Magnifier is a display utility that makes the screen more readable for users who have impaired vision. Magnifier creates a separate window that displays a magnified portion of your screen. You can also change the color scheme of the magnification window for easier visibility. You can move or resize the Magnifier window, or drag it to the edge of the screen and lock it into place. Magnifier is intended to provide a minimum level of functionality for users with slight visual impairments.

When using Magnifier, you can:

• Change the magnification level
• Change the size of the magnification window
• Change the position of the magnification window on your desktop
• Invert the screen colors

Magnifier also has several tracking options, including:

• Following the mouse pointer as it moves on your screen
• Following the keyboard focus which centers on the location of the cursor
• Following text editing

When Magnifier is open, you can right-click the magnification window to set these Magnifier options, or hide or exit Magnifier.

• To open Magnifier, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to Accessibility, and then click Magnifier.
• To open Magnifier using the keyboard, press CTRL+ESC, press R, type magnify, and then press ENTER.
• Utility Manager enables users to check an Accessibility program's status and start or stop an Accessibility program. Users with administrator-level access can designate to have the program start when Utility Manager starts. Users can also start Accessibility programs before logging on to the computer by pressing the Windows logo key () + U at the Welcome to Windows dialog box that appears when Windows starts.

Maginifer is also useful when used with dual-monitors. Click below for more details.

Using Dual-monitors

Narrator is a text-to-speech utility for users who are blind or have impaired vision. Narrator reads what is displayed on your screen: the contents of the active window, menu options, or the text you have typed.

Narrator is designed to work with Notepad, Wordpad, Control Panel programs, Internet Explorer, the Windows desktop, and Windows setup. Narrator may not read words aloud correctly in other programs.

Narrator has several options that allow you to customize the way screen elements are read.

• You can have new windows, menus, or shortcut menus read aloud when they are displayed.
• You can have typed characters read aloud.
• You can have the mouse pointer follow the active item on the screen.
• You can adjust the speed, volume, or pitch of the voice.

The accessibility tools that ship with Windows are intended to provide a minimum functionality level for users with special needs. Most users with disabilities will need utility programs with more advanced functionality for daily use.

• To open Narrator, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to Accessibility, and then click Narrator.
• To open Narrator using the keyboard, press CTRL+ESC, press R, type narrator, and then press ENTER.
• Narrator is not available for all languages and is only supported on the English version of Windows XP.
• An easy way to start Narrator is to press the Windows logo key () + U. Narrator is set to start by default when Utility Manager starts. However, Narrator may not start if your computer does not have text-to-speech program capability.
• Utility Manager enables users to check an Accessibility program's status and start or stop an Accessibility program. Users with administrator-level access can designate to have the program start when Utility Manager starts. Users can also start Accessibility programs before logging on to the computer by pressing the Windows logo key () + U at the Welcome to Windows dialog box that appears when Windows starts.

On-Screen Keyboard is a utility that displays a virtual keyboard on the screen and allows users with mobility impairments to type data using a pointing device or joystick. On-Screen Keyboard is intended to provide a minimum level of functionality for users with mobility impairments.

On-Screen Keyboard has three typing modes you can use to type data:

• In clicking mode, you click the on-screen keys to type text.
• In scanning mode, On-Screen Keyboard continually scans the keyboard and highlights areas where you can type keyboard characters by pressing a hot key or using a switch-input device.
• In hovering mode, you use a mouse or joystick to point to a key for a predefined period of time, and the selected character is typed automatically.

In On-Screen Keyboard you can also:

• View an enhanced keyboard that includes the numeric keypad, or a standard keyboard that does not include the numeric keypad.
• Display the keyboard with the keys in the standard layout, or in a block layout in which the keys are arranged in rectangular blocks. Block layout is especially useful in scanning mode.
• Display the U.S. standard keyboard (101 keys), the universal keyboard (102 keys), or a keyboard (106 keys) with additional Japanese language characters.
• Use Click Sound to add an audible click when you select a key.
• Use Always on Top to keep your keyboard displayed on your screen when you switch programs or windows.

The accessibility tools that ship with Windows are intended to provide a minimum functionality level for users with special needs. Most users with disabilities will need utility programs with more advanced functionality for daily use.

• To open On-Screen Keyboard, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to Accessibility, and then click On-Screen Keyboard.
• The program in which you want to type characters must be active while you are using On-Screen Keyboard.
• Utility Manager enables users to check an Accessibility program's status and start or stop an Accessibility program. Users with administrator-level access can designate to have the program start when Utility Manager starts. Users can also start Accessibility programs before logging on to the computer by pressing the Windows logo key () + U at the Welcome to Windows dialog box that appears when Windows starts.
• The accessibility tools that ship with Windows are intended to provide a minimum functionality level for users with special needs. Most users with disabilities will need utility programs with more advanced functionality for daily use. For information about accessibility products and aids for Windows operating systems, see the accessibility page (go to http://www.microsoft.com/ and search for "accessibility") on the Microsoft Web site.

One of the components of the Internet connection on your computer is a built-in set of TCP/IP instructions. TCP/IP can sometimes become corrupted. If your connection to the Internet is really slow or you cannot connect to the Internet, and you have tried all other methods to resolve the problem, TCP/IP might be causing it.

Because TCP/IP is a core component of Windows, you cannot remove it. However, you can reset TCP/IP to its original state. If you have any custom settings (default gateway, DNS server, etc.), you will need to set these again manually.

Use an automatic method to reset TCP/IP

Revised 10/7/2020. The Microsoft Fix It application to automatically reset the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) in Windows XP initially referenced in this article is no longer available for download.

Use a manual method to reset TCP/IP

Note This section is intended for advanced computer users. If you are not comfortable with advanced troubleshooting, ask someone for help. In Windows XP, a reset command is available in the IP context of the NetShell utility. Follow these steps to use the reset command to reset TCP/IP manually:

1. To open a command prompt, click Start and then click Run. Copy and paste (or type) the following command in the Open box and then press ENTER:
   cmd
2. At the command prompt, copy and paste (or type) the following command and then press ENTER:
   netsh int ip reset c:\resetlog.txt
   Note: If you do not want to specify a directory path for the log file, use the following command:
   netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt

When you run the reset command, it rewrites two registry keys used by TCP/IP. This has the same result as removing and reinstalling the protocol. The reset command rewrites the following two registry keys:

SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\DHCP\Parameters\

To run the manual command successfully, you must specify a file name for the log, in which the actions that netsh takes will be recorded. When you run the manual command, TCP/IP is reset, and the actions taken are recorded in the log file, known as resetlog.txt in this article.

The first example, c:\resetlog.txt, creates a path where the log will reside. The second example, resetlog.txt, creates the log file in the current directory. In either case, if the specified log file already exists, the new log will be appended to the end of the existing file.

With Scheduled Tasks, you can schedule any script, program, or document to run at a time that is most convenient for you. Scheduled Tasks starts each time you start Windows XP and runs in the background.

With Scheduled Tasks, you can also:

• Schedule a task to run daily, weekly, monthly, or at certain times (such as system startup).
• Change the schedule for a task.
• Stop a scheduled task.
• Customize how a task will run at a scheduled time.

Common tasks

Some of the tasks you may want to schedule are Disk Defragmenter or Backup.

Create a scheduled task

Modify a scheduled task

Remove a scheduled task

Stop a scheduled task that is running

Temporarily turn off all scheduled tasks