FAQ Windows XP

Q.. I have read various explanations regarding the maximum installed memory on Windows XP, but some appear to be conflicting each other. There are many motherboards that accept 4GB of ram now, but at the same time I have read that applications will only use 2GB of the 4GB. So, does installing 4GB smply a waste of money?

A.. Each process on a 32-bit system is limited to 2G of VM (parts of which are taken up by the executable, shared library mappings, etc). If you boot Windows with the /3G switch it will increase that limit to 3G but the OS has to be told that each executable is allowed to have that 3G, by default it's still a 2G/2G split even with the /3G switch.

Q.. My Windows XP Profesional Disc has a nice scratch on it. My freind let me borrow his WinXP Home disc, but he didn't give me the keycode.

I was wondering if i could use my WinXP Pro keycode with a XP Home instalation.

A.. NO

Q.. How can I install Win xp Pro on three computers in the same house hold without buying an additional xp pro? I've already installed xp on a computer that had Win 2000 and noted in the instructions that I could not installed the same xp pro onto another computer. I would like to get all my computers on the same operationg system.

A.. What it says, is what it means. Only one licensed copy per computer...No ifs, ands, or buts...You must purchase seperate copies for each computer. Hope this answers your question.

Q.. I am running norton internet security 2004 and have it's firewall enabled.

Is there any reason why I should have windows xp sp1 firewall enabled as well? (I was told that it's better to have both of them enabled for full protection?)

A.. It suggested that having both a third party software firewall and the ICF enabled is not a good thing and may lead to conflicts among the drivers used by the firewalls. I have also read that having two software firewalls enabled can slow throughput.

Q.. I have several win 2000 Pro machines with large hard drives. To make them recognise the hard drives and correctly create Fat 32 partions greater than (I think) 138Mb I have to download an Intel update.

Next week I am putting a 300Gb drive into an XP machine and plan to have just one partion on it.

A.. Windows xp artifically limits all SP1 partitions to 32GB or smaller. The reason is to force people to use NTFS which is ALOT better filesystem. I would highly recommend only using NTFS unless the partition needs to be read by a non NT based OS, like when dual booting when windows 9X or sometimes linux. That is the ONLY reason to still use such an antiquated filesystem.

If you still want to use FAT32, you must first install SP1 to get support for larger than 132GB, and then you must use another OS to make and partition the drive. You can download a win98 boot disk to accomplish this at www.bootdisk.com

Q.. Is there a way to get windows explorer to open to another drive or folder rather then my documents when opening it?

A.. If you right-click on the shortcut to Windows Explorer, and select "Properties", you can add the desired path to the command after explorer.exe, and it'll open to the new setting instead of My Documents.

Q.. How do make a cents sign manually?

A.. Go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Character Map.
Look for the ¢ sign, click on it to enlarge, click copy, then paste in your desired document.

Q.. A few weeks ago we got a new computer with Windows XP Professional and Office 2003. How can I check to make sure we have registered the software? I made a note that I did activate it. I want to be sure we are all registered so we get updates.

A.. Product activation (allows your product to run past the
trial period) is different from product registration (has you divulging your personal info to Microsoft) because activation is required and registration is optional. If you want to register Windows XP by providing your name, e-mail address, and other contact information, you can also choose to receive information about product updates and other special offers.

Q.. I run xp pro and have just installed a pci to USB 2 port controller. XP is installing drivers before I get a chance to load it from the cd which came with the device. How do I stop windows doing that?

A.. It's not necessary, just update the drivers using the CD.