Remote Desktop from command prompt

Open up the command prompt and type in the following command.

"mstsc" and press enter. This will bring up the remote desktop connection wizrd asking for the ip of the machine to which you want to remote to.

This is an alternate way for doing the following
Start-> All Programs-> Accessories-> Remote Desktop Connection

Also you can type the same in Run Dialog
Start-> Run-> mstsc and hit enter

How do you start or stop a windows service

Click Start -> Run
Type in "services.msc"
This will bring up the "Services" window

This will contain a list of all the services present in your machine.
Just right click on it to say start or stop the service as illustrated in the following image

Handling Errors that popup, once windows starts

I have faced these sort of issue quite often. When ever my windows boots up, I will start getting a few error message pop ups stating a few registry entries or corrupt or windows failed to load a task etc....

I tried running registry fix ups, anti virus scans, spyware fixes etc and every thing failed.

It was then that I found out the reason behind the errors were cause of a software that I have installed in my machine.

In order to sort it out, I followed the following procedure.

Click Start-> Run
Type msconfig
The "System Configuration Utility" window pops up,
Go to the "Startup" tab
Click on Disable All
Click on Apply, Close and Restart in the new window that pops up.

The next time when my machine booted up, I did not recieve any errors.

Thus I found the source, so to narrow down on to the specific application, enable or check a few items in the list ,Apply and re-boot your machine untill the problem reoccurs. Thus when the problem reoccurs at a specific point, go a head write down the name of the item that resulted in the error ,

google it and find the nature of the application if you dont know about it, try fixing the application or remove or reinstall the same to fix the issue permanently

The same sort of problem is common with services running in the windows too.
In this case you may have to select the "Services" tab,
Click on "Hide All Microsoft Services" ,
Click "Disable All"
Restart your machine and see if the issue reoccurs .
If the issue does not occur then the problem is with one of the services listed in the services tab.
So use the same trial and error method that we used for the previous case, narrow down to the service and fix the issue

Windows Service for sharing folders

When you attempt to share a particular folder in WindowsXP and if it complains that, the Windows service for sharing folders is not started, then following procedure shall help you in resolving the issue

1. Click Start -> Run
2. Type Services.msc in it
3. The Services Window will open up. Now Scroll down to the service named "Server". Right click on it and click Start
4.It may take a while to start. Now close the Services window and share the folder that you want to share.

This will fix the issue.

Again if you share a folder named "TestShare" and try to access it from a different machine using the IP address of your machine, say something like //ipaddress, it may fail.

Try accessing using "//ipaddress/TestShare"

How do you change the Static IP of your machine running on Windows XP Professional, Service pack 2

I had a VM installed in my machine with which I play around to install dummy servers and other necessary stuffs to test my applications' credibility and robustness.

It was one fine day on which my superior directed me to the marketing team to help them install a VM and put all our products together so that they can use it to demo our clients.

Accordingly I got this idea of copying my VM to their machines as I already had every thing in sort of demo-able state in it. Consequently I did the same and was happy after receiving a big thanks from the marketing team.

But Knock! Knock!... A problem hit me.

The next time when I started my VM .. i got an error which said sort of following:
Duplicate IP Address Exists in the network

So eventually i asked my friend google to help me with this issue and he suggested me to change static IP in either of the machines.

The following is what I followed
1. open control panel
2. open network connections
3. Right-click on the network which helps you go online
4. Now a list of check boxes would be visible and among them will be the following option "TCP/IP". Click on it and then click properties
5. Now you will be able to see a provision which will allow you to mention ip address, sub net mask, default gate way etc...
6. Change the IP and say ok
7. Say apply on the main window

To ensure that your new ip has gotten into effect, open command prompt and type ipconfig

This should display the newly changed ip address for your machine.