The latest Microsoft product, the Windows 2003 family, is a direct continuation of Windows 2000. This system is designed primarily for server, not for home use. But a certain amount of effort and competent tuning of the system will make it possible to turn a home computer into a stable multimedia game server.

Almost every year, Microsoft presents to the public a new version of its most popular product, the Windows operating system. By tradition, the company promises that this, the latest version is the most stable, reliable and convenient. All for the same tradition, users are waiting for "improvements" with a fair share of pessimism ...

Of course, the ideal operating system does not exist, and the Windows family has both pluses and minuses. However, honestly, we recognize that progress, first of all in stability, is. In addition, it should be borne in mind that Microsoft products are used by tens of millions of users around the world - and to guess the computer's configuration, individual needs for external design and a set of programs is simply impossible. Therefore, installing Windows on your PC, do not expect that the system will continue to work perfectly - it will work as standard, based on the average statistical needs of the user.

The Windows 2003 Server family (Standard, Enterprise, Web and Datacenter Edition) is a direct extension of Windows 2000 Server. Unlike Windows XP, which is a hybrid of Windows Me and Windows 2000, the new system is designed primarily for server, not for home use. Accordingly, many of the functions inherent in the "home" computer ... disappeared. But a small amount of effort, competent tuning of the system - and a stable multimedia game server at your service!

Installing drivers

Installation of the system is almost identical to the installation of Windows XP, so we will not dwell on it - the main difficulties lie ahead.

The first thing that a user faces after installing Windows 2003 Server is the lack of drivers for this version of Windows. By default, most devices on your computer will work, but ... for example, a video card without 3D-functions in our time few people are interested.

The first step is to create a new user. To do this, click on the Start button and select the Run submenu. Next, type lusrmgr.msc - and get into the User Management program. Right click on the User folder in the left part of the window and select the New User menu. We register the user name and, if desired, the password. Confirm the creation and then select - using the right mouse button - Properties (Properties) of the new user. Go to the Member of tab, click the Add button, then Find Now and double-click on Administrators.

So, a new user with administrator rights is created, it remains to reboot under the new login.

By the way, it's just not possible to just reboot and even just turn off the computer. A window will appear on the screen in which the system will ask you to specify the reason for the reboot / shutdown. Why is this necessary? We will answer this question to Microsoft, and in the meantime we will go into the already familiar launch menu and in the submenu Run ... (Run), enter the mmc command. We select the File menu, and in it Add / Remove Snap-in ... (Add / Remove Snap-in ...). Then follow the menu items: Add, Group Policy Object Editor, Add. After that, click the Finish button. Go to Local Computer Policy> Computer Configuration> Administrative Templates - and select the System folder. Double click on the Display Shutdown Event Tracker. In the menu that appears, select Disabled, click and exit the program. Now restart / shutdown the computer will be similar to Windows 2000.

After the system is loaded under the newly created login, you should start configuring the drivers. To do this, go to Desktop Properties using the Control Panel: Start> Control Panel> Display.

Next, go to the last tab - Advanced (Advanced) and click the Troubleshoot button (Troubleshoot). In the menu that appears, move the Hardware Acceleration slider to the right. Close the windows and install the drivers under the video card. Now the system will not give an error about the discrepancy between the driver version and Windows. By the way, the drivers for Windows XP and Windows 2000 are suitable for installation.

By default, Windows 2003 Server has DirectX 8.1 installed, but support for 3D functions is disabled. By the way, there is no DirectX folder in the Program Files (Program Files), so you should enter the dxdiag command in the Run ... submenu. A DirectX window opens, where you must enable (on the Display tab) (press the Enabled buttons) the hardware acceleration functions.

According to Microsoft experts, sound is not necessary for the full operation of the server. Accordingly, the sound functions of your computer will be turned off by default. In the Control Panel, there is the Administrative Tools tab, within which you select Services. In the appeared window there is a list of services installed on the PC. Some of them are not included, including Windows Audio. Double click the mouse - and in the window that appears, in the Startup type field, select Automatic, then click Start. If necessary, select the Sound and Audio Devices section in the Control Panel and in the appeared window turn on the volume of the sound (drag the slider to the extreme right position).

Change the appearance

Immediately after installation, Windows 2003 Server will have a spartan appearance (like Windows 2000). The only difference is the start menu, partially similar to Windows XP. It's practical, convenient, and cost-effective - in general, it's great for a server where the look of the desktop is far from the most important. However, on a home computer, I want to see something brighter than the standard Windows windows.

The ability to transform the appearance into a Windows XP style is - although hidden in the depths of the system. First you need to enable the Themes service. To do this, go to the services (Control Panel> Administrative Tools> Services) and double-click on the service Themes. In the window that appears, select the type of startup Automatic and reboot the computer. After reboot, go to the properties of the screen, by right-clicking on it on the desktop and selecting Properties. On the Themes tab, choose the Windows XP theme instead of the Windows Classic theme. Now the desktop and application windows will acquire a familiar Windows XP style.

In addition, in the properties of the system (Control Panel> System) in the Advanced tab in the Visual Effects section, it is possible to further customize the visual effects of Windows.

Ten Steps to an Ideal System

1. One of the latest improvements to the system is the prefetch parameter. Its task is to accelerate the loading of applications. The inclusion of this parameter does not affect the speed too much, but in combat all means are good. To enable this option, right click on the shortcut of the desired program and select Properties from the menu that appears. In the Object line, after specifying the path to the file, add / prefetch: 1 (the space before the key is required).
2. Go to the Advanced tab in the Performance Options and make sure that the allocation of processor and memory resources is set to optimize the work of the Programs - you must specify the priority of the background services and the cache only if your computer acts as a server. In the Memory usage option, if you have 256 MB of physical memory or more, check the System cache option. If the memory on the computer is less than 256 MB, the system will work faster when the value of Programs is set.
3. Let's check if the hard disk is configured correctly. In the properties of the system, open Device Manager (either by opening the properties of any drive in the Explorer, the Hardware tab) and review the properties of your hard drive. Make sure that the Polices tab is marked Enable write caching on the disk. If the SCSI disk is available, the following values ​​on the SCSI Properties tab: Disable Tagged Queuing and Disable Synchronous Transfers should not be marked.
4. Verify that the DMA is enabled for all IDE devices on the system. You can check it in the following way: Device Manager> IDE ATA / ATAPI controllers> Primary / Secondary IDE Channel> Advanced Settings. The Device Type parameter allows the system to automatically detect connected devices (if the channel is free, set to None - this will speed up the system load a little).
   The parameter Transfer mode Windows usually sets as default and allows Windows to use the maximum DMA supported by the device or PIO, make sure that the value is set to DMA if available.
5. To speed navigation through folders containing graphic files, you can mark the Do not cash thumbnails item. To do this, go to Control Panel> Folder Options> View, and at the same time remove the check mark from the Remember each folder's view setting.
6. Search in Windows 2003 Server is performed by default in .zip-archives. The search speed will increase if you disable this service. To do this, enter the following at the command line:

or:

To enable search in .zip-archives:

or:

7. Unlike earlier versions of Windows, during the installation of Windows 2003 Server, it is not possible to select the required components. You can remove / install only a small part of the programs (Control Panel> Add or Remove Programs> Add / Remove Windows Components). The list is small - most of it is hidden from the eyes of an inexperienced user.
   To solve this problem, open the system folder Inf (by default - C: \ Windows \ Inf), find the sysoc.inf file in it, open it and delete the word HIDE in all rows. The main thing at the same time is to leave the file format unchanged, that is, only HIDE should be deleted, leaving commas before and after this word.
   For an example - the original string and the one that should get:

Save the file sysoc.inf, open the Add / Remove Windows Components - and see a much longer list.

8. The Indexing Service creates indexes of the contents and properties of documents on the local hard disk and on shared network drives. It is possible to control the inclusion of information in the indexes. The indexing service runs continuously and needs almost no maintenance. However, the indexing process consumes a large amount of CPU resources. If you do not actively search the context of files, this service can be disabled. To do this, go to the Control Panel> Add or Remove Programs - Add / Remove Windows Components. In the list that appears, look for the Indexing Service and remove the "tick".
9. If you do not like the "excesses" in the new design of XP or the configuration of your computer does not allow you to enjoy them, the interface can be returned to the "standard" view. To do this, go to the Control Panel> System and go to the Advanced tab. Select the section for setting visual effects.
10. Quite often the home computer has only one user, so there is no need for a password when the system starts. Unlike previous versions, in this Windows 2003 password is not so easy to clean.
    During the boot process, you can skip the user name and password set. Select Run ... from the Start menu and type control userpasswords2, which opens the User Accounts window. On the Users tab, clear the checkbox beside the Users item and enter the user name and password to use this computer. After confirmation, a dialog box appears in which the system prompts you to enter the user name and password for the account.