Getting Under the Hood

Windows XP is rife with system management and administrative utility programsso many, in fact, that you can easily become overwhelmed by the number of tools and the multitudinous paths for reaching those tools. As writers who have pounded on Windows systems since the days of version 1.1, my co-author and I can easily report that the mandate of effectively discussing the administrator tools for Windows XP was a bit daunting, even to us.

If you're the kind of user who likes to pop the hood, see what's inside, and do a little tinkering, or if you're an administrator who has the job of managing computers in a corporation, this is the chapter for you. You'll want to read through the descriptions of the various tools covered here and learn a bit about how to use them.

So far, you've learned about the basic Control Panel utilities and many of the configuration and maintenance tools and applets. Dividing the tools into clearly delineated chapters was somewhat difficult, as many do not fall neatly into a category. The following is how it all shook out in the end:

• Chapter 23, "Tweaking the GUI," discusses most of the user environment alteration tools, most of which are display or formatting oriented Control Panel applets.

• Chapter 24, "Configuration via Control Panel Applets," discusses a majority of the Control Panel applets not already covered in Chapter 23.

• Chapter 25, "Maintaining and Optimizing System Performance," discusses a number of primarily hardware-related tools.

• This chapter discusses the balance of the computer management tools, some of which are very powerful, especially the Microsoft Management Console (MMC), which is a highly customizable toolbox you can build for your own sleuthing purposes. If you did not find a tool you were looking for by skimming the other chapters, it is likely here. See the "Microsoft Management Console (MMC)" section in this chapter or the Windows XP Resource Kit for more information on this tool interface.

If you're a Windows 9x or NT maven, some tools that you are likely familiar with in those interfaces have changed names and locations in Windows XP. But, if you are stepping over from Windows 2000, you'll find things reassuringly familiar. Most of the system-level control tools, with the exception of the System applet, are Microsoft Management Console (MMC) tools.

Table 27.1 describes each of the system management tools. With the exception of the Recovery tool (which is described in Chapter 29, "Managing the Hard Disk"), each of these tools is discussed later in this chapter.

Table 27.1. System Management Tools

Tool	Description
Task Manager	A tool for killing crashed applications, listing currently running processes, and checking system performance.
Computer Management	A subset of Microsoft Management Console, for extensive control of the local machine.
Windows Update	Online tool for ensuring your system is running the latest software additions and bug fixes.
Scheduled Tasks	A utility program for automating execution of programs.
File Signature Verification tool	A tool that prevents critical system files from being altered.
System File Checker	A command-line executable that verifies system file versions are aligned properly.
System Monitor	(a.k.a. Performance) A tool that creates a graphical and/or numeric display of essential system information, such as memory usage, status of the hard disk usage, CPU activity, and network traffic. This tool is discussed in Chapter 25, "Maintaining and Optimizing System Performance."
Event Viewer	A tool for viewing system-generated log files.
Recovery Console	A tool that attempts to recover a broken or otherwise nonbooting system. This tool is discussed in Chapter 29, "Managing the Hard Disk."
System applet	This applet offers access to controls for system name, network membership, hardware management, system restoration, automatic updates, working remotely, and more.
Local Security Policy	Defines Group Policy for the local system. This item is discussed in Chapter 21, "Network Security."
Services	Manages how services are launched within the XP environment.
System Tools	A section of the Start menu used to access several tools: Files and Settings Transfer Wizard, Backup, Disk Cleanup, Disk Defragmenter, System Restore, Activate Windows, and System Information.
System Information	This tool provides a detailed view into the configuration and status of the systems hardware and software.
Accessibility	This section of the Start menu contains tools for the visual and mobility impaired.

These tools are scattered throughout the Windows XP environment. To stick to some semblance of order, we will try to discuss these tools in the following order based on their location or execute/access point: Control Panel applets, Administrative Tools, Start menu items, and then Run command/Command Prompt utilities. However, most of these tools can be accessed through more than one of these means.