Statler’s Rogue Valley Views

Use the classic search style in Explorer,

1. Start Regedit
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CabinetState
3. Add a String Key called Use Search Asst
4. Give it a value of no

Stop Balloon Tips

To turn off balloon tips in applications that support XP Themes:

“For dell computers try clearing the nvram. most dell computers has a one page bios. to enter the bios tap “f2” when you see the dell logo. once in the bios turn all the light of your keyboard on…”numlock, caps, scroll”…Press ALT+F, ALT+E, then ALT+B…this will restart your system and perform an automatic ide configuration.

Got this at:

http://sniptools.com/tipstricks/getting-back-to-dma-mode-in-windows-xp

See post #74 by gabby

For Eric’s Dell Dimension 2400 use drivers from:

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/devices.aspx?c
=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&SystemID=DIM_PNT_P4_CEL_
2400&os=WW1&osl=EN#

I’m setting up an XP VPN using a DSL Static IP through a Qwest Actiontek GT701-WG Modem.

First I had to set the Actiontek router to allow Port Forwarding for two ports.

Actiontek access: Browser set to http://192.168.0.1 (Actiontek default, Linksys default is 192.168.1.1)
Select Setup/Configuration
Select Advanced Setup
Select Port Forwarding
IP Port Range 1723 to 1723 — TCP — 192.168.0.3 (my computers ip found through ipconfig)
IP Port Range to — GRE — 192.168.0.3 (GRE is selected from the drop down list
Select Save and Restart

Next I had to open the Actiontek built in Firewall. I then enabled the XP Firewall, which continued to block outside contacts but let the VPN connection in. The non-Qwest firmware version of the modem has a feature to allow VPN connections with the firewall but the Qwest version does not.

I updated the firmware on the Qwest Actiontek modem. Turns out it needs a special firmware version. It took me quite a while to discover it at this address:

http://actiontecstore.com/qwest/gt701wg_upgrade-5.5e.html

I used a variety of tools. XP has a VPN helper tool (Pptpsvr.exe) that can be downloaded with other tools to determine if the server is set up correctly (XP Pro has a VPN server included, XP Home does not have it. The XP VPN will only accept one connection at a time). Once started Pptpsvr.exe will wait for an attempted connection, so I used a Win98 VPN client on a separate ISP to attempt a connection and that helped identify a problem I can’t remember right now…oh yes, that strange -GRE setting in port forwarding needed to be allowed.

I used http://www.onecomputerguy.com/networking/xp_vpn_server.htm to get a good idea of how to set up the VPN on XP.

I used https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2 Shields Up! to test the security of the XP VPN once it was set up.

That site also has http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm SpinRite which is proported to be the best hard drive test and repair program around. I’ve used it before…it can take many hours to test a hard drive, other than that I don’t know how good it is.

Another note: The clients VPN adapter TCP/IP settings need to *not* use “default gateway on remote system” or else the clients surfing will suffer (*-*).