Upgrading and Repairing Microsoft Windows

Clean Install... 158 Windows Vista Clean Install... 164 Multibooting Other Operating Systems... 169 Using Multiple Partitions... 169 Using a Single Partition... 170 Using a Third-Party Boot Loader... 171 Using Virtual Machines... 171 Clean Install Summary... 176 Installation Problems with Windows... 177 Automated Deployments... 177 Adding and Using the Deployment Tools for Windows XP 178 Windows Installation Tools for Windows Vista... 188 Installation Tools for Windows XP and Windows Vista 195 Windows Copy Protection... 204 Product Activation for Windows XP... 205 Windows Vista Product Activation with MAK and KMS 211 Windows Genuine Advantage for Windows XP and Vista 212 4 Upgrading Windows 215 Windows XP Upgrade Installations... 215 Deciding Whether an Upgrade to Windows XP Is Worthwhile 216 Upgrade Scenarios... 218 Troubleshooting a Failed Upgrade... 224 Uninstalling Windows XP... 225 Windows Vista Upgrade Installations... 226 Deciding Whether an Upgrade to Vista Is Worthwhile 227 Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows Vista... 230 Troubleshooting a Failed Upgrade to Windows Vista 234 Reverting to Windows XP After Upgrading to Windows Vista 235 Migrating Existing Installations... 237 Moving to a New Drive... 237 Moving a Windows Installation to a New Motherboard 240 Moving Data to a New System... 242 Moving Applications... 248 Installing Service Packs... 252 Installing Service Packs for Windows XP... 252 Installing Service Packs for Windows Vista... 255 Uninstalling Vista SP1... 258 Making Vista SP1 Installation Permanent... 258 5 Tweaking and Tuning Windows 259 Configuration Settings... 259 Display Settings... 261 Start Menu Settings... 270 Tuning System Properties... 272 Managing Startup Programs... 283 Internet Explorer... 287 TweakUI and TweakVI... 288 Using TweakUI to!... 289 Other Useful XP PowerToys... 291 Vista Tweaking Tools... 291 The Windows Registry... 291 Structure of the Registry... 292 Backing Up and Restoring the Registry... 293 Editing the Registry... 296 Editing the Registry Remotely... 297 Editing a Hive File... 298 Deploying Registry Settings... 299 Managing Windows Services... 302 Managing Services with the GUI... 303 Managing Services on Another Computer... 307 Managing Services from the Command Line... 307 Running Your Own Program as a Service... 308 Monitoring Your System to Identify Bottlenecks... 310 Using the Task Manager... 310 Using the Performance Monitor... 311 Tuning for Maximum Performance... 314 Installing Sufficient Memory (RAM)... 315 Placing the Page File... 318 Defragment the Disk... 319 Disk Interface Tuning... 320 What to Enable and Disable... 321 Improving Startup and Logon Time... 322 6 Networking Windows 325 Setting Up a Network... 325 Network Hardware... 326 Wireless Versus Wired... 327 Network Interface Adapters... 328 Cabling... 328 Hubs and Switches... 329 Wireless Access Points... 330 Gateways and Routers... 330 Wireless Networking... 331 Wireless Network Basics... 332 Wireless Network Security... 333 Creating a Random Encryption Key... 334 Setting Up a Wireless Network Access Point... 335 Using the Wireless Network Setup Wizard... 336 Joining a Wireless Network... 340 Configuring a Workgroup Network... 341 Setting Up a Network on XP... 341 Setting Up a Network on Vista... 344 IP Addressing Options... 347 Configuring Additional Useful Network Services... 351 Designating a Master Browser... 355 Simple File Sharing... 356 Sharing Resources... 358 Sharing Folders and Drives... 359 Sharing Printers... 362 Sharing Fax Modems and Other Devices... 364 Avoiding Firewall Issues... 364 Providing Shared Internet Access... 365 Adding a Connection-Sharing Router... 367 Using Windows Internet Connection Sharing... 369 Setting Up Remote Access to Your Computer... 370 7 Protecting and Securing Windows 371 It Takes More Than Just Software... 371 Reduce Your Exposure... 372 Take Advantage of the Tools You Have... 373 Keep Abreast of Updates... 374 Be Skeptical... 375 Keep Backups... 376 Apply Defense in Depth... 376 Windows Passwords... 376 Setting Up a Password... 377 Improving Password Security... 378 User Account Control... 379 Windows Update... 382 Using Windows Update... 383 Configuring Automatic Updates... 384 Firewalls... 386 How Software Firewalls Protect Your PC from Attacks 387 Windows Firewall... 388 Third-Party Firewalls... 391 Antivirus and Antispyware Software--Which Do You Need? 393 Antivirus Software... 396 Third-Party Antivirus Programs... 396 Antispyware Software... 398 Windows Defender... 398 Third-Party Spyware Removal Programs... 401 Cleaning an Infected Computer... 402 Identifying Spyware... 402 Installing and Running Antispyware Software... 403 Recovering from Browser Hijacks... 404 What to Do If the Automated Utilities Fail... 405 Bootable Tools... 407 8 Managing Windows 409 Managing Users... 409 Domain and Workgroup Environments... 410 Account Types... 412 Which Type of Account to Use?... 414 Default Accounts and Groups... 415 Security Principals... 417 Account Permissions... 419 Adding and Deleting User Accounts from the Control Panel 425 Setting Local Security Policy... 432 Local Accounts and Password Reset Disks... 432 Managing Users from the Management Console. 433 The Windows 2000 User Manager, for Vista and XP, Too 435 Managing Users from the Command Prompt... 437 Automating User Management... 438 Managing User Profiles... 439 Controlling How Users Log On and Off... 445 Logging on as Administrator... 447 Showing and Hiding Accounts on the Welcome Screen 448 Fast User Switching... 450 Enabling Automatic Logon... 451 Dealing with a Lost Password... 452 Managing Hardware... 454 Using Device Manager... 454 Forcing Detection and Reinstallation... 457 Dealing with the Blue Screen of Death... 457 Updating Device Drivers... 458 Replacing Hardware... 461 Using Driver Rollback... 461 Disk Management... 462 Partitioning and Formatting with the Disk Management Console 464 Moving Dynamic Disks to Another Computer... 470 Resizing Partitions... 470 Converting FAT16/FAT32 File Systems to NTFS. 472 Hard Drive Cleaning... 473 Defragmenting for Greater Speed... 475 Backing Up Your Disk... 478 Backup Integrity... 479 Volume Shadow Copy... 480 Backup Files and Folders on Vista... 482 Previous Versions... 487 Complete PC Backup on Vista... 489 Automated System Recovery on XP... 493 Using NTBackup Backup on XP... 493 Third-Party Backup Solutions... 499 System Restore... 500 What Restore Points Actually Restore... 500 Creating Restore Points... 502 Restoring a Restore Point... 503 9 Windows Commands and Scripting 505 The Windows Command Prompt... 505 What the Command Prompt Really Does... 506 Environment Variables... 507 Executable Program Types... 509 Program Subsystems... 510 Interpreting Command-Line Syntax... 513 Environment Variable Substitution... 515 Input and Output Redirection... 515 Command Pipelines... 518 Command Separators... 519 Command-Line Quoting... 520 Escaping Special Characters... 520 Editing Command Lines... 521 Name Completion... 522 Copy and Paste in Command Prompt Windows. 523 DOSKEY Macros... 525 Command Extensions... 527 Printing in the Command-Line Environment... 528 Stopping Runaway Programs... 530 Configuring the Command-Line Environment... 531 Console Window Properties... 531 Changing the Search Path... 531 Predefined and Virtual Environment Variables... 532 Setting Default Environment Variables... 535 AutoRun... 537 Configuring the MS-DOS Command Environment 538 User Account Control and the Command Line... 548 Opening an Elevated Command Prompt... 549 Useful and Important Commands... 550 cd... 550 pushd and popd... 551 dir... 551 more... 552 runas... 553 start... 554 control... 555 net... 557 findstr... 560 Other Programs... 562 Batch Files... 562 Creating and Editing Batch Files... 563 Batch File Programming... 564 Argument Substitution... 565 Argument Editing... 566 Conditional Processing with if... 568 Processing Multiple Arguments... 571 Working with Environment Variables... 574 Processing Multiple Items with the for Command. 576 Using Batch File Subroutines... 580 Prompting for Input... 581 Running GUI Applications from a Batch File... 583 Scripting with Windows Script Host... 583 Script Languages... 584 Creating and Editing Scripts... 585 Security Issues... 586 Running Scripts... 587 Scripting and COM Objects... 588 Sample Scripts... 590 Learning More About Scripting... 592 Windows PowerShell... 592 PowerShell Concepts... 593 Downloading and Installing Windows PowerShell 595 Learning More About Windows PowerShell... 596 10 Windows File Systems 597 Disks, Partitions, and Volumes... 597 Basic Disks and Volumes... 598 Dynamic Disks and Volumes... 598 Creating Partitions... 599 Assigning Drive Letters to Volumes... 601 Running FDISK... 605 Drive Partitioning and Formatting with Disk Management 607 Drive Partitioning with Aftermarket Utilities... 610 High-Level (Operating System) Formatting... 612 File System Tool Limitations... 614 Drive Capacity Limitations... 615 Boot Sectors... 619 Master Boot Record... 620 Primary and Extended Partitions... 621 Windows Disk Probe... 627 Volume Boot Records... 632 The Data Area... 638 File Systems... 638 Clusters (Allocation Units)... 639 File Allocation Table... 640 FAT12... 641 FAT16... 642 VFAT and Long Filenames... 644 FAT32... 647 File Allocation Table Tutorial... 652 Directories (Folders)... 656 FAT File System Errors... 659 NTFS... 663 NTFS Architecture--The MFT... 666 NTFS 3.0/3.1... 668 Creating NTFS Drives... 670 NTFS Tools... 670 File System Utilities... 672 CHKDSK Operation... 672 The RECOVER Command... 673 SCANDISK... 674 Disk Defragmentation... 675 Third-Party Programs... 678 11 Windows Data Recovery 679 The Windows Recycle Bin and File Deletion... 679 Recovering Files That Are Not in the Recycle Bin 681 Undeleting Files Under NTFS... 681 Retrieving Data from Partitioned and Formatted Drives 682 Norton Unformat and Its Limitations... 683 Recovering Lost Partitions and Files... 683 Using a Disk Editor... 686 Types of Disk Editors... 686 Using a Disk Editor to Recover an NTFS Volume Boot Sector 687 Using a Disk Editor to Undelete Files... 693 Retrieving a Deleted File from a Disk... 701 Data Recovery from Flash Memory Devices... 704 FAT File System Troubleshooting... 705 NTFS File System Troubleshooting... 706 12 Windows Troubleshooting 709 Troubleshooting Basics... 709 What You'll Find in This Chapter... 711 A Word About Viruses and Spyware... 711 Windows "Sickbed" Symptoms... 712 Windows Installation Troubleshooting... 713 Legacy/Unsupported Hardware Devices... 713 Windows XP Upgrade Advisor... 714 Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor... 714 Updating Computer Firmware... 715 Other Common Windows Installation Issues... 716 Pre-Windows Startup Troubleshooting... 717 Common Boot Error Messages and Solutions... 718 Windows Startup Troubleshooting... 720 Windows Advanced Options Menu... 721 Using the System Restore Tool with Windows XP and Vista 725 Recovery Console for Windows XP... 728 Command Prompt in Windows Recovery Environment 746 Automated System Recovery with Windows XP.. 746 Troubleshooting Problem Devices with Device Manager 750 Parallel Windows Installation... 756 The Blue Screen of Death: Interpreting STOP Error Messages 757 Make a Record of STOP Errors... 758 Common STOP Errors... 759 Windows XP and Windows Vista Troubleshooting Tools 764 Reading the Event Log... 764 Dr. Watson... 769 Windows Troubleshooters... 771 CHKDSK... 772 DirectX Diagnostic Tool (DXDIAG.EXE)... 773 Program Compatibility Wizard... 775 System Configuration Utility... 776 Installing Additional Windows XP Support Tools... 779 Windows Vista Troubleshooting Tools... 780 Windows Recovery Environment... 780 Problem Reports and Solutions... 788 Reliability and Performance Monitor... 789 System Health Report... 791 Using the Microsoft Knowledge Base... 792 Bonus Elements A Windows Tool Reference A1 B Windows Command Reference B1 C Remote Desktop and Remote Assistance C1 TOC, 0789736950, 9/3/08

and longest-running PC hardware book on the market today. Scott has been featured in Forbes magazine and has written several articles for PC World magazine, Maximum PC magazine, several newsletters, and the Upgrading and Repairing PCs website. If you have suggestions for the next edition of this book, any comments about the book in general, or new book or article topics you would like to see covered, send them to Scott via email at scottmueller@compuserve.com or visit http://www.upgradingandrepairingpcs.com. Scott has a forum exlusively for those who have purchased one of his books or DVDs. Visit http://forum.scottmueller.com to view the forum. Brian Knittel has been a software developer for nearly 30 years. After doing graduate work in medical imaging technologies, he began a career as an independent consultant. An eclectic mix of clients has led to long-term projects in medical documentation, workflow management, realtime industrial system control, and most importantly, more than 15 years of real-world experience with MS-DOS, Windows, and computer networking in the business world. He is the author of Windows XP Under the Hood: Hardcore Scripting and Command Line Power, and is co-author of several other Que books including Special Edition Using Microsoft Windows editions covering XP Home, XP Professional, and Windows 2000 Professional. Brian lives in Albany, California, halfway between the tidal wave zone and the earthquake fault. He spends his free time snowboarding, restoring antique computers (check out www.ibm1130.org), and trying to perfect his wood-fired pizza recipes. Mark Edward Soper has taught computer troubleshooting and other technical subjects to thousands of students from Maine to Hawaii since 1992. He is a longtime contributor to Upgrading and Repairing PCs, working on the 11th though 16th editions. He has contributed chapters to Upgrading and Repairing Networks, Second Edition, Special Edition Using Microsoft Windows, Millennium Edition, and Special Edition Using Microsoft Windows XP (both Home and Pro editions). Mark coauthored both the first and second editions of Upgrading and Repairing PCs, Technician's Portable Reference, and Upgrading and Repairing PCs: Field Guide and cowrote Upgrading and Repairing PCs: A+ Study Certification Guide, Second Edition. Mark also authored Absolute Beginner's Guide to Home Networking, Absolute Beginner's Guide to A+ Certification and currently is writing Absolute Beginner's Guide to Home Automation. He is a regular contributor to Maximum PC magazine. Mark Reddin is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) and A+ Certified PC technician. In his younger days he enjoyed tinkering with computers during the time of the early Commodore and Atari systems (with all those wonderful games). Mark delved more seriously into computer technology during his undergraduate studies at Ball State University and has since been involved in the industry in various capacities. His experience with computers and networks has ranged from consulting to owning and operating a sales and repair shop. Additionally, he has been involved as both a technical and development editor with numerous Que publications over the past 5 years, including Upgrading and Repairing PCs and How Computers Work.