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Guide to Windows XP Recovery Features
Computers over time tend to start displaying problems. Whether that be the operating system not booting, programs not working, or random errors and crashes. To help alleviate these problems Windows XP comes with 6 methods that enable us to recover from these situations. These do not work in all cases, but a lot of headaches can be avoided by learning how these methods work. In this tutorial we will give a general overview of each of these methods so that you can administer your computer more efficiently.
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Windows XP System Restore Guide
With new programs being installed, viruses infecting, and spyware lurking in your browsers it is not uncommon for your computer to suddenly stop behaving correctly. In fact, it is almost guaranteed that at some point your computer will just not do what you expect it to. This is not because your a lousy computer user or even a bad person, this is just the life as we know it when working with computers. Luckily for us, Microsoft bundles an application called System Restore into it's operating system to help alleviate this problem. This article will cover what System Restore is, how it works, and how you can use it to protect your computer.
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Windows Program Automatic Startup Locations
Many programs that you install are automatically run when you start your computer and load Windows. For the majority of cases, this type of behavior is fine. Unfortunately, there are programs that are not legitimate, such as spyware, hijackers, Trojans, worms, viruses, that load in this manner as well. It is therefore important that you check regularly your startup registry keys regularly. Windows does offer a program that will list programs that are automatically started from SOME of these locations. This program, Msconfig.exe, unfortunately, though, only lists programs from a limited amount of startup keys.
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How to configure the Windows Firewall in Windows XP
Windows XP comes with a built-in firewall called Windows Firewall. For people who do not want to spend the money on a commercial software firewall, this firewall will be more than enough to protect your computer. By default, Windows Firewall disables all incoming traffic to your computer, including ICMP traffic, which consists of pings. Just like all other firewall's you can specify which services/ports you would like to have open so that other computers can connect to yours. This will allow you to open up ports for services like web servers, mail servers, game servers, etc. Windows Firewall comes configured with basic services that you can enable to be opened, and you also have the ability to add other rules for incoming traffic that are not already configured. If you would like, you also have the ability to enable incoming ICMP traffic, so that you can ping and traceroute to your computer.
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Enable and Disable XP Built-In Zip Support
A very useful tool that comes built-in to Windows XP is the inherent zip support. This allows you to view, create, and extract zip files without having a third party tool. There are times that you will want to use a third-party zip compression program, and at those times, the built-in zip support may conflict. If this is the case, you can follow these steps to disable or re-enable the built-in zip support for Windows XP.
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Windows XP Home or Windows XP Professional: Which one for you?
A lot of people are confused when it comes time to upgrade their computer and do not know if they should upgrade to Windows XP Home or Windows XP Professional. For most people the answer is simple, XP home, as it is more than sufficient for their needs. Some people do, though, gain the extra benefit to the features found only in XP Professional.
