Tuesday, May 11, 2010

My Favorite Windows XP Tips

Every now and then, I run into a problem. It's not often, but just every now and then. The best example is installing new software that absolutely insists on running at startup, even if I only use it once a month. It's VERY annoying.

That said, I am always having to go back and search for fixes because I often repeat the same ones, but the space of time since its last incident was too long and I have forgotten. For that reason I thought it would be a good idea just to post my favorite tips here so even I can come back and refresh my memory.

Keep in mind that this isn't a tutorial, just reminders. If you do not know what they are already, this probably will not help you. If there is interest in this, I will write tutorials but you'd have to request it in the comments.

Using the Run Command

Start > Run is probably the best thing since sliced bread. It is very valuable in helping me fix things quickly without trying to figure out where it is on this computer. Here are a few commands on how to get to certain things. My frequent commands are:
  • winver: Displays what version of Windows one has.
  • msconfig: Allows the enabling/disabling of startup items.
  • regedit: Runs the registry editor.
A bigger full list is here, but that is really for developers.

Getting Rid of Windows Messenger

I ran into this problem when I updated IE (which I only use for one thing; I'm a Firefox and Chrome kind of girl) at Microsoft. They had the nerve to install it on my computer without my permission. I was livid when I found out!

A search far and wide across the internet told me that there was "no way" to completely get rid of it. How dare Microsoft! They have taken up valuable space on my itty bitty 70 GB pc.

I did finally manage to find this article which at least stopped it from slowing up my start up/boot time and is an official Microsoft tutorial.

It worked, sort of. I had to also follow this advice, which finalized the whole thing.

That's it for now, but as I think of things I'll update this post.

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