Channel 9 - Discussions by RichardRudek

Tech Off - MS DOS booted from Hard drive does not execute any .exe file even from outside

RichardRudek — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 09:52:40 GMT

Might be this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/72360

Tech Off - Using Windows 98 in a Virtual PC

RichardRudek — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:43:25 GMT

http://www.filewatcher.com/m/scr56en.exe.680408.0.0.html

You'll probably also need the System Update (SP1), the Y2K update(s), and maybe the DCOM and the UNICOWS updates as well.

Tech Off - Enum C# vs C++

RichardRudek — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 23:23:35 GMT

OR, you could try using namespaces:

namespace A {
	enum AA{ None, Value1, Value2 };
}

namespace B {
	enum BB { None, Sometype1, Sometype2 };
}

...
...
	int a   = A::None;
	int aa  = A::AA::None;
	int b   = B::None;
	int bb  = B::BB::None;

EDIT: added some namespace/name permutations. PS: I don't think I like this new editor...

Tech Off - Problems with Chr(0)

RichardRudek — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:55:26 GMT

jh71283 said:

jh71283 said:

*snip*

Or am I interpreting this incorrectly?

Please see attached Page - I want to set all options to OFF, and character Font A.

Seeing as this site is so bloody INFURIATING to use, the image is located at

http://img66.imageshack.us/my.php?image=escfs0.jpg

Have you tried following Microsoft's documentation instead of the printer's ?

eg [PosPrinterClass]

Print Mode - Characteristics that are remembered until explicitly changed.

Name

Data

Remarks

Font font selection

ESC|#fT

Selects a new font for the following data. Values for the character ‘#’ are as follows:

0 = Default font.1 = Select first font from the FontTypefaceList property.2 = Select second font from the FontTypefaceList property.And so on.

I think you'll find that the # (above) will be the the string form of number. ie "0" -> chr(30). Though I expect that below the covers, the class will follow the ESC/POS documentation, as you posted.

Tech Off - VPN problems with networking

RichardRudek — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:41:52 GMT

At the remote site, the RRAS server (which is also a DC) has the IP address 192.168.0.2, but my local machine also happens to have the address 192.168.0.2; but when I connect via the VPN connection it's addressed by 192.168.0.62 and my computer is 192.168.0.61, so that sounds fine, but still...

Um, why does this sound fine?

You should be trying to route between what should be two 'distinct' networks. From a TCP/IP point-of-view, the network mask is used to make this distinction. So unless your using some kind of tricky netmask setup that I can't imagine, then the best I would have ever expected to get would be simple a point-to-point connection. Though if both your (local) IP Address conflicts with the RRAS server, then I'm amazed you even get that.

Simplest solution would be to change your local IP Address range. ie Use something like 192.168.20.0/24 locally.

Tech Off - Getting my cookies in IE back

RichardRudek — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 23:12:15 GMT

You assume wrong...

The last time I checked, meta-data such as favourites are saved in each user's profile, under Documents and Settings (pre-vista), and under Users in Vista.

I suppose you could go poking around in there. eg C:\Users\,your user name>\Favorites

Tech Off - Netgear Port

RichardRudek — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:02:50 GMT

Harlequin said:

picohat said:

*snip*

Yeah, think I've done most of those things on the boys Vista laptop, still can't see other computers. And yeah, the wireless isn't really a router for anything, just to spew out wireless; upstairs computer is just attached to it via network cable because I didn't want to run another cable up there, I'm probably going to bring the wireless downstairs anyways too hook up to the router(it already is upstairs) so the upstairs computer can use that plus and be into the router directly.

Would the Netgear product not make things cleaner and easier? Since all computers(each has it's own static IP) will be hooked up to it, and have the same parent. Would it not be less of a hassle for them to see each other, for those not 100% network-saavy?

Depends, but probably.

Working off the diagram posted by Matthew, the (unnamed) Router (which is central to all of this) has five wired 'local' connections. However, most domestic Routers that I'm familiar with only have four locals, plus a WAN - a fifth network port, sure. But it is not the same as a local port.

So I'm confused. Perhaps you should tell us what this Router is.

Also, I assume that your home network also provides a shared Internet connection. When you mention a Router, this is a natural conclusion, but is it correct ?

Tech Off - Corrupted c:\windows\system32\config\system

RichardRudek — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:39:31 GMT

Rajesh.Thareja wrote:

4 GB InnoDisk Disk On Module (HDD)

I suspect you need to assist the wear-leveling capabilites of this device. [Read what Microsoft says about using Flash drives with XP Embedded]. Do a search on the page for "wear leveling", and then read the start of the topic, etc.

Tech Off - Passing php variables via "a name" links - Help?

RichardRudek — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 06:52:45 GMT

Cybermagellan wrote:

bar

I've never actually used PHP before, so obviously, take this with a (huge) 3 carrot grain of salt, but it looks like your trying to get PHP to work within a string constant.

I'd have thought it would have been better to have PHP return the entire (computed) string instead. Just a thought.

EDIT:

Oh stupid me. You mean from the client, passing data back to your server using URL variables.

In other words, that fact that the server is using PHP isn't significant. I was looking at it from the Server side, and thinking you were using some kind of wierd PHP shortcut syntax that I'd never seen before... move along, nothing to see here...

Tech Off - USB cannot read barcode scanner

RichardRudek — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 22:09:07 GMT

jellylychee wrote:

When I plug it in the ps/2 port, the barcode scanner works. The barcode scanner is recognized by my computer. When the barcode scanner reads barcodes, I can see the output in my computer. I did this in my desktop.

Yes, I already understood this.

jellylychee wrote:

The problem is, I want to work on my laptop. I have to because the rest of my family uses the desktop and I always do my work (programming) in school. But my laptop does not have a ps/2 port. So what I did was purchase a ps/2 usb converter adapter.

Yes, and I understood this as well.

jellylychee wrote:

When I connect the barcode scanner to the converter adapter, and I connect the converter adapter to the USB port, that is where the problem begins. "USB Device Not Recognized". The converter adapter is working fine if I connect my ps/2 mouse and keyboard but it does not work when I connect the barcode scanner.

So to summarize, it works in the ps/2 port. But it does not work thru the use of the converter adapter.

Ah, some details...

Did you see see my closing comment - I'll requote it (strike 2):

jellylychee wrote:

RichardRudek wrote:
Also, have you tried plugging in the desktop's keyboard along with the barcode scanner, like you would (I assume) with your dekstop ?

Why would that make any difference ?

Because the barcode scanner device is probably looking for the clock signal from the keyboard, so it knows how to set itself up, and be able to inject appropriately into the keyboard's data stream. From memory there were/are at least two keyboard clock speeds 6 and 8 MHz. Though I'd have to look that up, to be sure.

Have to go, I'll check back later this afternoon, or tonight..

Tech Off - Vista and Flash Media Server

RichardRudek — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 09:37:12 GMT

Have you checked whether it's an Ethernet MTU (MaximumTransfer Unit) issue. ?

I believe Vista has a dynamic tuning algorithm. In which case, it's possible that Vista is detecting a black hole Router, and it's reaction to that could be manifesting itself with this Server - ie the Media Server is making invalid/inappropriate assumptions about the lower-level network transport, and eventually fails.

Just a guess. If you really want to get into it, try using WireShark or Microsoft's Network Monitor to capture the network packets as it starts to fail.

Tech Off - USB cannot read barcode scanner

RichardRudek — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 09:06:03 GMT

jellylychee wrote:

RichardRudek wrote:
You'll also need to explain what you mean by doesn't work. eg it seems to be getting no power, etc

I've re-quoted my earlier question.

jellylychee wrote:

Hi. I am sorry I got everyone mixed up. It has a ps/2 connector. It is working fine when I connect it to the ps/2 port of my desktop. It can read the barcodes and send the data to the desktop. However when I use a ps/2 usb adapter converter (my laptop doesnt have a ps/2 port), my computer does not recognize the barcode scanner anymore. The adapter converter is working fine when I tried to connect other devices like a mouse.

Anymore ?

Does that mean the barcode scanner used to work on the laptop, but then stopped for some reason ?

If so, then [read through this post] (or even the thread), and see whether it sue to bad Device manager entries. Specifically what we're looking for will be any HIDs (Human Interface Devices).

Also, have you tried plugging in the desktop's keyboard along with the barcode scanner, like you would (I assume) with your dekstop ?

Tech Off - USB cannot read barcode scanner

RichardRudek — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 23:36:17 GMT

figuerres wrote:

figuerres wrote:

jellylychee wrote:

The scanner has a

6pin male and female connector.

It did not come with a driver. I just borrowed it from my school for my thesis. They do not have a USB scanner sad to say.

.

.

starting to think this is a PS/2 keyboard wedge eh?

perhaps the OP has a PS/2 = USB adapter ??

Yes, I'd surprised if it was primarily an RS232 device: [Barcode scanners]

Most of the ones I've seen are the keyboard-injection type devices, because that's the simplest way of doing it - no drivers necessary.

Now the wikipedia article does mention that a few of these devices do have RS232 interfaces. But the device still needs to get it power from somewhere.

The PS/2 interface has a 5 Volt supply, so that's the most probable source. But older, RS232-only devices typically scavenged their power from the RS232 interface itself.

But, those devices may not be able to derive enough power from a 'non-strict' RS232 interface - RS232 is suppose to be +/- 12 Volt signaling. But a lot of 'adapters' have 'customised' this standard, using much lower voltages, or not even using negative voltages.

Tech Off - USB cannot read barcode scanner

RichardRudek — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 21:48:45 GMT

As figuerres has said, these devices usually 'inject' their data stream as though someone had typed it in via a keyboard. So for all intents and purposes, it is a keyboard.

But just to be sure, here are some links so you can confirm exactly what you have: [PS/2 connector] [DE-9 connectors]

Also, whilst the keyboard data stream is a serialised one, it's not RS-232, which is what your suggesting when you talk about serial ports - which is probably why figuerres introduced the possibity of it being an RS-232 device - I'd doubt it.

You'll also need to explain what you mean by doesn't work. eg it seems to be getting no power, etc.

Tech Off - VS 2008 Start Options Bug

RichardRudek — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:49:16 GMT

You might need to use a batch file then.

PS: I don't have VS2008, so I can't experiment...

Tech Off - Cloning volumes and now they're unbootable?

RichardRudek — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:39:15 GMT

W3bbo wrote:

RichardRudek wrote:
and that the 40GB still works on the laptop.

I just went:

Take source drive out of laptop > Hook it and the destination to the controller card > Boot up > Ghost > Advanced > Clone > Source disk / Destination disk > Continue > Reboot > Unattended clone operation > Shut down > Disconnect drives > Put back into laptop > Fail

Note I've highlighted part of my previous question which you forgot to answer.

I can't see anything obviously wrong, though I don't use the clone feature, so don't actually know what it does.

When I do a replacement, I first backup to an image file on my server (over the LAN), replace the disk, then disk image back from the image file on my server. I have a specially hacked up boot CD for this.

That way I have a backup of their hard disk before I touched the hardware in any major kind of way, and I can choose to grow the original disk partition on the new, larger disk. It's slower, but safer (IMHO), and I have a backup.

Now if cloning does grow the partition as well, then I wonder whether it's gone and done something stupid like moving the bootstrap files (or part-thereof) beyond the 8GB zone (~7.8 GB actually).

Actually, can you confirm what partition entry the original partition (40GB) was using, and what the new one (120GB) uses - there are four of them within the MBR/Partition table, starting at offset 0x01BE (446).

That is:
    Partition 1 - offset 0x01BE (446)
    Partition 2 - offset 0x01CE (462)
    Partition 3 - offset 0x01DE (478)
    Partition 4 - offset 0x01EE (494)

Tech Off - Cloning volumes and now they're unbootable?

RichardRudek — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 22:48:34 GMT

There could be a number things at play here. But it is strange your not getting any errors.

Maybe you need to explain how you hooked up the two hard disk and performed the disk images, and whether you have had the two disks connected at the same whilist windows was up and running. That is, there is an entry within the registry about what volume a specific disk (signature) should be mounted as.

Also, please confirm that we're talking about VIsta, which version it is, and that the 40GB still works on the laptop.

I'm thinking that you might be doing something naughty like running an OEM specific version on the wrong brand of laptop... [A]

Tech Off - VS 2008 Start Options Bug

RichardRudek — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:37:57 GMT

have you tried escaping the '>' (stream redirection) character ?

eg ^> or %>

Tech Off - Create Shared Folder Using Batch File or VBS

RichardRudek — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:11:52 GMT

Greg M wrote:

It's sometimes hard to believe that such a long correspondence can be resolved with just four little lines of code:
Md G:\MyFolder
Net Share MyShare=G:\MyFolder
Cacls G:\MyFolder /e /r Everyone
Cacls G:\MyFolder /e /g Everyone:C

Your unlikely to need the revoke step.

I only did it in my example because initially, I was using an existing Share that was created using the Sharing Wizard. But I left it in because I wanted to show that how it can be done, as, let's face it, CACLS is not exactly user friendly, nor unambiguously documented.

Hell, I often forget to add the /e to the command-line, and just blow away the entire ACL, for all but the specific account supplied.

Also, at first glance, it's not obvious what the difference is between the /g and /p switches:

grant (/g) is suppose to add permissions to any existing ones.
replace permission (/p) is suppose to entirely replace any existing permissions with what your suppling on the command-line now.

But without the /e , apart from blowing away all the permissions from the other accounts, whats the difference between them ? ... my head hurts...

Anyway, what I've learnt is that if CACLS ever asks 'Are you sure', say no ! ...

Oh, and to further clarify, the ACLs are 'stored' in the filesystem, not in the Registry. Kind of like the way a file's size and it's access/modification times are stored.

That's why if you move a Hard Disk between two systems, an Administrator needs to take ownership of files first, before correcting their ACLs - the new system will likely not have the same user accounts setup (user IDs, etc). All good fun...

Tech Off - How to call C#.NET dll from javascript

RichardRudek — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:39:50 GMT

I can think of only two, perhaps three ways.

1. This will work only with Internet Explorer. Rewrite the Class library to expose itself via COM. Specifically, as an ActiveX. Then, the ActiveX can be setup/registered on EACH client, and you can then use IE's proprietary ActiveXObject - assuming you've marked it safe for scripting.

2. Rewrite the Class Library so that it is now a plugin to the browser. That's for each browser you want to support. So at a minimum, for IE and Firefox. I doubt you could use .NET for that, so you'll probably need to really rewrite using a different language.

3. Find or write a generic plugin that allows the browser to consume a .NET library. A lot of work, and you'd probably need to also design (and support, version, etc) an interface between the plugin and the .NET Class Library.

Now with each of these options, none are trivial to do. The first is probably the easiest, but apart from being limited to IE, you also need to cope with the fact that some client PC's may not have the .NET runtime installed. Strange, but true...

I suspect you need to back to the drawing board with this one. Such as redoing it using Silverlight 2.0 (which is still in Beta), or whatever the Macromedia one is (Flex ?).

Tech Off - VS 2008 build time increased by factor of 50 over VS2005

RichardRudek — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 04:42:18 GMT

To post an image, you first need to upload the image to site accessible from the Internet. For example, I use imageshack.us.

Once it's uploaded, you then recover the link (URI) for it, then in the C9 editor, switch to the HTML view (see the two tabs below, where it says Design and HTML), then find the point where you want to paste the image, and paste in the actual HTML.

When you switch back to the Design view, you should be able to see the image.

Anyway, here is a screenshot of the same thing in in VS2005 Pro (Click the image to see it full size):

And here are the Links to the appropriate documentation for [VS2008] and [VS2005]

Tech Off - Create Shared Folder Using Batch File or VBS

RichardRudek — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 01:18:19 GMT

Greg M wrote:

Hi again, Richard!

First of all, many thanks for all the effort you're putting into helping me with this. I posted this query on one or two other forums & not only did I not get help, I didn't get even a response!

Sorry, I should have mentioned that I'm using XP Home Edition, so features such as gpedit.msc just don't exist. Similarly, the link you posted regarding Group Policies isn't applicable, as I don't have any such policies.

Yeah, that's fine. I'm merely stating that on an XP Pro system, the 'Everyone' permissions no longer applies to the 'Guest' account (or the Guests group ?).

However, knowing that, I'm not sure what the situation is with Home. But given that Home forces all network users to 'impersonate' a Guest, doing this would stop networking altogether, because of the default behaviour of the sharing wizard(s) - using 'Everyone' when setting the ACL.

Anyway..

Greg M wrote:

Another point (I don't know if it's relevant or not) is that there's nothing listed ("there are no items to show in this view") in the Sessions panel of the Computer Management tree.

Yes, you need to have an active session. It also does not refresh itself, so you do have to use the refresh option. This shot is from XP Home, which I have running in a Virtual PC :

Greg M wrote:

I've searched through the registries on each pc & the entries are quite consistent - i.e. wherever there's an entry for Folder A1 on pc A, there's an equivalent one for folder B1 on pc B; likewise for folders A2 & B2.

And your searching the Registry because ?

Greg M wrote:

The thing that puzzles me is the fact that folder A2 is openable on pc B, but folder B2 is not openable on pc A. As far as I'm aware, each pc has the same "status" - i.e. there's no master/slave or client/server arrangement, and each folder has been set up in an identical manner on each pc.

I thought I'd answered that. Have you tried adding 'Everyone' to B2's Access Control List (ACL) ?

Here an example session I just did on my XP Home Virtual PC:


C:\...>cacls c:\temp
c:\TEMP Everyone:(OI)(CI)C
        BUILTIN\Administrators:(OI)(CI)F
        NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(OI)(CI)F
        VPC-XPH-1\rr:F
        CREATOR OWNER:(OI)(CI)(IO)F
        BUILTIN\Users:(OI)(CI)R
        BUILTIN\Users:(CI)(special access:)
                          FILE_APPEND_DATA

        BUILTIN\Users:(CI)(special access:)
                          FILE_WRITE_DATA



C:\...>cacls c:\temp /e /r Everyone
processed dir: c:\TEMP

C:\...>cacls c:\temp
c:\TEMP BUILTIN\Administrators:(OI)(CI)F
        NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(OI)(CI)F
        VPC-XPH-1\rr:F
        CREATOR OWNER:(OI)(CI)(IO)F
        BUILTIN\Users:(OI)(CI)R
        BUILTIN\Users:(CI)(special access:)
                          FILE_APPEND_DATA

        BUILTIN\Users:(CI)(special access:)
                          FILE_WRITE_DATA


C:\..>cacls c:\temp /e /g Everyone:C
processed dir: c:\TEMP

C:\...>cacls c:\temp
c:\TEMP Everyone:(OI)(CI)C
        BUILTIN\Administrators:(OI)(CI)F
        NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(OI)(CI)F
        VPC-XPH-1\rr:F
        CREATOR OWNER:(OI)(CI)(IO)F
        BUILTIN\Users:(OI)(CI)R
        BUILTIN\Users:(CI)(special access:)
                          FILE_APPEND_DATA

        BUILTIN\Users:(CI)(special access:)
                          FILE_WRITE_DATA

First I list the current ACL of a folder that was shared using the Sharing wizard.

I then revoke 'Everyone' from it's ACL.

Then I add "Everyone' back.

Tech Off - Converting bits and bytes

RichardRudek — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 21:48:12 GMT

evildictaitor wrote:

RichardRudek wrote:
Others, though, may prefer them to be written with their least signicant bit on the left - left to right style.

That would be bizzare. We don't write numbers in left to right significantness (e.g. two-hundred and thirty-seven isn't 732) and your processor doesn't expect that for binary either.

[RFC791] is one I came across, recently. Section 3, header ASCII art, etc ... :O

evildictaitor wrote:

Now processor word-endianness is another matter entirely...

So I take it you subscribe to the notion of there being too many chiefs, and not enough endians, then ...

Tech Off - Converting bits and bytes

RichardRudek — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 03:46:14 GMT

This works for me:

    Dim data(0) As Int32
    data(0) = &HA0311A80
    Dim myBits As New BitArray(data)
    Dim myBytes(((myBits.Length + 7) \ 8) - 1) As Byte  'Use Integer Division ; zero-based.
    myBits.CopyTo(myBytes, 0)

    Dim s As String, t As String
    For Each d As Byte In myBytes
      s = s & Hex(d) & " "
      Dim a(0) As Byte
      a(0) = d
      Dim ba As New BitArray(a)
      For Each b As Boolean In ba
        t = CStr(IIf(b, "1", "0")) & t
      Next
      t = " " & t
    Next
    s = s & t

The console output being:

80 1A 31 A0 10100000 00110001 00011010 10000000

One to note is that the binary to string converstion required me to build from right to left (classical/numerical style), which is the way I write my binary numbers. Others, though, may prefer them to be written with their least signicant bit on the left - left to right style.

Tech Off - Create Shared Folder Using Batch File or VBS

RichardRudek — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 23:28:30 GMT

Greg M wrote:

Hi Richard,

Complicateder and complicateder!

Security is a PITA.

Greg M wrote:

Thanks for your reply, but it seems I'm not out of the woods yet.

The home network is quite simple - pc A and pc B connected directly using a crossover cable. Pc A connects directly to the internet, pc B connects to the internet via pc A. Windows XP with SP2 is installed on both pc's.

What versions of XP: Home, Professional, Media Center ?

This can be important because Home has limited networking features. For example, all Network accesses get 'down-graded' to "Guest" user account access. You can see this yourself using the "Sessions" console, under Shared Folders of the Managment Console - right-click My Computer, Manage, then drill down to it on the left.

Greg M wrote:

There are two folders on pc A, called A1 and A2, and two folders on pc B, called B1 and B2.

Folder A1 was set as shared using Explorer, with the sharename A1share; folder A2 was set as shared using the command line statement: Net Share A2share=G:\A2

Folder B1 was set as shared using Explorer, with the sharename B1share; folder B2 was set as shared using the command line statement: Net Share B2share=G:\B2

OK, so clearly the NET SHARE command is not a replacement for the Shell's Share wizard. I've not experimented to confirm this, but it appears that it simply retains any existing 'default' permissions. Those defaults will then depend upon what folder your sharing, and whether it's been though the Shell's Sharing wizard already or not.

Greg M wrote:

Folders A1share and A2share are visible and "openable" on pc B

Folders B1share and B2share are visible on pc A, but
Folder B1share is "openable" on pc A
Folder B2share is NOT "openable" on pc A

[snip]

Greg M wrote:

On pc B the command Cacls G:\B1 produces the following output:
g:\B1 Everyone:(OI)(CI)C
      BUILTIN\Administrators:(OI)(CI)F
      NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(OI)(CI)F
      GREGSCOMPUTER\Greg:F
      CREATOR OWNER:(OI)(CI)(IO)F
      BUILTIN\Users:(OI)(CI)R
      BUILTIN\Users:(CI)(special access:)
            FILE_APPEND_DATA
      BUILTIN\Users:(CI)(special access:)
            FILE_WRITE_DATA

On pc B the command Cacls G:\B2 produces the following output:
g:\B2 BUILTIN\Administrators:(OI)(CI)F
      NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(OI)(CI)F
      GREGSCOMPUTER\Greg:F
      CREATOR OWNER:(OI)(CI)(IO)F
      BUILTIN\Users:(OI)(CI)R
      BUILTIN\Users:(CI)(special access:)
            FILE_APPEND_DATA
      BUILTIN\Users:(CI)(special access:)
            FILE_WRITE_DATA

Any suggestions regarding the different output from the Cacls command on the two pc's, or regarding what needs to be tweaked in order to have folder B2share "openable" on pc A?

Best regards,

Greg M

I've highlighted the fact that B1 has the 'Everyone' user account listed in it's ACL, with change permissions. As mentioned earlier, XP Home wil downgrade the user account being used via the Network, back to Guest account access.

If my memory is correct, the 'Everyone' user account usually includes Guests, though with recent security updates (perhaps not with Home, I'm not sure), Guest accounts are specifically excluded from the 'Everyone' account via Group Policy. On an XP Pro system, you can check this via the Group Policy console: Start, Run: gpedit.msc

When I do this on one of my XP Pro systems, I can't find a specific entry that I remember (I'm getting old, though). I did find this one, though, under Security options: