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Windows XP and 2000 Tips & Tricks UPDATE, January 13, 2003
This week, John Savill tells you how to include a specific file type in a file system search under Windows XP, how to adjust your display settings and DirectX settings for maximum performance, and more.
ITPro Today
January 12, 2003
9 Min Read
Windows XP and 2000 Tips & Tricks UPDATE—brought to you by the Windows & .NET Magazine Network and the Windows 2000 FAQ site
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January 13, 2003—In this issue:
1. COMMENTARY
2. FAQS
Q. How can I include a specific file type in a file-system search under Windows XP?
Q. How can I use the Windows XP interface to include all file types in a file-system search?
Q. How can I use the registry to include all file types in a file-system search under Windows XP?
Q. Why does my display seem sluggish and I can't enable DirectX with Windows XP and later?
Q. How can I switch my Telnet server to use Stream mode instead of Console mode in Windows XP?
Q. How can I change which tools Windows 2000 or later uses by default for disk cleanup, backup, and defragmentation?
3. ANNOUNCEMENTS
Windows Scripting Solutions for the Systems Administrator
New! News, Tips, and More to Keep Your Network Humming
4. CONTACT US
See this section for a list of ways to contact us.
1. COMMENTARY
(contributed by John Savill, FAQ Editor, [email protected])
This week, I tell you how to include a specific file type in a file-system search under Windows XP and how to use the XP interface and the registry to include all file types in a file-system search. I also explain how to adjust your display settings and DirectX settings for maximum performance, how to switch your Telnet server from Console mode to Stream mode in XP, and how to change which tools Windows 2000 or later uses for disk cleanup, backup, and defragmentation.
Around the industry this week, Microsoft has confirmed that the next version of the Windows server OS will be called Windows Server 2003 (information about this naming decision is available, click here). Windows Movie Maker 2 is now available through the Windows Update Web site. (I haven't tried the new version yet, but let me know if you do.) Finally, Microsoft has confirmed that a recent outage in the Windows Messenger service was the result of human error, not a machine error.
The year ahead promises to be exciting, with Windows Server 2003 hitting the shelves and the anticipated release of several beta versions of the next version of Windows (code-named Longhorn). Stay tuned, and I'll let you know when you can expect these milestones.
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2. FAQS
Q. How can I include a specific file type in a file-system search under Windows XP?
A. To avoid misleading results, the XP Index service filters out certain file types (i.e., doesn't consider those file types) when you perform a text search. As a result, the Index service might not return the expected search result, even though you might know that the phrase you're searching for exists. To manually add specific file types to be included in a file-system search, perform the following steps:
Start a registry editor (e.g., regedit.exe).
Navigate to the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.cxxPersistentHandler registry subkey.
Look for a key that matches the extension for the file type you want to include in your search (e.g., .sgl). If the key doesn't exist, create a new key, including the period (.) in the key name (e.g., .sgl).
Under the file extension, create a new key called PersistentHandler (go to the Edit menu, then select New, Key).
Navigate to the PersistentHandler registry subkey, then double-click the (Default) value.
Set the value to {5e941d80-bf96-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}, then click OK.
Restart your computer for the change to take effect.
To check which extensions XP includes in a search, you can use regedit to search for the {5e941d80-bf96-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb} value. On my machine, file types that have the PersistentHandler value include .asm, .bat, and .c.
Likewise, if you want to exclude a file type from future searches, simply remove its PersistentHandler value and restart the machine. The XP Application Compatibility Update dated October 25, 2001, added many file-extension types to be included in searches. If you don't have this update, you should install it before you manually add file types to be included in the file-system search. You can download the update from Microsoft's Web site at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308381 .
Q. How can I use the Windows XP interface to include all file types in a file-system search?
A. To search all file types, you can perform the following steps (be aware that searching on all file types can slow the search):
Open the search interface (go to Start, then click Search).
Select the "Change preferences" option.
Select the "With Indexing Service (for faster local searches)" option.
Click the "Change Index Service settings (Advanced)" button. A new application will start and show the System catalog.
Click the Show/Hide Console Tree button on the toolbar (the third button from the left) to enable the console tree-view.
Right-click the root of the console (e.g., "Indexing Service on Local Machine"), then select Properties from the context menu.
Select the Generation tab.
Select the "Index files with unknown extensions" option.
Click OK.
Close the Indexing Service application.
Q. How can I use the registry to include all file types in a file-system search under Windows XP?
A. To use the registry to include all file types in a file system search, perform the following steps:
Start a registry editor (e.g., regedit.exe).
2. Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlContentIndex registry subkey.
3. Double-click FilterFilesWithUnknownExtensions, set the value to 1, then click OK.
4. Close the registry editor.
Q. Why does my display seem sluggish and I can't enable DirectX with Windows XP and later?
A. Video hardware has its own resources that sometimes aren't fully used. As a result, graphical performance can seem sluggish or inconsistent (e.g., your mouse might jump around the screen). For peak performance, ensure you've fully enabled hardware acceleration by performing the following steps:
Start the Control Panel Display applet (go to Start, Control Panel, then click Display).
2. From the General tab, click Advanced, then select the Troubleshoot tab.
3. Move the "Hardware acceleration" pointer to Full.
4. Click OK.
If your hardware acceleration was set too low, XP might have disabled DirectX for DirectDraw and Direct3D. Ensure that DirectX is enabled for DirectDraw and Direct3D by performing the following steps:
Start the DirectX configuration utility by going to Start, Run, then typing
dxdiag.exe
2. Select the Display tab.
3. Ensure that both DirectDraw Acceleration and Direct3D Acceleration are Enabled; if they aren't, click Enable.
4. Click Exit.
This last series of steps is particularly appropriate if you run Windows Server 2003 because the OS disables hardware acceleration by default. (Microsoft's position is that this acceleration isn't required for typical server functionality.)
Q. How can I switch my Telnet server to use Stream mode instead of Console mode in Windows XP?
A. Non-Windows clients that connect to a Windows Telnet server might work better if the Telnet server is in Stream mode rather than Console mode. To change your server to use Stream mode, go to the command prompt and type
tlntadmn config mode=streamTo check your current mode under Windows XP, type
tlntadmn Windows will display the mode under "Mode of Operation". For example,
Alt Key Mapped to 'CTRL+A' : YESIdle session timeout : 1 hoursMax connections : 2Telnet port : 23Max failed login attempts : 3End tasks on disconnect : NOMode of Operation : StreamAuthentication Mechanism : NTLM, PasswordDefault Domain : TRINITYState : StoppedQ. How can I change which tools Windows 2000 and later uses by default for disk cleanup, backup, and defragmentation?
A. If you right-click a drive, select Properties, then select the Tools tab, you'll see buttons for backing up and defragmenting your disk. On the General tab, you'll also see a button labeled Disk Cleanup. By default, Win2K and later run the following programs for each of the buttons:
Disk cleanup—%systemroot%system32cleanmgr.exe /D %c
Backup—%systemroot%system32tbackup.exe
Defragment—mmc.exe C:progra~1execut~1diskee~2diskee~1.msc %c:
To change the program used, perform the following steps:
Start a registry editor (e.g., regedit.exe).
Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerMyComputer registry subkey. Under the subkey are three keys: BackupPath, cleanuppath, and DefragPath. Under each of these keys, the (Default) value specifies the program to be used. If any of the keys don't exist (by default, BackupPath doesn't exist in Win2K), go to the Edit menu; select New, Key; then enter the name of the missing key under the MyComputer subkey.
Double-click the (Default) value under the path you want to modify, change the value to reflect the program you want to use, then click OK.
Close the registry editor.
The change takes effect immediately.
3. ANNOUNCEMENTS
(brought to you by Windows & .NET Magazine and its partners)
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