March 27, 2008

Troubleshooting the Blue Screen of Death in Windows XP

Date: September 18th, 2006

Author: Steven Warren

Have you every blue screened your computer and a cryptic stop code was delivered. What do you do now? Well, next time that happens, use Windbg to find out which application or driver is the culprit. You can download Windbg from Microsoft’s web site.

Simply set the debugger symbol path as follows, substituting your downstream store path for DownstreamStore.

SRV*DownstreamStore*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols

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For example, to download symbols to c:\websymbols, you would add the following to your symbol path: SRV*c:\websymbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols and then click Files | Save Workspace..

Now you are ready to click File | Open Crash Dump and you can run diagnostics after a BSOD in safe mode.

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How do I… Apply local Windows XP restrictions with the Group Policy Console

by Diana Huggins | Jan 19, 2006

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.

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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.

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This article is also available as a TechRepublic download.

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

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March 26, 2008

MS Licensing Keys

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Teach Word users the six benefits of a table of contents

Teach Word users the six benefits of a table of contents  03-26-2008 6:30 AM

by Jeff Davis | Aug 06, 2002

Takeaway: A table of contents can make the difference between an average document and great document. Find out the benefits of using a TOC and learn a quick lesson in generating a TOC in Word.

If there's one thing I've learned writing documentation for software and other procedures, it's that people love a good table of contents (TOC). I include a TOC in almost every document I create, and when someone gives me a document to edit and make pretty, I add a TOC whenever appropriate.

For the record, let me say that the wrong way to generate a TOC is by copying and pasting—or worse retyping—the section headings in any given document into a makeshift TOC. The process is prone to error, and the result is static and cannot be updated except by more wasteful manual efforts.

To teach you and your users the right way to generate a table of contents, this week's column is a crash course on the value of a TOC and how to use Word's TOC feature.

Six benefits of the TOC
Your TOC can appear on its own page, or it can just take up a few lines on the top of the first page of your document. Either way, a TOC offers at least six benefits to the authors and recipients of technical documents. Specifically, a well-planned TOC can help:

  • Make a good impression. A document with a table of contents has a more professional appearance than a document without one.
  • Arrange generic viagra from canada your material. When you're creating or editing a document, a TOC helps outline and organize your thoughts so you don't leave out anything important.
  • Manage reader expectations. The TOC gives readers a high-level view of the content in the document. The author can use the TOC to set the tone and the framework for the document.
  • Provide a road map. Readers need familiar points of reference for quickly locating important information. The TOC's page numbers help when users thumb through a hard copy. When viewing a "soft" copy of the Word document, users can enjoy Web-style navigation by clicking on an item in the TOC. (To read more about creating Web-style links in Word documents, click here.)
  • Make the document easier to discuss. Have you ever been in a meeting reviewing a document and the copy that was distributed didn't have page numbers, much less a table of contents? Set the standard for documents that require group discussions, and include a TOC in your key documents.
  • Complement your training outline. When writing how-to manuals or documentation to be used as a handout in technical training, one of my favorite tricks is to use my training outline as the entries in the table of contents. The TOC acts as an executive summary or cheat sheet for the content of the document.
Creating a TOC for a how-to document
To illustrate the process of creating a basic TOC, I've created a how-to document in which the top-level headings are all instructions that can function as a cheat sheet. Figure A shows the sample how-to document.

I decided that the first page of the document would include both the title of the document and the table of contents. So I typed the placeholders Title of Document and Table of Contents on page 1, and then pressed [Ctrl][Enter] to enter a manual page. Next, I formatted the text I wanted to "hit" the table of contents—phrases that served as the section headings for our process—as Heading 1.

Figure A
This sample document demonstrates how easy it is to generate a table of contents.

Looking down the left side of our sample document window, you'll notice that in the Styles pane I've used only two styles so far: Normal and Heading 1. I'll explain how to copy the items formatted as Heading 1 to the table of contents in a moment

The Style area
Displaying the Style area will come in handy later when you're troubleshooting why certain unwanted items keep sneaking in to your tables of contents. To control how the Style area appears, go to Tools | Options | View. In the Outline And Normal Options section, you can set the width of the Style area from 0 to 4.15" (for those of you using inches as your unit of measure). Once you display the Style area, you can adjust its width by mousing over it and clicking and dragging.
Generating the TOC
When you finish writing and editing the various sections of your how-to document, go to page 1 and move the insertion point to the line below the text Table of Contents. Then go to Insert | Indexes And Tables and click the Table Of Contents tab. Without changing any of the default settings, press [Enter] or click OK.

When you do, Word will copy into the table of contents each paragraph formatted using the named style Heading 1, as shown in Figure B. If you make editing changes, such as inserting or deleting pages from the body of the document, select the table and press [F9] to update it. (You'll have the choice of updating the entire table or just the page numbers.)

Figure B
When I generated the table of contents, Word copied all items formatted with the Heading 1 style.

Your TOC homework
Word generates tables of contents by looking for text formatted with certain styles. That makes it easy to create a rudimentary TOC by formatting as Heading 1 the items I wanted to appear in the sample TOC.

In creating that single-level TOC, I just scratched the surface of a feature that can enhance the quality of your technical and training documentation. Motivated Word users now probably want to know: What if I want to show more levels, such as Heading 1, Heading 2, and Heading 3 items, in my table of contents? What if I want to change the appearance of the TOC?

I'll talk about advanced TOC techniques in future columns. In the meantime, your homework assignment is to create a table of contents for the next document you create for your manager, your peers, or your end users. Go to Insert | Indexes And Tables | Table Of Contents and start experimenting.

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Create a table of contents in Microsoft Word with custom styles

Create a table of contents in Microsoft Word with custom styles  03-26-2008 6:43 AM

by Mark Kaelin | Mar 23, 2006

Takeaway: Microsoft Word has a built-in feature generic viagra cheap for creating a table of contents. Learn how to substitute your own custom styles for the default styles.

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If you have an explanation or quick fix that would make a good SolutionBase article, then we invite you to submit your solution using this form.

Problem

Microsoft Word has long had the built-in ability to create a table of contents (index, table of figures, and table of authorities are also part of the feature). This utility, found under the Insert | References menu, works well if you follow the default Word styles for headings, subheadings, figures, footnotes, etc.

However, if you use custom styles in your documents, this automated creation function was very limited or non-existent, depending on how custom you chose to get. But Word does allow you to substitute your custom styles for the default styles, reviving the feature for even the most colorful of custom styles.

Solution

Step 1

Before you can use it to create a table of contents, you first have to create a set of styles. In Word 2003, you can create styles by clicking the double-A (AA) button on the Formatting toolbar, or by navigating to the Format | Styles and Formatting menu.

Once you create your new style, for top level headings (Heading 1) for example, you can highlight that text and click the New Style button on the Styles and Formatting window, similar to Figure A.

Figure A
Custom style

Step 2

Once you have a set of styles created to your satisfaction, you can then specify which level (TOC 1, 2, 3 …) each style will represent in your table of contents. This is accomplished by navigating to Insert | Reference | Index And Tables and then clicking the Options button on the Table Of Contents tab. On the ensuing dialog screen, you can then specify your hierarchy as shown in Figure B.

Figure B
TOC hierarchy

After clicking the OK button a couple of times, you will have inserted a table of contents for your document. However, you will also notice that the table is displayed in the default style. If you want to apply your custom style to the table of contents, you have one more step.

Step 3

Now that you have established a set of custom styles, you can apply those styles to other parts of the document including the table of contents. Navigate To Insert | Reference | Index And Tables and click on the Modify button on the Table Of Contents tab; then click the Modify button again for each level. On the ensuing dialog screen, you can change the styles associated for each level in the hierarchy (Figure C).

Figure C
Modify TOC styles

Obviously, the styles shown in the figures are a little over the top, but the principles are the same no matter what custom styles you want to implement.

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