WINDOWS NT 4.0 TIPS + TRICKS

Automated Login [Updated]

Some people don't want or need to enter a password when loading Windows NT
4.0. It is simple to bypass the login screen entirely. To do so, simply download X-Setup from Xteq's website at http://www.xteq.com/main.html and open it after installing. Simply specify which user name and password you want NT to use when the machine boots by configuring the Network Auto-Login options. I do not advise using this if you have sensitive data on your hard drive as
this could enable anyone's access to it by simply booting your machine. This tip works best for physically secured machines or where security is not an issue.

Microsoft Plus! 95 on NT 4.0

If you are dual booting and have Windows 95's Plus! pack installed on the system as well as NT 4.0, you can copy the files "themes.cpl" and "themes.exe" from your Win95 SYSTEM subfolder and copy them to your WINNT\SYSTEM32 folder. After rebooting, you should now see a "Desktop Themes" icon in Windows NT's Control Panel and be able to take full advantage of any installed desktop themes.

Change Dual-Boot Options

If you are dual-booting between Windows NT 4.0 and another operating system such as Windows 95, Windows 98, or MS-DOS, you can change the dual-boot options easily from Windows NT 4.0's Control Panel. Simply open the NT 4.0 Control Panel, then open the System applet, and select the tab labeled " Startup/Shutdown." At the top is a list of boot options. You can select which operating system you wish to boot as the default, and you can also change the delay before it
automatically loads the default operating system.

Make NT Server Act Like NT Workstation

If you are running Windows NT Server 4.0 as your desktop operating system, but use it primarily or soley as a stand-alone machine, you can speed it up and make it more responsive for desktop use by opening the Control Panel, opening the Network applet, selecting the "Services" tab and highlighting the "Server" tab. Click "Properties" and then change the optimization setting from " Maximize throughput file sharing" to "Minimize Memory Used." This should make the machine behave as a stand-alone workstation in regards to responsiveness and speed, however, keep in mind that this will probably adversely affect use of the system as a server.

Disable CD-ROM AutoPlay/AutoRun

If you wish to disable CD-ROMs from running automatically, follow these steps:
1. Click "Start" then "Run" and type in "RegEdit" and press "Enter."
2. Find this: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/System/CurrentControlSet/Services/Cdrom
3. Edit/Modify "Autorun" and change the value to "0" (zero with no quotes).

Re-Create Lost Installation Disks

Windows NT uses three installation floppy disks during setup and repair operations. These disks can be vital to getting your system working properly. Luckily, if you have lost them or they have become corrupted, it is very easy to create new replacement disks. Simply get three formatted 3.5" 1.44MB floppy disks, place your Windows NT 4.0 CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, run "WINNT32
/OX" from your X:\i386 folder/directory where "X" is the letter of your CD-ROM drive. This can be done from a command prompt or the Windows "Start, Run" box. The disks can even be created if you boot the system from a Windows 95/98 or MS-DOS boot-floppy, as long as you install real-mode (MS-DOS mode) CD-ROM drivers temporarily until you make your Windows NT installation floppy disks.

Add Some Plug N Play to Windows NT 4.0

Windows NT 4.0 does not officially support Plug N Play devices. Luckily, you can install support for ISA Plug N Play devices such as modems, sound cards, network cards, and more in Windows NT 4.0. Without this support installed, Windows NT very well might not detect and/or recognize your hardware device. Another bonus, it is very easy to install this support. Simply insert your
Windows NT 4.0 CD-ROM and navigate to the X:\Drvlib\Pnpisa\X86\Pnpisa folder/directory.
Right-click the "Pnpisa.inf" file and choose "Install" from the resulting menu. Reboot Windows NT 4.0 and it will recognize most Plug N Play devices just as Windows 95 and Windows 98 do.

Avoid ROLLBACK.EXE

Windows NT 4.0 comes with a "utility" named "ROLLBACK.EXE" which will corrupt your registry in most cases and render your system unusable, forcing you to reinstall Windows NT from scratch.

Add A Defragmenting Utility to NT 4.0

Windows NT 4.0 comes with none of it's own disk defragmenting utilities like Windows 95 and Windows 98 do. Luckily, you can get the DiskKeeper Lite defragmentation utility for NT 4.0 (freeware) at this address: http://www.execsoft.com/dklite/

This great tool works with NTFS (NT File System) as well as FAT16 (DOS File Allocaton Table).

Keep Windows NT 4.0 Updated

Windows NT 4.0 has had a few Service Packs released. These Service Packs are collections of bug fixes, updates, add-ons, and also add new functionality and new or improved features to Windows NT 4.0. Service Pack 3 for Windows NT 4.0 includes DirectX 3.0 support which allows you to run DirectX games on your Windows NT operating system. Service Pack 4 includes hundreds of bug fixes, enhancements, updates, and new features all in one. Windows NT 4.0 Service Packs 2 to 4 include all fixes, updates, enhancements, etc. from all previous Service Packs.
This means that if you install Service Pack 4 onto a Windows NT machine that has none of the Service Packs installed, it will install all items, fixes, updates, enhancements, etc. from all the previous Service Packs as well as the newest ones, so there is no need to install all of them. Just installing the
latest one is as good as installing all of them one-by-one and is a real time-saver.

Run NT's Explorer in a Separate Process

You can have each Explorer window run in a separate process if you use this registry trick. This will ensure in most cases that you still have taskbar and desktop access when a particular Explorer window freezes. In order to activate this feature, do the following:

1. Run the registry editor and navigate to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer

2. Create a new DWORD value called "DesktopProcess" (no quotes) and set its value to "1" (no quotes). Exit the Registry Editor, reboot the system.

To undo this, delete the value created in step two.

Get Rid of the Desktop

If you are using NT 4.0 on a system that is low on available RAM, you can gain between 1 and 3 megabytes of free RAM by right-clicking the taskbar, selecting " Task Manager," click on the "Processes" tab, select "Explorer.exe" and click on "End Process."
Click on "Yes" when the dialogue box appears on the screen. All the desktop icons, the taskbar, and the Start Menu will vanish from the screen. However, any open applications you were running will still be open and should continue to operate normally. To restore the desktop, simply click on "New Task" in Task Manager and type "EXPLORER.EXE" (no quotes). This will bring everything back to normal.

Run 16-bit Programs in Separate Memory Space

When you run a 16-bit application in Windows NT 4.0, you are offered the option via a check-box of whether or not to run 16-bit programs in a separate memory space. This prevents 16-bit programs from crashing your other applications if the 16-bit applications crash. In order to run 16-bit programs in a separate memory space, make sure you check "Run in separate memory space"
when running 16-bit programs from the Start Menu's "Run" command. If you have a shortcut to a 16-bit program you can right-click it and select "Properties." There is an option within the shortcut that allows you to load the application into a separate memory space (if it is 16-bit) each time it is run from that particular shortcut.

You can also enable the running of 16-bit programs in a separate memory space by default, simply by editing the Registry Editor and navigating to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\WOW\

Once there, set the "defaultSeparateVDM" value to "yes" (no quotes) in all lowercase letters.

Note: When you run 16-bit applications, the check-box will not be checked if you used the registry trick, but the feature will be enabled.

Quick Control Panel

In Windows NT 4.0 you can gain faster access to the Control Panel by using this shortcut. Follow these steps to add a cascading Quick Control Panel menu directly on your Start Menu.

Right-click the Start button, choose "Explore." Right-click in the right-hand pane and choose "New, Folder." Name it:

"Quick Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"

(No quotes and no spaces). Now, when you click on the Start button, you will see "Quick Control Panel" at the top. Move the mouse over it and see your new Quick Control Panel that includes all the NT 4.0 Control Panel icons.

Change Windows NT Install Source Path

To change where NT expects to find the NT CD-ROM, run REGEDIT and then edit:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\
CurrentVersion\Sourcepath

and

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Setup\Sourcepath

If your CD-ROM drive is D: and you are working with an Intel-based machine, the value should be D:\I386 and D:\ respectively for the above items.

Reducing Windows NT 4.0 Start Menu Delay

To reduce the time it takes for the Start Menu to display the next subfolder as the cursor moves over it, run REGEDIT and edit:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Desktop

Double click on MenuShowDelay and set it to 0. You must reboot for this to take effect.

To undo it, follow the same steps, replacing 0 with the original value.

Power Off System When NT Is Shut Down

If you would rather power off your system when you select Shut Down, run REGEDIT and edit:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Softwate\Microsoft\Windows NT\
CurrentVersion\Winlogon

Double click on PowerdownAfterShutdown. Set it to 1. Some systems may not support this feature, so if it does not work on your machine, simply change it back to its original value on your next reboot.

Add Items To SendTo Folder

If you would like the ability to send files to a program not normally listed on the SendTo Folder, you can easily add the desired program to your SendTo menu by following these simple steps. To see your current list of available SendTo programs, right click a file on your desktop and move the mouse over " SendTo."

To add new SendTo items, do this: Create a shortcut to the desired program, move the shortcut you created to C:\WINNT\Profiles\UserId\SendTo.

Substitute the desired user-name for "UserID" above and substitute your Windows NT 4.0 path for "WINNT" in the above example.

Suggested additions are: NotePad, WordPad, Command Prompt, and any other frequently used application that would be a useful inclusion in your "SendTo" menu. Just be careful not to clutter it too much.

Change Logon Background Color

If you wish to change the default green logon backround color you may do so by editing your registry. Run REGEDIT and find the following:

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors\Background

If you set it to 0 0 0 you will have a solid black backround, 255 255 255 is solid white.

Make ActiveMovie Co-Exist with Windows Media Player

After installing Microsoft's Windows Media Player, you may notice that your ActiveMovie shortcut is removed automatically from your Start Menu. To restore the ActiveMovie shortcut, and also keep Windows Media Player, simply make a shortcut to:

C:\WINNT\system32\rundll32.exe amovie.ocx,RunDll

Once you have done that, simply drag and drop it where you want it in your Start Menu.

Configuring Internal PC Speaker Beeps

You can use this tip to enable or disable the internal PC speaker in Windows 95, 98 or NT 4.0:

1. Click Start -> Run -> Type Regedit. Then press ENTER or click OK.

2. Browse to this Registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Sound

3. Find the Beep value in the right hand pane, or create it if it doesn't exist, by clicking Edit -> New -> String Value and naming it "Beep" (no quotes).

4. Double-click on Beep and change its value to "Yes" (no quotes) if you want PC speaker beeping turned on, or "No" to have the beep sounds turned off.

Add a Windows Key to your keyboard

[This tip originally appeared in Tricks98, but many Windows NT users have asked if it also works for Windows NT 4.0].

If you wish you had a Windows Key on your keyboard but you don't, and you don't want to shell out money for a new keyboard when your existing one is perfectly fine, then make one. All you must do to complete the operation is the Keyboard Remap Kernel Toy and your Right Ctrl or Right Alt key.

You can download the Kernel Toy for keyboard remapping at: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/bin/W95KRNLTOYS.EXE

Just click the Windows 95 Keyboard Remap link. Download the file to any location of your choice, then open Keyremap.exe to extract its contents. Right-click the Keyremap.inf file and select Install.

Next, open the Control Panel, open Keyboard Properties, and select the Remap tab. Under Right-hand Side, select the key you want to use--such as Right Alt--in the left-hand box. In the right-hand box (still under Right-hand Side), select Windows. Click OK, and you now have a Windows key. To test it press the key you used once and the start menu pops up.

Please note that this WILL work under Windows 98 as well as Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0.

Use Windows Update with Windows NT 4.0

Originally, Windows Update could only be used by Windows 98 users. Windows NT 4.0 can now utilize Windows Update as well as long as you have installed Internet Explorer 5.0 or later on Windows NT 4.0. In Internet Explorer 5.0, click "Tools", "Windows Update" or in the "Address" bar, type in: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

Find Your Own IP Address

Click "Start", "Run", type "CMD" and click OK. At the Command Prompt, type "IPCONFIG" and press Enter. It can display information for Network cards, Dial-Up Networking, etc. if applicable.

Browse In A New Process

In Internet Explorer 4.01/5.0 and higher, if you right-click on "Internet Explorer" on your desktop and choose "Properties", there is an optional check-box for "Browse in a new process" or "Launch browser windows in a separate process." This means that if checked, that Windows will open each instance of Internet Explorer in its own separate memory-space process. So if one Internet Explorer
window crashes, the others should still continue to work normally. I recommend enabling this option.

CptSiskoX@FlashMail.Com

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(C) 1999 by CptSiskoX@FlashMail.Com of Xteq Systems [www.xteq.com]

 

For more information on Microsoft Windows Operating Systems follow these links:

Windows Server 2000

Windows Server 2003 R2

Windows Server 2003 tutorial website

Windows "longhorn" Server

Windows Vista