17th January 2002
If there's one thing I can't stand doing, it's RTFM. FYI, that's an acronym for "Reading The Fantastic Manual." Not! Out of curiosity the other day, I tapped F1 in Windows XP. As expected, the Help and Support Center popped up within seconds. Now, you know me - I love to tweak. I pressed what looked like the "configuration" icon (although its tooltip lead me to believe that it was only for getting help online with Remote Assistance or contacting a support professional). In the lower left-hand corner, I found a few interesting hyperlinks which led me to pages offering alternative ways to view system information. This is like an updated version of the Computer Management console - only it's hella easier to read. Click Advanced System Information | View Group Policy settings applied | scroll to the bottom and click the "Save this report to an .htm file" link. Do this when you need help from a not-so-nearby friend, or when you want to make sure the same settings are migrated to another computer or fresh Windows installation. You'll find links to other data-gathering tools here, too. Explore!