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Using the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility

Using the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility

Not able to remove or uninstall an application in Windows XP using either the Uninstall option or the Add/Remove Programs tool? Try using th...

Removing unused device drivers from Windows XP machines

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">When you install a device driver on a Windows XP machine, the operating system loads that driver each time the computer boots regardless of whether the device is present—unless you specifically uninstall the driver. This means that drivers from devices that you have long since removed from your system may be wasting valuable system resources. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">Follow these steps to view and remove these unnecessary device drivers: <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">1. Press Windows + Break to bring up the System Properties dialog box. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>     2. Select the Advanced tab and click the Environment Variables button.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">3. Click the New button below the System Variables panel. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">4. In the New System Variable dialog box, type devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices in the Variable Name text box and 1 in the Variable Value text box. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">5. Click OK to return to the System Properties dialog box and then click OK again. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">6. Select the Hardware tab and click the Device Manager button. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">7. In Device Manager, go to View | Show Hidden Devices. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">8. Expand the various branches in the device tree and look for the washed out icons, which indicate unused device drivers. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">9. To remove an unused device driver, right-click the icon and select Uninstall. </span><span style="color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div>

Removing unused device drivers from Windows XP machines

When you install a device driver on a Windows XP machine, the operating system loads that driver each time the computer boots regardless of ...

Taking a fresh look at the Windows XP Task pane

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><b></b></span></span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ba000d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: -webkit-xxx-large;"></span></span></b></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><b><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ba000d; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-size: 16px;"></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 130%;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">This tip applies to Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional.  </span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">If you’re like most Windows XP aficionados, chances are good that you prefer the Folders pane in Windows Explorer to the Task pane that displays by default in My Computer. As a result, you probably avoid My Computer or simply click the Folders button on the toolbar each time you open My Computer. If this is the case, you’ve probably never spent much time looking at the commands on the Task pane and may be missing many handy command shortcuts. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">For example, how many times have you dug into the Control Panel to access Add/Remove Programs? If you use the Task pane in My Computer, you can simply click Add Or Remove Programs in the System Tasks section. And if you open a drive from My Computer, you will find another command that you frequently use in the Files And Folders section of the Task pane: the Make A New folder command. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">When you select a folder, you can copy and move folders anywhere on your hard disk easily by selecting the Copy This Folder or Move This Folder command. When you do, a Browse dialog box will appear. This essentially serves as an alternate version of the Folders pane in Windows Explorer. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">When you select a file, you can choose either the Copy This File or Move This File command and get the same Browse dialog box with a Folders pane. </span><span style="color: #ba000d;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></span></b></span></span></div>

Taking a fresh look at the Windows XP Task pane

This tip applies to Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional. If you’re like most Windows XP aficionados, chances are good that you pref...

Create an old-time monochrome command prompt in Windows XP

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">This tip applies to both Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">In what some may call the olden days, before there were fancy graphical user interfaces and RGB monitors, early computer monitors were monochrome, meaning that they displayed only one color on a black background. Monochrome monitors were available in three colors: green, amber, and white. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">When you open up a Command prompt in its default configuration, it comes up in a white monochrome configuration with white text on a black background. If you’re like most command line users, you’ve changed the color scheme from the Color tab on the Command Prompt Properties dialog box to make the screen more appealing. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">However, if you’re ever feeling nostalgic when working from a Command Prompt, you can change the settings on the Color tab to emulate the old green monochrome or amber monochrome monitors. Here’s how: </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">1. Open a Command Prompt window. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">2. Right the title bar and select the Properties command. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">3. Select the Colors tab. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">4. Select the Screen Background button and select the black box in the color palette. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">5. Select the Screen Text button. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">6. To emulate an old green monochrome monitor, select the green box in the color palette, and then in the Selected Color Values panel use the spin button for the Green setting to move the number up to 255. Make sure that the settings for the Red and Blue remain at 0. <o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: background1;">7. To emulate an old amber monochrome monitor, select the green box in the color palette, and then in the Selected Color Values panel use the spin button for the Red setting to move the number up to 185. Make sure that the settings for the Green remains at 128 and Blue remains at 0.</span></div>

Create an old-time monochrome command prompt in Windows XP

This tip applies to both Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional . In what some may call the olden days, before there were fancy graphic...

Quickly gather MAC addresses in Windows XP with ARP

Quickly gather MAC addresses in Windows XP with ARP

This tip applies to both Windows XP Home and Professional. When securing a wireless Windows XP network, in addition to using Wired Equivalen...

Automatically generate and assign strong passwords in Windows XP

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">This tip applies to both Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional systems in either a stand-alone or peer-to-peer workgroup configuration. </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">Computer users consistently use very simplistic logic when creating passwords. For example, many of us choose meaningful words, personal dates, or a word commonly found in the dictionary because it makes the password easy to remember. These common practices cause us to sacrifice the security that passwords are intended to provide. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">If you’re really at a loss when it comes to thinking of a strong password, you can let Windows XP create and assign a random password to your account. To let Windows XP generate your password, follow these steps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">Warning:</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;"> Before you follow these steps, please be sure that you are paying careful attention and are ready to actually use a password that might not be as memorable as you’re accustomed to! Also, you cannot use this tip on a Windows Server domain. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">1. Open a Command Prompt window and type: <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">     </span>net user username /random</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;"> (username is your login account name) <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">2. Press Enter. Windows XP will randomly generate a secure password, as well as assign that strong password to your account. Windows XP will also display the strong password so you can remember it. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">At your discretion, you may want to create a Password Reset Disk at this point. This disk will allow you to gain access to your computer in the event you forget your password. Here’s how to create the disk: <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">1. Open the Control Panel and double-click the User Accounts tool. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">2. Click your account icon. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;">3. Select Prevent A Forgotten Password under Related Tasks. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">4. Follow the instructions provided by the wizard. </span><span style="color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div>

Automatically generate and assign strong passwords in Windows XP

This tip applies to both Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional systems in either a stand-alone or peer-to-peer workgroup configuration...

Create your own special characters in Windows XP

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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Have you ever wanted to create your own font or maybe just a special character—for example, a character showing your initials for approving documents with your “signature”? You can easily create your own characters using a hidden Windows XP tool called the Private Character Editor. Here’s how:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">1. Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog box. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">2. Type eudcedit in the Open text box and click OK. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">3. When the Private Character Editor launches, you’ll see the Select Code dialog box. Click OK. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">4. A user interface that looks and works very much like Paint will appear. Here, you can use standard tools to create your characters. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">5. When you finish, select the Save Character command on the Edit menu. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Once you save your new character, you can access it using the Character Map tool. Here’s how: </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">1. Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog box. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">2. Type charmap in the Open text box and click OK. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">3. When the Character Map appears, select the Font drop-down list and select All Fonts (Private Characters). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">4. Select your character, click the Select button, and then click the Copy button. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You can now paste your font character into any document that you want. </span><span style="color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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How to Adjust System Restore Space in Windows 7

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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now a days the hard drives in computers come with large capacities. If you still want to save all the space possible on your computer, you can disable the System Restore entirely. But usually you don’t have a reason to fully disable the System Restore feature in Windows 7. Window 7 features the option to completely disable System Restore along with the choice of managing the space taken by it. At one point or another, you may think about restricting the amount of space the System Restore feature takes upon the disk if you want. You can easily adjust system Restore space in Windows 7.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Here are the simple steps you need to take in order to adjust System Restore space in Windows 7.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">   </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Click on </span><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Start</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">button.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">   </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">From the Start menu, select the </span><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Control Panel</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">   </span></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In the control panel, switch to </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">all items view</span></b></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">   </span></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Select </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">System</span></b></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">. </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">5.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">   </span></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Select </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">System Protection</span></b></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> in the next window.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">6.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">   </span></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">You will see the System Properties dialog box. Choose the system disc and click the “</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Configure</span></b></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">” button under the System Protection tab.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">7.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">   </span></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The System Protection for Local Disk C dialog box will appear. Under the Restore Settings, you will see that it is set to “</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Restore system settings and previous versions of files</span></b></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">”.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">8.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">   </span></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">At the end</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">clicks on </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Apply</span></b></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> when you are done.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As you bound the amount of space it consumes, it deletes the older Restore Points. Also there will be lesser number of points to restore from.  After you adjust System Restore space in Windows 7 to a minimum level, you should create a Restore Point without delay. This feature to adjust System Restore space in Windows 7 is very useful if you want to save some hard drive space on your computer.</span></span><span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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How to Adjust System Restore Space in Windows 7

Now a days the hard drives in computers come with large capacities. If you still want to save all the space possible on your computer, ...