It doesn’t help against trojan horses, viruses, or other malware, for instance, and documents stored in your personal folders aren’t protected either.  As well, if you’ve created or modified user accounts since the last time a System Restore point was created, and you need to use the function, all those changes will be lost.

Because of this, it can be nice to configure exactly how System Restore works, how much space it takes up, what types of files/information it protects, and whether or not it even gets used.  Microsoft doesn’t make this feature very simple to find, but follow these steps for an easy way to configure your System Restore settings.

The first step is to open the Control Panel, so hit your Windows key (or click the Start orb), then choose Control Panel from the Start Menu’s sidebar.

Once the Control Panel opens, click the System and Security link.

When that loads, click System.

Finally, from the sidebar on the left, choose System Protection.

You’ll now want to select your drive from the list, then click the Configure button.

We now have several options.  If you’re running a computer with a small hard drive, or just don’t want to use up a lot of hard drive space for System Restore, you can limit the percentage of your disk actually used to store the backup files.

You can also select which types of files are protected.  You have the option to keep copies of both system settings and previous versions of files, only previous versions of files, or – if you like living on the cutting edge without any protection – turn off System Restore entirely.

Turning off System Restore will keep it from making any more Restore points, but will not get rid of already existing ones.  To do that, simply hit the Delete key (as shown below), to save even more hard drive space, and yes, to take away any existing backups.

When you’re sure you’ve configured it to your liking, click the Apply button to save any changes you’ve made to System Restore.

You’ll need to confirm your changes, especially if you’ve turned off the System Restore function entirely.

And that’s it.  System Restore is now configured (or turned off), according to your tastes.  System Restore, as mentioned, is not a perfect solution.  Microsoft Security Essentials is a big help, and a standard file backup solution or disk imaging program is even better.  Still, System Restore has its uses, so turning it off should be seen as a drastic step.  But if you need to know where the configuration options are and what you can do with them, now you know.

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There are mainly two ways to go about doing this. One is to add a shortcut to the EXE file in the Startup folder in Windows and the other is to use Scheduled Tasks. In this article, I will explain how to use both methods.

Add Programs to Startup Folder

This is my preferred method because it’s just really easy. To do it, go to the following directory on your computer:

C:\Documents and Settings\User\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

User can be either All Users or a specific user. If you want the program to run for any user that logs into the computer, go to the All Users folder. If you want to run it for only a specific user, then pick that user and go to their startup folder.

Now go ahead and find the program that you want to have startup when Windows starts. Make sure you locate the EXE file. Now simply right-click on that EXE file and choose Create Shortcut.

Now just take that newly created shortcut and copy and paste it into the Startup folder. Should look like this:

That’s it! Now restart your computer and you’ll see that the program will automatically start up once you log into Windows! Pretty easy eh!

Creating a Scheduled Task

The second way you can add a program to startup in Windows XP is to create a scheduled task that runs the program.

Go to Start, then Control Panel and click on Scheduled Tasks.

Click on Add Scheduled Task to create a new task.

The wizard will start. Go ahead and click Next. The first thing you have to do is choose the program you want to run at startup. A list comes up automatically, but you can also click Browse and choose one specifically.

Click Next and then choose when you want it to run. In our case, we will choose When I log on. You can also choose When my computer starts, but that will mean it could load before you even log into Windows.

Click Next and then enter the password for your Administrator account. Make sure you enter a password, otherwise the task will not run.

Click Next and click Finish. That’s it. Now you task will show up in the list of scheduled tasks. Go ahead and restart your computer and the program should load just fine.

So those are two simple ways to add startup programs to Windows XP! If you have any questions, post a comment here and I’ll try to help. Enjoy!

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This indexing service is also available in Windows XP; however, it is not as customizable. It affects your system’s performance just as in Windows 7, but you cannot remove specific locations from the service. The indexing service can either be on or off. This post shows you how to turn off the indexing service if it is noticeably slowing down your system.

To access the Indexing Service, select Run from the Start menu.

The Run dialog box displays. Enter “services.msc” (without the quotes) in the Open edit box and click OK or press Enter.

On the Services dialog box, scroll down until you locate the Indexing Service. If the service is running the Status column says Started. If it says Automatic in the Startup Type column that means the Indexing Service will start automatically when Windows starts, even if you stop the service while you are currently logged in. Double-click on Indexing Service to access the properties for the service.

The Indexing Service Properties dialog box displays. If the service is running, the Service status reads Started. To stop the service so Windows no longer indexes the contents of your hard drive, click Stop.

To prevent Windows from automatically starting the Indexing Service again the next time you start Windows, select Disabled from the Startup type drop-down list.

Click OK to close the Indexing Service Properties dialog box.

Notice that the Indexing Service contains no text in the Status column, which means it is no longer running. The Status type column reads Disabled now and the service will not run unless you manually start it, even when Windows starts.

To close the Services dialog box, select Exit from the File menu.

Now, you’ve cut down on the resources being used by your computer and Windows should operate slightly faster.

by Lori Kaufman

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To accomplish this task, we will create a folder and two batch files, one to lock the folder and one to unlock the folder.

To create the folder to contain the private files, right-click on the Desktop and select New | Folder from the popup menu.

NOTE: You can create a folder to contain your protected files anywhere. We’re just using the Desktop as an example.

Name the folder “safe” (without the quotes). You can name it something else if you want. You will just have to use the different name in the batch files you will create.

Double-click on the new folder to open it and copy and paste any files you want to protect into the folder.

The folder icon on the Desktop indicates there is at least one file in the folder.

jfdksjaf

To create the locking batch file, open Notepad and copy one of the following lines into a blank text file, depending on which version of Windows you are using.

Windows 7 and Vista:

ren safe safe.{2559a1f2-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}

Windows XP:

ren safe safe.{FEF10DED-355E-4e06-9381-9B24D7F7CC88}

NOTE: If you used a name other than “safe” for the folder, replace “safe” in the batch file with the name of your folder.

Save the file as lock.bat.

To create the corresponding unlocking batch file, open Notepad and copy one of the following lines into a blank text file.

Windows 7 and Vista:

ren safe safe.{2559a1f2-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}

Windows XP:

ren safe safe.{FEF10DED-355E-4e06-9381-9B24D7F7CC88}

Save the file as unlock.bat.

To lock and unlock the safe folder, the batch files must be located in the same place as the safe folder. Double-click on the lock.bat file to lock the folder. At first, the folder icon changes to an empty folder. If you press F5 to refresh your desktop (or in Windows Explorer), the icon for the folder changes to a lock. When you double-click on the locked folder, it will not open.

To unlock the folder and access the files inside it, double-click on the unlock.bat file. The folder’s icon changes back to a folder with paper in it and double-clicking on the folder opens it.

The important thing to remember is that this method of locking a folder is not secure if you leave the lock.bat and unlock.bat files in the same location as the safe folder. You should move the two batch files to a separate location from the safe folder. Only copy the batch file you need to the same place as the safe folder when you need to lock or unlock the folder. Then, move it (or delete it, if you only copied it). Otherwise, anyone can access your protected data.

by Lori Kaufman

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In Part I, we covered installing Alky for Applications and the Windows Sidebar, closing gadgets, and adding pre-installed gadgets from the gallery.

In this post, we discuss moving gadgets, getting more gadgets and adding them to the Windows Sidebar, changing settings for gadgets and for the Windows Sidebar, deleting installed gadgets, and exiting the Windows Sidebar.

Make sure you have downloaded and installed Windows Sidebar for XP and followed the steps in Part I prior to following the steps in this post.

Download Windows Sidebar for XP from

http://joshoon.deviantart.com/art/Windows-Sidebar-Real-one-Pack-75626472.

Make sure you install Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 or higher before installing the components for Windows Sidebar for XP.

Move a Gadget

You can order your gadgets on the sidebar however you would like. To move a gadget, move your mouse over the gadget until some buttons become available on the right side of the gadget. There is an X button, which is another method of closing the gadget. Below the X button is a button with a grid of squares on it. Click and hold that button while moving the gadget to reposition the gadget to another location on the sidebar.

Get More Gadgets

The main benefit of Windows Sidebar for XP is that you can add most Windows 7 and Vista gadgets you can download to your sidebar. You do not have to only use the gadgets that come with the program. To get more gadgets, open the Gadget Gallery as described earlier in this post. Click the Get more gadgets online link in the lower, right corner of the Gadget Gallery dialog box.

The Microsoft Vista online Gadget Gallery web page opens in your default browser. Choose a gadget you want and download it. For this example, we chose to download the MultiSearchIt gadget, which provides multiple ways to easily search the web from your desktop.

You may see the following dialog box when you click Download for the chosen gadget. If you decide you can trust the gadget, click OK. We downloaded and installed the MultiSearchIt gadget with no problems.

Install Gadget Extractor

To be able to add a downloaded gadget to the Windows Sidebar, you must install the Gadget Extractor program included in the compressed file you downloaded and extracted. To do this, double-click on the Gadget Extractor.msi file in the Windows Sidebar for Windows XP main folder you extracted.

The Welcome screen on the setup wizard displays. Click Next.

The Select Installation Folder screen displays. If you want to install Gadget Extractor to a different location other than the default location listed in the edit box, use the Browse button to select another location. We accepted the default location. Click Next to continue.

The Ready to Install screen displays. If you want to change any of the settings, use the Back button. Otherwise, click Install to continue with the installation.

Once the installation is done, the Completing the Gadget Extractor Setup Wizard screen displays. Click Finish to close the setup wizard.

Use Gadget Extractor to Install a Gadget

To start Gadget Extractor to install a gadget you downloaded, double-click the Gadget Extractor icon on the desktop.

The Please Select A Gadget File To Extract dialog box displays. Navigate to the location where you saved the .gadget file you downloaded. Select the .gadget file and click Open.

A dialog box displays telling you that the gadget was successfully extracted. Click OK to close the dialog box.

The gadget you extracted is added to the Gadget Gallery. Open the Gadget Gallery as described in the first part of this series of posts. Right-click on the new gadget and select Add. The gadget is added to your sidebar.

Change the Settings for a Gadget

To change the settings for a gadget, move your mouse over the gadget. If there are settings that can be changed for that gadget, a wrench button displays right below the X button on the right side of the gadget. Click the wrench button.

As an example, you can change the Background and the Opacity for the MultiSearchIt gadget. Click OK when you are finished changing the options for the gadget or Cancel if you don’t want to save the changes you made to the settings.

Delete an Installed Gadget

There is no way to delete a gadget you added to the Gadget Gallery within the gallery itself. To delete an installed gadget, open Windows Explorer and navigate the following folder:

C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\Shared Gadgets

NOTE: If you installed the Windows Sidebar to a different folder, navigate to the Shared Gadgets folder within the folder you specified.

Select the folder that matches the name of the gadget you want to delete and delete that folder from within Windows Explorer. The next time you open the Gadget Gallery the gadget will no longer be available.

Set the Properties of the Sidebar

In addition to setting properties for gadgets on the sidebar, you can also set properties for the sidebar itself. To do this, right-click on the Windows Sidebar icon in the system tray and select Properties from the popup menu.

If you want the Windows Sidebar to start when you log in to Windows, select the Start Sidebar when Windows starts check box. Customize the location of the Windows Sidebar using the options in the Arrangement box. If you have multiple monitors, you can even specify on which monitor you want to display the Windows Sidebar. You can also view a list of the gadgets currently running by clicking the View list of running gadgets button in the Maintenance box. Click OK when you are finished making your changes.

Exit the Sidebar

To close the Windows Sidebar, right-click on the Windows Sidebar icon in the system tray and select Exit from the popup menu.

A confirmation dialog box displays to make sure you really want to exit the Windows Sidebar. This dialog box also provides another opportunity to have the Windows Sidebar start when Windows starts. If you want to turn on this setting, select the Start Sidebar when Windows starts check box. Click Exit Sidebar if you still want to exit the Windows Sidebar or Cancel if you don’t.

Wrap Up

In this post, we covered moving gadgets, getting more gadgets and adding them to the Windows Sidebar, changing settings for gadgets and for the Windows Sidebar, deleting installed gadgets, and exiting the Windows Sidebar.

In Part I of this series, we covered installing Alky for Applications and the Windows Sidebar, closing gadgets, and adding pre-installed gadgets from the gallery.

Now, those of you who can’t upgrade to Windows 7 and Vista, or don’t want to, can enjoy a lot of the convenient gadgets available for Windows 7 and Vista. There may be some gadgets that don’t work with Windows Sidebar for XP, but a good amount of them will.

If you are having problems with Windows Sidebar for XP, see the FAQs.

by Lori Kaufman

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