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Softpanorama
(slightly skeptical)
Open Source Software Educational Society |
May the
source be with you,
but remember the KISS principle ;-)
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Slightly Skeptical View on Scripting in Windows
The unique strength of Windows is that
it uses the same language for both application scripting (VBA) and OS scripting
(wsh)
Monad shell (msh) is the codename for the next generation
Windows command shell (also known as Microsoft Shell). It includes many concepts
from traditional UNIX shells such as bash and ksh, delivers rich scripting support
challenging languages like Perl and Python and is built on the .NET Framework as
a fully object-oriented system.
Notes:
- Those pages are written by people for whom English is not a
native language. Some amount of grammar and spelling errors
should be expected.
- This is a Spartan WHYFF (We Help You For Free) site. It
cannot replace the best teachers and
the
best books.
- The site contain some obsolete pages as it develops like a
living tree... Some links on older pages
are broken. Please
try to use Google, Open directory, etc. to find a replacement link
(see
HOWTO search the WEB for details).
We would appreciate if you can
mail us a correct link.
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A useful Firefox plug-in
CoScripter is a system for recording,
automating, and sharing processes performed in a
web browser such as printing photos online,
requesting a vacation hold for postal mail, or
checking flight arrival times. Instructions for
processes are recorded and stored in
easy-to-read text here on the CoScripter web
site, so anyone can make use of them. If you are
having trouble with a web-based process, check
to see if someone has written a CoScript for it!
[Aug 9, 2005]
Microsoft No Monad scripting in first Windows Vista - Computerworld removed
from client, but will survive on the server: "On
the operating system side of things, Monad is then expected to be included in Windows
Server Longhorn, expected in 2007"
Just one day after the first public reports of viruses
being written for an upcoming feature of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating
system (see
"First Windows Vista viruses unleashed"), the company said it will not include
the feature in the first generally available release of Microsoft Vista, due
out in the second half of 2006.
The feature, called the Monad Shell, provides
a way for users to access the operating system using text-based commands rather
than the traditional Windows graphical user interface. In the past, Microsoft
has said that Monad will be part of Longhorn, the code name for both the next
client and server versions of Windows.
In an interview Friday, Microsoft director of
product management Eric Berg said Monad will not be included in the first commercial
version of Windows Vista when it is released. But the product is expected to
be included in Windows over the next "three to five years," he said. "Our intention
is to synchronize it with both client and server operating systems."
Security experts had worried that if Monad were
included in a widely used client, it might become an attractive target for hackers
-- especially if the shell were enabled by default.
Whether it will be enabled by default is unclear.
"There are multiple ways that we could introduce this technology to the client
stream," Berg said.
The first Microsoft product to use Monad will
be the next release of Microsoft's Exchange messaging server, code-named Exchange
12, which is also due in 2006, Berg said.
On the operating system side of things,
Monad is then expected to be included in Windows Server Longhorn, expected in
2007, and could be available in a future Windows Vista release, said
Rob Helm, director of research at Directions on Microsoft Inc. "Presumably,
as time goes on, all of Microsoft's products will have Monad scripting interfaces,"
he said.
AnandTech - Performance-oriented Windows tweaking In most cases deviating from
the Windows defaults is simply not necessary or worthwhile.
Black Viper (amongst others) runs
a Windows tweaks page offers many changes and customizations that users can
make to MS Windows in the name of greater performance. BV recommends that many
active-by-default Windows services be set to manual activation or disabled altogether,
to save on memory useage and CPU cycles.
I have taken three systems with clean installs of Windows XP and reviewed these
tweaks. Well, the third isn't really a clean install, it has a bunch of software
running which any typical user would run e.g. firewall, antivirus, speedfan,
etc. The first two are lower-end systems that should theoretically benefit most
from this treatment, neither has the prefix “giga” in either its CPU speed or
RAM capacity. The last one is a modern system (at the time of writing, anyway).
Display
a description of the computer in Network Neighborhood (Windows 2000) at Registry
Guide for Windows
Display a description of the computer in Network
Neighborhood (Windows 2000)
This tweak allows you to add a description of the computer for display in Network
Neighborhood.
This tweak can be easily applied
using WinGuides Tweak Manager.
Download a free trial
now! | Open your
registry
and find or create the key below.
Create a new String value, or modify the existing
value, called "srvcomment" and set it according to the value data below.
Exit your registry, you may need to restart or
log out of Windows for the change to take effect.
Scripting Guide for Windows
Welcome to the MSDN Library
MSN
Windows-Script
group
Windows Scripting
and Batch Programing Resources
Monad
Shell (MSH)
Tweaking
Changing Windows XP settings should be done very carefully. Tweaking
windows is probably more about getting right set of application and scripts and
avoiding overloading the system with too many "greedy" applications then about Registry
changes. Run disk defragmenter, disk cleanup and registry cleanup. Do not install
unnecessary of "bloated" software. Delete applications that you do not need.
OS & Software
tweaking - TechSpot
Beginners Guides 101 Tips and Tweaks for Windows - PCStats.com
Doug's Windows 95-98-Me-XP Tweaks
and Tips
Tips on speeding up Windows XP
faq779-4784 Posted: 28 Jan 04 (Edited 29 Jan 04) I found it quite
strange of all the threads that have been started about this topic, that nobody
has written an FAQ on the subject, so I will try and put one together.
Please note: I take absolutely no credit for this as these ideas are suggestions
from people who have much more knowledge than I. I will make a reference when
I use somebody elses idea.
1. First thing to do is check out this website, it has a full list of programs
that start up automatically when Windows XP boots and then tells you, depending
on the type of machine you want, which are safe to turn off and what other programs
rely on these services. I printed it off and made the changes to my computer
and it was great.
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/service411.htm
2. cdogg suggests using a program called bootvis which can be downloaded
here:
http://www.softpedia.com/public/cat/12/2/12-2-1.shtml
bcastner also has an FAQ that deals with this problem, I just ran it on my computer
and I cannot begin to describe the difference it makes on booting up time.
My computer went from booting in about 45 seconds to booting in 20 seconds, let
me tell you I was thoroughly amazed at the difference.
http://www.tek-tips.com/faqs.cfm?spid=779&sfid=4518
3. This excerpt was put together by linney and I think it is an excellent
group of website, it was taken from the thread below:
Thread779-747135
Computer Speed and Performance May Decrease (Q310419)
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q310/4...
HOW TO: Set Performance Options (Q308417)
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q308/4...
819017 - Long Delay Before Files Appear in My Computer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us...
819101 - Temporary Decline in Performance Occurs When You Right-Click a File or
Folder in Windows Explorer
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us...
Spybot
http://security.kolla.de/
Ad-aware
www.lavasoft.nu
The last two will check your computer for spyware and adware, these are various
things that find their way onto your hard drive from websites you viste that give
you messages and can slow your computer down alot.
4. Another thing to do is search your computer for temporary files and folders
and delete them. Go to search and look in all files and folder and search
for *.tmp files. Also in IE under tools --> internet options there is a button
you can push to delete all those wonderful cookies that accumulate when going to
different websites.
5. One thing to note is that if you have anti-virus software and firewalls
such as Norton, Mcfee, etc., these programs are running continuosly in the background
and can contribute to slowing down your machine, but as long as you have a decent
amount of RAM (most recommend no less than 256 Mb as the min, 512 Mb is just great),
this shouldn't be much of an issue.
6. The issue of virtual memory has come up many times before. I won't
go into details explaining what virtual memory is, it is basically using your hard
drive to simulate RAM for your computer, a more detailed definition can be found
here.
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/virtual-memory1.htm
There has been much debate on whether increasing virtual memory really increases
the speed of your computer, personally I think it does and so I will tell you how
to change it and you can read this article because it makes a pretty good argument:
http://www.virtualkingdoms.com/?hop=112lars
The default size for Windows XP virtual memory is 1.5 times the amount of RAM you
have, so if you have 256 Mb then VM = 1.5*256 = 384 Mb etc. Here's how to
change it.
Control panel -> system -> advanced tag -> settings button under performance ->
advanced tag -> go down to virtual memory and click on the button change.
From here just click on the drive that you want (the one with you OS on it) and
it will give you an initial size (name 1.5*RAM on your computer) and a maximum size,
change it to something you want and your off.
7. My final suggestions are pretty standard ones, run disk defragmenter and
disk cleanup. To run these go to my computer and right click on the drive
that you want (like C: or D:) and look under properites and they are both there.
Personally I use Norton to do my cleaning, there Cleansweep program is much better
than disk cleanup, but that is just my opinion.
Again, I take no credit for these ideas as they are just merely ones I found from
reading through various forms and I would like to thank cdogg, linney, and bcastner
because most of the ideas belong to them.
TweakXP.com - Disable XP Boot
Logo
It is possible to disable
XP splash screen, which will slightly speed up the overall boot
process. Be aware that removing the splash screen will also cause you not to
see any boot-up messages that might come up (chkdsk, convert ... ), but if your
system runs without any problems then it should not matter.
1. Edit boot.ini
2. Add " /noguiboot" right after "/fastdetect".(or check the /noguiboot switch
in msconfig on the boot.ini tab)
Upon restarting, the splash screen will be gone. It can be re-enabled by removing
the new switch.
TweakXP.com - Disable unnecessary
services to free system resources
A good listing of services, what they do and suggestions for which ones can be disabled
can be found at: http://www.dead-eye.net/WinXP%20Services.htm
TweakXP.com - Intel Application
Accelerator - speed up disk access
It would be great to download drivers that sped up your hard-disk
access by 10's of percent wouldn't it? Well perhaps you can,
Intel has made their
Application Accelerator (IAA) available since last September.
It reduces storage sub-system bottlenecks apparently. If you
have a compatible
Intel chipset (810 to 860) and a Pentium Celeron, III ,
4 or
Xeon chip then get on down to :
http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/iaa
Read through everything before you start downloading and installing.
You may need to pre-install the Intel
Chipset Software Installation Utility if you have XP running
on a 830 or 845 chipset. Intel also provide a chipset identification
utility if your unsure of what you have - it's linked from the
same page.
Intel claim very significant increases in boot times and application
speed. On a personal note, on my P4 2GHz, applications do start
a lot faster. I suggest you do some benchmarking first (a stopwatch
is an easy way to measure boot time). I would be interested
in results people have had. This also works for 98SE,ME,NT4
and 2000.NOTE: IAA works well for most, but not all. Judge
for youself. It's easy enough to uninstall if you don't like
it.
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TweakVista.com - Microsoft
unveils Freeze Dry for Windows Vista
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Microsoft unveils Freeze Dry for Windows Vista Posted 9/1/2005 by Steve Sinchak
Windows Vista will include a new
technology known as Freeze Dry designed to maintain
application states and unsaved documents even when
patches are automatically applied and PCs are rebooted.
Speaking at the Australian Tech Ed conference on the Gold Coast in
Queensland this week, senior product manager Amy Stephan offered a preview
of the Freeze Dry technology.
Many
IT managers plan to automatically install patches and updates on
machines during periods when they are inactive, such as overnight or
on weekends. However, as some patches require machines to reboot, users
who leave documents open and unsaved run the risk of losing that data
if the machine is automatically updated.
Freeze Dry eliminates that problem by automatically saving application
state and documents and then restoring them once the system restarts,
Stephan said. Read Full Story at
ZDNet
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TweakXP.com - Windows XP Shared
Computer Toolkit
Windows XP Shared Computer Toolkit
Posted 7/6/2005 by Steve Sinchak
Microsoft created the Shared
Computer Toolkit to help make shared
computers more reliable and less time-consuming to maintain. Unlike
personal computers, shared computers are:
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Used by many different people who generally don't know or trust
each other |
| • |
Used in public places where personal
privacy and security are big concerns |
| • |
Subjected to greater wear and tear due to their frequent use and
public availability |
The Shared Computer Toolkit is ideal for computers in schools, public libraries,
community technology centers, and Internet cafés. It allows those who manage
shared computers in these environments to easily:
| • |
Restrict untrusted users from accessing
system settings and data. |
| • |
Defend shared computers from unauthorized changes to their hard
disks. |
| • |
Enhance the user experience on shared computers. |
Restrict untrusted users from system settingsShared computer users can't always be trusted—they are often anonymous,
and sometimes mischievous. The
Windows Restrictions tool makes it easy to create restricted local
user profiles so users have limited access to Windows system utilities,
files, and data. You can prevent user access to Control Panel, the command
prompt, any drive on the computer, the Registry Editor, and many other
system utilities. You can also prevent users from running unauthorized
software on a shared computer.The Windows Restrictions tool is best suited for workgroup environments
in which users share accounts and passwords, and where Active Directory
is not present.
The Windows Restrictions tool lets you:
| • |
Restrict access to Windows system utilities |
| • |
Prohibit access to important data |
| • |
Prevent users from running unauthorized software |
| • |
Simplify the Start menu |
Defend shared computers from unauthorized changes to the hard diskUnauthorized changes to a hard disk can make shared computers less reliable.
Windows Disk Protection helps to prevent users, viruses, spyware, or
other programs from making permanent changes to the hard disk by clearing
changes each time the computer restarts.Because certain changes, such as critical updates and antivirus signatures,
need to be permanently saved, Windows Disk Protection allows you to
schedule such changes to occur automatically at whatever time you choose.
The Windows Disk Protection tool:
| • |
Helps protect operating system files |
| • |
Clears changes when the computer restarts |
| • |
Automates critical and antivirus updates |
| • |
Lets you choose to save changes to disk |
Enhance the user experienceUsers generally prefer a consistent, familiar, and private shared computer
experience. The toolkit helps shared computer operators create an interface
that will not confuse or distract users with unnecessary programs or
options.The toolkit also helps to protect user privacy by refreshing the desktop,
user settings, and user data each time a new user logs on. Plus, it
consolidates several accessibility features into one user interface,
so users can more easily access the features they regularly use. For
users who are new to computers, the toolkit also provides a variety
of suitable online learning resources.
The Windows Accessibility tool lets users:
| • |
View and control all accessibility features from one place |
| • |
Easily enable or disable wanted accessibility features |
Click Here to
download the beta toolkit.
TweakXP.com - New Powertoy
SyncToy
Now there is an easier way. SyncToy is a free PowerToy for
Microsoft Windows XP that provides an easy to use, highly customizable program
to help copy, move, and synchronize different directories. Most common operations
can be performed with just a few clicks of the mouse, and additional customization
is available without adding complexity. SyncToy can manage multiple sets of
directories at the same time; it can combine files from two folders in one case,
and mimic renames and deletes in another. Unlike other applications, SyncToy
keeps track of renames to files and will make sure those changes get carried
over to the synchronized folder.
Click Here to Download
Copyright © 1996-2007 by Dr. Nikolai Bezroukov.
www.softpanorama.org was
created as a service to the UN Sustainable Development Networking Programme (SDNP)
in the author free time.
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comments This document is an industrial compilation designed and created
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Last modified:
April 19, 2008
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