Give XP the performance tools of Vista

Give XP the performance tools of Vista

By Scott Dunn Windows Vista has an all-in-one window for monitoring the health of your system and tweaking its performance — but what if you use XP, not Vista? With just a couple of downloads and a few drags and drops, you can add a Vista-like performance center to Windows XP.

Vista has a one-stop tune-up tool

Who doesn’t want a faster, healthier computer? Using diagnostic and maintenance tools can keep your system revved for maximum performance, but in many cases these tools are spread out all over your Start menu or hidden entirely.

Vista provides a partial solution by adding a Control Panel icon that’s chock full of system utilities. To access this icon in the Vista Control Panel, click the System and Maintenance category, and then launch the Performance Information and Tools icon. The resulting window provides links to a number of system-measurement and performance-tweaking utilities that provide one-stop tune-ups.

But what of XP? Fortunately, with just a little effort, you can create your own hive of performance tools in Windows XP — and even Windows 2000. Here’s what you do.

Assemble tool shortcuts in a new folder

Start by creating a folder that will hold your performance-tool shortcuts. If you want this folder to appear as a menu on the Start menu, right-click the Start button and choose Start, Open or Start, Open All Users. Navigate to the location you want for this folder, and then right-click a blank area and click New, Folder. Enter a name and press Enter.

In this folder, you’ll add shortcuts to tools that are the same as or equivalent to the utilities found in Vista’s Performance Information and Tools window. In some cases, doing this is a simple matter of using the right-mouse button to drag icons from the Start menu, drop them into your new folder window, and choosing Create Shortcuts Here.

In other cases, it’s easier to create a shortcut from scratch. To do this, right-click a blank spot in your new folder window, and then click New, Shortcut. Enter a command line like taskmgr.exe. Click Next, enter a name for your shortcut, and click Finish.

In a few cases, you’ll need to download some freeware equivalents to provide features that aren’t found in Windows XP or 2000. For example, the freeware program Fresh Diagnose is an approximation of Vista’s system health report. (Although the product is free, you do have to register it if you want to use the program for more than 11 days.)

Table 1 shows in the left-hand column the items that are found in Vista’s Performance Information and Tools control panel. This includes those that are only found under the advanced tools link, omitting one duplicate (visual effects). The right-hand column gives you links to the equivalents that will create your new performance center.

Table 1. Simulate the Performance Information and Tools feature of Vista by creating shortcuts in XP or 2000.

If you want to go Vista one better, you can of course add other shortcuts that you think will be useful. For example, if you like to tweak Windows services — for example, turning off unneeded services to save on memory — create a shortcut to services.msc. The Web site Black Viper has extensive info to guide advanced users in this process.

That’s all there is to it! Now anytime you need to look under Windows’ hood, just open your new folder (or your new item on your Start menu, if you created one) and select the tool you need. No more hunting all over your system for just the right tool.

Bonus Vista performance tip: Microsoft has released an update for Windows Vista that addresses a number of problems. Among other things, the update promises to improve performance, such as speeding up disk input/output by as much as 15%.

The patch will be distributed through Automatic Updates later this month. But if you want the benefits sooner, you can download the update now from Microsoft. Just see Knowledge Base article 943899.

Have a tip about Windows? Readers receive a gift certificate for a book, CD, or DVD of their choice for sending tips we print. Send us your tips via the Windows Secrets contact page.

Scott Dunn is associate editor of the Windows Secrets Newsletter. He has been a contributing editor of PC World since 1992 and currently writes for the magazine’s Here’s How section.

What, your cell phone doesn't do laundry?

First there was the simple phone call. Then came text messaging. Then we gained the ability to send e-mail, take photos, download music, surf the Internet, and get turn-by-turn driving directions. Now, this two-minute spoof gives us a look at the next generation of cell phones — and a true definition of the term multitasking! Play the video

How you can easily schedule complex tasks

By Fred Langa Once you know the trick, Task Scheduler can do just about anything but make the coffee. The key is using a means of program control that dates back to the ancient days of DOS: command-line parameters.

Answering a reader’s plea for scheduling help

Reader David Rhind appeals for assistance in handling more difficult scheduling tasks that require a little human intervention along the way:

• “Fred, in Part Six of your Housecall series, Schedule tasks without constant logons, you told us about using Task Scheduler [TS], but this remains a very gray area for many of us.

  I can see how to run a program using TS, but how about responding to input boxes once the program executes? For instance, when AdAware starts, you need to ‘Check for updates?’ or ‘Connect now.’ Then you have to click ‘Start.’

  If there is no user input, presumably the program just hangs, so how does TS manage to get past first base? Could you do an article on Task Manager using actual examples?”

Sure, David. Many programs can be made to run in a fully-automated way via Task Scheduler, but you should know up front that some cannot. The problem usually isn’t with Task Scheduler, but with the software itself.

Before we get into the exceptions to the rule, let’s first look at an example that does work. In it, we’ll use Task Scheduler to automate a very complex software operation that normally requires several user inputs. Once we’ve seen a successful best-case scenario, we’ll come back to your specific problem.

A real-world example using free software

For this real-life example, let’s pick a tool similar to the one you’re concerned with, and one that’s freely available, so that all the readers of this newsletter can follow along. We’ll use Spybot Search and Destroy. (For brevity, we’ll refer to this software as SS&D.) This is an extremely popular antispyware and antiadware tool, and it’s donationware, meaning that you don’t have to pay to use an uncrippled, fully featured copy. If you like the program and keep it, the author requests an entirely voluntary donation.

Normally, when you start SS&D, you’re brought to a graphical user interface, from which you can point and click your way to all of the software’s functions. But SS&D also offers “command line parameters” (sometimes called “software switches”) that can fully automate SS&D’s operations. These command line parameters are explained in SS&D’s help system.

Here’s how it works:

Let’s say you’ve installed SS&D on your system using the default settings. In that case, the executable will install itself into the Program Files folder. You can manually launch SS&D by typing the following command:

“C:Program FilesSpybot – Search & DestroySpybotSD.exe”

(including the quote marks) into the Start/Run box or into a command window. (As I’m sure you already know, you can open a command window by typing cmd into the Start/Run box. A DOS-like window will open, and you can then manually enter commands by typing them, one to a line.)

The above command brings up the program normally, just as if you’d clicked the icon. But command-line launching offers much more flexibility, and that’s where “command-line parameters” or “switches” come to play.

Now, add some complexity to your commands

For example, try typing (or cutting and pasting) the following line into the Start/Run box, or into a command window:

“C:Program FilesSpybot – Search & DestroySpybotSD.exe” /autoupdate /autocheck /autofix /autoimmunize /autoclose

All of the above must be entered as one long line, even if the line has word-wrapped to two or more lines on your screen. Type the quote marks as shown, and make sure there’s a blank space before every forward slash.

The above commands cause SS&D to launch itself. But instead of sitting there waiting for user input, it immediately begins acting on the additional parameters you’ve entered:

• /autoupdate tells the software to go online and look for any new definitions or updates, and to download and install them if they’re found;

• /autocheck tells the software to run a full check (a scan) of your system for malware;

• /autofix tells it to repair any problems it finds;

• /autoimmunize tells the software to “immunize” your system against future infestations of known malware; and

• /autoclose tells it to shut itself down when it’s done.

In short, the above command line tells SS&D to perform the same tasks you’d probably do yourself manually if you invoked the program by clicking on its icon. But the command-line method does it all completely automatically.

It’s a cinch to add these extra command-line parameters in Task Scheduler. You start by setting up a Scheduled Task in the normal way. If you need a refresher, Microsoft Knowledge Base articles 308569 (How To Schedule Tasks in Windows XP) and 939039 (Description of the Scheduled Tasks in Windows Vista) will get you going.

If you run into trouble, the Knowledge Base’s information on Scheduled Task problems will likely help.

Automating a more difficult Scheduled Task

In Task Scheduler’s “Run” box (see Figure 1), enter the command to launch the software normally, plus any extra parameters or switches you wish.

Figure 1. Edit the Task Scheduler’s “Run” input-box text as needed to add the command-line parameters you want.

Using our SS&D example, you’d enter exactly the same command as before:

“C:Program FilesSpybot – Search & DestroySpybotSD.exe” /autoupdate /autocheck /autofix /autoimmunize /autoclose

Again, this must be entered as one long line, even if the command word-wraps here.

When SS&D runs via the Task Scheduler, the command line parameters will come into play and fully automate SS&D’s operation.

You can test its operation by right-clicking on the newly-created Scheduled Task, and then selecting Run. In fact, testing your tasks in this way is a good idea in every case, as the tests will insure that everything will work when the task runs automatically.

In a nutshell, that’s how you automate software that usually requires user input to run. You use command-line parameters (“switches”) to pre-enter the information the software needs to know.

The catch is that the software must allow for command-line input, and some programs do not. That brings us back to David’s specific problem. The free and “plus” versions of AdAware simply don’t allow for this kind of automation. What AdAware calls “advanced command line support” is available only in the $40 pro version.

If you buy that version, then the command-line example above will help you get AdAware automated. AdAware’s help file lists all of its available command-line parameters. Search the help file for the word “command” and you’ll be off and running.

Fred Langa is editor-at-large of the Windows Secrets Newsletter. He was editor of Byte Magazine (1987 to 1991) and editorial director of CMP Media (1991 to 1996), overseeing Windows Magazine and others. He edited the LangaList e-mail newsletter from 1997 to 2006, when it merged with Windows Secrets.

Make Windows XP portable and take it with you

By Mark Edwards Portable applications are very handy, because you can copy them onto a USB storage device and use them on whatever PC may be handy. This week, I’ll tell you about a free tool that lets you to turn Windows XP into a portable operating system.

MojoPac puts Windows XP on a thumb drive

I recently came across an extremely cool tool that apparently has been around a while but, for whatever reason, I hadn’t become aware of it. The tool, MojoPac, makes Windows XP completely portable. This means you can run the operating system from a thumb drive or nearly any other USB storage device!

The way it works is fairly simple: You connect your storage device to a PC, download MojoPac onto the device, launch MojoPac, and walk through a simple configuration process. (Ideally, your device will behave like a fast, external hard drive — many iPods fit the bill. Also, the computer you use must be able to boot from whichever USB port you may employ.) You can then copy into MojoPac any applications you want to include on your portable XP desktop.

From that point on, when you connect your drive to a PC, MojoPac runs Windows XP as a standalone operating system that doesn’t affect the computer’s OS. Even better, you’ll be able to switch back and forth between the instance of XP that’s running via MojoPac and the copy of Windows that’s installed on the computer you’re physically using.

To get a close look at MojoPac in action, head over to the MojoPac Web site and view the demonstration videos. If you already know about MojoPac, perhaps what you dodn’t know is that RingCube Technologies (the Santa Clara-based company that created the tool) released on Oct. 2 a free version of MojoPac, called MojoPac Freedom. So go get a copy and try it out!

RealPlayer 11 is vulnerable to silent attack

On Jan. 1, the Russian security-research group Immunity Inc. told the world that RealPlayer 11 is vulnerable to a serious attack. The vulnerability could let a bad guy run code of his choice on your computer.

As far as I know, there aren’t any exploits floating around yet, which is a bit of a relief. However, there also isn’t an update available from Real Networks at this time to address the problem.

I consider this threat to be serious enough that you shouldn’t use RealPlayer until a patch is released. Your best defense is to completely uninstall the player, using the Add/Remove Software control panel. Otherwise, you might inadvertently visit a Web site that launches an exploit by simply invoking RealPlayer’s vulnerable code.

More information is available in a Jan. 7 analysis by Vnunet, although little technical detail is known about the flaw at this point.

Time to upgrade your PHP 4.x installations

If you or your Web server are using the programming language PHP 4.x, it’s time to upgrade. On Jan. 3, the developers of PHP released version 4.4.8, which corrects a number of vulnerabilities.

What you need to know is that official support for PHP 4.x ended on Dec. 31, 2007, so the 4.4.8 release will be the last update for the 4.x generation of PHP. Therefore, it would actually be best for you to upgrade to PHP 5.2.5 as soon as possible.

If you can’t upgrade soon, don’t worry too much about it. The developers say they’ll release security fixes for PHP 4.4 up until August 8, 2008, if a security situation arises that warrants it. However, there will be no other types of updates made for the PHP 4.x branch.

Watch for Firefox 3.0 on the horizon

Firefox 3.0 development is well underway. While the official release date has not been set, the new browser is in its Beta 3 preview phase of testing. So we can probably expect the official release in the not too distant future.

Meanwhile, you can review a list of all the expected new features in Firefox 3.0 over at Mozilla’s site. They’re outlined in the Product Requirements document, where you’ll also see which features are complete, which have been cut, and which are at risk of not being included.

To get a look at some of the aspects of the new interface changes, read Alex Faaborg’s blog. He’s working on the user interface for Firefox 3 and has a bunch of screenshots that show various dialogs and icons, all of which I think you’ll find interesting.

If you want to test-drive Firefox 3 Beta 3 Preview now, you can download the latest nightly builds for Windows, Linux, and OS X at Mozilla’s FTP site.

You can also follow the latest achievements for nightly builds. This particular information isn’t for laypeople, but if you’re technically inclined, have a look at the Burning Edge blog.

There’s also a set of wiki pages for Firefox 3, with links to other useful information, such as notes from frequent status meetings, development plans, and more.

Finally, if you’re among those who develop custom applications, themes, and plug-ins (add-ons) for Firefox — or you want to get a head start on adapting your Web sites to take advantage of new features in Firefox 3 — head over to the Mozilla developer’s center, where you’ll find a ton of helpful information.

Mark Joseph Edwards is a senior contributing editor of Windows IT Pro Magazine and regularly writes for its Security Matters blog. He’s a network engineer, freelance writer, and the author of Internet Security with Windows NT.

Vista gears up for its first service pack

By Susan Bradley Microsoft’s Vista team is getting ready to release Service Pack 1, but a few “pre-SP1” bumps were hit along the way this week that negatively affected Home Premium users. Those problems have been swatted by now, but there are still several other issues that relate to Vista and XP updates.

935509
‘Pre-SP1’ BitLocker patch incorrectly installed

The Vista team released on Jan. 8 the first of the “pre-SP1” patches that are being prepared in anticipation of Service Pack 1, which should be released within a few more weeks.

This month’s Patch Tuesday pre-SP1 update is intended to upgrade the version of BitLocker, Microsoft’s drive-encryption scheme in Vista Enterprise and Vista Ultimate, before SP1 comes out. Because BitLocker is only available in those two high-end SKUs, the Vista team blog stated on Jan. 7 that the pre-SP1 update was to be deployed only to those two versions of Vista.

For a few hours on Jan. 8, however, Vista Home Premium machines — which aren’t able to use Bitlocker — received via Automatic Updates patch 935509, which is described in Knowledge Base article 935509.

The Microsoft Update blog acknowledged on Jan. 9 that Home Premium customers were incorrectly getting the update. Microsoft staff indicated that the install wouldn’t harm the systems that inadvertently got it, but it was certainly confusing for many people to see a BitLocker download.

To minimize the amount of rebooting that will be required when SP1 for Vista is installed, Microsoft made the decision to prerelease on consecutive monthly Patch Tuesdays some patches that mandate reboots. Here’s hoping that next month’s “Reboot Tuesday” on Feb. 12, assuming it’s prior to the release of SP1, will be a bit smoother.

MS08-001 (941644)
TCP/IP earns a patch at its 25-year anniversary

It’s a bit ironic that one of the very first patches of 2008 is patching something that’s 25 years old.

MS08-001 (941644), patches TCP/IP, the foundational “glue” of the Internet, on your Windows workstation. In this case, while the patch corrects what Microsoft rates as a “critical” issue, the probability is very good that your other security devices are already protecting you from this flaw.

For example, I found one Linksys firewall that enables the setting Filter Multicast Traffic. Having the Linksys set to “enable” actually disables the transmission of the multicast traffic that is sometimes sent out by Internet service providers (and can be a security risk).

As shown in Figure 1, this is an easy checkbox to change in your Linksys router, if it’s not already set that way:

Figure 1. Linksys routers allow packets called “multicast traffic” to be filtered out.

Many people have found that disabling multicast traffic aids the interactions between Xboxes and PCs. This is attested to by various threads in the Linksys forums.

If you can’t apply MS08-001 right away, at least take a quick moment to check this setting on your external firewall routers.

MS08-002 (943485)
Network admins need authentication patch asap

MS08-002 (943485) is the second and last official security patch for the month of January. It updates a process called LSASS (Local Security Authority Subsystem Service).

LSASS is quite a mouthful for a process that you do every day on your computer. When you log on, a Windows process is spawned that authenticates users to the system.

This process has a weakness, which allows someone with low privileges to log on with higher privileges. This patch is a low priority this month for most users of standalone PCs.

For administrators of a network environment, or where a shared desktop experience (such as Terminal Services) is employed, however, this is a high-priority patch.

Vista workstations are not impacted by this patch. It only affects Windows 2000, XP, and 2003.

943302
Vista gets more compatibility with IE 7

I was scratching my head a bit over patch 943302. It’s a cumulative application compatibiity update that improves support in Windows Vista for Adobe Acrobat 7, WinAntivirus Pro, Webroot SpySweeper, Omniquad Total Security, and Internet Explorer 7. Yes, you read that right — compatibility with IE 7.

I haven’t noticed Vista being incompatible with Internet Explorer 7. Regardless of that, 943302 is a patch that installed without issue on my systems.

Figure 2. Patch 943302, shown in the fifth row, is a recommended but not required update that improves Vista’s compatibility with IE 7 and several other apps.

As you can see from the unchecked items in the last two rows of Figure 2, I’m continuing my practice of not installing drivers via Windows Update. I still recommend, even if you use Vista, that you locate the latest drivers on the manufacturers’ sites and install those versions, instead of using WU. This seems to avoid problems that have been reported to me from time to time.

943899
Vista gets new performance and reliability patch

The end-of-the-year pundits have been talking about the failure of Vista to dominate the market, as XP did. But, with all of the patching that we’ve been doing over the last few months, those of us who converted early on to Vista have been receiving on a regular basis the benefits of such performance patches as this week’s 943899.

These updates have made a difference. Containing another bundle of application and performance updates, patch 943899 addresses some issues with hibernation and the copying of files. Microsoft’s Knowledge Base article states that you should expect to see up to a 15% increase in performance improvement when copying large files in Vista.

For many people, Vista has gratifyingly lost some of its roughness since about mid year. Service Pack 1, which will incoporate patch 943899, appears to confirm the wags’ predictions that the kinks of Vista would be ironed out when SP1 is released.

943411
Patch offers protection against bad gadgets

It’s always recommended to be wary of running code from unknown sources. If you download and OK something bad, all of Vista’s new permission changes and User Account Control settings won’t protect you from bad code that’s out to get you.

Patch 943411 ensures that malicious Vista programs called “gadgets” can be marked as malicious. As such, they can then be blocked from systems, should the need arise.

I have a few gadgets on my toolbar, mostly for RSS feeds and buttons to shut down Vista easily. More Vista gadgets can be found online at Microsoft’s Vista Gadget Gallery.

Always remain alert when you’re downloading anything from the Web — especially when it’s a free download that sounds too good to be true.

Office 2003 SP3 gains official old-format fix

In my special, year-end column in a news update on Dec. 28, I wrote that Office 2003 SP3 was blocking users from opening some older file format versions. I offered a Registry script that unblocks these formats, allowing people to reopen their old files.

Microsoft has now done the same thing in an official manner. David LeBlanc, a Microsoft engineer who specializes in Office security issues, writes in his blog about clarifications made to the relevant Knowledge Base article, and official Registy keys that can be downloaded to activate the file formats you need.

The original documentation of these fixes was in a KB article that was cryptic and hard to understand. I applaud Microsoft for making these solutions easier to implement for consumers.

Firewalls can wreak havok after patching

I’m getting more and more convinced that the best success in patching is for you to use the native Windows Firewall, either the one in Vista or XP, and then have an external hardware router between you and the Internet. I’m seeing more and more issues on Patch Tuesday that are due to software firewalls.

Comodo firewall users are recommending in a newsgroup post to watch out for patching issues when using Comodo’s firewall with Windows Vista.

In another case, ZoneAlarm recently interfered with an end user who experienced printing issues after installing December’s Internet Explorer patch. ZoneAlarm’s settings needed to be changed to allow Web-based printing to occur. The resolution of this issue is documented on ZoneAlarm’s forum in a specific thread.

The moral of the story is this: don’t always assume that a new problem is the fault of a patch. It could very well be caused by your security suite. This software is tasked with protecting you, but that very fact can be the cause of some maddening conflicts.

The Patch Watch column reveals problems with patches for Windows and major Windows applications. Susan Bradley recently received an MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award from Microsoft for her knowledge in the areas of Small Business Server and network security. She’s also a partner in a California CPA firm.