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lavan_joy
Journeyman
Well here we are, the moment we have all been waiting for. The PDC has finally arrived, and with it so has Longhorn Pre-Beta build 4051. There are many new things in this build that are worth checking out as well as a few disappointments we'd like to express. The main goal of this tweak guide is to get 4051 running in a way that it could possibly be suitable for day-to-day use. Well this is a tweak guide isn't it? Lets get tweaking!
Longhorn 4051 System Requirements
800 MHz PIII Processor or higher
512MB of RAM is STRONGLY recommended
At least 3.5 GB HDD Space
WinFS - What is it and how does it work?
WinFS is the codename for the next generation storage technology that will be integrated into Longhorn. WinFS allows for faster searching, easier organization of files and much more (this is Microsoft's vision of WinFS at least). How does WinFS work? It's really quite simple. Say you have a ton of files that consist of movie clips, music, pictures, documents and downloads. All you have to do is put them in the Storage folder and WinFS will automatically sort the files into the proper places (Music, Pictures etc...).
Longhorn 4051 does have WinFS built in and WinFS does do all of the things i mentioned above. But theres one problem. When working with WinFS the system becomes very slow and the WinFS engine sucks down resources. This will be fixed in time of course as Microsoft optimizes the code but for now it is best to disable WinFS to get a massive speed gain in Longhorn (plus i wouldn't trust WinFS to be stable enough to house my data just yet). Disabling WinFS will kill Outlook Express because it relies on the database storage features of WinFS. Whether or not you disable it is purely up to you but I am just letting my opinion be heard.
........WILL BE CONTINUED
Longhorn 4051 System Requirements
800 MHz PIII Processor or higher
512MB of RAM is STRONGLY recommended
At least 3.5 GB HDD Space
WinFS - What is it and how does it work?
WinFS is the codename for the next generation storage technology that will be integrated into Longhorn. WinFS allows for faster searching, easier organization of files and much more (this is Microsoft's vision of WinFS at least). How does WinFS work? It's really quite simple. Say you have a ton of files that consist of movie clips, music, pictures, documents and downloads. All you have to do is put them in the Storage folder and WinFS will automatically sort the files into the proper places (Music, Pictures etc...).
Longhorn 4051 does have WinFS built in and WinFS does do all of the things i mentioned above. But theres one problem. When working with WinFS the system becomes very slow and the WinFS engine sucks down resources. This will be fixed in time of course as Microsoft optimizes the code but for now it is best to disable WinFS to get a massive speed gain in Longhorn (plus i wouldn't trust WinFS to be stable enough to house my data just yet). Disabling WinFS will kill Outlook Express because it relies on the database storage features of WinFS. Whether or not you disable it is purely up to you but I am just letting my opinion be heard.
........WILL BE CONTINUED
rock_ya_baby
Broken In
BTW people don't you think I have already POSTED that longhorn shit earlier..
lavan_joy
Journeyman
Here r some screen shots:
The moderator find any problem with the postiing, please delete the images.Thanking you.
1.Computer window
*69.50.228.116/Chris123NT/PDC_4051/Images/my_comp.JPG
2.Contats window
*69.50.228.116/Chris123NT/PDC_4051/Images/contacts.JPG
3.Longhorn help centre
*69.50.228.116/Chris123NT/PDC_4051/Images/HelpCenter.JPG
4.Hardware and devices
*69.50.228.116/Chris123NT/PDC_4051/Images/hardware.JPG
5.Activation completed:
*69.50.228.116/Chris123NT/PDC_4051/Images/Activated.JPG
The moderator find any problem with the postiing, please delete the images.Thanking you.
1.Computer window
*69.50.228.116/Chris123NT/PDC_4051/Images/my_comp.JPG
2.Contats window
*69.50.228.116/Chris123NT/PDC_4051/Images/contacts.JPG
3.Longhorn help centre
*69.50.228.116/Chris123NT/PDC_4051/Images/HelpCenter.JPG
4.Hardware and devices
*69.50.228.116/Chris123NT/PDC_4051/Images/hardware.JPG
5.Activation completed:
*69.50.228.116/Chris123NT/PDC_4051/Images/Activated.JPG
rock_ya_baby
Broken In
Yeah looks different from my version of Longhorn, anyone has "BIG" Longhorn LOGO ?? The Bull sign...
lavan_joy
Journeyman
Components Of the Sidebar
This is one of the disappointments of build 4051 if you ask me. Microsoft seriously downsized the amount of tiles available, theres only 5 tiles in this build.
Clock Tile - The analog clock that we've seen in 4029, although its been redesigned slightly. It looks alot better and now has the "digital time" (EG: 5:23PM) and the date below it.
Quick Launch - Displays the items in your Quick Launch. Slightly redesigned, no longer has the names by the items.
Classic Tray Tile - Displays the System Tray. Some icons may not appear correctly or at all. You can access them by clicking on the tile itself, which will display a list of the tray icons. (Note: It doesn't seem to refresh well)
Slide Show Tile - display a picture slideshow on the sidebar, cool if you're bored and need something to stare at. Seems to only display the contents of My Pictures and is not customizable in this build.
Sync - Used for file syncronization. Requires WinFS
Changes Over Build 4029
Welcome screen is similar to 4029 but now sports black as the color of choice to match the new Slate theme.
The setup routine has been redone for this build and is much nicer than previous builds.
New Slate theme included in this build, Plex is gone for good.
Carousel view in Hardware and Devices has been removed.
New sidebar clock design yet again.
Preview pane polished but still somewhat slow.
Download manager in Internet Explorer works intermittently (reported by numorous people that it works on and off or not at all)
Popup blocker in Internet Explorer improved, works very nicely.
New boot screen (Looks a bit weird).
Bugs and Known Issues in 4051
Explorer is still leaky with the sidebar on (see below). Classic Tray tile seems to be the main cause of the leak.
In Outlook 2003 when you click Personal Folders it displays the html code instead of Outlook Today.
Network Browsing is broken by default. See "Repair Longhorns Networking" later on in this guide.
Internet Explorer's download manager is flakey. Sometimes it work, sometimes it doesn't.
If a menu overlaps the sidebar, it may remove the sidebar gredient from the overlapped area. To fix this, just resize another tile over the missing gredient area and things should return to normal.
If Windows Explorer or Internet Explorer lock up, you will get a glimpse of where the original titlebar (from previous windows versions) is in Explorer.
The TCP/IP Stack in Longhorn 4051 is completely rewritten. Microsoft messed up the internet routing portion so if you set a static IP the Internet dies. See below for a workaround.
Because of the bug mentioned above, your internet connection may run a bit slower under Longhorn (well it does for me at least, i have 10mbit download and get 6mbit in LH)
This is one of the disappointments of build 4051 if you ask me. Microsoft seriously downsized the amount of tiles available, theres only 5 tiles in this build.
Clock Tile - The analog clock that we've seen in 4029, although its been redesigned slightly. It looks alot better and now has the "digital time" (EG: 5:23PM) and the date below it.
Quick Launch - Displays the items in your Quick Launch. Slightly redesigned, no longer has the names by the items.
Classic Tray Tile - Displays the System Tray. Some icons may not appear correctly or at all. You can access them by clicking on the tile itself, which will display a list of the tray icons. (Note: It doesn't seem to refresh well)
Slide Show Tile - display a picture slideshow on the sidebar, cool if you're bored and need something to stare at. Seems to only display the contents of My Pictures and is not customizable in this build.
Sync - Used for file syncronization. Requires WinFS
Changes Over Build 4029
Welcome screen is similar to 4029 but now sports black as the color of choice to match the new Slate theme.
The setup routine has been redone for this build and is much nicer than previous builds.
New Slate theme included in this build, Plex is gone for good.
Carousel view in Hardware and Devices has been removed.
New sidebar clock design yet again.
Preview pane polished but still somewhat slow.
Download manager in Internet Explorer works intermittently (reported by numorous people that it works on and off or not at all)
Popup blocker in Internet Explorer improved, works very nicely.
New boot screen (Looks a bit weird).
Bugs and Known Issues in 4051
Explorer is still leaky with the sidebar on (see below). Classic Tray tile seems to be the main cause of the leak.
In Outlook 2003 when you click Personal Folders it displays the html code instead of Outlook Today.
Network Browsing is broken by default. See "Repair Longhorns Networking" later on in this guide.
Internet Explorer's download manager is flakey. Sometimes it work, sometimes it doesn't.
If a menu overlaps the sidebar, it may remove the sidebar gredient from the overlapped area. To fix this, just resize another tile over the missing gredient area and things should return to normal.
If Windows Explorer or Internet Explorer lock up, you will get a glimpse of where the original titlebar (from previous windows versions) is in Explorer.
The TCP/IP Stack in Longhorn 4051 is completely rewritten. Microsoft messed up the internet routing portion so if you set a static IP the Internet dies. See below for a workaround.
Because of the bug mentioned above, your internet connection may run a bit slower under Longhorn (well it does for me at least, i have 10mbit download and get 6mbit in LH)
lavan_joy
Journeyman
Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.)
Q: Why is my Longhorn CD not bootable?
A: Because the original release was missing its boot record. You will need to obtain a fixed ISO or find a patch to make the CD bootable.
Q: Does the memory leak still exist in Explorer?
Unfortunatly, it does, but there are two solutions to repair the leak or stop it completely. Read the rest of the guide for more information.
Performance Tweaks
Here's where the fun begins. This build has a lot to be tweaked to speed it up so here we go!
Uninstalling un-needed components:
First open SYSOC.INF. You can do this by clicking the Windows flag (Start), and then clicking Run. Type "notepad C:\WINDOWS\INF\SYSOC.INF" (without the quotes.
Then delete all instances of the word HIDE and save.
Example:
Before: msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,HIDE,7
After: msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,,7
Now navigate to Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel
Go to Add/Remove Windows Components
Uninstall the following:
%mfDesc%
%mygames_desc%
TabletPCRuntime_desc%
oc_biologon
Windows File System Services (WinFS)
Windows Storage Full-text Index
Disabling Unnecessary Services:
Go to Start --> Run and type Services.msc
Now set the following services to DISABLED
Automatic Updates
AvRtSvr
Base Firewall Engine
Biometric Resource Manager
Castle Service
Certificate Propogation
Computer Data Synchronization Manager
Digital ID Management Service
Error Reporting Service
Font Cache Service
FontCacheService
Fusion Isolation Service
ICF/ICS - Firewall and connection sharing
IPSEC Services
Logon Hours
NS$ShellSubscriptions
Offline Files Service
Parental Control Auditing
Remote Registry
Secondary Logon
Software Licensing Service
SSDP Discovery Service
System Maintenance Service
System Restore Service
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
WindowsEventForwardingService
WinFSSync
Performance Options:
Now go to Computer properties --> Advanced Tab, under Performance options click the Settings button.
Uncheck the following:
(all of these are optional, but the ones marked VERY IMPORTANT are best to disable)
Animate Windows when Minimizing and Maximizing
Fade or slide menus into view
Fade or slide tool tips into view
Fade out menu items after clicking
Show preview and filters in folders (VERY IMPORTANT)
Show shadows under menus
Slide open combo boxes
Slide taskbar buttons
Smooth edges of screen fonts
Smooth-scroll list boxes
Use a background image for each folder type
Now open Computer and go to Tools --> Folder Options and click View Tab and uncheck the following:
Use Domain folder sharing wizard
Use simple file sharing
Q: Why is my Longhorn CD not bootable?
A: Because the original release was missing its boot record. You will need to obtain a fixed ISO or find a patch to make the CD bootable.
Q: Does the memory leak still exist in Explorer?
Unfortunatly, it does, but there are two solutions to repair the leak or stop it completely. Read the rest of the guide for more information.
Performance Tweaks
Here's where the fun begins. This build has a lot to be tweaked to speed it up so here we go!
Uninstalling un-needed components:
First open SYSOC.INF. You can do this by clicking the Windows flag (Start), and then clicking Run. Type "notepad C:\WINDOWS\INF\SYSOC.INF" (without the quotes.
Then delete all instances of the word HIDE and save.
Example:
Before: msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,HIDE,7
After: msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,,7
Now navigate to Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel
Go to Add/Remove Windows Components
Uninstall the following:
%mfDesc%
%mygames_desc%
TabletPCRuntime_desc%
oc_biologon
Windows File System Services (WinFS)
Windows Storage Full-text Index
Disabling Unnecessary Services:
Go to Start --> Run and type Services.msc
Now set the following services to DISABLED
Automatic Updates
AvRtSvr
Base Firewall Engine
Biometric Resource Manager
Castle Service
Certificate Propogation
Computer Data Synchronization Manager
Digital ID Management Service
Error Reporting Service
Font Cache Service
FontCacheService
Fusion Isolation Service
ICF/ICS - Firewall and connection sharing
IPSEC Services
Logon Hours
NS$ShellSubscriptions
Offline Files Service
Parental Control Auditing
Remote Registry
Secondary Logon
Software Licensing Service
SSDP Discovery Service
System Maintenance Service
System Restore Service
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
WindowsEventForwardingService
WinFSSync
Performance Options:
Now go to Computer properties --> Advanced Tab, under Performance options click the Settings button.
Uncheck the following:
(all of these are optional, but the ones marked VERY IMPORTANT are best to disable)
Animate Windows when Minimizing and Maximizing
Fade or slide menus into view
Fade or slide tool tips into view
Fade out menu items after clicking
Show preview and filters in folders (VERY IMPORTANT)
Show shadows under menus
Slide open combo boxes
Slide taskbar buttons
Smooth edges of screen fonts
Smooth-scroll list boxes
Use a background image for each folder type
Now open Computer and go to Tools --> Folder Options and click View Tab and uncheck the following:
Use Domain folder sharing wizard
Use simple file sharing
pravinkumar
Broken In
Pravin.
I have a sys with only 256MB-RAM. Is it possible to run Longhorn
I have a sys with only 256MB-RAM. Is it possible to run Longhorn
- Status