XP Maintenance and troubleshooting tools

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[edit section] Windows XP Maintenance and Troubleshooting Tools

Tool	Description
Add or Remove Programs	From the Control Panel, uninstalls software that is causing a problem
Automated System Recovery (ASR)	Drastically recovers a failed system. Use only as a last resort, because the logical drive on which Windows is installed on is formatted and restored from the most recent backup. Al data and applications written to the drive since the last backup are lost.
Backup (Ntbackup.exe)	Backs up and restore data software
Boot logging	An option on the Advanced Options startup menu to log events to the Ntbtlog.txt file
Bootcfg (Bootcfg.exe)	Views and edits the contents of the Boot.ini file used to hold startup settings
Cacls.exe	Changes access control list (ACLs) assigned to a file or group of files to control which users have access to a file and the type of access they have (read, write, change, or full). For more information on CACLS, type Help Cacls at a command prompt.
Chkdsk (Chkdsk.exe)	Checks and repairs errors on a logical drive
Cipher.exe	Displays and changes the encryptions applied to files and folders using the NTFS file system.
Compact.exe	Displays and changes the compressions applied to files and folders using the NTFS file system
Computer Management (Compmgmt.msc)	Console provides access to several snap-ins used to manage and troubleshoot a system
Convert.exe	Converts a FAT16 or a FAT32 logical drive to NTFS
Defrag.exe	A command-line tool to defragment a logical drive or floppy disk, it is similar to the graphical tool, Disk Defragmenter.
Dependency Walker (Depends.exe)	Provides a list of files needed for an application to load
Device Driver Roll Back	Replaces a driver with the one that worked before the current driver was installed
Device Manager (Devmgmt.msc)	Displays and changes devices drivers and other hardware settings.
DirectX Diagnostic Tool (Dxdiag.exe)	Used to troubleshoot problems with the DirectX application programming interface(API) used by Microsoft
Disk Cleanup (Cleanmgr.exe)	Deletes unused files to make more disk space available
Disk Defragment (Dfrg.msc)	Defragments a logical drive or floppy disk
Disk Management (Diskmgmt.msc)	Displays and changes partitions on hard drives and formats drives
DiskPart (Diskpart.exe)	A command-line tool to manage partitions and volumes of a hard drive similar to the graphic tool, Disk Management. Use DiskPart to write scripts to automate disk management. It's also a handy way to assign drive letters to IDE devices.
Dr. Watson (Drwtsn.exe)	Records errors and information about those errors when applications fail. Errors are recorded in a log file named Drwatson.log. Note this is a different name then the log filename in Windows 200, which is Drwtsn32.log.
Driver Signing and Digital Signatures (Sigerif.exe)	Verifies that drivers, system files, and, software have been approved by Microsoft.
Error Reporting	Produces an error report and sends it to Microsoft when the error occurs and the PC is connected to the Internet.
Event Viewer (Eventvwr.msc)	Records and displays system problems
Expands.exe	Extracts a files from a cabinet file or Compressed file
Fsutil (fsutil.exe)	Displays information about drives and files systems and does advanced management tasks on those drives
Getmac (Getmac.exe)	Displays the MAC addres for the Installed network adapter
Group Policy (Gpedit.msc)	Displays and changes policies controlling users and the computer
Group Policy Result (Gpresult.exe)	Displays currently applied group policies (also known as Resultant Set of Policies, or RSoP), which helps to determine which of several policies are active for computers ad users.
Group Policy Update (Gpudate.exe)	Immediately puts into effect changes you have just made to local group policies
Help and Support	Provides helpful information, connects to Windows newsgroups, enables Remote Assistance, and steps you through many other troubleshooting tasks.
Last Known Good Configuration	A startup option used when normal or safe mode does not work. Using this tool, you can revert the system back to before a driver or application that is causing problems was installed.
Performance Monitor (Perfmon.msc)	Reports information about performance problems
Programs Compatibility Wizard	Looks at legacy software and attempts to resolve issues that prevent the software from working in Windows XP
Recovery Console	Provides a command line to perform troubleshooting tasks when the desktop will not load
Registry Editor (Regedit.exe)	Displays changes entries in the registry
Remote Assistance	Allows a user to share his computer with a support technician at a remote location so that technician can control the computer
Remote Desktop	Allows a support technician to control a Windows XP computer remotely
Runas.exe	Runs a program using different permissions then those assigned to the currently logged-on user
Safe Mode	Loads the Windows desktop with a minimum configuration and then is used to troubleshoot problems with device drivers, display settings, and other startup options that are causing problems
SC (Sc.exe)	Communicate commands to Services Controller, which starts, stops, and manages programs that run in the background such as device drivers or Internet Connection Firewall
Services (Services.msc)	Graphical version of SC
System Configuration Utility (Msconfig.exe)	Controls settings used to troubleshoot a failing system
System File Checker (Sfc.exe)	Verifies the version of all system files when Windows Loads
System Information (Msinfo32.exe)	Displays information about hardware, applications, and Windows that is useful when troubleshooting.
System Information (Systeminfo.exe)	A version of System Information to be used from a command-prompt window. Information is listed on screen as text only. To direct that information to a file, use the command Systeminfo.exe >filename. Later the file can be printed and used to document information about the system.
System Restore	Used to restore the system to previously working condition, it registry, some system files, and some application files.
Task Killing Utility (Tskill.exe)	Stops a process or program currently running. Useful when managing background services such as an email server or Web server.
Task Lister (Taskelist.exe)	List currently running process similar to the list provided by Task Manager
Task Manager (Taskaman.exe)	Lists and stops currently running processes. Use Task Manager to stop a locked-up application.
Uninstall Windows XP Professional	Used to uninstall XP and revert back to a previously installed OS
Windows File Protection	Protects system files and restores overwritten system files as needed
Windows Update (Wupdmgr.exe)	Updates Windows by examining the system, comparing it to available updates on the Microsoft website, and recommending appropriate updates

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