Category Archives: Microsoft

How to Boot into Vista’s Audit Mode

There are two different ways of booting into Vista — Windows Welcome and Audit Mode. Windows Welcome or OOBE (out of box experience) is the typical pathway and provides the user the customization wizards. Audit Mode, however, will allow the user to skip the Windows Welcome and boot directly onto the desktop as quickly as possible.

Determining Which Services are Associated with SVCHOST

To determine which services are associated with SVCHOST (Service Host) processes in Windows, you can use several methods. Here are some approaches: This will list all svchost processes with their associated services. This will list services running under svchost.exe along with their Process IDs. These methods will help you identify which services are running under various svchost.exe processes,… Read More »

Changing the User Type

Normally in XP Pro, through the Control Panel / User Accounts icon, you are only allowed to create administrators or limited users.

Rip high-quality MP3s in Windows Media Player 8

The relationship between Windows Media Player 8 and the MP3 audio format is widely misunderstood. Basically, WMP8 will be able to playback MP3 files, but encoding (or “ripping” CD audio into MP3 format will require an MP3 plug-in. So during the Windows XP beta, Microsoft is supplying a sample MP3 plug-in for testing purposes, but it”s limited to… Read More »

Add/Remove optional features of Windows XP

To dramatically expand the list of applications you can remove from Windows XP after installation, navigate to C:\WINDOWS\inf (substituting the correct drive letter for your version of Windows) and open the sysoc.inf file. Under Windows XP Professional Edition RC1, this file will resemble the following by default:

Create a Shortcut to Lock Your Computer

Leaving your computer in a hurry but you don’t want to log off? You can double-click a shortcut on your desktop to quickly lock the keyboard and display without using CTRL+ALT+DEL or a screensaver.