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The mysterious ways of XP — II
This week, we continue to explore more ways to make your Windows XP experience interesting.
1. Change the text in Internet Explorer’s title bar: This means to navigate this key: “HKEY_CURRENT_USER”Change the value of the string "Window Title" to whatever you want on the title bar of the Internet Explorer. To have no title except the title of the web pages, you are browsing; do not enter anything for a value.
2. Rename a series of files: When you download photos from your digital camera, they often have unrecognisable names. If you have hundreds of them, it’s going to take a very long time to rename separately, but with these simple tricks you can easily rename all those in seconds.
1. Open the folder containing files that you want to rename.
2. Select the file you want to rename. If the file you want is not listed, press and hold CTRL and then click each item to select it.
3. On the File menu, click Rename.
4. Now type the new name, and then press Enter. All of the files in the series will be named in sequence using the new name you type.
3. Disable error reporting:
1. Open the Control Panel.
2. Click on Performance and Maintenance.
3. Click on System.
4. Then click on the advanced tab.
5. Click on the error-reporting button on the bottom of the windows.
6. Select “Disable error reporting.”
7. Click OK.
8. Then Click OK again.
4. Add Album Art to any music folder: Album Art is the cover of the CD that XP displays in Windows Media Player and on Folders. To add album art individually to folders is a gruesome task because it takes a lot of time. So let’s make it faster.
Download the album cover art from the Web for the music folder of your choice and save the image as folder .JPG. Place it in the appropriate folder. Then Windows XP will automatically use the image you have chosen as the thumbnail for that folder and will use that image in Windows Media Player for Windows XP. If you choose to display album cover art instead of visualisation, your music folders will never look so good.
5. Getting an older program to run on Windows XP: If you’ve got some old programs that are unable to run on XP, here’s a tip on how to make them run properly:
1. Right-click the executable or the program shortcut to the executable and then click Properties.
2. Select Run this program in compatibility mode check box.
3. From the list, select an operating system which runs in program comfortably.
6. Lock Windows XP with a click: You can lock your XP workstation with just two clicks of the mouse. Create a new shortcut on your desktop using a right mouse click and enter: “rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation” in the location field.
Give the shortcut a name you like. That’s it. Just double-click on it and your computer will be locked. And if that’s not easy enough, the Windows key, + L, will do the same.
7. Create a password reset disk: Ever forgot your XP password? If you’re running Windows XP Professional, then you can create a password reset disk to log onto your computer when you forget your password. To create the disk:
1. Click Start, click Control Panel and then click User Accounts.
2. Click your account name.
3. Under related tasks, click “Prevent a forgotten password.”
4. Follow the directions in the Forgotten Password Wizard.
5. Store the disk in a secure location.
8. Make your folders private: Many of us who use shared computers have lots of stuff that we don’t want our siblings to know about. You can make those folders private so they’re not accessible to other users.
Please note though that this option is only available for folders included in your user profile. Folders in your user profile include My Documents and its subfolders. If you do not make these folders private, they are available to everyone who uses your computer. To make these folders private:
1. Open My Computer.
2. Double-click the drive where Windows is installed (usually drive C:).
3. If the contents of the drive are hidden, under System Tasks, click “Show the contents of this drive.”
4. Double-click the Documents and Settings folder.
5. Double-click your user folder.
6. Right-click any folder in your user profile, and then click Properties.
7. On the Sharing tab, select the “Make this folder private so that only I have access to it check box.”
The writer is a freelance contributor
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