writen by Michael Otey
originally published at Windows ITPro Meg Instant Doc ID 38924
10. Display the Administrator Logon dialog box - to display a Windows 2000-style logon screen, press Ctrl+Alt+Del twice. However, the administrator logon dialog box will be shown by default if the XP machine is joined into the domain.
9. Use the Windows Classic Start menu and desktop - to give users the familiar Win2K-style Start menu, right-click Start, select Properties from the pop-up menu, then click the Classic Start menu option.
8. Create an MS-Dos boot disk - Insert a 3.5” disk in the disk drive, open My Computer, and right-click the floppy-disk icon. Select Format from the pop-up menu, then select Create an MS-Dos startup disk.
7. Bypass activation on reinstallation - after the initial activation, simply copy the wpa.dbl file in the system32 directory, then restore the file after you reinstall XP. However, it might not work if you changed the network adapter.
6. Enable ClearType - right-click the desktop, choose Properties, then click the Appearance tab. Click Effects, select Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts, then select the ClearType option from the drop-down list.
5. Identify startup option with MSConfig.
4. Uninstall Windows Messenger - open the sysoc.inf file in the \windows\inf folder and finding the line
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll, 0cEntry, msmsgs.inf, hide, 7
delete the word hide from the line, then save the file. An option to remove Windows Messenger will then be available in the Control Panel Add/Remove Windows Components applet.
3. Configure alternative IP address support - good for the person who regularly move their laptop between a network that requires a fixed IP address and one that uses DHCP.
2. Backup to a CD-ROM - to work around, open NTBackup, select the files to back up, then select c:\documents and settings\username\local settings\application data\microsoft\cd burning\backup.bkf as the backup destination. When the backup finishes, XP will prompt you to write the files to the CD-ROM.
1. Use Remote Assistance over Network Address Translation (NAT) - my experience, not much useful.