Windows NT Tips #2


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TipWorld - http://www.tipworld.com
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Proudly presents:
The Windows NT Tip of the Day

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*1.   PASTE IT HERE

Windows NT Workstation 4.0
Reader Joel R. asks us to point out that you can paste into the
 Command Prompt window if you right-click the window.

Let's take a look at the QuickEdit copy and paste features.
 First, make sure you're in QuickEdit mode. Right-click the
 Command Prompt icon and choose Properties. When the Properties
 dialog box opens, click the Options tab and then select the
 check box labeled QuickEdit Mode. Now, click OK to save your
 selection and close the dialog box.

Double-click the Command Prompt icon to open the window. Type in
 a command such as Dir and press Enter. Use the mouse to select
 part of the text in the window. Once the text is selected,
 right-click the window. Now, open Notepad and press Ctrl-V. The
 Command Prompt window transfers to the Notepad document.

Next, type something into your new Notepad document and use the
 mouse to select it. Once the text is selected, choose Edit,
 Copy. Go back to the Command Prompt window and right-click it.
 The copied text appears in the Command Prompt window.

The right-click copies selected text to the Clipboard and pastes
 text from the Clipboard to the Command Prompt window. Copy and
 paste was never easier.


*2.   A QUICK ROUTE TO THE MOUSE

Windows NT Workstation 4.0
Reader Hans H. asks this question:

"I share my computer with two other users. One of the other users
 changes the mouse tracking speed. So when I use the computer, I
 have to click Start, then choose Settings, Control Panel, open
 Mouse, and so forth, just to set the speed where I can use it.
 Is there a way that I can access the Mouse panel directly
 without going through all those steps?"

Glad you asked. There just happens to be a way to do what
 you want.

Run Windows NT Explorer and navigate to \Winnt\system32. Locate
 Main.cpl and use the right mouse button to drag its icon to the
 desktop. Release the mouse button and choose Create Shortcut(s)
 Here. All you have to do now is double-click your new shortcut
 to open the mouse panel.


*3.   NEW SETUP FLOPPIES

Windows NT Workstation 4.0
Here's a question from longtime subscriber Mary N.:

"I recently had to reinstall Windows NT Workstation 4.0
 completely. I discovered that disk 3 of the installation set was
 bad. I had to borrow a disk from someone to complete the
 installation. Is there an easy way to make a new disk 3, or do I
 have to order a new set from Microsoft?"

You won't need to order a new set--you can make a new set from
 the installation CD. Make sure you have three formatted, blank
 floppy disks available. Now, insert the installation CD into the
 CD-ROM drive and then click Start, Run, and type

d:\i386\winnt32 /ox

then press Enter. (Note: D represents the drive letter of the
 CD-ROM--if yours is something other than D, enter the correct
 drive letter here). Follow the instructions to create a new set
 of disks.

If you get in a bind, such as the one you described, you can
 create the disks on a non-NT 4 computer. Let's say you have
 access to a computer that runs Windows 95. Insert the NT 4
 installation disc into the CD-ROM drive and click Start,
 Run. Type

d:\i386\winnt /ox

and press Enter. Follow the instructions to create the
 three disks


*4.   MAKE IT FAST

Windows NT Workstation 4.0 
Reader Roger T. asks, "Is there any way to speed up menu
 response? When I move the mouse over a menu item, it seems to
 take a long time for the submenu to open."

You can reduce the menu response time with a Registry edit. If
 you choose to do this, be careful--if you damage the Registry,
 your system may not run properly.

If you decide to continue, click Start, Run, type

regedit

and press Enter. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel
 /Desktop. Locate MenuShowDelay and double-click its icon. When
 the Edit String dialog box opens, enter 100 (the default is 400)
 and click OK. Close RegEdit (choose Registry, Exit) and restart
 the computer. You'll find that the menu response is much faster
 than before.


*5.   WINDOWS NT 4.0 SETUP RESTARTS CONTINUOUSLY

Attention, Windows 2000 beta testers: Microsoft has identified a
 problem you may face when you attempt to install Windows NT 4.0
 on a computer on which you've already installed Windows 2000.
 The result is that each time you boot, setup continuously
 restarts without ever finishing. This problem may occur when
 you're installing Windows NT Server 4.0, Windows NT Workstation
 4.0, Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition 4.0, Windows 2000
 Server, or Windows 2000 Professional.

To avoid this problem, Microsoft recommends taking the following
 steps before installing NT 4.0. First, copy the winnt32.exe file
 from Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4 to a folder on your hard
 disk, then launch the file; or you can double-click the file on
 the Service Pack 4 CD (the winnt32.exe file is located in the
 Support\Winnt32 folder). Next, when you're prompted for the
 location of the Windows NT 4.0 files, supply the path to the
 I386 folder on the Windows NT 4.0 CD to launch NT successfully.


*6.   HIDE DRIVE C

Windows NT Workstation 4.0
Reader Susan K. asks this question about limiting access to
 disk drives:

"I'm in charge of a number of computers running Windows NT
 Workstation 4.0. My problem is that too many users inadvertently
 make changes that cause problems. It would help me if I could
 prevent users from seeing drive C. Is there a way to hide the
 disk drives?"

You can hide disk drives from the desktop and Windows NT Explorer
 with a simple Registry edit. Be careful with this because we
 can't guarantee that all will run as you expect, and you can
 damage your system with an incorrect Registry Edit.

To hide drive C, click Start, Run, then type

regedit

and press Enter. When RegEdit opens, navigate to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Policies\Explorer 

Right-click in the right pane and choose New, DWORD Value. Name
 the new key NoDrives and then press Enter twice (once to accept
 the name and once to open the Edit DWORD Value dialog box.

In the dialog box, select the radio button labeled Decimal. Now,
 enter 4 and click OK. Choose Registry, Exit to close RegEdit
 and restart the computer. Upon restarting, drive C will no
 longer appear in Explorer or in My Computer.

This isn't absolute protection--you can still access drive C if
 you click Start, Run, type

c:\

and press Enter. However, not all your users will know this, so
 you'll have some degree of protection.

If you need to hide some drive other than C, the following is a
 list of a few drives and their associated numbers.

Drive A: 1
Drive B: 2
Drive C: 4
Drive D: 8
Drive E: 16

So if you want to hide drives C, D, and E, set NoDrives to 28
 decimal (16 + 8 + 4). To hide only drive A, you'd enter 1.


*7.   NO FORMAT?

Windows NT Workstation 4.0
Here's a question from Pat R., who's having trouble
 initializing disks: 

"I recently tried to format a floppy disk in drive A with no
 luck. Later I tried the format again and it worked. I've had
 this happen several times over the year or so that I've been
 using Windows NT Workstation 4.0. I've also had Copy Disk fail.
 Do you have any idea why Format and Copy Disk would work most
 of the time and then occasionally fail?"

The most likely reason for the problem you describe is that
 drive A is open when you attempt the format. To check this out,
 run Windows NT Explorer and select drive A. Insert a blank disk
 now (you don't want to mess up a data disk) and right-click the
 drive A icon. Choose Format; when the Format dialog box opens,
 click Start. The formatting will fail because the contents of
 the drive are currently displayed.

Now, click drive C in Windows NT Explorer. Go back to the drive
 A icon and right-click it again. Choose Format and then click
 Start. This time the Format will work.

The problem is that you can't do a Copy Disk Format while
 Explorer or My Computer is displaying the contents of your
 floppy. You can click any other object to stop displaying the
 contents of the floppy and then right-click drive A.


*8.   KEEP THOSE ATTRIBUTES 

Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Subscriber Larry T. sends this trick
 for maintaining read-only attributes using Xcopy:

"If you use Xcopy to copy files from a CD-ROM to a hard disk or
 a floppy, the read-only attributes are stripped. To keep the
 read-only attributes on the copied files, go to the Command
 Prompt and type

xcopy (your folder) /k

and press Enter. The read-only attribute will now be active on
 the copied files."

Thanks for the tip, Larry.


*9.   KEEP THOSE ATTRIBUTES

Windows NT Workstation 4.0
Subscriber Larry T. sends this trick for maintaining read-only
 attributes using Xcopy:

"If you use Xcopy to copy files from a CD-ROM to a hard disk or
 a floppy, the read-only attributes are stripped. To keep the
 read-only attributes on the copied files, go to the Command
 Prompt and type

xcopy (your folder) /k

and press Enter. The read-only attribute will now be active on
 the copied files."

Thanks for the tip, Larry.


*10.   REGEDIT SAFETY

Windows NT Workstation 4.0
Here's a Registry backup request from subscriber Paul W.:

"I saw a tip somewhere about backing up a Registry key. You
 could save a key you were going to change and then restore it
 later if there's a problem. This might be a handy technique for
 people to use when you suggest a REG file or a Registry edit."

You're right, Paul--it is a good idea to save a Registry key
 before you make a change to it. To do this, click Start, Run,
 and type

regedit

then press Enter. When RegEdit opens, navigate to the key you
 intend to change and choose Registry, Export Registry File.
 Give the file a name and click Save. For example, let's say
 you're about to make a modification to
 HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
\Winlogon. Before you make the change, click the Winlogon key
 and choose Registry, Export Registry File. Name the file Winlog
 and click Save.

With the key saved, you can later double-click the Winlog.reg
 file's icon to restore the original settings for this key.
