5-21LESSON 3 CONFIGURING SYSTEM SETTINGSLESSON 3

5-21Lesson 3 Configuring System Settings

Lesson 3: Configuring System Settings

You use the System Properties dialog box (available in the Control Panel window) to

configure operating system settings. These system settings affect the operating system

environment regardless of which user is logged on to the computer.

After this lesson, you will be able to■

Configure system performance options.

■

Create, modify, and manage user profiles.

■

Configure startup and recovery settings.

■

Configure environmental variables.

■

Configure error reporting.

Estimated lesson time: 70 minutes

How to Configure System Performance Options

To configure system settings, in Control Panel, click Performance And Maintenance. To

view operating system performance configuration options, in the Performance And

Maintenance window, click System, and then click the Advanced tab. The Advanced

tab of the System Properties dialog box (see Figure 5-7) allows you to configure per-

formance options, user profiles, startup and recovery settings, environment variables,

and error reporting.

Tip You can open the System Properties dialog box quickly by right-clicking the My Com-

puter icon and clicking Properties.

F05us07.bmp

Figure 5-7

Use the Advanced tab of the System Properties dialog box to configure a number of

system settings.

On the Advanced tab, in the Performance section, click Settings to display the Perfor-

mance Options dialog box. There are three tabs on the Performance Options dialog

box: Visual Effects, Advanced, and Data Execution Prevention.

Visual Effects Tab

The Visual Effects tab of the Performance Options dialog box is shown in Figure 5-8.

There are a number of options that you can select to manually control the visual effects

on your computer. Windows XP Professional provides four options to help you control

the visual effects: Let Windows Choose What’s Best For My Computer, Adjust For Best

Appearance, Adjust For Best Performance, and Custom. If you want to manually indi-

cate which visual effects to apply, click Custom.

F05us08.bmp

Figure 5-8

Use the Visual Effects tab to control performance options.

Table 5-5 lists the visual effects along with descriptions of those that are not self-

explanatory.

Table 5-5

Windows XP Visual Effects

Visual Effect Description

Animate windows

Causes a zoom effect when you minimize or maximize a window. Dis-

when minimizing and

abling this effect makes windows minimize and maximize faster.

maximizing

Fade or slide menus

Causes menus to fade or slide into view instead of simply appearing.

into view

Disabling this effect makes menus appear faster.

Fade or slide ToolTips

Causes ToolTips to fade or slide into view instead of simply appearing.

ToolTips are the pop-up descriptions that appear beside certain items

when you hold your pointer over them. Disabling this effect makes

ToolTips appear faster.