Setup Hibernation

In the Hibernation mode, computer copies all the contents of the RAM into the hard disk. If your motherboard supports the hibernation mode, then you can enable it in the Windows XP by the following method.

Click Start > Click Shutdown
Point to the standby button and repeatedly push the Shift key.
A new hibernation button will appear, click it and repeatedly press the Shift key. Your computer will go into the hibernate mode. All the contents of the RAM will temporarily be saved on the hard disk.

Removing Invalid Entries in Add/Remove Programs

Sometimes you uninstall a program, the corresponding entries in the Add/Remove program may note be removed.  To manually remove these invalid entries you need to do the following.

1. Click Start > Run > Regedit.exe
2. Navigate this key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Uninstall
3. Click the key and view the display name data in the right side.
4. Select and subnet that is linked with the invalid/obsolete program and click delete.
5. Close the registry editor.
6. Use the Windows Installer Clean up utility to completely remove all the instances of the uninstalled programs.

Speed Up the Shutdown Process

Sometimes, Windows XP computer takes more time to complete the shut down process and this may be due to the several reasons.

1. Click Start > Run type Msconfig and press enter. In the start up tab uncheck all the unused programs and click Ok.
2. Click Start, Run and type Secpol.msc Click Local Policies > Security Options.

Go to the right pane and set Shutdown.  Clear Virtual memory pagefile to disabled.

3. Uninstall all the unused programs and disable the unused services.
4. Use the Windows clean up utilities to remove the temporary internet files, browser history, cookies and other things.

How to free up disk space

You can free up your disk space by running the System Cleanup Utility.

• Remove the temporary internet files and browsers history.
• Empty the Recycle bin.
• Remove downloaded program files.

Repair Internet Explorer by using IEFIX

IEFIX is a general purpose utility that is used to fix the internet explorer errors and reinstalling it.

The common error includes address bar search does not work, internet option advanced tab is blank, when you use print command and the new internet explorer window is blank etc.  It registers the core internet explorer libraries, repairs the Internet explorer and fixes the application path settings.

Download IEFIX and run it, click the apply button.  Next, you will be promoted for the operating system CD or the service packs files location.  After inserting the CD point the installer to the operating system source files or service pack source path i.e. "C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles\i386" or "C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles"

Keeping Windows XP Up-to-Date

To keep your Windows XP operating system up to date, Click Start > Control Panel > Automatic updates and select the radio button “Automatic Recommended.

How to backup the Windows XP Registry?

You can take backup of your Windows Registry by the following steps.

1. Click Start > Run and type %SystemRoot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe and click Ok.
2. On the Welcome page, click create a restore point and click next.
3. On the Create Restore Point page type the name of the Restore Point and click create.
4. After you have created the restore point, click close.

How to reinstall Net Meeting in Windows XP?

Net Meeting provides the new way of communication to the Windows users.  With NetMeeting you can participate in the online meetings and share information with the world.

1. Click Start > Run and type %Systemroot%\Inf
2. Locate the file name msnetmtg.inf
3. Right click the msnetmtg.inf and click Install
4. Insert your Windows XP CD and point the install to either this location %Systemroot%\i386 or this location %Systemroot%\ServicePackFiles\i386 folders.

Disable CD Autorun

If you want to disable the CD auto run feature in the Windows XP, perform the following.
Click start > Run > and type GPEDIT.MSC
Go to computer configurations > Administrative templates and then System.
Locate the “Turn Auto Play Off” enter and modify it.

How to make your own Icons?

It’s quite easy to make your own icons in the Windows XP.

Click Start > Programs > Accessories and click Paint.  On the image menu in the Paint, click Attributes and set 30x30 for both height and width of the document.  Make sure to select the pixels radio button under “Units”.
Click Ok.  Now change color and formatting of the newly created icon.  Next, click the File menu and then click “Save As”.  Give any name to the file followed by the “.ico”.  The .ico is the default extensions of the icons.  Save your icon to any where on your hard disk.  You can replace Windows desktop icons with your own icons.

How to Protect Windows XP from Intruders

Following tips will help you to block the intruders to access your computer.

1. Disable the guest account or set a password for the quest account.
2. Remove any unused accounts.
3. Rename the Administrators and Guest accounts.
4. Turn off the Microsoft File sharing in the My Network Places/Network Neighborhood if it is not being used.
5. Turn off remote desktop feature.
6. Install and configure a firewall program or use a built in Windows XP firewall.
7. Install latest security patches and hot fixes from the Microsoft website.

How to block Incoming Attacks?

To block the incoming attacks from outside, you need to block all the unused ports.  You can do it by the following method.

Start > Control Panel > Network Connections > Local Area Connection > Right click Properties.
Click TCP/IP and then click on Properties.  In the new Window, click Advance button.
In the other window click TCP/IP filtering and click Properties.  Check off “Enable TCP/IP filtering.  In the TCP port click permit only radio button. Then add the ports that you want to give access to the people like port 80 for the web server, 21 for the FTP and 25 for SMTP and so on.
Click OK and close all open windows and reboot your computer. In this way, you can close all the opening ports that you don’t want to make publicly accessible.
The alternative way is to enable Windows XP built-in firewall or install third party firewall software.