kernel (with some additional features).

Click here for the article.

How to Add OEM Plug and Play Drivers to Windows XP (Q314479)

This article describes the steps required to add original equipment manufacturer (OEM)-supplied drivers to Microsoft Windows installations. This article includes only those drivers that are typically installed during graphical user interface (GUI)-mode Setup or post-Setup by standard Plug and Play enumeration. This permits you to pre-load OEM Plug and Play drivers that you can use later, when the associated hardware is introduced in the system.

Drivers that are installed during the “Installing Devices” portion of GUI-mode Setup have to be found in certain locations. At this point, Setup installs the devices (by using Plug and Play IDs) that have been enumerated by Windows Plug and Play. Setup searches a predefined path on the drive, looking in .inf files to find the best match for the Plug and Play ID of the device.

Click here for the article.

User Accounts That You Create During Setup Are Administrator Account Types (Q293834)

After you install Windows XP, you have the option to create user accounts. If you create user accounts, by default, they will have an account type of Administrator with no password.

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HOW TO: Change the Logon Window and the Shutdown Preferences in Windows XP (Q291559)

Setup configures Windows XP to use the friendly Welcome logon screen and the shutdown buttons, if your computer is installed as a home computer (a computer where a network domain has not been specified).

This article describes how you can enable the classic logon screen used by Windows XP Server that resembles the following example:

Log On to Windows
User name: _____________
Password: _____________

Click here for the article.

Creating a Boot Disk for an NTFS or FAT Partition (Q311073)

This article describes how to create a Windows boot disk to access a drive with a faulty boot sequence on an Intel x86-processor-based computer.

NOTE : The procedure for RISC-based computers is different and not documented in this article.

This Windows boot disk can access a drive that has the Windows NT file system (NTFS) or File allocation table (FAT) file system installed. The procedures in this article can be useful to work around the following boot problems:

• Corrupted boot sector.
• Corrupted master boot record (MBR).
• Virus infections.
• Missing or corrupt NTLDR or Ntdetect.com.
• Incorrect Ntbootdd.sys driver.
• This boot disk can also be used to boot from the shadow of a broken mirror, although you may need to change the Boot.ini file to do that.

Click here for the article.

Picture Tasks in folders

The My Pictures folder includes properties which provide information to tools so that you can view, print, and manipulate images, and publish images on the Internet. To perform these tasks, you can use the Picture Tasks section in the left pane in the Web view window, or you can use the Image preview functionality. You can also click the View menu, and then click Filmstrip or Thumbnails.

These properties are passed on to new created folders that have nothing else in them, or if you copy the My Pictures folder somewhere else, which enables you to store images in folders other than My Pictures, and still maintain the advantages of the My Pictures environment. If you copy an image to an existing folder that already contains other file types, the Picture Tasks options may not be displayed in the Web view window, and if you create a folder and the first file is an image file, the picture tasks options are added, but if you remove the image files, the picture tasks options will remain in the left pane.