1. With the Windows XP CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive, click Start,

     and then click Control Panel.

 2. Double-click Add or Remove Programs.

 3. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.

 4. In the Windows Components Wizard, click Accessories and Utilities (the words, not the check box), and then click Details.

 5. Use the appropriate method.

• If the Games check box is not checked (no games are installed), and you want to install all of the games, click to select the Games check box, click OK, and then click Next.
• If the Games check box is not checked (no games are installed), and you want to install one or more of the games, click Games (the word, not the check box), and then click to select the check boxes for the games you want to install. Click OK, click OK, and then click Next.
• If the Games check box is checked and the background of the check box is white (all games are installed), and you want to uninstall all of the games, click to clear the Games check box, click OK, and then click Next.
• If the Games check box is checked and the background of the check box is white (all games are installed), and you want to uninstall only some of the games, click Games (the word, not the check box), and then click to clear the check boxes for the games you want to uninstall. Click OK, click OK, and then click Next.
• If the Games check box is checked and the background of the check box is gray (one or more games are installed), and you want to uninstall all of the games, click to clear the Games check box, click OK, and then click Next.
• If the Games check box is checked and the background of the check box is gray (one or more games are installed), and you want to uninstall only some of the games, click Games (the word, not the check box), and then click to clear the check boxes for the games you want to uninstall. Click OK, click OK, and then click Next.

By default, Windows XP includes FreeCell, Hearts, Minesweeper, Pinball, Solitaire, and Spider Solitaire.

Before you do anything else, close Outlook. You should also note that we’ll be modifying system generated files here, so proceed with caution or not at all.

Open up windows explorer window and then paste the following text into the address bar, which should bring you to a folder with a single folder inside with a really long name.

%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Protect

What you’ll need to do is just rename that folder to something else (I suggest appending -old onto the end of it so that you could easily rename it back if things go wrong)

Now re-open Outlook, and then type in your password hopefully for the last time, making sure to check the box to remember it. You should now see that the original folder was re-created again.

At this point Outlook should remember your passwords, but you can close Outlook and reopen it to make sure. If you encounter problems with this, you can remove the new folder and then rename the -old folder back to the original name to put everything back the way it was.

How to clean up Live Essentials

Installing Windows Live Essentials will get you the new versions of Mail, Movie Maker, Photo Gallery and others - great. Unfortunately it also includes other components that may be unnecessary, but if you like to keep a clean system then these can be quickly removed.

If you left the default "Set your search provider" option selected during installation, for instance, Windows Live will install Choice Guard, a tool to set your browser home page and search engine, and prevent other programs from changing them. If this causes problems later, or you just decide you don't need it, then Choice Guard may be removed by clicking Start, typing msiexec /x and pressing [Enter].

Windows Live Essentials also adds an ActiveX Control to help upload your files to Windows Live SkyDrive, as well as the Windows Live Sign-in Assistant, which makes it easier to manage and switch between multiple Windows Live accounts. If you're sure you'll never need either then remove them with the Control Panel "Uninstall a Program" applet.

Memory (RAM) can become corrupted and not work properly. Usually, a replacement is needed to fix the problem, but before you replace your hardware, you should use the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool. This tool is available in both Windows Vista and 7.


To run Windows Memory Diagnostic:
1. Click the Start button, type mem, and click on Windows Memory Diagnostic.
2. When the Windows Memory Diagnostic screen loads, click Restart now and check for problems.

3. You computer will restart.
4. The memory diagnostic will run and can take some time (up to an hour).

5. Windows will restart and report any errors to you. 

After sharing this feature with Windows Vista and Windows 7 users, many of them reported a more responsive system after the test.

This registry hack is nothing new, it's been around forever… think of this as a refresher course. Also note that you can use this same technique to substitute any other application that you'd like by adjusting the path in the registry to point to the different editor.

Manual Registry Hack

Open regedit.exe through the start menu search or run box, and then browse down to the following key:

Code:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell

Right-click on "shell" and choose to create a new key, calling it "Open with Notepad". Create a new key below that one called "command". Double-click on the (Default) value in the right-hand pane and enter in the following:

Code:
notepad.exe %1
The change should take effect immediately… just right-click on any file and you'll see the next menu entry.

Since Windows 95, there has been a missing feature in the operating system that frustrates many users. Microsoft has never given us an easy way to print the contents of a folder. There are several workarounds to this problem but some solutions are easier than others are.
Why Print Folder Contents?

Any folder in Windows 7 can contain a collection of files or other folders. In fact, the folder structure of the Windows operating system is quite a complicated menagerie of files and folders. Printing the contents of personal folders such as My Documents has several useful applications.

First, printing folder contents lets you keep a hard copy record of all of your files and folders in any folder you choose. This is especially useful if you take a snapshot of the contents of your Program Files folder. This way, you have a record of the applications you had installed on your computer in the event of a hard drive or operating system crash.

Second, if you often find yourself having to edit many documents in a folder, having a printout of the contents of the folder allows you to check off the files you’ve edited and make brief notes to yourself about the editing you’ve completed. This is especially useful for students and copyeditors who must make minor adjustments to many documents at a time.

Finally, printing folder contents can help administrators compare the contents of an infected folder with the contents of a healthy folder. Many viruses and other malware add or delete files and folders to do whatever it is they are doing to your computer. By comparing copies of the contents of two folders, an administrator can easily check whether everything that should be in the folder is indeed there.
Printing Folder Contents with Screenshots

One popular method of printing folder contents in Windows is to take a screenshot and print the resulting picture using a graphics program. This is inconvenient for two reasons. First, you have to paste the picture into a graphics program. If you don’t have a graphics program, you are stuck using MS Paint or some other underpowered application. Second, the image quality from such a screen capture is usually quite low. The actual printout you get may be grainy, too small, or go beyond the limits of how far your printer can print to the edges of the paper.
Print the Contents of Folder in Windows 7

Luckily, there is another way to print the contents of any folder in Windows 7. However, there are a number of steps involved to get a nice, clear printout of your folders. Begin by logging in to Windows 7 with an account that has administrative privileges. Click on Start>All Programs>Accessories and locate the application titled Command Prompt. Right click on Command Prompt and select Run As Administrator from the menu.

Windows 7 asks you if you indeed want to Run the Command Prompt as an administrator. Click Yes and the Command Prompt will open. Navigate to the location of the folder whose contents you want to print. In this example, we will print the contents of the Program Files folder. To get there, type the following and press the Enter key:

cd\program files

Now you need to clear the Command Prompt screen. The clear the screen, type the following and press the Enter key:

cls

Your Command Prompt display should now look like this:

Now type the following into the Command Prompt:

dir> contents.txt

Windows 7 won’t give you any indication that anything has happened. However, if you navigate to the Program Files folder using Windows Explorer, you will notice a text file there named “contents.txt” in the folder.

Open the file and you now have a complete and detailed list of all the files and folders within the Program Files folder.

Of course, this trick works with any folder. Just remember that the file you create that contains a list of the folder’s contents will always be saved in the folder you are trying to print.

Also, you can name the file anything you want and you can give it any file extension. If you prefer, you could name the file “Program Files Contents.doc” so you have a more descriptive name and can open the file up directly into Microsoft Word.

Although Firefox enjoys the largest market share in the web browser industry, Internet Explorer is still a very popular browser for many users. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to make Windows 7 understand that you want Firefox to be the default browser on your PC.

Whether the cause us a plug-in, a glitch, or some unknown reason, some people experience a problem with setting Firefox as a computer’s default browser. Each time they restart Windows 7, Internet Explorer becomes the default browser no matter how many times these people set Firefox as the default. Learn how to force Windows 7 to permanently accept Firefox as the default web browser.
Set Firefox as Default Browser

If you constantly have to reset Firefox as the default browser, this trick will deny your computer access to Internet Explorer so that your PC will have to use Firefox when you click on a link. This method of setting Firefox as the default browser is a last resort fix. If this trick doesn’t work for you, you may have to uninstall IE altogether.

Log in to Windows 7 using an account with administrative privileges. Click on Start and type Default into the Search Programs and Files search box.

Press Enter and Windows 7 will open up the Default Programs options window. Click on the link titled Set Program Access and Computer Defaults.

In the Computer Defaults option window, click on the Custom option and Windows 7 will show you a list of options for program defaults.

Look for a set of options titled Choose a Default Web Browser. Normally, you should have the Use My Current Web Browser option chosen. This means that the browsers will decide using their own options which one is the default browser. Here, you will override the options of the browsers themselves and force Windows 7 to accept Firefox as the default browser at the administrative level.

Click the option titled Mozilla Firefox and make sure the option next to it titled Enable Access to this Program is checked. Now uncheck the option next to Internet Explorer titled Enable Access to this Program. This will force Windows 7 to ignore whether or not IE is set as the default browser at the software level.

Click OK, restart your computer, and see which browser Windows 7 recognizes as the default. You may want to run through the steps above again just to make sure that the options you chose are still the same.

At worst, you may have to uninstall IE in order to avoid having it set as the default web browser on your computer. At best, this trick will work but you will have to run through the steps above to undo this change should you want to start using IE again.

Unfortunately, this means that your computer will operate as if IE were not installed on the computer. This trick doesn’t work for everyone but it can be a last resort fix when IE keeps overriding Firefox as the default browser.

You can move email messages from a non-Mac OS computer, such as a Windows-compatible PC, to Mac OS X by using your Internet service provider (ISP) and IMAP.

If you are moving only a few messages, you may prefer to forward them from your non-Mac OS mail client and retrieve them with Mac OS X Mail for simplicity.

Doing this may change some message attributes, such as "Date" and "From", as well as message text formatting.

Important: By following the instructions in this document, your original email messages can be automatically removed from the original location.

You should back up your non-Apple email application's message database before proceeding.

Will mail message attributes be lost?

Moving messages via IMAP should preserve original message attributes such as "Date," "To," "From," and "Subject," in most cases.

Moving (non-AOL) email messages using IMAP

1) Open the email application program on your non-Macintosh computer. If you have not already connected this computer to the Internet, do that now.

2) If you do not already have an IMAP mail configuration in the source application, add one now. See tips.

Tips:

1. This new configuration will be similar to your existing (POP) mail account configuration, except that the incoming mail server may be different. If you use .Mac Email, for example, the incoming mail server is "mail.mac.com".
2. Check with your ISP for step-by-step directions about setting up an IMAP account on your non-Macintosh computer. If your ISP does not offer IMAP, use an Apple .Mac IMAP email account instead (http://www.mac.com/). You must use your Macintosh computer to set up an .Mac account. .Mac email is not restricted to IMAP, so you can use POP in the future if desired.

3) Locate the Inbox for the IMAP account in your email application. If you were not already using IMAP, note that this is different from your previous Inbox.

4) If desired and applicable, add custom subfolders to your IMAP Inbox. See tip.

Tips:

1. A "custom subfolder" is one that you create, name, and place within your default list of mail folders. For example, you might have created a custom subfolder titled "Messages from Rupert" that you placed within your normal mail Inbox

5) Locate and select messages, or folders of messages, that you want to move to Mac OS X Mail.

6) Drag the selected messages to the IMAP Inbox or custom IMAP subfolder. The selected messages will be uploaded to your ISP's IMAP server. See tips.

Tips:

1. At this point, your email messages may be removed from their original location. If you wish to retain local copies, you may hold an Option or Control key while dragging to copy instead of move them. This feature varies per email application. Check the support resources for your source application for more information.
2. The amount of time required to transfer content to or from an IMAP server may vary greatly depending on the speed of your Internet connection and the size of the email messages you are moving, including any attachments.
3. Your IMAP server may limit your stored mail to a smaller amount than you are attempting to transfer. If this happens, move fewer messages at a time.
4. The message transfer process should not be interrupted. You are moving messages, not just copying them, so there is a potential for data loss if the connection is lost or the transfer is interrupted. Your non-Mac OS mail application should keep you informed of message transfer progress.
5. If you move a custom subfolder that contains messages, it may remain in their original location after the transfer, instead of being automatically deleted. You might want to delete the folder from its original location.

7) Connect your Macintosh computer to the Internet. If you cannot connect both computers at the same time, you may need to disconnect your non-Macintosh computer from the Internet.

8) At the Macintosh computer, choose Applications from the Go menu.

9) Open Mail.

10) If you do not already have an IMAP account, create one. See "How to configure accounts in Mail"

11) Select the IMAP account that appears beneath Personal Mailboxes. If you do not see your Personal Mailboxes, choose Show Mailboxes from the View menu. Mail communicates with your ISP and displays messages contained on the IMAP server. Your IMAP Inbox, and any custom subfolders, appear. See tip.

Tips:

1. If desired, create one or more new Mailboxes (or custom subfolders) specifically for your transferred email messages. For example, choose New Mailbox from the Mailbox menu. Type a name, such as "Moved From Old PC," and click OK. If you do not see the new Mailbox, click the disclosure triangle that appears to the left of INBOX, beneath Personal Mailboxes.

12) Select the messages from the IMAP Inbox or subfolders, then drag them to the desired folder or mailbox in Mail. See tips.

1. Tips:
2. The amount of time required to transfer content to or from an IMAP server may vary greatly depending on the speed of your Internet connection and the size of the email messages you are moving, including any attachments.
3. Your IMAP server may limit your stored mail to a smaller amount than you are attempting to transfer. If this happens, move fewer messages at a time.
4. The message transfer process should not be interrupted. You are moving messages, not just copying them, so there is a potential for data loss if the connection is lost or the transfer is interrupted. Your non-Mac OS mail application should keep you informed of message transfer progress.
5. If you move a custom subfolder that contains messages, it may remain in their original location after the transfer, instead of being automatically deleted. You might want to delete the folder from its original location.
6. If desired, create one or more new Mailboxes (or custom subfolders) specifically for your transferred email messages. For example, choose New Mailbox from the Mailbox menu. Type a name, such as "Moved From Old PC," and click OK. If you do not see the new Mailbox, click the disclosure triangle that appears to the left of INBOX, beneath Personal Mailboxes.
7. When messages are moved to a non-IMAP folder or Mailbox, they are automatically removed from the IMAP server. The message would then only exist in Mac OS X Mail, unless you kept a backup or local copy on the PC.

1. Click Start > Click Control Panel.

2. Double-click Network and Internet

3. Click Network and Sharing Center

4. In the left-hand column of the Network and Sharing window, select Change adapter settings

5. The following change only needs to be made if there is more than one network connection listed. For each network connection listed, right-click the connection and click Properties

6. If you see the User Account Control dialog box at any point during the configuration process, click Continue.

7. Click the Sharing tab. Under the Internet Connection Sharing, make sure that the checkbox in front of Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection is NOT checked, as shown in the following graphic:

8. Click OK to save the setting

9. Close the Control Panel window.

Windows 7 or Vista automatically configures Disk Defrag to schedule defragment to run once a week, usually at 1am on Wednesday. I don’t know about you, but I’m usually awake at 1am on wednesday, and I’d rather schedule it for a different time.

To open up the defragment utility, just type defrag into the Start menu search box, and hit enter. Vista users will have to click through a UAC prompt, but you should see this screen:

Windows 7 users will see a very similar dialog, and will need to click the Configure Schedule button:

From this screen, you can disable automatic defrag by unchecking the box. You can also modify the schedule by clicking the Modify schedule button (no surprise there)

Much better.. Not like I’m ever awake at 8am.

If you are on Vista and using at least Service Pack 1, you can also select which volumes will be automatically defragmented during this scheduled defrag. (Windows 7 users can select the volumes from the start screen).

I only have one drive in this computer, but you would see the list of all the drives here.