Windows XP contains its own firewall. A firewall is a security system that acts as a protective boundary between a network and the outside world. Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) is firewall software that is used to set restrictions on what information is communicated from your home or small office network to and from the Internet to your network.
If your network uses Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) to provide Internet access to multiple computers, ICF should be enabled on the shared Internet connection. However, ICS and ICF can be enabled separately. You should enable ICF on the Internet connection of any computer that is connected directly to the Internet. To check to see if ICF is enabled or to enable the firewall, see Enable or disable Internet Connection Firewall.
ICF also protects a single computer connected to the Internet. If you have a single computer connected to the Internet with a cable modem, a DSL modem, or a dial-up modem, ICF protects your Internet connection. You should not enable ICF on VPN connections because it will interfere with the operation of file sharing and other VPN functions.
1: Enable the ICF by right clicking on your Internet or Network connection and then going to the ADVANCED option and ticking the ICF enable box
How many times did you delete some files on your hard disk by mistake? And if you are like me, how many times did you use the Shift+Del keys combination to avoid the Recycle Bin? I’m using that all the time, and there were a few times when I was sorry to discover that in my rush of cleaning my hard disk, I deleted things that I actually needed.
If you didn’t know by now, find out that there are possibilities for you to bring those files back. One of these possibilities is Handy Recovery. This is a data recovery software designed to restore files accidentally deleted from hard disks. It also works on memory cards. Handy Recovery can also perform other things such as recover files damaged by virus attacks, power failures and software faults or files from deleted and formatted partitions. If you use to skip the Recycle Bin when deleting files, you can bring them back with this software.
The operating systems which support Handy Recovery are: Microsoft Windows 9x/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista. The program supports all Windows file systems for hard and floppy drives including FAT12/16/32, NTFS/NTFS 5. It also performs image recovery from CompactFlash, SmartMedia, MultiMedia and Secure Digital memory cards. Moreover, it can recover compressed and encrypted files on NTFS drives, or data from formatted partitions.
The software is easy to use, its interface is intuitive and it has search and filtering possibilities. In case you are not sure anymore which of the deleted files you want to recover, you can use the file preview function to see what each file contains.
Handy Recovery comes with 30 days trial period. During this period, you can recover only one file per day, but it should be enough for you to decide whether or not the software does its job properly.
DISABLE BOOTUP SPLASH SCREEN
You can, if you feel like it, disable the Windows XP boot up splash screen. Although this doesn't speed boot times at all, it does allow you to see if there are any boot up messages appearing on your computer that might otherwise be covered up.
- Edit boot.ini
- Add " /noguiboot" right after "/fastdetect".
You will need to restart your PC for the splash screen to disappear. To enable the splash screen again, just remove the switch that you added.
DISABLING UNNECESSARY SERVICES
Services are programs that start up when your computer boots. They continue to run in the background while your PC is on, some services load automatically, some when a program is used. Some of these services are not needed by various users and can be safely disabled. But BE WARNED there are some of these services that MUST not be disabled. To get a good idea what can and can't be removed check out http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm for a very detailed list. Remember, you can always turn the service back on if you find out that you need it in the future. Below is the procedure to turn off a service.
- Click the start button.
- Click on Control Panel.
- Click on Administrative Tools.
- Click Services.
- Once the services window has loaded you are now able to turn off any unneeded services.
- For instructional purposes we are going to turn off the Printer Spooler (Which isn't needed if you don't have a printer installed) service.
- Find this service in the list and select it with the mouse.
- Right click and select Properties.
- Once the properties windows has loaded find the Start up type drop down box and select disable.
- Then finally click ok and the next time the computer starts the service will no longer be loaded.
Turning Off Indexing Speeds Up Windows XP
As some of you will already know, Windows XP keeps a record of all files on the hard disk to try and improve searching speed. The only downside to all of this is that your PC will have to be indexing all of the files, so if you don't use search very much you can disable this feature:
- Open my computer
- Right click on one of your hard drive icons and then select properties.
- At the bottom of the window you should see "Allow indexing service to index this disk for faster searches," uncheck this and click then click on ok.
- A new window will pop up and select apply to all folders and subfolders. Once complete, it takes a few more minutes to make sure that indexing is now switch off.
