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Control Center for Windows 2K and more extended

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26 Jan 20046 min read 123.8K   1.5K   48   28
Control Center for Windows 2K and more

System tools

System Tools is a collection of nifty tools that help you monitor several system parameters such as the fonts installed on your system as well as the various drivers, and configure all the Windows services, installed programs etc.

Get System Info Pane

This pane gives you the detailed information on the following heads:

  • Boot.ini: Boot.ini file information and configuration option.
  • Desktop: Desktop settings and options
  • Drives: Detailed information about the drives
  • Operating System: Operating system name and build number
  • System Info: Information about the processor/s present
  • System Metrics: Window / icon etc. arrangement and settings
  • System Parameters: Detailed information about the keyboard, mouse and sound subsystem of the machine.

Note: All this information is displayed in a text-box, it is possible to select and copy the desired text in any text editor and form a system configuration report.

Services Management Pane

The Services Management pane deals with the Windows Services. You can view all the services that are available on your machine and their current status.

You also have the option of changing the property of the services whenever it is possible. Since some of the services are critical to the running and functioning of the machine, please mark your current configuration as good configuration (use the “Good Configuration” button) before doing any change to these services. In case of some instability resulting due to your changes, press “Configuration Unstable” button, the system will immediately reboot and restore the last saved “Good Configuration”.

Uninstall Listing

Shows the list of all the installed programs on your computer. This option brings out the list of all installed programs on the computer and displays their uninstall string. Right click on any entry and select "uninstall" to uninstall that program.

Driver Listing

By default, this option brings out the list of all system drivers on your computer, but using the "Remote drivers" button you can view the list of drivers installed on any remote computer along with their type and link date.

This list can be saved as a text file where all fields are separated by “::” symbol.

This list can be converted into a tab separated file and imported in Excel or any other table program.

Font Listing

Pretty much self-descriptive, the font listing displays the list of all the installed fonts on your system along with their type and full name.

Windows tools

As indicated by name, this collection of tools brings the functionality of Windows much nearer to the user without going much deeper into Windows.

Task List Pane

This pane lists all the currently running processes with their PID (which is actually the Process Id). It also gives information about the threads executed by any application and the page file usage of the application. This tab can be used to end any unnecessary processes which are not responding or are not needed, by just selecting the process and giving a click on the "End Tasks" button. Double clicking on any task shows the thread list of the selected task. This can be used for diagnostic purposes.

System Functions

System functions brings to you a new series of functionality and controls which one may have never experienced while working in Windows. With the options of shutting down your own system and logging off from your account, you get an extra power of shutting down a remote system. Just trying it will give you a better view. And then the option of launching any application adds to the beauty of the whole scenario. This pane also lists all the users present on the terminal with their user IDs.

Windows

This tab shows the currently open windows on your computer. Including the options of destroying the window and the options of ‘Tile Windows Vertically’ and ‘Tile Windows Horizontally’, extra functionalities like hiding a window (this doesn’t mean that the application stops working….it just goes in background) and unhiding the hidden window and disabling/enabling an open window have also been added.

Remote Task Lists

As indicated by name, it connects to a remote computer and brings all the information about the currently active processes of the remote computer. (Now it is just like pressing “ctrl + alt + del” on that system while you were never actually on that system). It also allows you to close any application on the remote system.

Shares

This pane lists all the currently shared folders on our system. Over a network, it also works with finding out the shared folders on a remote system. You also have an option of deleting any share on any system (provided the logged on user has those rights).

Port Data

This tab lists all the open ports and related information about them including port type and port name. Options include saving the list for future use. The Port scanner UI shows the different types of ports with different color so that the information is easy to grasp.

Open Files

This pane lists all the open files on the server by various remote computers/users. It displays the opened filename, the username of the user who has opened the file, the locks present, the File ID and the permissions on the open files.

The Configuration Pane

Boot Parameters

This pane helps you to see the boot configuration and settings and also gives you the option to edit and change the boot parameters.

System Status

This pane acts as an indicator to the total physical memory available to the system at the current time. It also gives you the option to free more physical memory which is just being wasted by some useless applications. A single click on the “Free Memory” will free physical memory currently available for present use.

The next extraordinary feature of this pane helps you to add IP to your system. The system may be able to work on multiple IPs if you add one (or even more) to your system. If working on a local network, the proxy settings can also be viewed and edited.

Startup

This tab lists all the startup items whether disabled or enabled including their locations from which they run.

System Info

Desktop Properties

This pane adds a lot of functionalities and hidden controls that can be used to control the desktop. Including features like setting the wallpaper, changing cursor styles, icon styles, fonts and disabling the wallpaper, new features like creating and managing new virtual desktops have also been added up. Create a new desktop and switch over to it without making any changes in the previous desktops. And when all is over, you can return back to the original desktop whenever needed.

Mouse Properties

Options of changing the mouse speed, mouse trails, double click speed, swapping mouse buttons, mouse sonar and mouse vanish have been integrated in this pane.

Sound Properties

This page lets you set the output volume of the Master volume and the Wave volume.

Keyboard Properties

This page lets you set the properties of the keyboard. The properties that can be set are Repeat Delay (the delay before the character begins to repeat itself) and Repeat Rate (the speed with which the characters repeat themselves).

Task Scheduler

This page gives you details about the various tasks scheduled on the system. It gives the user options to change the properties of a Task as well as to create a new Task and to delete the already Scheduled Tasks.

Credits:

  1. The Redeemer Group
    • Abhisehk (Cruz)
    • Aman Bhatia (Stooth)
    • Manu Dev (Devil)
    • Markandey Singh (Dawn)
    • Ritwaj Ratan (Hash)
  2. Paul DiLascia (MSDN Magazine Nov 2002)

    For the CTrayIcon class

  3. Alex Chmut

    For the classes to control the volume.

License

This article has no explicit license attached to it but may contain usage terms in the article text or the download files themselves. If in doubt please contact the author via the discussion board below.

A list of licenses authors might use can be found here


Written By
Engineer
India India
This is just a beginning. I’m yet to decide the distance I have to travel.
I’m a 2nd year B. Tech. Student and I’ve started Visual programming about a year ago. Lets hope I can continue that for the rest of 2 and a half more years.

Comments and Discussions

 
GeneralOpen files Pin
Lazzari Patrizio21-Jul-10 21:47
Lazzari Patrizio21-Jul-10 21:47 
GeneralThank you Pin
Imran Sheth22-Aug-07 14:20
Imran Sheth22-Aug-07 14:20 
QuestionHow get code project file Pin
Piccinano2-Nov-04 3:04
Piccinano2-Nov-04 3:04 
Generalon building this program got many errors and warnings Pin
Jadav Pradip29-Jul-04 2:17
Jadav Pradip29-Jul-04 2:17 
Generalchange proxy settings Pin
berhir27-May-04 6:21
berhir27-May-04 6:21 
GeneralList installed programs Pin
n.f.m.5-Apr-04 15:49
n.f.m.5-Apr-04 15:49 
GeneralRe: List installed programs Pin
conio12-Apr-04 2:37
conio12-Apr-04 2:37 
GeneralRe: how could i get icon of installed programs Pin
chenxuri5-Jul-06 23:13
chenxuri5-Jul-06 23:13 
Generalmissing code Pin
Steve Steffan3-Feb-04 12:53
Steve Steffan3-Feb-04 12:53 
GeneralRe: missing code Pin
diilbert6-Feb-04 12:16
diilbert6-Feb-04 12:16 
GeneralRe: missing code Pin
conio12-Apr-04 2:30
conio12-Apr-04 2:30 
GeneralWhy did article pics & code disappear Pin
doug33329-Jan-04 12:24
doug33329-Jan-04 12:24 
General5 errors in VC 6 Pin
ChizI25-Jan-04 11:11
ChizI25-Jan-04 11:11 
GeneralWarning level Pin
David J Craig5-Jan-04 18:25
David J Craig5-Jan-04 18:25 
GeneralA little concerned about the project name Pin
Gerard Nicol5-Jan-04 13:29
Gerard Nicol5-Jan-04 13:29 
GeneralProblem getting boot.ini information Pin
Hal Director5-Jan-04 12:42
Hal Director5-Jan-04 12:42 
GeneralList of Process Pin
Mishra Vikas10-Nov-03 2:06
Mishra Vikas10-Nov-03 2:06 
GeneralRe: List of Process Pin
conio13-Nov-03 2:22
conio13-Nov-03 2:22 
GeneralGreat ! Pin
benben9-Nov-03 16:43
benben9-Nov-03 16:43 
QuestionHow about a VC++ 6.0 version? Pin
WREY9-Nov-03 12:55
WREY9-Nov-03 12:55 
AnswerRe: How about a VC++ 6.0 version? Pin
conio13-Nov-03 2:20
conio13-Nov-03 2:20 
GeneralRe: How about a VC++ 6.0 version? Pin
prcarp5-Jan-04 9:16
prcarp5-Jan-04 9:16 
GeneralRe: How about a VC++ 6.0 version? Pin
aircaslte5-Jan-04 16:36
aircaslte5-Jan-04 16:36 
GeneralNice and also usefull Pin
Neville Franks9-Nov-03 11:15
Neville Franks9-Nov-03 11:15 
Thanks for sharing this with us. May I suggest adding some CWaitCursor calls around the place for the lengthy operations. Also populate a tab page by the most common default values the first time they are selected, instead of getting the user to select some option.

Also it would be nice to see some more Network information, like MAC address.

A few bugs:
In Get System Info if you select say: System Parameters|Mouse and then an item that doesn't have a value like CLSID's|My Computer the list of attributes doesn't change, which is confusing. I'd suggest if there are no attributes for an item to display: "(No attributes)".

System Functions|User Account Information|Double click on an account and the the User Info dialog has the wrong font.

Should you be able to switch Tabs once some lengthy operation has commenced? Will the length operation complete successfully?

Thanks again.

Neville Franks, Author of ED for Windows. Free Trial at www.getsoft.com
GeneralRe: Nice and also usefull Pin
conio13-Nov-03 2:16
conio13-Nov-03 2:16 

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