This article is based on Windows XP after service pack 2 has been installed. When you install Windows XP, you will find the environment quite different than you were used to in Windows 2000 (for instance). You may feel a bit disoriented, and wish you could find and use things the way you used to. Well, you can. This document will give you information about how to change Windows XP to look and behave much like you expected from Windows 2000.

When you finish the installation you will be automatically logged on and have a display that looks something like this:

The new graphics format is pretty, and the icons are more elegant. However, you may not feel comfortable with how to find things you normally want to do. For instance, the Start Menu that appears when you press start is quite different, and you may be wishing for your favorite old icon Settings. Here's how we go about fixing this problem:1. Right click on the Start button. This brings up a little white pop-up menu with Open, Explore, Search and Properties above the line, and Open All Users and Explore All Users below the line.2. Select the Properties option. You will see the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties menu.

Select the Start Menu tab, and then select Classic Start menu. The start menu that was used for Windows 2000 will now appear. While we are here there are two other things we should define to be the way we want them:

Customize the Start Menu: This is where you come to add items to your start menu, and where you can clear the recently used documents list. The part that we are after this time is the Advanced Start Menu Options. I like to select Display Administrative Tools (makes Administrative Tools show up in the Programs menu), and Display Logoff. When you scroll down you will see that Use Personalized Menus is the default. That's the annoying feature of only showing you the fraction of the menu that the system thinks you might want. I always turn that feature off.

Taskbar properties: Next we will go to the Taskbar Properties menu. I like to Show the Clock; Auto-hide the Taskbar, and turn off Lock the Taskbar and Hide inactive icons.

When you select OK or Apply the changes will take effect. Now we see our good old familiar Start Menu.

To continue changing the look and feel select Settings - Control Panel. This isn't at all like we are used to, so let's select the Switch to Classic View. That's better, but still not quite right. Let's do something about the way that the contents of folders are displayed. Instead of icons or tiles, I prefer to see the details about window entries, and I do not like to see the extra menus on the left side. To fix that, first click on View and select Details. Then click on Tools and select Folder Options. In the Folder Options General menu select Use Windows classic folders. Under the View tab turn off Hide extensions for known file types and select Show hidden files and folders. I prefer to turn off the Hide protected operating system files option, but that is only a personal quirk, and probably has no value to most folks (other than an opportunity to get into trouble). When you select Apply and then Apply to All Folders, you will have Windows Classic folder views. Just to illustrate, right click on Start and select Explore. Note all the details are now displayed for each file and folder.

Next let's make our menus look more like the classical Windows view. Double click the Display icon in the Control Panel. You will see the Display Properties window. Select the Windows Classic Theme and click the Apply button. We are getting a lot closer, but there are still several more steps you probably will want to take to complete the conversion back to the Windows 2000 look and feel.

Let's pick up on one important feature- Windows Update. The Windows Update menu can be reached from the Control Panel two ways: the Security Center; or System. There are Automatic Update features that you will want to customize for your machine. Scroll down the Control Panels menu and double click on System. You will get the System Properties Menu. Select the Automatic Updates tab. Automatic is the default since SP 2. I prefer to have more control over when my laptop updates, so I choose Notify me before download and before installing. That way you will have control over when you want the updates to happen. You will be invited to install the updates and have the option to review before installation.

There are just a couple more things to be aware of and change. You probably took the defaults during installation of XP (or your machine came configured that way). That very likely means you do not have a logon challenge, and you are automatically logged on as the system administrator when you power on the machine. That's not exactly a secure situation. Go to Control Panel and double click on Administrative Tools (it's also under Programs on the Start Menu if you made the earlier changes). This is where you find lots of useful tools.

From here let's double click on Computer Management to get the window below.

When you double click on Local Users and Groups, and then on the Users folder you will get a display similar to below (you will not have the same local user-alw in this case). If you did not get a logon password challenge be sure to set the Administrator password here by right clicking on Administrator and choosing Set Password. This is also a good place to add a local user (probably yourself) by selecting the Action menu and then Add User. If the user you add will manage this machine, that user needs to belong to the administrators group. Also, if you add other people to use your machine, they probably should only belong to the users group.

Now let's go back to the Administrative Tools menu and double click on the Services item. You will get a long list of services that either are running or could be running on your computer as is shown below. Here is where you come to turn services on and off. In this case I've highlighted the Messenger service. Of late that is one that is being exploited to send people annoying and sometimes alarming unsolicited messages. This has nothing to do with Microsoft Messenger or AOL Instant Messenger. To turn a service like this off, right click on the service to get the menu shown below. To stop the service click on the Stop button, and to keep it from automatically starting again, change the Startup Type to Manual (or Disable). You can change these back later if you feel you need to.

Now let's fix the logon so it looks familiar. To do this, go to Control Panel and double click on User Accounts. You will get a window similar to belowÐnote that the Guest account is off. Select Change the way users log on or off to get the menu below. Turn off the Use the Welcome Screen option and the Use Fast User Switching option, and click the Apply Options button.

Now the logon greeting window will look like Windows 2000 and you will get the normal Windows Security window when you hit CTRL-ALT-DEL.

There is one more area where you will want to look carefully at what is going on. This is not different from Windows 2000, but bears remembering - the network connections properties. Go to the Start Menu, Settings and select Network Connections and double click on Local Area Connection. Select the Properties button. Note the Show icon in notifications area option-that is not the default, but I like to see the network icon in the taskbar to easily tell the status. Next select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and select the Properties button. Yours may have the Obtain an IP address automatically option selected. That is the system installation default. It is also referred to as DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol). If you should be using a fixed (static) address, check with your network administrator for the details to fill in and select Use the following IP address. When you select Use the following IP address, you must also fill in the addresses for your DNS servers. Sometimes you may even need to do that with DHCP. The best way to configure DNS is to select the Advanced button and then the DNS tab. Here we can type in DNS addresses, and control their order with the up and down arrows. You can also specify default DNS suffixes here. Be particularly careful to take note of the option at the bottom- Register this connection's addresses in DNS. That is turned on by default. Normally you would want that turned off- particularly if you have a static IP address. Check with your network administrator if you are not sure what to do here.

Now for one more option for networking- a personal firewall. One has always come with Windows XP, and it is turned on automatically after you installed Service Pack 2. That is a good thing. You may need to customize its settings, and there are several ways to get to that. One is through the Advanced tab in the Local Area Connections Properties menu, and through the Security Center or Windows Firewall options in your Control Panel (new with SP 2).

Turn on Remote Desktop by selecting the Allow users to connect remotely option (it is not the default). You can add users who are allowed to connect by clicking on the Select Remote Users button. Note that only one can connect at a time, and that the local screen will lock when a remote user connects. Before you add anyone, note that the local user (alw in this case) is already enabled. So, you probably do not have to add anyone. Of course, anyone you add needs to have an account on your system.

If you have Symantec Norton Antivirus installed (free for all Penn State students and faculty, so you should). You will notice that Windows XP warns you that you do not have antivirus protection, even though you do (and of course you run virus updates very regularly). There is a lengthy explanation and set of operations to make that go away on the Symantec web site (search on XP SP 2 WMI). If you prefer, you can just make it stop whining by going to the Security Center, Selecting Recommendations under Virus Protection, and then check the box beside I have an antivirus program that I'll monitor myself.

In the "One More Thing" category: if you just installed Office 2003, you probably are a little frustrated about making it do what you want and when. Here are a few things I've found:

• You have to activate the product with Microsoft or it will stop working after launching 50 times. So you need to connect once to let that happen. That is not the same as registering the product which is an additional extra step.


• You probably want to turn off the short menus feature that tries to show you what you most often use. That's under Tools / Customize / Options - select Always show full menus. While you are there you might as well select Show Standard and Formatting toolbars on two rows.


• Next you will want to get rid of the annoying startup pane that always appears by default on the right side. This is under Tools / Options / View - uncheck the Startup Task Pane. This does not take effect until you stop and start up office again.


• This next one is a little devious. To get rid of automatically connecting to the Internet when you ask for help: Select Help / Customer Feedback Options / Online Content and uncheck the Show content and links from Microsoft Office Online. This option also seems to curtail the habit of looking for clip art online instead of what you already have installed. You can still choose to search for more clips on the Internet to find more.


• Office seems to remember the long menus and Online Content between applications, but you will need to set the others for each application (Word, Excel, PowerPoint ...). The other slightly odd thing I noticed is that it wanted me to organize my clips (option at the bottom of the clip art search panel) before it would find my online clip art that was installed with Office.

That should help make Office a bit more usable.

Well, that's it for this round. All these things I suggested are not really necessary, but are ways that I prefer to use my Windows XP system. Your views may vary, and with all these options there are bound to be an infinite set of personal preferences.