The Pain Killer To change the date and/or time, follow these steps: 1. Right-click the time in your notification area and click Adjust Date/Time, or click Start | Control Panel, Date and Time. 2. On the Date and Time tab, shown in the following illustration, adjust the date and time as necessary, and verify that the time zone is correct. Click OK. My computer does not automatically adjust for daylight savings time. Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected. Cause If you live in an area where daylight savings time is in use, you can configure Windows XP to automatically adjust the time when daylight savings time is in use. The Pain Killer To automatically adjust for daylight savings time, follow these steps: 1. Right-click the time in your notification area and click Adjust Date/Time, or click Start | Control Panel, Date and Time. 2. On the Time Zone tab, click the Automatically Adjust Clock for Daylight Savings Changes check box, as shown in the following illustration. I want my computer to automatically run Disk Cleanup, or automatically run another utility. Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected. Cause Windows XP contains a Scheduled Task feature where you can configure utilities or even programs to run at a certain time. For example, you can configure utilities like Disk Cleanup to run every week or so in the middle of the night. This keeps your computer clean but does not waste your time doing so. You can configure a Scheduled Task with the help of a wizard. The Pain Killer To configure a scheduled task, follow these steps: 1. Click Start | Control Panel | Scheduled Tasks. 2. In the Scheduled Tasks folder, click the Add Scheduled Task option. The wizard's Welcome screen appears. Click Next. 3. In the Program window, choose the program that you want to automatically schedule, as shown in the following illustration, and click Next. 4. In the Perform Task window, you can choose to perform the task daily, weekly, monthly, one time only, when the computer starts, or when you log on. Make a selection by clicking the appropriate radio button and click Next. 5. In the Time and Day window, shown in the following illustration, configure the Start time and day that you want the task to run and then click Next. 6. Enter your user name and password and click Next. 7. Click Finish. The new task now appears in the Scheduled Tasks window. You can add more tasks by repeating these steps. Prevention I f you want to stop using a scheduled task, just right-click it in the Scheduled Tasks folder and click Delete. You can also override the schedule at any time by right-clicking the task and clicking Run. A scheduled task does not run. Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected. Cause If a scheduled task does not run when it is supposed to, there are a few things you need to check. The Pain Killer Check these items: 1. Was the computer turned on when the task was supposed to run? Will the task run at all? Try running the task and see if it will work. 2. Open the Scheduled Tasks folder and right-click the scheduled task that did not run. Click Properties. 3. On the Task tab, shown in the illustration to the right, make sure the Enabled check box is selected. 4. On the Schedule tab, make sure that the time and date are correct. 5. Click the Settings tab, shown in the illustration to the right. Make sure that none of these settings are overriding the way you want the scheduled task to behave (such as the Idle Time requirement or battery power option). When you are done, click OK. 6. Make sure that you do not have multiple tasks scheduled to run at the same time. Some tasks, such as Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter, will not run correctly if they do not have exclusive drive access. Schedule the tasks to run at different times. 7. If you are connected to a Windows 2000/.NET domain (a large Windows network), your network administrators may have policies in place that prevent your computer from running scheduled tasks. Check with a network administrator for details. 8. Finally, if you are not logged on at the time a scheduled task is supposed to run, the task will still run but simply not be visible (since you are not the logged-on user). Check the Status column in the Scheduled Tasks window to see if the task actually ran. The Status column will tell you if the task ran, or give you some indicator as to why not if it didn't. Disk Defragmenter does not completely defragment my hard drive. Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected. Cause Disk Defragmenter is a great tool that defragments your hard disk and helps Windows XP run faster. However, Disk Defragmenter cannot defragment your drive completely. Some fragmentation is normal and you should not see it as a problem. The Pain Killer First of all, do not worry if disk defragmenter leaves some fragmented files. This is normal. As you can see in Figure 15-1, a newly defragmented disk on my computer still has fragmented files. If you think there are too many files still fragmented, run Disk Defragmenter several times in a row, which sometimes further reduces fragmentation. Figure 15-1: Disk Defragmenter may leave some files fragmented. Disk Defragmenter stops working before it is finished. Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected. Cause In order for Disk Defragmenter to work, it must have exclusive access to your disk. This means no other programs should be running when Disk Defragmenter is trying to work. The Pain Killer Close all programs and close all items in your notification area (antivirus programs too). Turn off your Screen Saver. Then, allow Disk Defragmenter to run with no interruptions. Error- checking stops working. Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected. Cause The Error-checking tool, which you can find on the Tools tab of the hard disk's properties sheets, checks your computer's hard disk for file system errors and surface sector problems. The Error-checking tool takes some time to run, depending on the size of your computer's hard disk, and must have exclusive access to the disk in order to work. The Pain Killer To get error-checking to work as it should, you need to close all programs and close all items in your notification area. Make sure you have closed any antivirus or third- party disk management tools before running error-checking. I need to easily move files and/or settings from one computer to my XP computer. Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected. Cause Getting a new computer can be a really exciting time, but the problem is moving all your files and trying to get the new computer to work the way your old one did. With this thought in mind, Windows XP provides a Files and Settings Transfer Wizard, which is an easy way to move files from one Windows computer to your new Windows XP computer. What does 'exclusive disk access' really mean? Some utilities, particularly disk management tools such as Error-checking and Disk Defragmenter, cannot work well if they do not have exclusive access to the disk. This means that no other programs can access the hard disk. For example, let's say that error-checking is running and you use a program to save a file. That save action writes data to the hard disk at the same time error-checking is trying to fix problems. This write action is seen as an interruption and error-checking may stop working. For this reason, close all programs and make sure that any antivirus or disk management tools are closed, since these programs regularly access the computer's hard disk. The Pain Killer To use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard, follow these steps: 1. On the computer that you want to move the files and/or settings from, click Start | All Programs | Accessories | Files and Settings Transfer Wizard if the computer is a Windows XP computer. If it is not, insert your Windows XP CD-ROM into the computer's CD-ROM drive and click Perform Additional Tasks, then click Transfer Files and Settings. Tip You can transfer settings from Windows 9x, Me, NT, and 2000 computers using the wizard on the Windows XP CD-ROM. 2. The wizard appears. Click Next on the Welcome screen. 3. In the Which Computer Is This window, click the Old Computer radio button, shown in the following illustration, and click Next. 4. The wizard prepares for the next step. In the Select a Transfer Method window, shown in the following illustration, you can transfer the files and settings using a direct cable connection or a removable disk (floppy, zip, and so forth), or use another method such as a network share. Make a selection and click Next. 5. In the What Do You Want to Transfer window, shown in the following illustration, you can choose to transfer settings only, files only, or both files and settings. If you want to select custom options, click the Let Me Select a Custom List check box and click Next. Prevention D o not move your Windows folder using this process! This will move all of your data and applications to the new system, which is not what you want! Use this wizard to move files and settings only. 6. 7. If you chose the Custom option, shown in the following illustration, you can use this window to add settings, folders, and files to the list that you want to transfer. When you are done, click Next. 8. The files and settings are collected and transferred according to the method that you selected. Click Finish. 9. Now that you have created the transfer file, your next step is to run the wizard on the Windows XP computer where you are transferring the files and settings. Click Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Files and Settings Transfer Wizard. 10. Click Next on the Welcome screen. 11. On the Computer screen, click New Computer. 12. In the Windows XP CD window, you can click the I Don't Need a Wizard Disk option, since you have already collected your settings from the old computer. However, if you had trouble using the Windows XP CD on the old computer, note here that you can create a wizard floppy disk to use instead, as you can see in the following illustration. 13. In the next window, choose the location of the files you are importing (disk, direct cable, network share, and so forth) Click Next. 14. The transfer takes place. Click Finish when the wizard is done. I think I may have unsigned digital files on my computer. Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected. Cause In order to make sure the files on your computer are safe and are from appropriate sources, Windows XP keeps track of the digital signature on the files. If you think you may have some unsigned files, or if you just want to check them to make sure they are signed, you can use the File Signature Verification utility. The Pain Killer To run the File Signature Verification utility, follow these steps: 1. Click Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | System Information. Tip You can also access System Information by clicking Start | Run and typing M sin f o32 and clicking OK. 2. In the System Information window, click Tools | File Signature Verification Utility. 3. Click the Start button to run the utility. N ote You can also click the Advanced button in order to scan a specific folder or configure logging options. You can explore these settings and see if you want to try them out. I am having problems with DirectX. Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected. Cause DirectX is a technology that governs how video and sound function on your computer with games and other multimedia applications. If you are having problems with DirectX functionality, you will need to check your Windows XP documentation to learn more about DirectX versions and possible troubleshooting information. However, there is also a DirectX Diagnostic tool that can be very helpful in diagnosing the problem. The Pain Killer To use the DirectX Diagnostic tool, follow these steps: 1. Click Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | System Information. 2. In the System Information window, click Tools | DirectX Diagnostic Tool. 3. The tool runs a check on your system, and then gives you a number of tabs that contain information and options about DirectX, as you can see in the following illustration. Browse through the tabs and look for any problems or suggestions in the Notes section of each one. System Restore does not work. Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected. Cause System Restore is a feature that enables you to return your computer to an earlier time in the event that something goes wrong and a new configuration causes a bunch of problems. System Restore periodically creates a system checkpoint. In the event that you need to restore your computer to an earlier time, the checkpoint is used to reconfigure your system and return it to a normal operating state. It is a very handy tool that should be available to you at all times. If System Restore does not seem to be working, you need to turn it on. The Pain Killer To turn on System Restore, follow these steps: 1. Click Start | Control Panel | System. 2. Click the System Restore tab, shown in the illustration to the right. Make sure the Turn Off check box is not selected. [...]... have upgraded or tried to install Windows XP on a computer with no operating system, there are some installation problems you may have run into As a general rule, Windows XP installation works well and is usually problem free In fact, the installation can often detect incompatibilities and stop itself before it is too late However, the main problems you are likely to have during installation are hardware... and 3 That's a lot of data for Windows XP to have to keep in RAM If you are using application 3, Windows XP may write the memory data for 1 and 2 onto your computer's hard disk until it is needed in order to free up more RAM When you need application 1 or 2 again, it will read that data from the hard disk back into memory So, Windows XP has to do a lot of reading and writing to the disk when a lot of... installation are hardware incompatibilities My computer stops responding during installation Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected Cause During the hardware detection phase of installation, Windows XP may stop responding due to hardware conflicts or problems This does not mean that you will not be able to install Windows XP; it just means that a conflict has occurred,... can help conserve RAM so that you can still use Windows XP Keep in mind that RAM, which is random access memory, enables your computer to run internal processes and applications More RAM means your computer can do more in a faster way Less RAM means that your system and applications must fight over what is available Still, there are a few things you can do to make sure Windows XP is conserving RAM and... Cause Windows XP Professional includes a Backup utility that can help you back up information on your computer You can store the backup job in a safe location, such as on a CD or network share In the event of a failure, you can use the backup job to restore data when the computer is functional again The Backup feature is not available on Windows XP Home Edition, but it is found in System Tools in Windows. .. files Normally, you should perform the Upgrade option instead of a clean installation, but if your older operating system (OS) has given you a lot of problems, the clean installation may help However, Windows XP is more likely to have hardware problems with older hardware and peripherals during a clean installation than with an upgrade The Pain Killer If you want to perform a clean installation, you... same error a second time, you need to contact technical support for help I want to perform a clean installation Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected Cause The Clean Installation option is available during an upgrade (when you run the installation CD) Essentially, the clean installation wipes away the old operating system, your applications, settings, and files... See Chapter 1 to learn more Chapter 17: Windows XP Migraine Headaches In this chapter, you'll cure… • • • Problems with installation Pains with system crashes and boot failures Problems with activation Ah, those migraine headaches If you have ever suffered a real migraine headache, as I have, you know how painful it can be and how much you desperately need relief I've titled this chapter 'Windows XP Migraine... from Windows 98 /Windows Me, but now my computer runs slowly Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected Cause Windows XP has stricter hardware requirements than Windows 98 and Windows Me For example, your 300 MHz processor with 64MB RAM may have worked fine under Windows 98 or Windows Me, but with Windows XP, this barely meets the hardware requirements Windows XP. .. place, go to Step 3 3 Restart the computer and choose the option to Cancel Windows XP Setup This will roll back the installation to Windows 98 or Windows Me Then, uninstall any antivirus or disk management programs, remove all USB devices and other external devices, and start Setup again 4 If there is no option to Cancel Windows XP Setup or if Setup hangs again, there is some kind of hardware incompatibility . needed in order to free up more RAM. When you need application 1 or 2 again, it will read that data from the hard disk back into memory. So, Windows XP has to do a lot of reading and writing to. and 3. That's a lot of data for Windows XP to have to keep in RAM. If you are using application 3, Windows XP may write the memory data for 1 and 2 onto your computer's hard disk until. laptops and Windows XP Windows XP, like all computer systems, can be affected by performance problems. In broad terms, 'performance problems& apos; simply means that Windows XP or some application