Windows XP and 2000 Tips & Tricks UPDATE, December 2, 2002

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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THIS ISSUE SPONSORED BY

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(below COMMENTARY)

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December 2, 2002—In this issue:

1. COMMENTARY

2. FAQS

Q. How can I configure Windows XP and later to automatically reopen folders when I restart the OS?

Q. How can I change the location where Microsoft Outlook temporarily stores mail attachments for viewing?

Q. How can I clear Windows XP's Search Companion cache of previous searches?

Q. When I click Scan on my computer, why does the OS launch Microsoft Imaging instead of my preferred scanning package?

Q. Under what conditions is Fast User Switching available in Windows XP?

Q. Why do I receive event ID 256 in the System log?

3. ANNOUNCEMENTS

Attend Our Free Tips & Tricks Web Summit
Planning on Getting Certified? Make Sure to Pick Up Our New eBook!

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 configure Windows XP and later to automatically reopen folders when you restart the OS, how to change the location Microsoft Outlook uses to temporarily store mail attachments for viewing, and how to clear XP's Search Companion cache. I also explain why Windows might ignore your imaging software and default to using Microsoft Imaging when you want to scan a document, under what conditions Fast User Switching is available in XP, and why you might receive event ID 256 in your System log.

I've had a chance to install the latest Windows .NET Server (Win.NET Server) 2003 build, and it looks really good. Also, Microsoft has launched Xbox Live in the United States and has already sold almost all 150,000 kits. Here in the UK, I'm on the beta list, so watch out for me — DarkSavage!

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http://www.winnetmag.com/seminars/mobility

2. FAQS

Q. How can I configure Windows XP and later to automatically reopen folders when I restart the OS?

A. You can configure XP and later to automatically reopen any folders that were open before you shut down the machine. To automatically reopen these folders, perform the following steps:

Start a registry editor (e.g., regedit.exe).
Navigate to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced registry subkey.
Double-click the PersistBrowsers value, or create this value of type DWORD if it doesn't exist.
Set the value data to 1 to automatically reopen folders or set the value data to 0 to not automatically reopen folders, then click OK.
Close the registry editor.

Q. How can I change the location where Microsoft Outlook temporarily stores mail attachments for viewing?

A. When you view an attachment in Outlook, the software saves the attachment to the local file system. To control the location that Outlook uses to extract these attachments for viewing, perform the following steps:

Start a registry editor (e.g., regedit.exe).
Navigate to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Outlook\Security registry subkey for Microsoft Office XP (navigate to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Outlook\Security registry subkey for Office 2000 or to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0\Outlook\Security registry subkey for Office 97).
Double-click OutlookSecureTempFolder to view the location Outlook uses to store attachments for viewing.
Change the OutlookSecureTempFolder value data to the location you prefer, then click OK.
Close the registry editor.
Log off and log on for the change to take effect.

Q. How can I clear Windows XP's Search Companion cache of previous searches?

A. XP's Search Companion feature, which you can access by clicking the Search button in Windows Explorer, lets you locate files, folders, computers, and media. When you start to type the search criteria, Search Companion will list all previous search criteria that match the current search. To clear the search cache, perform the following steps:

Stop all Windows Explorer sessions.
Start a registry editor (e.g., regedit.exe).
Navigate to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Search Assistant\ACMru registry subkey.
Select and delete each subkey under ACMru, or simply delete the entire ACMru subkey.
Close the registry editor.
Log off and log on before performing new searches; otherwise, XP will recreate the search cache and store the recreated cache in memory.

Q. When I click Scan on my computer, why does the OS launch Microsoft Imaging instead of my preferred scanning package?

A. Windows might automatically launch Microsoft Imaging if you've upgraded your computer from Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 9x to Windows 2000. Because the upgrade doesn't register your imaging software correctly as a scanning target, the OS defaults to using the built-in Microsoft Imaging software. To resolve this problem, reinstall your preferred imaging software.

Q. Under what conditions is Fast User Switching available in Windows XP?

A. Fast User Switching is an XP feature that lets more than one user simultaneously log on, although only one user account can be active at any time. For example, say user John is currently logged on and Kevin needs to print a document from his desktop. Without logging off John, Kevin can log on, print his document, then make John's user account active again without logging off to perform the switch.

Several factors determine whether Fast User Switching is available:

You must not be using a third-party Microsoft Graphical Identification and Authentication (msgina.dll) file.
The computer must not be a member of a domain (this factor applies to XP Professional Edition only).
You must enable the Fast User Switching feature (go to Start, Settings, Control Panel, User Accounts, and select "Change the way users log on or off"). If the computer has more than 64MB of RAM, XP enables Fast User Switching by default.
The computer has sufficient free resources to create an additional Winlogon service thread (when multiple users are logged on, all the accounts — even those not currently in use — use resources).
If your computer video card uses shared video memory (i.e., the computer uses a portion of the system's RAM for video display memory), the shared memory will minimize the amount of free RAM and can cause XP to disable Fast User Switching.

Q. Why do I receive event ID 256 in the System log?

A. The full event ID is

Event Source: PlugPlayManager

Event ID: 256

Description: Timed out sending notification of device interface change to window of < program or service name and/or GUID.>

This event ID is a warning message that you can safely ignore. The warning basically means that an application registered to receive Plug and Play (PnP) device interface notifications but didn't respond to a notification within 30 seconds.

3. ANNOUNCEMENTS
(brought to you by Windows & .NET Magazine and its partners)

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4. CONTACT US
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