by Nathan Ciraulo

Created on: January 03, 2010

Of all the management areas of Windows XP, quite probably the most useful falls to the System Properties. This area centralizes and provides easy access to configuration settings and can be quickly accessed by either right clicking My Computer (It may appear as an icon on your desktop view or within the Start menu, depending on your preferences) and selecting Properties, or navigating to Control Panel (It will be located directly in the Start menu, or buried in the Settings area within the Start menu depending on preferences) and launching System. Seven tabs are available with distinct properties to each.

1)                          The General tab provides your system at a glance. The Service Pack and system specifications are clearly provided, noting the processor type, RAM, and speeds thereof.

2)                          The Computer Name tab displays three fields including the Computer Description, Full Computer Name, and Workgroup.

The Computer Description is a brief string of words or phrase that describes your computer, perhaps delineating a specific location such as Tool Shed, or Lab. Full Computer Name pertains to how the computer will be represented on a network. Each computer must have a unique name with up to fifteen characters to separate itself as an entity. If you have plans to connect PCs at home or even within a business this area is important to configure. Workgroup can be used to organize workstations into teams or groups. The default group is typically WORKGROUP and can be optionally modified, if more than one group is needed.

3)                          The Hardware view gives quick access to the Device Manager, Driver settings, and Hardware Profiles.

Device Manager will provide a tree-like view of all installed hardware and will display any detected issues. For example, if a device has a malfunctioning or non-compatible driver, it will display a yellow exclamation point on that device. Also, if the device is disabled, a red X will appear on the perspective hardware listing. The Drivers area can be used to set preferences for new hardware yet to be installed.

                                                                          

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