Hi All,

I'm running on my daughter's computer. Actually, her husband thinks
its his computer and he "benevolently" allows her, their kids and me
to use it. He fancies himself a computer wizard. I'm a retired
computer consultant with decades of experience in programming on
various Win platforms.

I''d like to confirm that this computer's running XP and determine the
Service Pqck level installed. I've forgotten how to do that, and may
not even be able to since I'm running on my daughter's account and she
doesn't have Admin privileges.

Also the default colors are poorly chosen, e.g. the scrollbar is
indistinguishable on some windows because the colors are 'washed
out." I expect I'll be able to change them on my daughter's account
notwithstanding the default settings for the system.

Any advice, even just links to relevant pages would be most
appreciated.

Best wishes,
Richard

Start\Run\winver

--
Peter

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.

"RichardOnRails" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:fcc8e3de-1b70-40a9-89bd-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi All,
>
> I'm running on my daughter's computer. Actually, her husband thinks
> its his computer and he "benevolently" allows her, their kids and me
> to use it. He fancies himself a computer wizard. I'm a retired
> computer consultant with decades of experience in programming on
> various Win platforms.
>
> I''d like to confirm that this computer's running XP and determine the
> Service Pqck level installed. I've forgotten how to do that, and may
> not even be able to since I'm running on my daughter's account and she
> doesn't have Admin privileges.
>
> Also the default colors are poorly chosen, e.g. the scrollbar is
> indistinguishable on some windows because the colors are 'washed
> out." I expect I'll be able to change them on my daughter's account
> notwithstanding the default settings for the system.
>
> Any advice, even just links to relevant pages would be most
> appreciated.
>
> Best wishes,
> Richard
>

RichardOnRails wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I'm running on my daughter's computer. Actually, her husband thinks
> its his computer and he "benevolently" allows her, their kids and me
> to use it. He fancies himself a computer wizard. I'm a retired
> computer consultant with decades of experience in programming on
> various Win platforms.
>
> I''d like to confirm that this computer's running XP and determine the
> Service Pqck level installed. I've forgotten how to do that, and may
> not even be able to since I'm running on my daughter's account and she
> doesn't have Admin privileges.
>
> Also the default colors are poorly chosen, e.g. the scrollbar is
> indistinguishable on some windows because the colors are 'washed
> out." I expect I'll be able to change them on my daughter's account
> notwithstanding the default settings for the system.
>
> Any advice, even just links to relevant pages would be most
> appreciated.
>
> Best wishes,
> Richard
>

To determine the service pack level, press the Windows key and Break key
together. This brings up the My Computer Properties dialog, and on the
General tab you will see the information you seek.

Alister

"Peter Foldes" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> Start\Run\winver
>
> --
> Peter
>
I like this one

On Apr 10, 5:20 pm, RichardOnRails
<RichardDummyMailbox58...@USComputerGurus.com> wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I'm running on my daughter's computer. Actually, her husband thinks
> its his computer and he "benevolently" allows her, their kids and me
> to use it. He fancies himself a computer wizard. I'm a retired
> computer consultant with decades of experience in programming on
> various Win platforms.
>
> I''d like to confirm that this computer's running XP and determine the
> Service Pqck level installed. I've forgotten how to do that, and may
> not even be able to since I'm running on my daughter's account and she
> doesn't have Admin privileges.
>
> Also the default colors are poorly chosen, e.g. the scrollbar is
> indistinguishable on some windows because the colors are 'washed
> out." I expect I'll be able to change them on my daughter's account
> notwithstanding the default settings for the system.
>
> Any advice, even just links to relevant pages would be most
> appreciated.
>
> Best wishes,
> Richard

Hi Again,

Here's a summary of your great posts:

Start, Control Panel, Click on "SYSTEM" and under the General tab you
should
see the version and any SP packs installed.
- Albright's Psychiatrist

Start\Run\winver
- Peter Foldes
- Albright's Psychiatrist (seconded)

To determine the service pack level, press the Windows key and Break
key
together. This brings up the My Computer Properties dialog, and on the
General tab you will see the information you seek.
- Alister

Thanks one and all for your illuminating posts. You'd be surprised
how much one forgets after 8 years of retirement. Your "refreshers"
were excellent.

Best wishes,
Richard

Control Panel, System, general tab.

Accessories, System Tools, System Information.

Winver from the windows install folder/system32 folder, windows explorer (My
Computer) or run command.

If Help and Support Information is available from the Start Button
implementation, try input appropriate wording for suitable feedback.

Overriding the video setup may be locked out for users. Easy to get around
if Home version XP per default administrator password in safe mode. If you
don't know or can't find that info for XP Home version, suggest that maybe
you're not what you contend to be regarding experience level. And, if
appropriate depending on the implementation of video drivers.

--
Dave
"RichardOnRails" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
message
news:fcc8e3de-1b70-40a9-89bd-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi All,
>
> I'm running on my daughter's computer. Actually, her husband thinks
> its his computer and he "benevolently" allows her, their kids and me
> to use it. He fancies himself a computer wizard. I'm a retired
> computer consultant with decades of experience in programming on
> various Win platforms.
>
> I''d like to confirm that this computer's running XP and determine the
> Service Pqck level installed. I've forgotten how to do that, and may
> not even be able to since I'm running on my daughter's account and she
> doesn't have Admin privileges.
>
> Also the default colors are poorly chosen, e.g. the scrollbar is
> indistinguishable on some windows because the colors are 'washed
> out." I expect I'll be able to change them on my daughter's account
> notwithstanding the default settings for the system.
>
> Any advice, even just links to relevant pages would be most
> appreciated.
>
> Best wishes,
> Richard
>

On Apr 10, 6:44 pm, "Lil' Dave" <spamyours...@virus.net> wrote:
> Control Panel, System, general tab.
>
> Accessories, System Tools, System Information.
>
> Winver from the windows install folder/system32 folder, windows explorer (My
> Computer) or run command.
>
> If Help and Support Information is available from the Start Button
> implementation, try input appropriate wording for suitable feedback.
>
> Overriding the video setup may be locked out for users. Easy to get around
> if Home version XP per default administrator password in safe mode. If you
> don't know or can't find that info for XP Home version, suggest that maybe
> you're not what you contend to be regarding experience level. And, if
> appropriate depending on the implementation of video drivers.
>
> --
> Dave
> "RichardOnRails" <RichardDummyMailbox58...@USComputerGurus.com> wrote in
> messagenews:fcc8e3de-1b70-40a9-89bd-(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> > Hi All,
>
> > I'm running on my daughter's computer. Actually, her husband thinks
> > its his computer and he "benevolently" allows her, their kids and me
> > to use it. He fancies himself a computer wizard. I'm a retired
> > computer consultant with decades of experience in programming on
> > various Win platforms.
>
> > I''d like to confirm that this computer's running XP and determine the
> > Service Pqck level installed. I've forgotten how to do that, and may
> > not even be able to since I'm running on my daughter's account and she
> > doesn't have Admin privileges.
>
> > Also the default colors are poorly chosen, e.g. the scrollbar is
> > indistinguishable on some windows because the colors are 'washed
> > out." I expect I'll be able to change them on my daughter's account
> > notwithstanding the default settings for the system.
>
> > Any advice, even just links to relevant pages would be most
> > appreciated.
>
> > Best wishes,
> > Richard

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your response.

I understand that question seems to belie my statement about
experience. Consider this: when I was consulting before the Trade
Towers calamity, I often had to configuration systems at various
client sites. Since then, I've only gad to administer my own
machine, where I rarely had to configure my WinXP-Pro/SP3 system, on
which II run an Admin account all the time. (I've got what I view as
adequate security, so I haven't seen a virus or spam for a decade or
more.)

The subject computer is is a Dell running XP Media Center Ed., ver.
2002, SP3 with, to my mind, lousy settings. My current gripe is that
Win Explorer displays all the items in the right pane with file/
directory names under large icons and multiple icons per line.

My recollection is I could change this to small icons with name and
other attributes (e.g. dates last created, modified, referenced) on
the same line) by clicking file Tools | Folder Options .... However,
none of the tabs I visit there offer the options I expect ... probably
because Media Center is "improved" over Pro.

I thought of using the options that are offered by Media Center by
trying to change the icon to a small version of a folder using icons
(.jpg's) from C:\WINDOWS\system32, that was akin to finding the
proverbial needles in a haystack. (On my machine, I'd use my custom
Ruby search program which works like a blood-hound).

Bottom line, I'd appreciate any ideas you have about my current
goal. I'm babysitting grandchildren for the weekend, so I like to
get a few of these admin tasks done. If I can't by tomorrow, I fetch
my own machine and work here.

Best wishes,
Richard

[If you'd posted to this newsgroup using Outlook Express, we could tell from
your post's headers.]

RichardOnRails wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I'm running on my daughter's computer. Actually, her husband thinks
> its his computer and he "benevolently" allows her, their kids and me
> to use it. He fancies himself a computer wizard. I'm a retired
> computer consultant with decades of experience in programming on
> various Win platforms.
>
> I''d like to confirm that this computer's running XP and determine the
> Service Pqck level installed. I've forgotten how to do that, and may
> not even be able to since I'm running on my daughter's account and she
> doesn't have Admin privileges.
>
> Also the default colors are poorly chosen, e.g. the scrollbar is
> indistinguishable on some windows because the colors are 'washed
> out." I expect I'll be able to change them on my daughter's account
> notwithstanding the default settings for the system.
>
> Any advice, even just links to relevant pages would be most
> appreciated.
>
> Best wishes,
> Richard

Hi PA Bear,

Long time no talk :-)

OK, I posted it using OE. It took me 15 min to get it running, find the
news server for this NG, etc, but here it is, for what it's worth.

As an example of how screwed up this configuration:
When I googled to find the site(s) supporting this newsgroup, the name was
truncated but I guessed that random click out to land on the divider so I
could expaned the portion of the pane displaying that name,.

I hope you can come up with some suggestions at to how to improve this
configuration (for my daughter's sake).

Best wishes,
Richard
"PA Bear [MS MVP]" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> [If you'd posted to this newsgroup using Outlook Express, we could tell
> from your post's headers.]
>
> RichardOnRails wrote:
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I'm running on my daughter's computer. Actually, her husband thinks
>> its his computer and he "benevolently" allows her, their kids and me
>> to use it. He fancies himself a computer wizard. I'm a retired
>> computer consultant with decades of experience in programming on
>> various Win platforms.
>>
>> I''d like to confirm that this computer's running XP and determine the
>> Service Pqck level installed. I've forgotten how to do that, and may
>> not even be able to since I'm running on my daughter's account and she
>> doesn't have Admin privileges.
>>
>> Also the default colors are poorly chosen, e.g. the scrollbar is
>> indistinguishable on some windows because the colors are 'washed
>> out." I expect I'll be able to change them on my daughter's account
>> notwithstanding the default settings for the system.
>>
>> Any advice, even just links to relevant pages would be most
>> appreciated.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>> Richard
>

On Apr 10, 10:10 pm, "RuchardOnRails"
<RichardDummyMailbox58...@USComputerGurus.com> wrote:
> Hi PA Bear,
>
> Long time no talk :-)
>
> OK, I posted it using OE. It took me 15 min to get it running, find the
> news server for this NG, etc, but here it is, for what it's worth.
>
> As an example of how screwed up this configuration:
> When I googled to find the site(s) supporting this newsgroup, the name was
> truncated but I guessed that random click out to land on the divider so I
> could expaned the portion of the pane displaying that name,.
>
> I hope you can come up with some suggestions at to how to improve this
> configuration (for my daughter's sake).
>
> Best wishes,
> Richard
> "PA Bear [MS MVP]" <PABear...@gmail.com> wrote in messagenews:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> > [If you'd posted to this newsgroup using Outlook Express, we could tell
> > from your post's headers.]
>
> > RichardOnRails wrote:
> >> Hi All,
>
> >> I'm running on my daughter's computer. Actually, her husband thinks
> >> its his computer and he "benevolently" allows her, their kids and me
> >> to use it. He fancies himself a computer wizard. I'm a retired
> >> computer consultant with decades of experience in programming on
> >> various Win platforms.
>
> >> I''d like to confirm that this computer's running XP and determine the
> >> Service Pqck level installed. I've forgotten how to do that, and may
> >> not even be able to since I'm running on my daughter's account and she
> >> doesn't have Admin privileges.
>
> >> Also the default colors are poorly chosen, e.g. the scrollbar is
> >> indistinguishable on some windows because the colors are 'washed
> >> out." I expect I'll be able to change them on my daughter's account
> >> notwithstanding the default settings for the system.
>
> >> Any advice, even just links to relevant pages would be most
> >> appreciated.
>
> >> Best wishes,
> >> Richard

Problem Solved!

Windows Explorer | View | Details
is what I was looking for.

I thought that posting my questions on a newsgroup was the fastest way
to figure out how to configure my daughter's account on her shared
computer.

Turns out that in this case, I couldn't accurately convey how messy
her configuration was. Consequently, it took a long time to get
solutions that way.

So I googled my way to a solution. I like the result a lot.
Hopefully she'll be pleased as well.

Thanks everyone for your help.

Best wishes,
Richard