Remove Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications Nag Screen

Only 9 Steps for remove Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications Nag Screen

   1. Lauch Windows Task Manager.
   2. End wgatray.exe process in Task Manager.
   3. Restart Windows XP in Safe Mode.
   4. Delete WgaTray.exe from c:\Windows\System32.
   5. Delete WgaTray.exe from c:\Windows\System32\dllcache.
   6. Click Start >> Run and type "RegEdit" then ok
   7. Browse to the following location:
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify
   8. Delete the folder ‘WgaLogon’ and all its contents
   9. Reboot Windows XP and open windows xp normal mode and enjoy.

Repair Install

If XP is corrupted to the point where none of the previous solutions get it to boot,
you can do a Repair Install that might work as well as keep the current settings.
Make sure you have your valid WindowsXP key.
The whole process takes about half an hour depending on your computer
If you are being prompted for the administrator's password, you need to choose the 2nd repair option, not the first.

   1. Insert and boot from your WindowsXP CD
   2. At the second R=Repair option, press the R key
   3. This will start the repair
   4. Press F8 for I Agree at the Licensing Agreement
   5. Press R when the directory where WindowsXP is installed is shown. Typically this is C:\WINDOWS
   6. It will then check the C: drive and start copying files
   7. It will automatically reboot when needed. Keep the CD in the drive.
   8. You will then see the graphic part of the repair that is like during a normal install of XP (Collecting Information, Dynamic Update, Preparing Installation, Installing Windows, Finalizing Installation)
   9. When prompted, click on the Next button
  10. When prompted, enter your XP key
  11. Normally you will want to keep the same Workgroup or Domain name
  12. The computer will reboot
  13. Then you will have the same screens as a normal XP Install
  14. Activate if you want (usually a good idea)
  15. Register if you want (but not necessary)
  16. Finish
  17. At this point you should be able to log in with any existing accounts.

NTOSKRNL Missing or Corrupt

If you get an error that NTOSKRNL not found:

   1. Insert and boot from your WindowsXP CD.
   2. At the first R=Repair option, press the R key
   3. Press the number that corresponds to the correct location for the installation of Windows you want to repair.
      Typically this will be #1
   4. Change to the drive that has the CD ROM.
   5. CD i386
   6. expand ntkrnlmp.ex_ C:\Windows\System32\ntoskrnl.exe
   7. If WindowsXP is installed in a different location, just make the necessary change to C:\Windows
   8. Take out the CD ROM and type exit

HAL.DLL Missing or Corrupt

If you get an error regarding a missing or corrupt hal.dll file, it might simply be the BOOT.INI file on the root of the C: drive that is misconfigured

   1. Insert and boot from your WindowsXP CD.
   2. At the first R=Repair option, press the R key
   3. Press the number that corresponds to the correct location for the installation of Windows you want to repair.
      Typically this will be #1
   4. Type bootcfg /list to show the current entries in the BOOT.INI file
   5. Type bootcfg /rebuild to repair it
   6. Take out the CD ROM and type exit

Corrupted or Missing \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG

If you get the error:
Windows could not start because the following files is missing or corrupt
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM or \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE

   1. Insert and boot from your WindowsXP CD.
   2. At the first R=Repair option, press the R key
   3. Press the number that corresponds to the correct location for the installation of Windows you want to repair.
      Typically this will be #1
   4. Enter in the administrator password when requested
   5. cd \windows\system32\config
   6. Depending on which section was corrupted:
      ren software software.bad or ren system system.bad
   7. Depending on which section was corrupted
      copy \windows\repair\system
      copy \windows\repair\software
   8. Take out the CD ROM and type exit

NTLDR or NTDETECT.COM Not Found

If you get an error that NTLDR is not found during bootup,

If you have FAT32 partitions, it is much simpler than with NTFS.
Just boot with a Win98 floppy and copy the NTLDR or NTDETECT.COM files
from the i386 directory to the root of the C:\ drive.

For NTFS:

   1. Insert and boot from your WindowsXP CD.
   2. At the first R=Repair option, press the R key
   3. Press the number that corresponds to the correct location for the installation of Windows you want to repair.
      Typically this will be #1
   4. Enter in the administrator password when requested
   5. Enter in the following commands (X: is replaced by the actual drive letter that is assigned to the CD ROM drive.
      COPY X:\i386\NTLDR C\:
      COPY X:\i386\NTDETECT.COM C:\
   6. Take out the CD ROM and type exit

Bringing Up the Shutdown Dialog Box

1.  Create a new txt file somewhere on your system, open it and put in this one line:
      (new ActiveXObject("Shell.Application")).ShutdownWindows();
   2. Save and Close the file. Change the extension to js and your got it.
   3. You can make a shortcut to that file to make it easy to shut down your system.

Increasing the Folder Cache

The default setting for WindowsXP is to cache the Explorer settings for 400 folders.
To increase it:

   1. Start Regedit
   2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam
   3. Change the vaule of BagMRU  to whatever size you want (hex)

    1000 - 3e8
    2000 - 7d0
    3000 - bb8
    4000 - fa0
    5000 - 1388

Hiding the Last User Logged On

If you use the standard NT style of login and want to hide the last user:

   1. Start the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc)
   2. Go to Computer Configuration / Windows Settings / Security Settings / Local Policies / Security Options
   3. Scroll down to Interactive logon: Do not display last user name
   4. Set it to Enable

Remembering Folder Settings

If XP does not remember your folder settings, delete or rename the following registry keys

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\BagMRU]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags]

Download reg file
http://www.onecomputerguy.com/reg/window_resize.reg

Enable / Disable the Task Manager

 1. Start Regedit
   2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
   3. Create the Dword value DisableTaskMgr
   4. Give it a value of 0 to enable it
   5. Give it a vaule of 1 to disable it

Download Reg File
http://www.onecomputerguy.com/reg/disable_task_manager.reg

Saving Desktop Settings

If you desktop or folders on your desktop do not retain their settings:

Start Regedit

   1. Go go HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Program Manager\Restrictions
   2. Create or edit the DWORD value NoSaveSettings
   3. Give it a value of 0

Download reg file
http://www.onecomputerguy.com/reg/no_save_settings_xp.reg

Hiding the Windows Version on the Desktop

If your version of WindowsXP is displaying on the desktop and
you would like to remove it:

   1. Start Regedit
   2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop
   3. Edit or Create the DWORD entry PaintDesktopVersion
   4. A value of 0 will hide the version from the desktop
   5. Logoff or reboot

Adding SafeBoot to the Boot Menu

You can add Safeboot as an option to the normal XP boot screen

   1. Open a command prompt
   2. Copy the current c:\boot.ini to another name (just in case)
   3. With your favorite text editor, edit c:\boot.ini
   4. Copy then edit the current boot line to another line. For example:
      multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
      might copy and then change to:
      multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional Safeboot" /fastdetect
   5. Start MSCONFIG
   6. Click on the BOOT.INI tab
   7. Highlight the second line with the additional name of Safeboot
   8. Check the /SAFEBOOT box with option you want
      Minimal - Minimal set of drivers
      Network - With Network Support
      Dsrepair - Directory Services Repair
      Minimal (Alternate Shell) - Standard Explorer Desktop
   9. You will now have this option every time you start XP

Logging in as Administrator

If you want to log in as Administrator, but it is not show on the Welcome screen,

   1. Hold the Ctrl-Alt key and press Del twice.
   2. This will bring up the normal login and you can log on as Administrator

To unhide the Administrator account so it does show up:

   1. Start Regedit
   2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon \ SpecialAccounts \ UserList
   3. Unhide the Administrator key by giving it a value of 1

Changing Drive Letters

If you want to change the letters assigned to your fixed or removable drives:

   1. Right Click on My Computer
   2. Select Manage
   3. Select Disk Management

For a Fixed Disk:

   1. Select it
   2. Right click
   3. Select Change Drive Letter and Path
   4. Click on the Edit button
   5. Enter in the letter you want to use

For a Removable Disk:

   1. In the lower, right hand panel, right click on the Disk or CD ROM #
   2. Select Change Drive Letter and Path
   3. Click on the Edit button
   4. Enter in the letter you want to use


Note: This can only be done for drives that do not have the Operating System Installed or you are booting to.

Allowing Network Access with Blank Passwords

Although you can log in locally without a password, by default, WindowsXP Pro does not allow network users to access the computer without a password. Typically you will receive an Unknown error 31 if this is the case.

To change this setting:

   1. Run gpedit.msc
   2. Go to Computer Configuration / Windows Settings / Security Settings / Local Policies / Security Options
   3. Double click on Accounts: Limit local account use of blank passwords to console login only
   4. Disable this option

Renaming the Start Button

To rename the start button, you will need a hex editor.
My preference is UltraEdit

   1. Copy the \windows\explore.exe file to a new name (e.g. explorer_1.exe)
   2. With the hex editor, open that file and go to offset 412b6
   3. You will see the word start with blanks between each letter
   4. Edit it be any 5 characters or less
   5. Save the file
   6. Boot to DOS
   7. Copy the existing c:\windows\explorer.exe to explorer.org
   8. Copy explorer_1.exe to explorer.exe
   9. You will also need to replace the explorer.exe in the c:\windows\system32\dllcache file as well with the new one.

Note: If the partition is NTFS and you can't access the files from DOS:

   1. Start Regedit
   2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon.
   3. Change the value of Shell from Explorer.exe to explorer_1.exe

Turning Off the Firewall

If you want to turn off the firewall for your computer:

   1. Go to Start / Settings / Network Connections
   2. Right click on the network connection you want to change
   3. Select Properties
   4. Click on the Advanced tab
   5. Uncheck the box in Internet Connection Firewall

WindowsXP Command Line Utilities

While there are a lot of command line utilities in WindowsXP, here are some that I have been using lately.

bootcfg - Configures, queries, or changes Boot.ini file settings.

driverquery - Displays a list of all installed device drivers and their properties.

getmac - Returns the media access control (MAC) address and list of network protocols associated with each address for all network cards in each computer

gpresult - Displays Group Policy settings and Resultant Set of Policy (RSOP) for a user or a computer

netsh - You can use commands in the Netsh Interface IP context to configure the TCP/IP protocol

schtasks - Schedules commands and programs to run periodically or at a specific time

systeminfo - Displays detailed configuration information about a computer and its operating system