System Tools

The System Tools section of the Start menu (All Programs, Accessories, System Tools) includes several interesting tools. Most of these are discussed in other chapters (such as Chapter 28, "Managing Users" [Files and Settings Transfer Wizard], and Chapter 29, "Managing the Hard Disk" [Backup, Disk Cleanup, Disk Defragmenter, and System Restore]). But, two tools from this menu are discussed in the following sections: Activate Windows and System Information.

Activate Windows

You might recall from Chapter 3, I discussed the issue of Windows activation. If you failed to activate your system during installation, for whatever reason, you can use this tool to activate Windows XP. Keep in mind that you have 30 days to activate your system after the installation before it will no longer function. Also remember that if you try to activate the same copy of Windows XP on multiple computers, Microsoft's storm troopers may come a knockin' at your e-door.

Just be sure to have Internet access when you start this tool if you want to activate online. You can also activate over the phone. This wizard will walk you through the simple but necessary process of activating Windows XP. It will even provide you with the phone number to call if you don't have Internet access for online activation.

System Information

System Information is a simple but elegant tool. Opening this tool reveals a complex hierarchy of four folders, which in turn lead to a zillion lower folders containing an exact blueprint of your system, hardware, system components, and software environment. (You might have additional nodes in your system because some software you install may add nodes of their own.)

This tool is the first place I go whenever I have to install new hardware, especially when it's a legacy device that requires manual configuration of its system resources. Even for PnP devices, you may discover that they are not infinitely configurable. Instead, many devices have only three or four system resource combination sets (these include IRQ, memory address space, I/O, DMA, and so on). If your system does not have available resources to match one of these sets, the device will not function. If a device is limited to certain configuration sets, this will be detailed in the user manual and will appear as options on the Resource tab of the device's Properties dialog box.

The top level, labeled "System Summary," shows you basic information about your computer, operating system revision number, CPU, RAM, virtual memory, pagefile size, BIOS revision, and so on (see Figure 27.15).

Figure 27.15. See a summary of your system properties easily from the System Summary node.

Four nodes appear in the right pane of this figure:

• Hardware Resources displays hardware-specific settings, such as DMA, IRQs, I/O addresses, and memory addresses. The Conflicts/Sharing node identifies devices that are sharing resources or are in conflict. This information can help you identify problems with a device. Some IRQs can be shared between devices successfully.

• The Components node provides a truly powerful view of all the major devices in your system. Open any subfolder and click an item. In a few seconds, information pertaining to the item is displayed, such as drive IDs, modem settings, and video display settings. In some cases, you can also see driver details. Check the folder called Problem Devices to see a list of all devices not loading or initializing properly.

• The Software Environment node is like a super Task Manager. It displays details of 12 categories of software settings. You can see the system drivers, certified drivers, environmental variables, print jobs, network connections, running tasks, loaded modules, services, program groups, startup programs, OLE registration, and Windows error reporting.

TIP

Ever wonder why some darned program starts up when you boot, even though it's not in your Startup group? It's probably hiding the Software Environment, Startup Programs folder. Travel down the path from System Information, Software Environment, Startup Programs, and take a look. I just checked mine and found RealTray and RealJukeboxSystray there. Hey, I don't want these things slowing down my bootup process. Office Startup is there, too. Unfortunately, you can't remove these startup utilities by right-clicking and choosing Delete. You have to use their related Setup programs. For example, to disable RealJukeboxSystray, I had to right-click its icon in the system tray and choose Disable Start Center.

There also is a helpful tool within Help and Support that can be used to enable or disable startup items. It's called the System Configuration Utility. To get to it, open Help and Support, click Use Tools to View Your Computer Information and Diagnose Problems under the Pick a Task section, scroll down in the Tools menu, and then click System Configuration Utility. Then click Open System Configuration Utility in the right pane, and then select the Startup tab.