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With the introduction of Plug and Play and Microsoft Management Console (MMC), several functions and applications found in Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 9 x have been combined to create a versatile inspection tool for Windows 2003. The Computer Management tool (see Figure 19-4) gives you access to troubleshooting tools such as System Information and Device Manager. To open the Computer Management tool, choose Start Administrative Tools Computer Management.
Device Manager is a component borrowed from Windows 9 x (and is the tool that Windows NT users have been begging for). This nifty tool maintains a complete list of installed devices. After expanding the device-type headings in the right pane to reveal the list of individual devices, you can double-click any device to reveal a Properties dialog box. From these Properties dialog boxes, you can
Obtain device status
Launch troubleshooting help
Remove or replace drivers
Change configuration settings
After device-specific operational settings
From now on, you'll be able to reconfigure devices on the fly. And, in many cases, you don't even need to reboot for the changes to take effect.
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