Archive for May, 2009:
Working with Device Drivers (1)
Generally, when you want to access a device on your system, Windows must have a corresponding device driver installed. Windows has generic device commands such as telling a CD drive to open its door. The device driver translates these generic commands into the specific commands that the device requires. Consequently, even though every CD drive has a different set of instructions for opening the door, Windows only needs to know one command.
Your system could contain all kinds of unnecessary drivers and Windows XP might hide some of them from sight. For example, the “Understanding SYSTEM.INI” section of the chapter tells you how to remove some of the remaining 16-bit drivers from your system. That’s right, Windows XP, the 32- bit operating system, could have 16-bit drivers still hanging around for compatibility purposes. Those older drivers are going to slow down your system.
Sometimes, a 32-bit device driver also hangs around long after the device is gone. These device drivers consume memory and other resources, can cause system instability, and make life interesting in other ways. Always remove any custom third party software before you remove the device by using the entry the software provides in the Add or Remove Programs applet (look at the “Removing Unneeded Applications” section of Chapter 4 for details). Common devices can come with any number of device drivers for it. For example, my DVD drive works best with a third party DVD driver— the original vendor device driver is fast, but it’s unreliable and makes my system unstable, while the Windows driver is both generic (it doesn’t use all of the device features) and slow. You usually find out about these third party device drivers from newsgroups or list servers on the Internet. As with the vendor driver, remove the third party driver before you uninstall the device using the Add or Remove Programs applet.
Taken From : Microsoft Windows XP Power Optimization
Diagnosing Depression
In the United States, the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM, version IV) is the standard diagnostic classification system for mental disorders. The DSM system divides depression into “major” and less severe categories. Major depression occurs in approximately 20 percent of people at least once during the course of their lifetimes, though at any single point in time only 1 to 2 percent of the population suffers from this condition.
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Looking for Complex Files
It turns out that the txtfile file type is relatively simple. Some entries become quite complex because you expect more out of that file. For example, a Word document is complex because you can embed it in other documents and perform a wide variety of tasks with it. Figure 6.14 shows the Word.Document.8 file type. Notice that this file type doesn’t define an application for opening the document.
Figure 6.13
Each file type entry defines actions for a particular kind of file.
Figure 6.14
Complex file types define a number of entries that are unique to that file.
The “Working with Components” section tells you that some applications separate the user interface from one or more components that perform the actual work. A Word document is one such file type. Notice the CLSID key in Figure 6.14. This key tells you about the component used to interface with Word documents. It includes a special number called a Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) that identifies the component within Windows—no other component has that number. Consequently, a GUID is a very easy way to track components and trace them in the registry.
To search for a GUID, highlight the CLSID key and double-click the (default) value it contains. You’ll see an Edit String dialog box and a number inside it highlighted that looks like {00020906- 0000-0000-C000-000000000046} for a Word document. Press Ctrl+C to copy the number to the clipboard and then press Cancel to exit the Edit String dialog box without changing any entries. Highlight the My Computer entry at the top of the registry. Choose the Edit Find command to display the Find dialog box. Press Ctrl+V in the Find What field to paste the GUID from the clipboard to the search field and click Find Next.
You’ll find that the first occurrence of this number selects a key that tells you it is a Microsoft Word Document. Additional searches will locate additional information about the key. As you search through the registry, you’ll discover many things about Microsoft Word documents that you never knew before, such as the sequence of events that occurs when you convert an older document to the new format. However, the most important entry appears in Figure 6.15. Notice that this entry tells you about the various servers (components) that fulfill specific Word needs, such as when you embed a document in another application. The bottom line is that all file types eventually tell you about the application or component used to manage that file. You can use this information when searching for details about the application. These details define how the application works so you can extricate it from your system or augment it as needed.
The point of this particular part of the exercise is that the Word document GUID appears all over the place in the registry. That’s why you need a registry cleaning kit to remove especially nasty entries that include components and file types when the uninstall program fails to do it for you.
Figure 6.15
Components make it easier to perform a number of tasks with a single file type.
Taken From : Microsoft Windows XP Power Optimization
Making a Good Contract to Start Business Mobile Phones
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Contract is also important consideration for starting your business mobile phones. Since they are already experience for more than 15 years so they know how to set up for beneficial contract. In fact, they also had already cooperated with several famous brands and it makes you easy to distribute you product to the market. But, still you have to consider the market want and to make a prediction for the next 3 or 5 years so you are ready facing the change of business mobile phones. With the right partnership, you will run your business mobiles well, and success is in your hand.
Using MSCONFIG (2)
Notice that this utility offers several startup options. The Normal Startup option lets your system start normally. Use the Diagnostic Startup option when your system suffers a severe setback that you
need to reverse, such as installation of an incompatible device driver that prevents a normal startup. The Selective Startup option is the one you should try for optimization because it lets you choose the setup of startup commands that Windows XP uses. To modify the boot sequence, simply clear the check next to the major feature that you want to disable. You can also go to the individual tabs and disable one or more of the boot elements.
TIP You’re looking at a friend’s machine. The machine is running a common application faster than your machine will run it despite having the same processor and amounts of memory in both machines. Your machine might not simply be slow, you might be the victim of a problem with vendors who say they’re providing a high performance part, but use a lower cost part instead. Fortunately, you can verify that you received the processor you paid for using the Intel Processor Frequency ID Utility (http://www.majorgeeks.com/download2343.html). The application will tell you all about your processor, such as the frequency at which it runs. All of this information helps you decide whether you received the processor that you paid for.
Understanding SYSTEM.INI
The SYSTEM.INI tab shown in Figure 7.15 contains device driver entries and settings needed to configure them. For example, you’ll find both the wave file and windows timer entries on this tab and in the associated file. In general, these settings are for 16-bit applications. When you don’t have any 16- bit applications on your system, you can free memory and improve system performance by removing these entries. Unbelievably, Windows XP loads these drivers when you start the system even if you’ll never use them.
Generally, you don’t want to get rid of these entries because you might need them sometime in the future. However, when you clear the check in front of the two entries, so Windows XP doesn’t load them, the system will ask you about using the Selective Startup option every time you start your machine. A good alternative to this problem is to place a semicolon (;) and a space in front of each entry that you don’t want to use in SYSTEM.INI. This way, the entry is still there, but Windows XP
ignores it. Adding the semicolon disables the entry. To perform this task, select the entry and click Edit. Place the semicolon and space in front of the entry, as shown in Figure 7.15. The entry is now disabled, but still present should you need it later.
Taken From : Microsoft Windows XP Power Optimization
Using the TypePerf Utility (3)
The upper half of the display shows the results of the /Q command line switch. This listing shows just the counters. The lower half shows the results of using the /QX command line switch. The performance object name appears first, followed by the instance name in parenthesis. The counter name appears after the first slash. So, the first entry on this list is for the Job Object performance object, the Current % Processor Time counter of that object, and the WmiProviderSubSystemHostJob
instance of that counter. This is the same formatting you use when you want to display the performance statistics on screen.
Tracking Performance with TypePerf
Let’s face it, the output from TypePerf is a little bland compared to System Monitor for real time viewing. However, TypePerf makes the perfect low cost method of gathering statistics for later analysis. From a resource perspective, TypePerf has a much lower impact on system resources than System Monitor does and you can run it as a scheduled task. You can even manage it using a script—all good reasons to use TypePerf for automation. With this in mind, here are the command line switches you use for working with TypePerf to accomplish performance tracking.
/F CSV or /F TSV or /F BIN or /F SQL These four command line options let you choose the output format of TypePerf including Comma Separated Value (CSV), Tab Separated Value (TSV), binary, or Structured Query Language (SQL). The only option that works well for a screen display is CSV, the default format. Use the TSV, BIN, and SQL formats for file output only.
/CV Filename You might want to monitor more than one counter at a time. This command line switch lets you create a list of all the counters that you want to monitor. Supply the filename as part of the input and TypePerf will monitor all of the counters you requested. This command line switch also reduces the work required to automate the use of TypePerf because you simply change the content of the file to change what TypePerf automatically monitors on the target system.
Taken From : Microsoft Windows XP Power Optimization
Using Performance Logs and Alerts (10)
Start a Performance Data Log Some events require monitoring because you know they already exist, but don’t know how to fix them. Starting a performance data log can give you the information needed to track the problem and fix it.
Run an Application You’ll reserve this action for situations when an application can fix the problem automatically. For example, you might set an alert for a condition when a hard drive nears its capacity. The alert could start an application to clean up temporary and other unneeded files. A higher-level alert could tell you that the action was ineffective and you need to look at the machine.
The final tab, Schedule, works the same as every other performance monitoring tool discussed in this section. Just set a starting and ending time. You can also set the Alert for a manual start or stop. Once you complete the Alert setup, click OK, start it, and hope you don’t see a message.
Taken From : Microsoft Windows XP Power Optimization
Working with Component (2)
Unfortunately, in some cases, the uninstall program only performs part of the task and leaves a few of the registry entries in place. In fact, in some cases, the application stores the component in the
\Windows\System32 folder and the uninstall program leaves both the registry entries and the component. You might also find that the registry and your hard drive are clean. The only reminder of the
component is an errant menu entry.
The easiest of these three issues to resolve is the errant entry. Some applications will actually help you to remove them. For example, when you try to execute the add-in, some applications will note that the add-in is no longer available and ask whether you want to remove the entry, as shown in Figure 6.11. In other cases, you can remove the remnant by using one of the customization options the application provides. For example, when working with Word, you can right-click anywhere in the toolbar area and choose Customize from the context menu. Now, simply drag the errant entry off the affected menu or toolbar to get rid of it.
The second easiest problem to remedy is one in which the registry entries and the component remain intact on the system. Getting rid of the component and the entries is easy. Simply type RegSvr32 –u ComponentName.DLL and press Enter at the command prompt in the directory where the component appears. This action removes the registry entries. You can then simply delete the component. The problem is in finding the name and location of the component in the first place. If you know enough about the component, you can use the methods discussed in the “Using Find and Find- Str” section of Chapter 3 to locate the DLL. When you aren’t sure about the add-in, you need to use the “Following the Flow of Registry Entries” section of this chapter to trace the component through the registry. As a last ditch effort, you can use the techniques in the “Relying on Registry Cleaning Products” section to locate the name and location of the DLL, but never remove the DLL using this technique. Always rely on the RegSvr32 utility to remove the registry entries for you.
The third problem is going to be difficult to solve. The only way to clean up the mess is to rely on the techniques found in the “Relying on Registry Cleaning Products” section of the chapter. This is a strong measure, but it’s the only option you have. Don’t attempt the remove the entries by hand— you’ll definitely miss some entries and could end up damaging the system.
NOTE After a long time, even if you maintain a clean system, these extra little registry entries accumulate and begin to cause system glitches. At some point, you need to reinstall Windows to counteract
the damage created by the entries. How long you can go before a reinstall depends on your system, how much you use it, and how well you maintain it. One test system I own lasted 6 years before it required a new Windows installation. Most organizations get rid of their computers before 6 years are up, so with proper maintenance, you might never have to reformat your drive. Typically, you can expect a Windows installation to last about a year if you don’t maintain it and four years when you do, so it really is worth the effort to maintain your system.
Figure 6.11
Some applications ask whether you want to remove errant addin
entries.
Taken From : Microsoft Windows XP Power Optimization
Working with Components (1)
Components are special pieces of application code that reside in a DLL. In a few cases, components are pieces of application code that are separate from anything else, but lack a user interface. The user
interface appears as part of a host application. In fact, Windows provides three common ways to work with components from an optimization perspective (Windows supports many other uses for components that you need not worry about).
Application Subcomponent When you embed a picture in a Word document and then use the controls from the application that created the picture within Word to make additional changes, you’re seeing the effects of a component. In this case, the component is associated with Word through the special file you embedded within the Word document. The component is tightly associated with the server application, rather than the host application.
Stand-alone Component Another example of a component is the
ZIPFLDR.DLL file that lets you look at ZIP files from within Windows Explorer, rather than using a separate application to perform the task. In this section case, Windows Explorer acts as a host for the
ZIPFLDR.DLL file. A component is usually part of an application solution, not an application itself. Using a component is akin to working with just the part of an application that manages a resource, instead of interacting with the user interface. The association between the component and the application is loose—
the only way the application knows to host the component is through registry settings. In addition, a component of this type could execute within more than one host container because the vendor designs the component to work as an augmentation, rather than as a strict enhancement to the application environment.
Standardized Add-in Component Vendors design certain kinds of applications to provide a hosted environment for specially designed components. The application may have functionality beyond hosting the component, but sometimes it doesn’t. The component never has any functionality beyond the hosted environment the vendor designed it to occupy. One common example of such an application and component environment is the Microsoft Management Console (MMC). This application relies on specially designed DLLs to provide access to Windows settings. Every console within the Administrative Tools folder of the Control Panel executed a copy of MMC with one or more snap-in components loaded. Another good example of this component type are the add-ins used with a browser.
Unlike applications, components wind their way throughout the registry in more ways that you’ll ever want to know. Generally, when you remove an application from your system, the uninstall program
also removes the associated components. The uninstall program also removes the registry entries that make the component function—that attaches it to a particular file extension or makes it part of a host application.
Taken From : Microsoft Windows XP Power Optimization
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