Exploring XP

Capers and conjurations with the worlds’ best known OS.

Life would be much easier if we had its source code… And we could tweak and tune it according to our whims and wishes. Yet, most of us are always so much in awe of our PCs and its operating systems that we accept anything and everything exactly the way it is dished out to us. Shouldn’t be that way. We must learn to twist things around to suit your needs and temperament. So let’s try a few capers and conjurations in the computing worlds’ most popular OS, Windows XP.

Squeaky Clean Desktop
Two kinds of homo sapiens populate this earth. People who like to live life with a cluttered Windows desktop. And freaks like me who like to keep it squeaky clean. In fact, I don’t even let the four ubiquitous system desktop icons--My Documents, My Computer, My Network Places and Internet Explorer—mask even a pixel of my desktop’s Malika Sherawat wallpaper.

A little bit of tweaking is all it takes to make this bunch disappear (or appear). To add or subtract these icons from your desktop, right click on your desktop and select Properties. Then click the Desktop tab followed by Customize Desktop. Go to the General tab, check the appropriate boxes for the icons that you want visible on your desktop. Uncheck the boxes of the ones you want removed. Click on OK, once-twice… You want to trash the Recycle Bin as well? Write to me…

Now you are wondering how I manage to quick access the aforementioned icons when required, nahin? Well, I use a little magic genie called ObjectDock (www.stardock.com/products/objectdock) to open these, or launch other) thingies. Give the free-wala a dekko.

Upload-Download Speed Checks
If you’re always doing soch-vichar about the actual speed of your Internet connection at any given moment, here is a neat little site which let’s you can check your download and upload capabilities. Just zip across to www.speedtest.net and give your dabba an online velocity and drag test.

Squawking about this online business, do you know how to keep a tab on how long you have been online? Very simple haiga: Simply peer at the Windows Taskbar and double-click on the network connection icon roosting there. A pop-up window will display the duration of your current call/connection.

Lost Passwords
First let’s tackle how to cope with a forgotten/lost admin password. Reboot in safe mode by re-starting the computer and repeatedly pressing F8 as your PC starts up. In safe mode, click on Start and then on Run. In the Open field, type "control userpasswords2" (minus quotes.) This will give you access to all the User Accounts, including the administrator’s account. Click on Administrator under User Name and then on Reset Password. Type a fresh password in the New Password field, confirm it, and click on OK.

If you have lost or forgotten a user account password, life is even simpler. Log in as the computer administrator. Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > User Accounts and reset the password for the required systems user account.

Quick Reboots
You have just installed a new app or upgrade. A pleasant looking pop-up pops up and orders you to restart you PC. You snarl and mentally mutter/audibly mumble an unmentionable expletive. Gaawd no, do I have to? Well, there’s no getting around that. But maybe next time you could try and remember this easy trick to speed up the entire reboot process. Click on the Start and then on Shutdown. Select Restart, hold the Shift key down, and then hit OK. This will get Windows XP restarted much faster.

Taskbar Tango
Here are some simple time and effort saving Windows taskbar tweaks meant to tweeze and squeeze more productivity out of your workings. Try ‘em and take what you like.

• If you want to quickly reset the time and/or date on you PC, double-click on the clock displayed in the Windows taskbar and reset as required.
• Need to clear the Documents list in the Start menu and records of other recently accessed gunk? Right click on the Windows taskbar and choose Properties from the pop-up menu. Select the Start Menu tab, click on Customize and hit the Clear button.
• If you want to use every square nanometre of your desktop, you can Autohide your taskbar and reclaim a narrow strip of real estate. Right click on the taskbar, select Properties and go to the Taskbar tab. Here, tick the Autohide box and click on OK. The taskbar will now disappear from the screen in normal viewing and only slide in when you move your mouse pointer to the edge of the screen.
• No devtas have ordained that the taskbar has to squat at the bottom of the screen for eternity. You can always dock your taskbar to the left, right, or even the top of the screen. Just drag and drop it to the side or top of the screen and see how it works for you. Sides are the best as you can view many more open apps at a glance. Try to karo…