How to re-install windows without loosing anything
Over time, Windows loses stability. If you keep a computer for more than two years, at some point you're going to have to bite the bullet and reinstall Windows from scratch. But contrary to popular belief, you won't have to reformat your hard drive (with one exception, discussed below). The bad stuff you need to get rid of is all in your Windows folder.
Before you begin, gather your Windows and application CD-ROMs. Back up your data files (just to be safe), and then clear two days off your calendar. If everything goes smoothly, you can reinstall Windows in a few hours. But you have to assume something will go wrong: You may not be able to find a necessary CD, or data won't be where you thought it was, or something will simply refuse to work.
There's a difference between a repair reinstall and a complete reinstall. Though a repair (also called a refresh) will let you keep your current settings, a complete reinstall will give you a truly fresh version of Windows. Repairs are fast and easy, but they don't fix anywhere near as many problems. The instructions below are for total reinstalls, except where noted.
Your Vendor's Restore CD
Most computers ship with a vendor-specific restore CD rather than with a Microsoft Windows CD-ROM. (If your PC came with a Microsoft Windows CD, or if you bought a retail copy of Windows, skip to the section for your version.)
Some restore CDs give you all the options of a full Microsoft Windows CD, but with better instructions and the convenience of having all the right hardware drivers. Others can do nothing except reformat your hard drive and restore it to the condition it was in when you bought the PC. (This case is the exception I mentioned above that requires a reformat.)
If your restore CD is reformat-only, back up your data files to a network or a removable medium before reinstalling Windows. If you use Windows 98 or Me, back up C:\My Documents, plus the folders inside C:\Windows discussed in the 98*steroidsRgangstaa section below. If you have Windows 2000 or XP, back up C:\Documents and Settings. Also back up any other folders in which you store your data files.
Windows 98 and ME CDs
These Windows versions keep some important data inside your soon-to-be-erased Windows folder, so you need to copy several of its subfolders to another location. Right-click My Computer and select Explore. Double-click the C: drive icon (in Me, you may then have to click View the entire contents of this drive). Right-click in the right pane and select New, Folder. Name the new folder oldstuff.
Go to the Windows folder (you might have to click View the entire contents of this folder), hold down Ctrl, and select the following subfolders: All Users, Application Data, Desktop, Favorites, Local Settings, Profiles, SendTo, and Start Menu. If you don't see them all, select View, Folder Options (Tools, Folder Options in Me), click the View tab, select Show all files, and click OK. (If you still don't see them all, don't worry about it.) Press Ctrl and drag the folders to C:\oldstuff (see FIGURE 1).
Restart Windows with a start-up disk in your floppy drive. (To make a start-up floppy, insert a disk, select Start, Settings, Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs, click Startup Disk, Create Disk, and follow the prompts.) At the Startup Menu, select Start computer with CD-ROM support. While the drivers load, insert your Windows CD-ROM.
Unless you're doing a repair reinstall, type the command c:\windows\command\deltree /y c:\windows and press Enter. Deleting your old files could take time, but the /y switch suppresses confirmation prompts, so take a break.
When you're back at the A: prompt, type x:setup, where x is your CD drive letter (it's likely one letter past what it usually is in Windows, so if it's D: in Windows, it's probably E: here). Press Enter and follow the prompts.
Once you're back in Windows, reinstall your graphics card driver. If you have Windows set up for more than one user, you'll also have to re-create each account. Select Start, Settings, Control Panel, Users to do so. It's important that the user names match those in the old installation. If you're not sure, open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\oldstuff\profiles. There you'll find a folder for each registered user name (see FIGURE 2). Don't worry about passwords. Log off and log back on as each user. When you're done, log off and back on one more time, but instead of choosing a user name and a password, press Esc to enter Windows without being a specific user.
Select Start, Programs, MS-DOS Prompt (in Windows 98) or Start, Programs, Accessories, MS-DOS Prompt (in Windows Me). Type xcopy c:\oldstuff\*.* c:\windows /s /h /r /c and press Enter (if you want to know what the xcopy switches do, enter the command xcopy /?). When xcopy asks if it should overwrite a file, press a for All.
When xcopy is through, reboot and log on (as a particular user, if necessary). Open My Documents to make sure all your personal files are where they belong, including your Internet Explorer favorites and your custom Start menu shortcuts.
Now skip ahead to "Finishing the Job."
Windows 2000 and XP CDs
Boot your computer with your Windows CD-ROM inserted. When you get the 'Press any key to boot from CD' message, do so. (If you don't see that message before Windows starts, restart Windows, press the key you're prompted to enter for your PC Setup program, and change the boot order so your CD drive is first.)
At the 'Welcome to Setup' screen, press Enter. The R (repair) option takes you to the Recovery Module, which is useful if Windows won't boot, but it's no help with a reinstallation. Soon you'll be told that there's already a Windows installation on the computer. Press r for a repair reinstall or Esc to begin a complete, destructive one. For a complete restore, select your C: partition and press Enter. When you get the warning that says an operating system is on that partition, press c. When you are asked your partition preference, select Leave the current file system intact (no changes). When you're told that a Windows folder (or Winnt folder for Windows 2000) already exists, press l ('ell') to delete it and create a new one. Follow the series of prompts. When the installation program asks for your name, enter temp.
Once the installation is complete, your system will reboot into Windows, and you'll be logged on as user Temp. If the screen is difficult to read, reinstall your graphics card driver.
If you are reinstalling Windows XP, skip to "For Both Windows XP and 2000."
If you're reinstalling Windows 2000, log off as Temp and back on as Administrator. Now log off and on again, this time as Temp. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\Documents and Settings. One of the subfolders will be named Administrator. Another will be named something like Administrator.computername.
Select Start, Programs, Accessories, Command Prompt. Type cd "\documents and settings" and press Enter. Then type xcopy administrator\*.* administrator.computername /s /h /r /c, replacing computername with the last part of that folder's name (after "Administrator.") in Documents and Settings. Now press Enter, and when you're asked about overwriting files or folders, press a for All.
If you have any users on the old installation besides Administrator, continue with the "For Both Windows XP and 2000" section. Otherwise, open Windows Explorer and make sure your data files are where they belong. Then go to Control Panel's Users and Passwords applet and delete the user Temp before skipping to "Finishing the Job."
For Both Windows XP and 2000
Reopen Windows Explorer. Select your C: drive (you may have to click Show the contents of this folder). Right-click in the right pane and select New, Folder. Name the new folder oldstuff. In the left pane, choose the Documents and Settings folder. It should have subfolders for each user from the previous install, plus one for Temp and a few others. Move the folders for your previous user names to oldstuff.
Select Start, Control Panel, User Accounts (Start, Settings, Control Panel, Users and Passwords in Windows 2000). Create an account for each user who was registered before the reinstall. Be sure to use the exact names. They are the same names as the folders you just moved to oldstuff (as shown in FIGURE 2). In Windows XP, at least one user must have administrator privileges.
Log off and back on as each user, before logging back on as Temp. Make sure that you select Log Off and not Switch User at Windows XP's Log Off dialog box (this isn't an issue in Win 2000).
Log on as Temp, select Start, Programs, Accessories, Command Prompt (in XP, Start, All Programs, Accessories, Command Prompt), type xcopy c:\oldstuff\*.* "c:\documents and settings" /s /h /r /c, and press Enter. Press a when asked if you want to overwrite a file. Log off Temp and log on to each restored account to make sure everyone's documents and data are where they belong. Log on as an administrator and run Control Panel's User Accounts applet again to remove the user Temp.
Finishing the Job
Now you've got Windows going, but not much else. You may have to reinstall your printer, sound card, and so on. Luckily, if a driver for the gadget came on your Windows or vendor restore CD, it was probably reinstalled automatically.
You'll have to reinstall your applications to reintroduce them to Windows. Some of their settings will not be changed by the reinstallation, but those that were stored in the Registry were wiped out.
Once your Internet connection is running again, browse to Windows Update and download all critical updates for your version (see FIGURE 3). Then visit the sites of your hardware vendors to update your drivers.
After the reinstall, some of your data may not show up where it should. Search for it in both your Application Data and oldstuff folders, and see if you can move it to the folder in which Windows or your apps are looking for it. If you find a folder called Identities with two subfolders whose names are long and indecipherable, try moving the contents of one to the other and see if your data reappears.
You've probably guessed that the final step is deleting the c:\oldstuff folder--and the Administrator folder in Windows 2000. Make this the very last step, however. Wait a couple of days, weeks, or even months until you're confident that all of your needed files are accessible.
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So you want to know what really goes on when you turn on your computer.
Your computer follows a boot process that loads Windows XP, called the boot or startup sequence. This process loads all of the operating system files so you can actually use Windows XP. Here’s what happens:
1. When you first turn on your computer, a power-on self test (POST) process occurs. Your computer checks its hardware and memory and then begins to load your operating system.
2. Windows XP has a database of information called the Registry where information about your computer is kept. The Registry is loaded first so it can be read in order to boot Windows XP.
3. Next, Windows loads a file called System.ini. The System.ini file is used to load older system configuration information.
4. Next, Kernel32.dll is loaded. Kernel32.dll is the main operating system code used by Windows XP.
5. After Kernel32.dll is loaded, Gdi.exe and Gdi32.exe are loaded. These files give you the graphical Windows user interface.
6. Next, User.exe and User32.exe are loaded. These files provide code necessary to manage the user interface, including your windows.
7. Resources and Fonts load next.
8. Then, Win.ini is loaded, which provides older system programs and user support.
9. Next, the Windows shell loads, which is your basic graphical interface settings, and policies for your computer are loaded as well.
10. The desktop components are loaded next.
11. Next, a logon dialog box appears. Once you provide a valid username and password, the logon process begins. If you are connected to a network, any appropriate network policies are loaded.
12. Finally, all of the final information from any policies are loaded, and you see your desktop. The boot process is fast and efficient, and is more stable than ever before in Windows XP.
Have you ever wondered why Windows XP had such terribly ugly wallpapers to choose from? On top of that, there's no way to easily change the list of backgrounds to a folder you might actually use… like your My Pictures folder.
There's a fairly simple registry hack you can do to make Windows look in a different folder, but if you want to get rid of Blue Lace 16 you'll also have to delete it manually. (The standard warnings about registry editing apply here)
With a name like "Bliss" you would think I would be less tired of seeing this:
Change Wallpaper Folder
Open up regedit.exe using the start menu Run box, and then navigate down to the following key:
On the right-hand side you should see a value called WallPaperDir, which defines the folder Windows uses to populate the list. If the key does not exist, then you can create a new string value with the same name.
Double-click to change the value, and then paste in the full path to your My Pictures folder. (Note that you could specify any path here if you wanted to.)
The change should be immediate, the next time you open the Desktop panel… but you'll notice a number of default images still in the list. Turns out that Windows also queries the Windows folder for images…
To get rid of those, browse to C:\Windows and then look for a set of horribly ugly Bitmap files:
You can delete these images to make them stop appearing in the wallpaper selection list, just be careful not to delete anything else in your Windows folder or you likely won't be able to boot anymore.
Has it ever bothered you that you can't change the size of the icons on your XP desktop? Thankfully they added this ability into Windows Vista, but what are your options in the meantime?
There's a small utility called Deskview that lets you change the icons from regular mode into the smaller "list" mode with a double-click. It's as simple as that.
Download and extract the zipfile, and then double-click on deskview.exe, and your icons will turn from this:
Into this:
To bring them back to regular mode, just double-click on deskview.exe again.
Windows just won't finish loading. I stare at the Windows logo for what seems like an eternity, and then the pulsating progress bar stops pulsating. That's it; Windows never loads. What's going on?
When Windows boots, it loads all of its drivers, initializes its network connections, and
loads its high-level components (Explorer, fonts, etc.) into memory. These things are loaded in order; if one task cannot complete because of a corrupted file or network error, for instance the next task cannot begin and the boot process stalls.
Note: If you're running off a battery, plug your laptop into its charger and wait for about 20 minutes for the battery to accumulate sufficient charge to start Windows.
If the problem started happening as soon as you added a new hardware device, check the device manufacturer's web site for a driver or BIOS update. Otherwise, first unplug your network cable and try again. If Windows loads, there's something wrong with your network connection, Internet connection, router, or whatever else is on the other end of that cable.
Still stuck? Unplug all the USB and FireWire devices connected to your PC. If Windows loads, reconnect them one by one, restarting Windows after each reconnection, until you find the culprit that hangs the system. Really stuck? Start disconnecting any non-USB peripherals (e.g., keyboard, mouse, parallel printer) attached to your PC and, if necessary/applicable, PCI or PCMCIA cards and any other nonessential devices inside your PC. If the above steps don't work, there may be a problem with your hard disk but if you're getting as far as the Windows logo, it's probably not too serious. To investigate, restart your computer, and just after the beep but before the Windows logo appears, press the F8 key. From the Windows Advanced Options Menu, use the arrow keys to highlight Safe Mode, and press Enter.
Safe Mode allows Windows to load without network support, hardware drivers, some services, and a handful of other components that can sometimes cause this problem. If Safe Mode works, open Windows Explorer, right-click your hard disk (e.g., drive c
, select Properties, and choose the Tools tab. In the "Error-checking" section, click the Check Now button. Check the boxes next to both options in the "Check disk" section and click the Start button, and ScanDisk will open and check your drive for errors. When it's finished, restart Windows
I can't get my wireless network off the ground. I want to use the Internet, share files, and so on, but none of it seems to work. I thought this was going to be easy!
Wireless networking is easy! (Unless it's not.)
Wireless networking can be extremely convenient when it works but an absolute headache when it doesn't. The good news is that if you take the time to set up your router correctly, update your firmware, and install Service Pack 2, most wireless problems will disappear.
Note: If you don't have Service Pack 2 yet, use the Windows Update feature now to get it (open Internet Explorer and select Tools --> Windows Update).
A router lets you connect your PC (or all the PCs in your workgroup) to the Internet, as well as connect multiple PCs to each other. Routers also include built-in firewalls, offering much better protection than software-based firewalls such as the Windows Firewall built into Service Pack 2.
But most importantly, a wireless router acts as an access point, a central hub to which all wireless devices in your home or office can connect. To set up a wireless network, you'll need a wireless router (preferably one that supports the 802.11g standard), and at least one PC with a wireless
network adapter.
Connect your PC directly to your wireless router with a cable; that's right, a cable! You'll need to communicate with your router to set it up properly for wireless access something you won't be able to do wirelessly throughout the whole process. Connect one end of a category-5 patch cable to your PC's Ethernet port, and the other end to one of the numbered LAN ports on the back of the router. Then plug in the router's power cable.
Your router probably came with setup software on a CD; in most cases, you don't need this and can use the router's more flexible web-based setup instead. Open a web browser on your PC, and type the router's IP address (usually 192.168.1.1 , but check the router's manual) into the
address bar. The router's built-in web server should show you a setup page like the one in Figure.
If you can't connect to your router, your computer is probably not on the same subnet as the router. The first three numbers of your computer's IP address must match the first three numbers of your router's IP address, but the fourth number must be different. For instance, if your router's address is 192.168.0.1, you may not be able to connect to it until you manually change your PC's address to 192.168.0.xxx, where xxx is any number between 2 and 255. If all else fails, reset the router, following the instructions in the documentation, and try again.
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On the setup page, choose your Internet connection type from the list. If your Internet connection requires a username and password, select PPPoE. If your ISP has provided an IP address for your connection, select Static IP. Otherwise, choose Automatic Configuration -DHCP. (Naturally, the options for your router may be slightly different.)
Click the Apply or Save Settings button at the bottom of the page when you're done. Within a few seconds, you should have Internet access; go ahead and test it by opening a second browser window (press Ctrl-N) and visiting any web site.
Note: If you select PPPoE, the router should prompt you for a login. Type the username and password for your broadband connection, not your login for Windows, your email account, or anything else. If you choose Static IP, enter the IP addresses of your ISP's DNS servers. Your ISP should provide this information to you .
Once your Internet connection is working, visit the router manufacturer's web site and download any available firmware updates. (You can usually find your router's current firmware version on the Status page in the router's web-based setup.) Firmware updates include essential bug fixes,
performance enhancements, security patches, and occasionally new features. Consult your router's documentation for firmware update instructions.
Next, go to your router's wireless setup page (see Figure): this is either a link in the main menu or a tab across the top of the page. Choose a new SSID (the name for your wireless network), and turn off the Wireless SSID Broadcast option to keep your wireless network private Click the Apply or Save Settings button at the bottom of the page when you're done.
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Note: If you're using a Wireless-G router (a faster sibling of the 802.11b standard, capable of 54 Mbps), avoid the temptation to select the "G only" option on the wireless setup page. This feature prevents slower Wireless-B devices from joining your WiFi networka fact you'll likely have forgotten when a visiting relative tries to connect to your home network to check her email a few months from now .
You should also enable encryption for the best wireless security. This setting will be accessible either through a button on the current page, or on a separate tab entitled WEP, WPA, Encryption, or simply Wireless Security, like the one in Figure. WEP, the Wireless Encryption Protocol,
prevents anyone without your secret WEP key from connecting to or spying on your wireless network. Some routers also support WPA, or WiFi Protected Access, which provides a slightly higher level of security.
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On your router's encryption page, enable WEP, and then choose the highest WEP encryption level supported by your router (in this example, 128-bit). Higher levels provide better protection, but also mean longer (and harder to type) WEP keys.
Some routers have you choose a passphrase , which is a word your router uses to generate the WEP keys. In the example shown in Figure, I typed the word "annoyances" and clicked the Generate button to create four 26-digit WEP keys (the first one, Key 1, is the only one that is used). Generally, all of the computers on your wireless network will have to use the same key.
Your SSID is the back door into your wireless network. If you broadcast your SSID, anyone with an SSID sniffer will be able to find it in a matter of seconds, connect to your network, and use your Internet connection (or even snoop around your shared folders).
The same danger exists if you continue to use your router's default SSID; probably a million people around the globe are using "link-sys," which makes it a good guess for anyone trying to gain access to your network. Choose an SSID like you'd choose a password, and your wireless network will stand a better chance of remaining private.
The only time you'll likely want to enable SSID broadcast, other than for testing purposes, is if you're setting up a public WiFi access point, say in a coffee shop or bed and breakfast, and you want to make it easy for your patrons to connect.
I'm not sure I'm getting the best speed from my Internet connection, but the Connection Status window in Windows XP doesn't give me any useful information. And while I'm at it, are the ads I've seen for "faster" Internet connections mostly hype, or is there something I can do to improve my connection speed without spending any extra cash?
Throughput is the practical measurement of bandwidth: the quantity of data you can transmit over a connection in a given period of time. The simplest way to measure your throughput is to visit one of the many bandwidth-measuring web sites, such as Broadbandreports.com (http://www.dslreports.com/stest/ ) or Bandwidth Place (http://bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/ ).
For the most accurate results, make sure you close all superfluous programs before running the test. In addition to calculating your bandwidth and reporting the results, these services typically ask for your Zip Code and connection type to compile statistics on typical connection speeds in your area. The results should look something like Figure.This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 841x729. 
Now, according to the results in Figure, the download speed is a respectable 1267 kbps (kilobits per second), which means, in practical terms, that it should take about 6.5 seconds to download a 1-MB file under ideal conditions.
However, ideal conditions are rare; real-life transfers are often much slower, due to overburdened servers and busy networks. Since your connection speed (or lack thereof) is most noticeable during file downloads (compared with web surfing or emailing), you can overcome some of these conditions by using a download manager.
So what do you do if your connection seems too slow? First, close all open windows, and turn off all background programs (such as the ones that show up in the System Tray in the lower-right corner of the screen, near the clock). Do the same for any other PCs using your Internet
connection. Next, examine the lights on your router or broadband modem; if they're flashing, it means that some program is still running on your PC, possibly consuming bandwidth. This is a possible sign that a virus, worm, Trojan horse, or some sort of spyware has made its way onto your PC.
There's a little-known change in Service Pack 2 that limits the number of concurrent open TCP/IP connection attempts to 10. This may adversely affect programs that use multiple TCP/IP connections, such as some download managers, port scanners, and P2P software (and, by design,
viruses).
To see if this is happening on your system, open the Event Viewer (select Start --> Run and type eventvwr.msc ), and highlight the System entry in the left pane. In the right pane, click the Event column header to sort the list by event code, scroll through the list, and look for 4226 errors. If
you see any 4226 events, you can fix the problem by downloading a patch for your tcpip.sys file (sorry, no Registry change here) by going to http://www.lvllord.de/?url=tools#4226patch .
Note that only advanced users should attempt this.
Note: For real-time monitoring of your connection's throughput, try a desktop bandwidth monitor. The slickest tools are widgets, fancy plug-ins for the free Kapsules script engine (http://www.kwidgets.com ) For instance, Bandwidth Watcher, Simple Bandwidth Monitor, Mr. Network, and KapMule, all available at http://www.kwidgets.com/forge.aspx , provide pretty graphical displays and up- to-the-second measurements of the amount of data being transferred via your Internet connection .
Of course, it's also possible that you're hitting the upper limit of your broadband connection. But whether or not an upgrade from your ISP is worth the money depends on the bandwidth you're getting now and the amount of cash your ISP is demanding for the faster service. If your
connection measures more than one megabit per second (1024 kbps), it's unlikely you'll notice a huge difference in real-world speed with a faster connection. On the other hand, more expensive connections sometimes offer substantially higher upload speeds, which may be worth the added cost if you spend a lot of time sending files to web servers, or even if you want to host a web site on your PC.
Note: If you're using a router, visit the manufacturer's web site for a possible firm-ware update that might fix some performance problems and may even add new features to your router
My PC slows to a crawl when someone reads a shared file on my hard disk over the network. I need to keep those shared folders active, but the performance slowdown interferes with my work. What can I do?
Although heavy network traffic can bog down a PC, it may indeed be nothing more than a hardware problem. Specifically, your network adapter may conflict with another hardware device in your system.
If you're using a desktop PC, shut down Windows, unplug the power cable, and crack open the case. Locate your network adapter the card into which you plug your network cable remove the screw, pull out the card, and pop it into a different slot. Reassemble and turn on your PC and see if the problem goes away.
If, on the other hand, your NIC is integrated on the motherboard, it probably shares an IRQ with one of the PCI slots, and thus the PCI card in that slot may be causing the problem. Remove all nonessential PCI cards from your system, and start up Windows. If the problem persists, you may have to shuffle the remaining, essential PCI cards until you resolve the problem. If, on the other hand, the problem vanishes after you remove the PCI cards, shut down your PC and reinsert the cards one by one, reassembling and restarting your system after each insertion, until you find the culprit. If the culprit is a troublesome PCI slot, cover it with a piece of masking tape to remind yourself to keep it unoccupied.
If you're still stuck, you may need to update your network drivers or even replace your network hardware.
I know a folder is being shared when I see that little hand icon on top of the yellow folder icon. But all it takes is one forgotten share to leave my private files open to prying eyes. Can I get a comprehensive, reliable list of everything being shared on my PC?
You can simply open the My Network Places folder in Windows Explorer and navigate through Entire Network to find your PC and a list of all its shared resources, but this listing doesn't necessarily show everything that's being shared. Specifically, any hidden shares are, well, hidden.
To view all your network shares including the hidden ones select Start --> Run, type compmgmt.msc , and click OK to open the Computer Management tool. In the System Tools branch on the left, click the [+] icon next to Shared Folders to expand it, and then highlight the Shares folder, as shown in Figure.This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 876x456. 
Any share with a dollar sign at the end of its name (e.g., C$ ) is hidden. While hidden shares don't show up in My Network Places , you can access them just as readily as non-hidden shares.
From here, you can right-click any share and select Stop Sharing to turn it off, making this window a very convenient place to quickly tighten up security on your system. If you add or remove any shares in Windows Explorer, press the F5 key or click the Refresh button on the toolbar to update the list.
Although you can stop sharing any hidden share (such as C$ ) in this window, Windows will recreate all administrative shares the next time you start your computer, in effect sharing every file on your PC whether you want it to or not. To stop this from happening, see "Tomorrows Tip"
I want to share a bunch of files with other PCs on my network, but I'm
worried that doing so will allow anyone to see them. How do I protect my data?
Any computer connected to your PC over a network including the several billion machines on the Internet may be able to access the files in your shared folders. Thus, the best way to protect your data is to not share it in the first place. If you need to share files, exclude folders that contain particularly sensitive data.
The first thing you need to do is set a password for your user account. Open the User Accounts control panel, select your account from the list, and then click "Create a password." Type your password twice, followed by a clue to act as a reminder down the road (you may well need it),
and then click the Create Password button when you're done. Thereafter, anyone wanting to access your files from another computer on your network will have to supply the password (with some exceptions for Windows XP Professional).
Now, unless you employ some sort of firewall anyone outside your local network namely, everyone on the Internet can access your data (and yes, no matter how uninteresting you may think the contents of your PC are, this can happen to you). Windows XP comes with the "Windows Firewall," a feeble software-based solution, but nothing beats a hardware firewall placed between you and the rest of the world. If you don't have one already, get yourself a router for this purpose.
What About Encryption?
Windows XP Professional also has some built-in data encryption features, but encryption offers no more protection than restrictive permissions when using shared folders. Rather, encryption is designed to protect your data from those who use your PC directly, either by sitting in front of it
or by remote control using Terminal Services (a.k.a. Remote Desktop).
Warning: If you're using a wireless network, anyone within range may be able to join your network and access your files.
For any more protection, you'll need to use permissions , which are special settings that control precisely who can do what to your files. Permissions are available only in Windows XP Professional (and Media Center Edition); if you're using Windows XP Home, your ability to protect your data effectively stops here.
On an XP Pro system, every file, folder, and drive has two sets of permissions you can set: permissions for local users (other people sitting at your PC), and permissions for anyone accessing your files through a shared folder. To set the permissions for a shared folder, right-click the folder, select Properties, choose the Sharing tab, and then click the Permissions button. The Share Permissions window, shown in Figure, shows a list of configured users in the top list, and the specific things the selected user is allowed to do down below.
First, make sure your own username appears in the upper list; if it doesn't, or if it merely shows "Everyone" (like the one in Figure), click the Add button. Type your usernameor the username of the person you want to be able to access your stuff in the "Enter the object names to select" field, and then click the Check Names button. If Windows underlines what you've typed, the username is okay; otherwise, you'll get a "Name not Found" message. Click OK when you're done adding names.
Next, highlight your username in the "Group or user names" list, and place checkmarks in the boxes in the Allow column below as you see fit. Want others to be able to read the files in this folder but not change any of them? Put a checkmark in the Read box, but not in the Full Control
or Change boxes.
Note: In most cases, you won't have to bother with the checkboxes in the Deny column unless you start messing with "groups" of users. Permission to carry out a given action is implicitly denied as long as there's no checkmark in the corresponding Allow box .
If you want to deny any user access to your files particularly the self-explanatory "Everyone"highlight the username, and click the Remove button. Now, any user who is not expressly listed here (or included in any groups listed here) will not have access to your shared files.
When you're done, click OK. The changes take effect immediately and apply to the selected folder share, as well as to all subfolders and files contained therein.
Note: By adding someone else's username to the Permissions window, you can protect your data without handing over your username and password. If your PC is part of an NT domain (typical in a corporate environment), you can add users from your domain or even another domain by clicking the Locations button to change the scope of the user validation. But on a home network, you'll need to create a new user account on your PC (using the User Accounts control panel) before you can type it into the Permissions window . 
I'm trying to open a file on another PC on my network, but it doesn't show up in My Network Places . This is driving me crazy!
This is a really common problem, and one that is not always easily solved. First, a remote computer may not appear in My Network Places if it doesn't have any files or printers shared.
Shared folders on remote PCs can show up in two places in the My Network Places folder: shortcuts to previously accessed folders sometimes appear right in the My Network Places folder itself, but for a complete list, navigate to \ Entire Network\ Microsoft Windows Network , open your network (e.g., MSHOME ), and then open any PC to show its shared folders and printers.
Also, you may or may not see a PC that is in another workgroup in the Microsoft Windows Network folder in My Network Places . If you don't see the other workgroup, and you have control over the other PC, change its workgroup name to match the rest of the PCs on your network.
Open the System control panel (or right-click My Computer and select Properties), and then choose the Computer Name tab. The name of your PC, as well as the workgroup to which it belongs, is shown here (see Figure); click the Change button to rename the PC or join a different workgroup. All the PCs on your network should belong to the same workgroup, but no two PCs should share the same computer name.
If the workgroup matches but the PC still doesn't show up, one trick that often works is to type the name of the PC directly into Windows Explorer's address bar. (If you don't see the address bar, select View Toolbars --> Address Bar.) Erase the text in the address bar, and type two backslashes followed by the missing PC's name, like this: \\misterx
where misterx is the name of the remote PC. Press Enter, and with luck and about 510 seconds of patience Windows should list the shared folders on the remote computer.
If you still can't see the PC, make sure the network is functioning on both the remote computer and the local PC (the one you're sitting in front of). If they're both connected to a router that provides a shared Internet connection, for instance, open a web browser on each PC to test the connection. If you can load a web site, the network is working.
Often, you can force stubborn computers to show up by setting a static IP address for each PC on your network. Then use the ping command to test connectivity. Select Start --> Run, type cmd , and click OK to open a Command Prompt window, and then type:
ping 192.168.1.107
In this example, 192.168.1.107 is the IP address of the remote PC; replace this with the appropriate address. If you get a reply like the following from the remote machine, it means your computer can see and successfully communicate with that machine on your network:
Reply from 192.168.1.107: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=64
If, on the other hand, you see a timeout message like this, the connection is broken:
Request timed out.
File sharing will not work as long as ping returns this error, so your best bet is to check your hardware and IP address settings instead of toiling with the My Network Places folder.
If the network checks out but you still can't see the remote PC, try restarting both computers and resetting your router (refer to your router's instructions for the reset procedure).
If all else fails, it's likely a problem with the hardware. Try replacing the cables if you have a wired network
Windows uses 20% of your bandwidth Here's how to Get it back
A nice little tweak for XP. Microsoft reserve 20% of your available bandwidth for their own purposes (suspect for updates and interrogating your machine etc..)
Here's how to get it back:
Click Start-->Run-->type "gpedit.msc" without the "
This opens the group policy editor. Then go to:
Local Computer Policy-->Computer Configuration-->Administrative Templates-->Network-->QOS Packet Scheduler-->Limit Reservable Bandwidth
Double click on Limit Reservable bandwidth. It will say it is not configured, but the truth is under the 'Explain' tab :
"By default, the Packet Scheduler limits the system to 20 percent of the bandwidth of a connection, but you can use this setting to override the default."
So the trick is to ENABLE reservable bandwidth, then set it to ZERO.
This will allow the system to reserve nothing, rather than the default 20%.
I have tested on XP Pro, and 2000
other o/s not tested.
Please give me feedback about your results
Quick and easy
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After seeing how popular Blifaloo's guide to virus removal and prevention has become, I decided
to write some more articles about taking care of your computer.
The following is a list of easy tweaks you can do to speed up the overall performance of your PC
with Windows XP.
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1. Disable File Indexing
Huh? This indexing service gets info from files on the hard drive and creates a "searchable
keyword index."
If you don't use the XP search feature often to look for documents, you can turn this feature
off, and the difference you'll notice is a slight increase in the time it takes for your computer
to find a file, but an overall increase in general speed for everything else.
How to : From My Computer > right-click on the C: Drive > select Properties.
Uncheck "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching." Apply changes to "C:
sub folders and files," and click OK.
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2. Clean Up Prefetch, temp, and cache files
Huh? Windows stores a lot of temporary files that can be safely cleaned out once a month or so.
This is also good to do before running virus or spyware scans, as it clears many things out of
your system that would need to be scanned.
How to : Download CleanUp!
How to use CleanUp! : Download, Install, and Run.
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How to make your Desktop Icons Transparent
Firefox has been outperforming IE in every department for years, and version 3 is speedier than ever.
But tweak the right settings and you could make it faster still, more than doubling your speed in some situations, all for about five minutes work and for the cost of precisely nothing at all. Here's what you need to do.
Wanted to use Kaspersky but can not find any working keys? YOU DON’T NEED ONE..
this will tell you how to Crack Kaspersky
1- go To ( Start ) then ( Run )
2- Type ( regedit ) and press ( OK )
3- Go To ( HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\KasperskyLab\AVP6\Data ) & Right Click On ( Data ) & Choose ( Permissions )
4- Choose ( Advanced ) From The ( Permissions For Data ) New Window Opened
5- In ( Advanced Security Settings for Data ) Window .. There is a sentnce which begin with ( Inherit from parent … ) click on the nike or check mark to remove it
6- After Removing the check or nike mark you will get a new message .. choose from it ( Remove )
7- Then in ( Advanced Security Settings for Data ) click on ( Apply )
8- After Clicking Apply you will get a new message choose ( Yes )
9- After That Press ( OK ) In ( Advanced Security Settings for Data )
10- After That .. Press ( OK ) In ( Permissions For Data )
11- After That Make An ( Exit ) For ( KasperSky ) .. & Run It Again
12- You Will Notice That The Kaspersky Icon Is Not ( RED ) But Its ( GRAY ) Which means that the program is not activated
13- But if you opened it you will see al things are working perfect 100% Working
What Happened To The Program After These Steps ?
- You Will update the kaspersky database manually … no automatic updates
- thw windows security center will tell you that the firewall or\and antivirus is not working … bec you made the kasper seemed unactiviated
Your client just emailed a Microsoft Word 2007 document ending with a .docx extension but you have no clue about how to open and print the file or convert from docx to .doc and other text formats.
No worries, here’s are some very simple solutions on handling .docx file when you don’t have Microsoft Office Word 2007.
Also read: Get Ready for Office 2007 Without Upgrading Your Old Office
Background: The DOCX files, which are now the default file extension in Word 2007, are essentially a bunch of zipped XML documents - [you can even rename the extension from .docx to .zip and extract the contents using Winzip]
To convert .docx documents to .doc format, just download the free Microsoft Office compatibility Pack here. This will help you open, print edit, and save .docx files in Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003 [much like an advanced Word 2007 File Viewer].
If you are on Mac, you can get the Microsoft Office Open XML File Format Converter for Mac here - this converts .docx to rtf (rich text format) files which can be viewed in Office for Mac and other Mac word processors.
Alternatively, you can convert .docx to .doc or extract text from .docx files online using the free Zamzar.com or docxtodoc.com service. Unlike the Microsoft compatibility pack, these docx to doc conversion services do not require copy of Microsoft Office.
It is also possible to open and edit a .docx file in OpenOffice or StarOffice using the free Open XML Translator from SourceForge which converts .docx Word documents to .odf and vice versa.
Related: Microsoft Office 2007 FAQ, Office 2007 Fonts Free
The Word 2007 docx format is currently not supported by GMail Word viewer or Google Docs & Spreadsheets.
