Windows XP Help!!! *Resolved*

[mendhak]

Alright, my brand new laptop's here, so congratulate me on that! :)

In accordance with my luck, I'm having a bunch of problems already. The people who sold me this notebook installed Windows XP Home version on this, and to tell you the truth, this is the absolute crappiest operating system I've ever seen. I don't have the funds to buy Windows 2000 right now, so I'd like to ask you guys a couple questions, which would really help me:


1) I've heard that this godawful skin on Windows XP can be removed, giving it the look and feel of Windows 2000. Is this true? If so, how can I go about doing this?

2) In Windows 98, I had "Network Neighborhood". What do I have here?

3) I want to make the name of this machine "FROG", and in Win98 I just had to right click on Network Neighborhood, choose properties, and simply rename it. How can I name this machine in Windows XP?

4) Why is it that everytime I open up a folder (or anything for that matter), I have a whole list of "user friendly" options on the left side? I don't want that. How do I get rid of it?

5) Is there anything about Windows XP that I should know which will become an annoyance for me later on?

Hope you guys can answer these questions (any).

Thanks. :)

[kleptos]

I dont have my XP machine in front of me, but i will try to hook you up.

If you click on the taskbar and select properties, you can select the "classic" start menu instead of that gawdawful XP one. Once you do that, you will see My Computer, Network Neighborhood, and all that back on your desktop. Also, if you right click on My Computer, choose properties, and i think there is an Appearance tab or something similar, which will allow you to select the UI based on Performance, Visual, Speed, or Customize, you can select performance and turn all that crap off. In the same set of options, you have a network tab, in which you can change the name to "FROG". You can get rid of all the "common options" in the same tab as the performace stuff i think, that one i am not sure on. Hope that helps a little.

[Sgt-Peppa]

Well then ...... Congratulations :D,

you should get a prog called XPAntiSpy, which prevents Xp from "calling home" all the time!
It`s freeware, and pretty easy to handle,heres a link
http://www.xpantispy.de/

Oh, yeah well thats a german site but they do have the english version in their downloads section. For a description do a search on google or so, you will find a lot of results on xpantispy.


Hope I could help,



Stephan

[mendhak]

Kleptos, thanks a lot man. That was immensely helpful, answered all my questions.




Peppa, What "calling home" are you referring to? Can you elaborate on that?

[Sgt-Peppa]

Xp is sending messages to Microsoft. For example the IE does or xp is looking for updates and stuff without you knowing!

The only bad thing about that is you dont really know what information xp is really sending to Microsoft. So xpAntiSpy ist just closing these possibilitis to "cal home"!

Posting you the description of that link I gave you,


XP-AntiSpy is a little utility that let's you disable some built-in update and authetication 'features' in WindowsXP.
For example, there's a service running in the background wich is called 'Automatic Updates'. I don't know what this service transfers from my machine to other machines on the internet, especially the MS ones. So I play it safe and disable such functions. If you like, you can even disable these function manually, by going through the System and checking or unchecking some checkboxes. This will take you approximately half an hour. But why wasting time when a little neat utility can do the same in 1 minute? This utility was successfully tested by lots of users, and was found to disable all the known 'Suspicious' Functions in WindowsXP. It's customizeable, but comes up with the Default settings, which are recommended. If you like to get more information about those 'functions',read THIS.

This utility is FREEWARE! This means, you dont have to pay anything for this program and you can give it to anyone who's interested in, as long as you don't sell it. If you find this tool useful, and wanna gimme something back, then click on my sponsors.
Thanks.



Hope I could help,

Stephan

[kleptos]

Glad i could help out.

[mendhak]

I'll be downloading it soon then, Peppa :)


OK, another question:


Where is Internet Information Server? (This is Windows XP Home Edition)

[kleptos]

XP Home = No IIS

p.s. Dont hate the messenger..

[mendhak]

Originally posted by kleptos
XP Home = No IIS

p.s. Dont hate the messenger..


Uh-oh.

I really need IIS on this... how can I get it? Any suggestions?

[kleptos]

I havent had the unfortunate luck of XP home, this should work, but i personally havent tested this.
http://www.15seconds.com/issue/020118.htm

[kleptos]

I was also thinking, some of the annoyances you were looking for, might incluse any remote connections, if you right click on My Computer, there should be a tab called "Remote" or something similar, you may want to make sure both boxes are unchecked. Windows XP also has some feature that backs up you system to a "known good" configuration, this runs every now and then, it takes some hard disk space, you may want to remove this feature also, i personally think this option is useless. If you right click the c:\ drive and choose properties, i think its in there.

[kleptos]

Sorry for all the posts, but this guide might help out a little also, may help speed some things up.
http://www.overclockersclub.com/guides/windowsxpservices.php

[mendhak]

OK, thanks for the links (again).

Just 2 more questions, and I'm done, I promise.

In my taskbar, if I have 3 Internet explorer windows open, they show up as a single IE tab, with "3" written in it. Can I have it the classic way?


Also, check out the attachment...
in explorer windows, my address bar is alll the way over there on the right. How do I put it back in the proper place?

[kleptos]

For the address bar, you first need to "unlock" the toolbar, so click on tools (or view), and uncheck "lock toolbar" or something to that effect, then you can drag everything around and position it your way, and then re-lock if you want.

As for the multiple windows under 1 icon, there is a setting, but i forgot where it is, it may be under the taskbar properties, where it "groups" programs of similar type, its probably set to 2 or 3, there should be a checkbox to disable the option.

[mendhak]

:mad:

Who would have thought that this migration would be SO difficult? And to think, it's supposed to be easier.


Problems solved, thanks kleptos. I'd award a star or two for you if vbf had the feature. :)

[Pirate]

How did you view AMD Athlon XP ? ;)

I would recommend installing XP Pro to make use of real IIS , since you have all the drivers there .
btw , I stumbled across this ebook about XP . Have fun !
Everything about XP (http://www.zuulfiles.com/files/WindowsXPInsideOut.zip)
:)

[mendhak]

Unfortunately, buying a new OS is not an option for me... I simply don't have the funds for it.

I'm going to post a new thread about IIS on WinXP Home... hope for the best. :)