M.A.S. Electronics' Blog

When troubleshooting a Windows startup problem, this is probably a frequent course of action: Press [F8], and choose one of the special troubleshooting startup options, which include three Safe Mode options and the Last Known Good Configuration option. Of course, these are all great features. But what if you really just want to see what occurs during a normal startup? To monitor what’s going on behind the scenes during a normal bootup, you can temporarily disable Windows ‘s splash screen….

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You’ve probably noticed the Windows XP Professional logo appear on your workstation every time you start it. Although it’s nice to see a quick reminder of Microsoft and your operating system, you may want to change the boot logo to display something different, such as your company’s logo. Doing so is difficult, but it’s not impossible. Before you begin Don’t confuse the boot logo with the desktop background or the system login screen. What we’re referring to here is the…

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Remote desktop allows you to configure and connect to another computer running Windows XP Pro. Here’s what you need to know about the remote desktop connection dialog box, including a few parameters you’re most likely to encounter. The Windows XP remote desktop connection dialog box provides you with everything that you need to configure and connect to another computer running Windows XP Pro. You can use the Save As button on the Connection Settings panel to save all your connection…

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By default, certain objects on the Windows Start menu open their respective folders. Click Control Panel, for example, and the Control Panel opens on the desktop. However, you can configure these items individually to expand rather than open when you click them. For example, the Control Panel can display its contents on the Start menu rather than open in a folder window. The same is true for My Documents, Printers, and Network And Dial-Up Connections. To configure these items to expand:…

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You have Access query results that you would like to publish as an HTML page over your intranet so your employees can access the data from their browsers. You could export the query to an HTML file, but then you realize that the columns of data are too hard to read. For your own department, you have created a read-only form that the employees use to navigate the query results, where you’ve changed the field names to more meaningful captions….

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When you install Internet Information Services (IIS) under Windows 2000 Professional, Setup doesn’t automatically configure your printers to enable printing to them from across the Internet (IPP, or Internet printing protocol), as does Server. Fortunately, setting it up under Pro is fairly easy. After you install IIS on the Pro system, open the IIS console Right-click the Web site where you want to add printing capability (such as the Default site), and choose New | Virtual Directory to start the…

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If you perform a clean install of Windows, the Start menu is uncluttered and organized. As you start to add applications, however, you can quickly end up with a bloated menu that’s no longer sorted in alphabetical order. As more items are added, it becomes more difficult to find the menu or command you need. Fortunately, it’s easy to reorganize the Start menu. First, you’ll probably want to re-sort the menu so it’s back in alphabetical order. To do so:…

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Most printers support a wide array of options for paper tray, page size, page orientation, half-toning, print optimization, and so on. Although the Printers folder interface makes it relatively easy to change printer settings for your Windows  system when needed, it can be a time-consuming bother when you’re in a hurry, particularly if you switch printer settings often. The easy solution is to configure multiple printer instances for the same physical printer, each with its own settings. Give the printer…

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Need a little more memory space for your Windows drive? Save your money for now and free up some space by adding pagefiles with this registry hack. If you desperately need more memory space for your Windows, you can buy more RAM—or add pagefiles to your existing drive with this registry hack. First, make directories for the number of pagefiles you want. Then, do this: Launch your favorite registry editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINES\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management (Note: There are word…

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Are you tired of searching the Internet for icons to use for your shortcuts? Then check out how easy it is to use Windows XP’s Paint program to create your own icons. Follow these steps: Launch Paint from the All Programs | Accessories menu. Pull down the Image menu and select the Attributes command. In the Attributes dialog box, type 32 in both the Width and Height boxes and click OK. To make the image easier to work with, click…

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