August 13, 2008

Understand and exploit USB topology in Windows XP

  • Date: July 9th, 2008
  • Author: Greg Shultz

The number of USB devices you can connect to a PC running Microsoft Windows XP is likely more than you could use in any practical manner.

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As long as you have enough power, attaching many USB devices to your Microsoft Windows XP system can’t cause degradation in performance — even if you attach as many as 127 USB devices at one time.

While it’s unlikely for that many devices to be connected at a time, that number is made possible by Windows XP’s seven-tiered USB topology. The top, or tier number one, consists of the host controller or root hub, which is the USB hub built in to the computer’s motherboard. Tiers two through six are equipped to consist of a series of USB hubs (two or more at each tier) daisy chained together. Tier seven consists of any devices attached to the USB hub(s) at tier six.

While USB hubs can draw power from the root hub, the amount of power is limited to 100 milliamperes per port, and the hub can have only four ports. However, most USB hubs have their own external AC adapter and can provide up to 500 milliamperes of power per port on more than four ports.

Follow these steps to learn more about the root hub and the USB hubs attached to your system in Device Manager:

  1. Go to Start, right-click My Computer, and select Manage.
  2. Click Device Manager in the left pane.
  3. Click Universal Serial Bus Controllers in Device Manager. (Figure A)
  4. Double-click each root and USB hub and check the information on the tabs. (Figure B)

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

Figure A

Universal Serial Bus Controllers in Device Manager

Figure B

USB hub
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Schedule a restart operation with Windows XP’s Shutdown utility

  • Date: July 9th, 2008
  • Author: Greg Shultz

Start with a fresh Windows XP system every day.

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To help you automate this type of restart operation, Microsoft Windows XP comes with a command-line utility called Shutdown.exe, which can restart your system. To make this happen automatically, you can configure it to run at a specified time with the Scheduled Tasks tool. Here’s how:

  1. Go to Control Panel | Scheduled Tasks.
  2. Double-click Add Scheduled Task to launch the Scheduled Task Wizard.
  3. Click Next and then click the Browse button.
  4. Access the Windows\System32 folder, select Shutdown.exe, and click Open.
  5. Follow the wizard through the next two screens to give the task a name and choose a schedule.
  6. Enter your user account name and password and click Next.
  7. Select the Open Advanced Properties check box and click Finish.
  8. In the task’s Properties dialog box, add the /r parameter to the end of the command line in the Run text box and click OK. (Be sure to include a space between the last character in the command name and the first character in the parameter list.)
  9. Enter your user account name and password and click OK.

When the Shutdown utility runs, you’ll momentarily see a small dialog box on your screen before the system restarts.

Note: This tip applies to both Windows XP Home and Professional editions.

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Fix numbers that deviate from your numbered list format

  • Date: July 8th, 2008
  • Author: Mary Ann Richardson

If one of your list numbers appears in a different format from the rest, the problem isn’t the number format — it’s paragraph formatting. Here’s how you can eliminate the formatting to make the number match the others.


You’ve just typed a numbered list and notice that one number is formatted differently from the rest. For example, 2 is formatted as bold text, while the rest are not.

You try deleting the numbers and applying them again. Still, the number 2 is bold. In this case, it’s not the numbering format, but the paragraph format that’s causing the problem.

To correct this, click on the Show/Hide button in the Standard Toolbar. (In Word 2007, click on the Show/Hide button in the Paragraph group of the Home tab.)

To correct propecia dosage the format:

  1. Select the paragraph mark for the second numbered paragraph.
  2. Click the Bold button.
  3. Turn off the Show/Hide button.

All numbers now have the same format, as shown below.

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Easily change PowerPoint’s default bullets

  • Date: July 7th, 2008
  • Author: Susan Harkins

Bullets are everywhere and rightly so — a bulleted list is an efficient way to emphasize information in a meaningful way. If you’re a regular reader, propecia dosage hair loss you know that I use them often. You can also use them in a PowerPoint slide. In fact, that’s the default structure. Whether they work well in the presentation environment is up for debate, but PowerPoint makes them easy to use.

The default bullets are okay, but they might not be just right for every presentation because they’re … mundane. Depending on your subject and your audience, you might prefer something else. You might choose a dingbat that represents the subject or your business. Or you might just want to drop in a colorful graphic that doesn’t represent a thing, but brightens up the slide. As always, with PowerPoint, your subject and audience will determine your choices. In other words, don’t use a yellow smiley face to list the attributes of eternal internment at Shady Acres.

The good news is that you can change PowerPoint’s bullets quickly:

  1. Display the slide you want to change in Normal View.
  2. Highlight the bulleted items you want to change. Usually, that will be the entire list, but I want to point out that you can change the bullets for individual items within a larger list.
  3. Select Bullets And Numbering from the Format menu. Or right-click the selection and choose Bullets And Numbering from the resulting context menu. If necessary, click the Bulleted tab. In PowerPoint 2007, the menu separates Bullets and Numbering. Click the Bullets drop-down list and then click Bullets And Numbering (at the bottom). You’ll also find Bullets in the Paragraph group on the Home tab.
  4. From the Bulleted tab, simply select a different bullet. PowerPoint is flexible with bullets:
  • You can change the color and size from the Bulleted tab.
  • Click Picture to choose from a large variety of sizes and shapes.
  • Click Customize to substitute bullets with symbols. Change the Font setting to review hundreds of possibilities.

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After making your selections, click OK (once or twice, depending on which set you choose). You can change bullets in all Office applications and the instructions will be very similar to those for PowerPoint.

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Colorize your Outlook messages to identify e-mail from specific senders

  • Date: July 7th, 2008
  • Author: Susan Harkins

A simple but highly useful way to stay on top of important e-mail is to propecia does work have Outlook display messages from different people in different colors. Here’s a quick rundown of how to set this up.


Expecting important mail? Identify it as soon as it comes in by displaying it in a distinctive color. Start by select an existing message from the sender in question, if you have one. If you don’t, that’s okay; you can enter the sender’s name manually in a minute. Now follow these steps:

  1. In Mail, choose Organize from the Tools menu.
  2. In the Ways To Organize Inbox pane, click Using Colors on the left side (Figure A).

Figure A

  1. In the first condition statement (we won’t use the second), choose From in the first drop-down list (Figure B).

Figure B

  1. If you chose a message before starting, the sender’s name will appear in the text box to the right. If it’s the wrong name, enter the right name or the person’s e-mail address.
  2. Choose a color from the second drop-down list (Figure C).

Figure C

  1. Click Apply Color and close the pane.

Afterward, Outlook will display all messages, existing and new, from the person you specified in the color you selected.

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