Windows XP and 2000 Tips & Tricks UPDATE, April 14, 2003

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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April 14, 2003—In this issue:

1. COMMENTARY

2. FAQS

Q. How can I delete a folder whose name contains a drive letter?
Q. Why doesn't my Windows 2000-based system display the Auto Update dialog box correctly?
Q. Why can't I run the Control Panel Add/Remove Programs applet under Windows 2000 and later?
Q. Why do movies that I view in Windows Movie Maker 2 on my computer run faster than they should?
Q. How can I set when the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine (JVM) initiates Java garbage collection?
Q. How can I extend the USB polling period on my laptop?

3. ANNOUNCEMENTS

Couldn't Make the Microsoft Mobility Tour Event?
Microsoft TechEd 2003, June 1-6, 2003, Dallas, TX

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 explain how to delete a folder whose name contains a drive letter, why Windows 2000 might not display the Auto Update dialog box correctly, and why some missing registry entries or missing files might prevent the Control Panel Add/Remove Programs applet from running. I also tell you why movies viewed in Windows Movie Maker 2 might run faster than they should, how to set when the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine (JVM) initiates Java garbage collection, and how to extend the USB polling period.

Around the industry this week, Microsoft released the Microsoft Group Policy Management Console (GPMC), which I'll discuss in next week's Windows XP and 2000 Tips & Tricks UPDATE. You can download the GPMC from the Microsoft Web site. The company also released the Windows .NET Framework 1.1; additional information and the software download are available at http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/productinfo.

News has been circulating that Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) might allow two concurrent connections: one remote user and one local user. However, at this time, this information appears to be just a rumor based on a leaked internal Microsoft proposal.

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2. FAQS

Q. How can I delete a folder whose name contains a drive letter?

A. A reader recently contacted me regarding a problem that occurred when he misformed a Robocopy command and accidentally created a folder named Y:\DESTINATION / with a subdirectory of MIR. The misformed command was

robocopy "X:\SOURCEDIR" "Y:\DESTINATION /MIR /SEC

Notice that a double quote is missing at the end of the command.

When the user used Windows Explorer to view the folder, the folder appeared with the name DESTINATION instead of the folder's true name. To delete the folder, perform the following steps:

Start a command session by going to Start, Run and typing
```
cmd
```
Navigate to the location where the folder exists.
Run the command
```
rmdir "Y:\DESTINATION /" /s 
```

Q. Why doesn't my Windows 2000-based system display the Auto Update dialog box correctly?

A. When you configure Auto Update, a dialog box appears in the lower right of your display to prompt you to begin the configuration process. If this dialog box is sized incorrectly, it might prevent you from completing the configuration process. To work around this problem, close the dialog box to end the configuration process and use the Control Panel System applet to configure Auto Update (go to Start, Settings, Control Panel; select the System applet; then click the Automatic Updates tab).

Q. Why can't I run the Control Panel Add/Remove Programs applet under Windows 2000 and later?

A. The Add/Remove Programs applet might stop running if your system is missing some required registry entries. To resolve this problem, you must add the necessary entries to the registry by performing the following steps:

Start a command session by going to Start, Run and typing
```
cmd
```
Enter each of the following commands (click OK to each confirmation that appears):
```
regsvr32 mshtml.dll
regsvr32 shdocvw.dll -i
regsvr32 shell32.dll -i 
```
Close the command session by typing
```
exit 
```

You should now be able to start the Add/Remove Programs applet. If the applet still won't run, you might be missing a file; to check, use the System File Checker (SFC) to check for and replace missing or corrupt files by performing the following steps:

Start a command session by going to Start, Run and typing
```
cmd 
```
Enter each of the following commands (the system might prompt you to enter the installation media during this process):
```
sfc /purgecache
sfc /scannow 
```
Restart the computer.

Q. Why do movies that I view in Windows Movie Maker 2 on my computer run faster than they should?

A. This problem is typically caused by the presence of an old version of InterVideo's WinDVD on your machine. You need to install the latest version of WinDVD, which you can acquire from the InterVideo Web site.

Q. How can I set when the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine (JVM) initiates Java garbage collection?

A. The Java programming language frees programmers from having to remember which memory areas they've allocated so they don't need to free those areas when the function is finished using them. In Java, the runtime environment uses the garbage collection process to automatically free memory when it's no longer needed, but this process uses resources while it's running. With JVM, build 3229, and later, you can configure the garbage collection process to run only after a certain amount of memory has been allocated to Java. To do so, perform the following steps:

Start a registry editor (e.g., regedit.exe).
Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Java VM registry subkey.
From the Edit menu, select New, DWORD Value.
Enter the name Generation0Size, then press Enter.
Double-click the value, set it to the number of bytes that must be allocated to Java before you want the garbage collection process to run, then click OK.
Close the registry editor.
Restart the machine for the change to take effect.

Q. How can I extend the USB polling period on my laptop?

A. By default, your computer's USB polling period is 1 millisecond (ms), which can sometimes cause problems--even if no USB devices are connected--when a laptop is trying to enter a hibernate state. You can extend this polling period up to 5ms by performing the following steps:

Start a registry editor (e.g., regedit.exe).
Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000\} registry subkey.
For each subkey (e.g., ...0000, ...0001), go to the Edit menu, then select New, DWORD Value.
Enter the name IdleEnable, set the value to an integer from 2 to 5, then click OK.
Close the registry editor.
Restart the machine for the change to take effect.

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

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4. CONTACT US
Here's how to reach us with your comments and questions:

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