Date: April 9th, 2008

Author: Greg Shultz

If you like using the Quick Launch toolbar but wish that it did not take up so much room on the taskbar, you can easily move the Quick Launch toolbar to any other location on the desktop. You can move it to the top, left, or right edge of the desktop. Here’s how:

After you drop the Quick Launch toolbar, it may appear as a window. If it does, just perform the drag-and-drop operation again making sure that toolbar anchors to the edge of the desktop. You may then need to resize the toolbar. Once you have it positioned where you want, right-click on the toolbar and select the Always On Top command so you can always access the Quick Launch toolbar just as you do the taskbar.

Note: This tip applies to Windows XP organic viagra Home and Windows XP Professional.

April 3rd, 2008
Posted by Mary Jo Foley

Microsoft made it official on April 3: There will be no new reprieves for Windows XP (other than on Ultra Low-Cost PCs).

Some customers and partners had been hoping the company might extend again the deadline for all PC makers to be allowed to preload Windows XP, rather than Windows Vista, on new PCs. But today, Microsoft officials said the current June 30, 2008 cut-off date would remain in place for the vast majority of machines.

The one new exception, as some online prescription viagra were anticipating, are Ultra Low-Cost PCs (ULPCs), which Microsoft defines as systems like the Asus Eee and Intel Classmate — “significantly more restricted hardware with less expensive processors and more limited graphics capabilities. ULPCs should not be confused with the higher-priced and more robust UMPCs, or Ultra-Mobile PCs (a k a “Origami” devices); Microsoft is continuing to encourage UMPC makers to build their systems around Vista.

As Microsoft officials announced on April 3, makers of ULPCs will be allowed to continue to preload XP on ULPC machines until June 30, 2010, or one year after general availability of the next version of Windows, whichever comes first, according to Microsoft.

(Microsoft has said that its target delivery date for Windows 7, the next version of Windows, is some time in 2010.)

The majority of, if not all, ULPCs are incapable of running Vista, with its higher RAM and graphics requirements. But they can and do run Linux. That proved to be a good incentive for Microsoft extending the XP cut-off deadline for those low-end machines.

For plain-vanilla PCs, Microsoft is holding fast to its June 30 preload cut-off for XP. (In September, Microsoft granted PC makers a five-month extension, allowing them to continue preloading and selling at retail Windows XP until June 30 of this year. ) As Microsoft noted previously, users still will be able to get XP preloaded on new machines from white-box vendors/system builders through January 31, 2009. And Vista Business and Ultimate customers with volume-license contracts can still get XP via their “downgrade” rights.

Microsoft will still provide mainstream (free) support for XP until April 2009. Extended support (free for security fixes and paid for other help) ends in 2014.

What’s your take? Did Microsoft make the right decision in holding fast to the June 30 XP cut-off date?

Date: April 2nd, 2008

Author: Greg Shultz

When you double-click the My Computer icon in Windows XP, you see a list of all the drives on your hard disk. However, when you launch Windows Explorer, it displays the contents of My Documents in the right panel. If you like the way that the My Computer view displays all the disk drives when you first launch it, but prefer the Windows Explorer view, here’s how you can get the best of both views.

Using the /Select switch with C:\ as the object causes Windows Explorer open a My Computer view of your system. Now, when you select your new shortcut, your window will look more like the My Computer view.

With Windows Vista's popularity still on the low side, Microsoft is trying anything they can think of to boost their new operating system's sales. Unfortunately, they have found one method that most of us will have a hard time accepting. On June 31, 2008, Microsoft will basically "kill off" their famous operating system of Windows XP, taking it off the market all together.

This fate was expected, since XP was originally released in 2001, but with the push of Vista, the loss will be even harder on Windows users. Windows XP users can still continue to run the operating system for as long as they want, but product support from Microsoft will end on April 14, 2009. That's also generic viagra without prescription when it will become even harder to buy the XP operating system.

So, why would Microsoft remove Windows XP from the market? Well, like most software corporations, Microsoft is out to make a profit, while also providing the newest and most up to date software to their customers. Since Vista is their latest version of Windows, they are trying to make it the most popular operating system on the market. Therefore, they are removing the older versions of Windows from the market to make more room for Vista.

Also, larger enterprises have been slow in transitioning their computer systems from Windows XP to Windows Vista. Microsoft hopes that by removing Windows XP, those larger organizations will finally make the move over to Vista.

For those of you who are looking at buying a new computer and want Windows XP installed on it, you'll want to grab a copy before June 2008. Just giving you a heads up!

Takeaway: In a domain environment, you can control workstations centrally with group policies from the domain. However, if you don't have a server, you can still use group policies locally in Microsoft Windows XP. Here's how, using the Group Policy Console.

Keeping users focused, on track, and out of trouble is sometimes a dicey proposition. Since nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool, it's tough to keep users out of off-limit places and applications. Even though you have to be an administrator to make most system configuration changes, unwary users can still do damage to their machines. In addition, there's always the lure of the Internet Explorer icon right on users' desktops, tempting them away from work. And even the network sometimes proves to be a dangerous place for some users. The solution to these wayward users is to apply restrictions to what users can and can't do.

Click this tag search to find other How do I… articles and downloads.

This article was originally published on January 19, 2006.

Group policies

In a domain environment, you can use group policies to apply restrictions at several levels, including domain, site, and organizational unit (OU). For example, you can configure the interface to hide drives in My Computer, hide the Internet Explorer icon, disable Add/Remove Programs, and use a boatload of other restrictions to keep users focused and out of trouble. You can apply the restrictions on a per-user or per-group basis, giving you very granular control over who can do what, when, and where.

In a workgroup environment, however, accomplishing the same thing is a lot tougher because the local group policy is intended to apply to all users, regardless of account or group membership. But with a little finesse, you can apply restrictions to individual users.

The Group Policy console

You use the Group Policy console to apply restrictions. Before you go rushing off to lock down your users, however, keep this in mind: The changes you're going to make will initially affect the local administrator account on each computer. Don't apply any restrictions that will prevent you from later removing the restrictions from the administrator account. You might want to temporarily create an account with membership in the Administrators group to use in case you have problems and need to undo the restrictions.

Here's how to fool Windows XP Professional into using different restrictions for users:

1. Log on as Administrator.
2. Go to Start | Run and enter Gpedit.msc in the Open dialog box to start the Group Policy console shown in Figure A.
3. Open the User Configuration/Administrative Templates branch and change settings as desired to enable restrictions as needed. The settings for each restriction vary.
4. Close the Group Policy console and log off; then log on again as Administrator to apply the change.
5. Log off and log on as another user to verify that the restrictions are applied. Log off and then log on as each of the other users, in turn, to whom you want to apply the restrictions.
6. Log on as Administrator and copy the file %systemroot%\System32\GroupPolicy\User\registry.pol to a backup location and name it UserReg.pol. Copy the file %systemroot%\System32\GroupPolicy\Machine\registry.pol to the same backup location and name it MachineReg.pol.
7. Open the Group Policy console and remove the restrictions applied in step four. In some cases, you might need to use the opposite setting from the one applied in step three. For example, if you selected Enable to apply a given restriction, choose Disable to remove the restriction, rather than Not Configured (which applies no change to the registry).
8. Close the Group Policy console and then copy the backup UserReg.pol file created in step six back to %systemroot%\System32\GroupPolicy\User\registry.pol, making sure to rename the file Registry.pol. Copy the backup MachineReg.pol created in step six back to %systemroot%\System32\GroupPolicy\Machine\registry.pol, making sure to rename the file Registry.pol.
9. Log off as administrator and log on as one of the restricted users to verify that the restrictions are in place. Log off and then log back on as administrator to verify that the restrictions are not applied to the administrator account. As long as you didn't use your own nonadministrator account to log on in step five, that account will not have the restrictions applied.

Figure A

Group Policy console