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| Microsoft Windows
NT 4.0 Advanced Tips, Hacks, and Tweaks... |
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| To create a login warning message | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
To create a login warning message (such as one
reading "For Business Use Only, Unauthorized use is prohibited."),
do the following
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| Automatically Log On a User when NT Boots | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| For NT 4.0: The easiest method is to simply download the Microsoft TWEAKUI powertoy. It has a tab labeled "NETWORK" that allows you to specify what user id and password you want NT 4.0 to automatically use for logging on during the boot process. NOTE: This can be a BIG security problem - only use it on machines that are physically secured. |
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| Moving Profiles from a Workgroup to a Domain | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| You've been
using a workgroup setup and now are moving to a Domain setup. The users have
desktop settings and you'd like to keep these when they login as a domain
user but the settings are lost. Log in with the local userID on the machine, open REGEDIT.EXE, select the \HKey_Current_Uuser key, and choose Registry|Export registry. The resulting .reg file can then be used by the user after he logs in to his domain account, just dbl-clicking on it. That will transfer the settings. Make sure he has full rights to his \HKey_Current_User key of the registry. |
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| Disabling CD-ROM "autorun" Nnder NT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Increase Your Logon Security | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
By default, Windows NT 4.0 displays the name of
the last person who logged on the system. This can pose a security threat,
especially if a user's password can be guessed from the account name or the
login environment. To turn this "feature" off take the following
steps:
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| Dual Boots | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| If you're using Windows 95 and NT on the same system, none of the programs you installed under Win 95 will work under NT. The quickest way to fix this is to add your Windows 95 system folder to your NT path. In NT, right-click My Computer, choose Properties, and click the Environment tab. In the System Variables list box, click Path. In the Value text box at the bottom of the window, after the last '%' that's already there, add the path to your Windows 95 system folder. Click OK to save your changes. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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How do I install DOS after WinNT? |
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| DOS must be installed on the boot partition (C:)
which must be formatted as the FAT file system. Before doing anything,
generate a new ERD (Emergency Repair Disk) by running rdisk.exe /s. You will
also need your setup floppies. If you lost them, run Winnt32 /ox from the
CD-ROM.
After installing DOS, the Windows NT boot loader will be disabled. To enable the boot loader, boot from the NT setup floppies and choose Repair (only repair the boot records.) After the repair, boot Windows NT. From a command prompt, type attrib -r -s -h c:\boot.ini Edit c:\boot.ini and add c:\="DOS" (or whatever text you want) to the end of the operating system section. Then type attrib +r +s +h c:\boot.ini On you next boot, you will see both the NT and DOS options on the boot menu. If you want to install Windows 95 also, boot to DOS and install Windows 95. Windows 95 is NT-aware and will not destroy the boot loader if installed from a dual boot DOS session. |
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| Control Panel "File" and "Applet" Name | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Low on Registry Quota | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| If you
receive the subject message, you are about to exceed the maximum size of
the registry. By default, Windows NT calculates the registry size as 25%
of the paged pool. The default page pool size is approximately equal to
the amount of RAM. The maximum registry size is 152 Meg (80% of the paged
pool which is limited to 192 Meg.)
The default calculation of paged pool size and registry size is dynamic and is adjusted only as you add or remove RAM. The settings of two registry values alter the behavior of registry size: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management A value entry of PagedPoolSize as type REG_DWORD sets the paged pool. If this value is missing or set to 0, the system calculates the default page pool as slightly less than the installed RAM but limits it to 192 Meg (0x0C000000.) If you change this entry, you must reboot. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control A value entry of RegistrySizeLimit as type REG_DWORD directly sets the registry size limit. If the entry is missing, 0x0, or set to 0xFFFFFFFF, the systems calculates the registry size limit as 25% of the paged pool. The valid data range is 0x00040000-0xFFFFFFFE. You can also set the registry size limit in Control Panel / System / Performance. |
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| Remove Unwanted Folders from Menu List | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Some applications add themselves to the Context menu's cascading New menu that appears when you right-click on the Desktop or within a folder. You may find that even after you've deleted a particular application, it stays on the New menu. If you want to remove it, launch My Computer, select Options from the View menu and click on the File Types tab. Find the offending application on the list, select it and click on the Remove button. Click on Yes when it asks for confirmation. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Is NT Recognizing Your RAM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| It goes without saying that the more RAM you have, the better your system will run. I
believe you're nuts for having anything less than 64 MB on an "NT" system. So, if you
DO have more than that, it's time to double-check a setting. Fire up the registry editor
and find a certain key: DisablePagingExecutive. Make sure this is set to "1"
(again, only if you have more than 64 MB of RAM.) This will allow drivers and the kernel code to be
kept in memory; the default value is 0, which pages drivers and kernel code only when
needed. Anything accessed from system memory will be infinitely faster than anything
(dynamically) loaded from a hard drive. Eric uses this tweak on all of the NT4 servers and
workstations that he supports. Try it; if it doesn't work out, you can always return
the key's value to zero. The exact location of the key is: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ System \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \Session Manager \ Memory Management \ DisablePagingExecutive. |
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| What's Going On Here | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| When you check your e-mail, you're establishing a connection with a remote mail server. When you browse the Web, you're connecting with Web servers. And Instant Messaging? Yep -- you're usually hooked up directly to another person's computer. Hmmmm... that's a lot of Net activity -- is there a way to easily watch what's going on at any given time? Select the 'Run' option in your Start Menu and type: COMMAND (then hit ENTER.) At the prompt, type: "NETSTAT -n 10" (without the quotes.) The 'n' switch tells NETSTAT to display IP addresses (even those that ICQ says to hide), and the 10 asks NETSTAT to refresh every ten seconds. That number can be anywhere from 1 to infinity (in theory.) Shorten the time when you're watching your connectivity closely (when installing or running software you suspect could be accessing the Internet without permission.) Press CTRL+C to stop the infostream. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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