Windows 2000 Pro

Win 2000 2WINDOWS 2000 PROFESSIONAL

Table of Contents

1) BE A MINIMALIST WITH YOUR DESKTOP

2) CLEAN UP YOUR TRAY OR NO MORE PUDDING!

3) WHACK NETBIOS WITH DHCP OPTIONS

1) BE A MINIMALIST WITH YOUR DESKTOP

You've downloaded or created a cool wallpaper image, but all of your

desktop icons detract from your masterpiece. Or maybe you just want a nice, clean, minimalist desktop.

There are tools like Microsoft's Tweak UI that allow you to control the

visibility of certain desktop icons. Tweak UI lets you hide or show

Microsoft Outlook, My Network Places, and the Printers folder. Tweak UI

gives you control over lots of other options, but if you're just trying to

clean up the desktop, you don't need an add-on--you just need to set a few

local or group policy settings.

To set local policies, run MMC and add the Group Policy snap-in focused

on the local computer. Then expand the User Configuration | Administrative Templates | Desktop branch.

The policy Hide All Icons On The Desktop

hides all of the icons, including My Computer and the Recycle Bin;

however, it also has the side effect of hiding the wallpaper and preventing

right-click access to the display properties from the desktop.

Three other policies safely remove the icons without affecting the wallpaper.

These include Remove My Documents Icon From Desktop, Hide My

Network Places Icon On Desktop, and Hide Internet Explorer Icon On Desktop.

2) CLEAN UP YOUR TRAY OR NO MORE PUDDING!

The notification area in the taskbar's corner, also called the tray,

generally contains at least a few icons for applications running on your

computer in the background. Common icons that appear in the tray by

default include the clock and volume control. If MSN Messenger is installed on

your computer, that shows up on the tray as well. Other icons might

live there, too, such as the network status icon and the Unplug or Eject

Hardware icon.

In some cases, you can allow the application to continue to run in the

background yet hide the icon. For example, you might want to remove the

clock or volume control. To hide the clock, right-click the taskbar,

choose Properties, and clear the Show Clock check box. To hide the volume

control, open the Sounds And Multimedia object in the Control Panel and

clear the Show Volume Control On The Taskbar check box.

You'll find the option to control the network status icon on the General

tab for the network interface's Properties

(which you can access in the Network And Dial-Up Connections folder).

Many third-party applications that live on the tray give you the option

of turning off the tray icon and still allowing the application to run.

Removing others from the tray requires that you actually shut down the

program. Although some tray-bound applications start through the Startup

folder, many start from the registry. To prevent these applications

from starting, open the Registry Editor and remove the application's entry from the

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run key.

REMINDER: Editing the registry can be risky, so be sure you have a

verified backup before making any changes.

WINDOWS 2000 PROFESSIONAL

3) WHACK NETBIOS WITH DHCP OPTIONS

NetBIOS over TCP/IP allows host name resolution for NetBIOS names over the TCP/IP protocol.

Windows 2000 uses NetBIOS over TCP/IP to communicate with earlier Windows platforms

such as Windows NT and Windows 9x.

Windows also supports direct hosting, which allows the Windows 2000

client to perform name resolution using DNS directly over TCP/IP without NetBIOS.

Windows 2000 clients attempt to establish a connection with both NetBIOS

over TCP/IP and direct hosting. Whichever method succeeds first is the one you'll use.

You can disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP and force the Windows 2000 client to

use DNS to improve network performance if all the network computers to

which the computer needs to connect are running Windows 2000 or later.

You can take one of two approaches to disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP:

disable it outright or configure the computer to take its settings from

a DHCP server. The latter is the default setting. To configure the client,

follow these steps:

1. Open the Properties for the network interface in the Network And Dial-Up Connections folder.

2. Open the Properties for the TCP/IP protocol, click the Advanced tab, and then click the WINS tab.

3. Select Disable NetBIOS Over TCP/IP to disable it outright, or select Use NetBIOS Setting From DHCP Server if you want the computer to pull

the NetBIOS setting when it renews its address lease.

4. Open the scope on the DHCP server using the DHCP console.

5. Right-click Scope Options and choose Configure Options.

6. Click the Advanced tab, and then under Vendor Class, select Microsoft Options.

7. Select 001 Microsoft Disable NetBIOS Option and set Data Entry to 0x2.

8. Then, close the scope options and use ipconfig on the client to renew the lease.

SPEED UP WINDOWS 2000 BY ELIMINATING NETBIOS

Although it's fairly new, Windows 2000 still has leftover technology from the 1980s that can be a real drain on your network. See how to

eliminate one of these legacy technologies--NetBIOS--and speed up your

server in the process.

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