Microsoft has no control over many Device Drivers, relying upon third parties to create the drivers necessary to support its

hardware and software.Some of the developer's do a good job; other don't.

To help solve this problem, Windows created the Windows Hardware Quality Lab. This Lab tests different hardware

designed to work with windows. If the hardware passes the test, then that driver is granted a Digital Signature. This signature

is a mark of quality assurance, signifying that the driver has passed the test and can be relied upon.

Windows Xp has a tool that allows you to see whether the various drivers in your system are signed.

To run the File Signarture Verification Utility, follow these steps :

1. Choose Start→Run, enter sigverif.exe in the open box and click OK.

The welcome screen for the utility appears.

2. To use the program in the simplest way, just click start.

The program can take quite a while to run through its tests; it checks a large number of folders and directories

When the scan is complete you see a summary screen. The summary shows the unsigned files.

Figuring out what the unsigned drivers do can be a bit frustating. After all, how are you supposed to know what

(for example) acpdf207.dll  does or whether it's necessary to have it on your system.

3. Do a google search for the driver's name

Chances are good that you'll find results that indicate more information about the file. you can then decide whether to

Keep or to remove it.

4. To see a full report of the driver's checked, click the Advance button, display the logging taband click View Log .

The Log file can be very long.

5. When you finish using the File Signature Verification Utility, click the close button to exit the program.

The File Signature Verification Utility isn't limited to checking drivers; you can use it to check other files by clicking the

Advanced button and then selecting the Look For Other Files option.

The most common extension for device drivers is  .DLL. Many .DLLs are used for other purposes. Dynamic Link Library

(DLL) is a type of file format that allows common code snippets to be shared between the Operating System and multiple

programs.The orginal ideaof a .DLL was to reduce the resources necessary for the code, just by sharing.

But now as the Hard Drives became larger, memory more plentiful, and windows bigger .DLLs also bwcame a bigger

problem. My Windows XP system has over 5600 .DLL files.

The big problem with .DLLs is keeping all the .DLLs updated. If I update on program, it wants to update the .DLLs that it

uses. If other programs use some of those .DLLs, the updated .DLLs may "Break" the other programs, which are not expecting

a change. The result of this is a greater chance for system instability-- different programs, overtime, become more prone to

crashing and malfunctioning simply because of updating .DLLs. This condition even has a name--- .DLL Hell.

Microsoft has worked hard to solve the problem of .DLL Hell. Windows XP is much more stable than the previous

versions. But increased stability does not solve the fact of having 5600+ .DLL on a system.

The solution lies in recognizing that not all of those .DLL files are necessary. The files accumulate over time ---- new

programs ( and thier .DLLs ) are installed; the .DLLs remain when the programs are removed. Orphan .DLL files are not

individually a problem, but collectively they contribute to an astounding amount of clutter. This makes the Operating System

work harder and eats up more disk space than should be eaten.

The task devovles to the user to figure out what .DLLs can be removed from a system. But this is tedious task ----

sifting throught 5600+ .DLLs to figure out which ones should be deleted is not something you want to do it manually. Thats why

program exists to do it for you called as .DLL-winnowing programs.

The .DLL winnowing programs are :

1. Registry Cleaners : These types of programs search through the windows registry, looking for ways to tidy it up. In doing so

They often make a list of deleatble .DLL files.

2. Uninstallers : Programs that specialize in uninstalling software have begun to spring up. These programs many times do a

better job of removing program remnants ---- including .DLLs --- than the built-in uninstallers provided with the software.

3. Disk Cleaners: These utilities were developed specifically to look for unused files ( including .DLL files) that can be

removed from the system.

You can often find good sharewares on the internet and choose the appropriate one.

--Kuldeep Kumavat

the way to fast shut dowing the in xp is

first press windows button which is present beside (alt) button or in between alt and control button

there press "u" from keyboard press it twice for the first press it will show shutdown button there if you press "u" it will shutdown, if you press "R" it will restart the system, if you press "S" then the system will be in standby mode it is simple yaar.

start------->U-------U=shutdown

Hi Folks, most of us have windows XP as their operating system which takes a lot of time to shutdown. Usually all you

people are only interested in speeding up the performance of XP and now everybody must be knowing the tricks in it. So I am

going to tell you people how to shutdown windows XP faster.

The steps are......

1. Open the Run menu and type in regedit which opens the registry editor.

2. Go to the following location

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

3. In Desktop check the fields on right hand side....edit the Wait ToKillApp Timeout and put in the value as 4000.

4. Now go to the followin location

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrnetControlSet\Control

5. In Control check edit the field  Wait ToKillService Timeout and put in the value as 4000.

By doing the above steps you computer will shutdown faster.

--Kuldeep Kumavat.